'IT IS NOT POWER THAT CORRUPTS, BUT FEAR': AUNG SAN SUU KYI:

Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro- democracy leader of Burma, was finally released on Friday, 13th November after serving 15 out of 21 years under house arrest. 'Her release comes six days after the political party supported by the military won the country's first election in 20 years. The ballot was widely condemned as a sham.'

While many see that Aung San Suu Kyi's perseverence in fighting for democracy has been a 'positive force for Burma', some have been critical saying 'her rigidity has held the pro-democracy movement back'.

Some suggest she should have left Burma when she was able to do so in the late 1990's as she then could have addressed the UN General Assembly and worked for rights for her people from outside.

In Aung San Suu Kyi’s 1990 famous speech, “Freedom From Fear“, she noted, “It is not power that corrupts, but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”

• Why could Aung San Suu Kyi be considered a hero?
• What does she value? What choices has she had to make? Create an identity chart for Aung San Suu Kyi and consider what personal choices she has made in order to overcome the injustices in her country and help her her people?

Connections:

• Have you ever been in a situation where you are aware of an injustice but did not take action? What stopped you getting involved?

Click on the link to watch an interview made in 1995 with Fergal Keane when she was last released in 1995 before being re-arrested.

Listen to Freedom From Fear a BBC world service audio documentary.

Read Guardian article: Aung San Suu Kyi: I was both prisoner and maintenance woman

sanctions

'In foreign affairs, sanction means 'penalty, deterrent': eg. international sanctions against the republic go into effect in January.

• ( sanctions) measures taken by a nation to coerce another to conform to an international agreement or norms of conduct, typically in the form of restrictions on trade or on participation in official sporting events.

root: L. sancire: to ‘ratify'.

Listen to the BBC interview of Aung San Suu Kyi

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/15/aung-san-suu-kyi-release