Look To The Stars News: Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi Receives Unanimous Support

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi received her sentencing last week: 18 more months of house arrest for breaking the terms of her current detention when she allowed a stranger into her home for two days to recover from swimming across a lake to her property.

The outrage at the verdict is unanimous amongst western world leaders:

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown: “I am both saddened and angry at the verdict today, 11 August, following the sham trial of Aung San Suu Kyi. The news – that she has been found guilty and sentenced to three years hard labour but that this has been “mitigated” to a suspended sentence of 1.5 years under house arrest – is further proof that the military regime in Burma is determined to act with total disregard for accepted standards of the rule of law and in defiance of international opinion. This is a purely political sentence designed to prevent her from taking part in the regime’s planned elections next year.”

US President Barack Obama: “I join the international community in calling for Aung San Suu Kyi’s immediate unconditional release. Today’s unjust decision reminds us of the thousands of other political prisoners in Burma who, like Aung San Suu Kyi, have been denied their liberty because of their pursuit of a government that respects the will, rights and aspirations of all Burmese citizens. They, too, should be freed. Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. I call on the Burmese regime to heed the views of its own people and the international community and to work towards genuine national reconciliation.”

UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson: “The Secretary-General urges the Government to immediately and unconditionally release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”

The European Union: is extending its sanctions such as travel bans and freezes on assets to Myanmar judiciary members involved in the verdict. The EU calls for Aung San Suu Kyi’s unconditional release.

Amnesty International: “Her arrest and trial and now this guilty verdict are nothing more than legal and political theatre.”

Human Rights Watch: “The politically motivated guilty verdict against the Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is a reprehensible abuse of power by Burma’s military government…. This trial was a farce, a brutal distortion of the legal process. By silencing prominent opponents through bogus trials, the generals are clearly showing why the elections they have been touting for next year won’t bring change.”

According to some reports, the American swimmer claims he went to Suu Kyi’s home to warn her. Other reports say he claims God told him to protect her. He received seven years of hard labour at his own trial, and CNN reported Saturday that he has been released to American authorities. Suu Kyi plans to appeal.

Bono Pays Tribute To Aung San Suu Kyi

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

U2 singer Bono included a special tribute to imprisoned Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a concert at Wembley during the weekend.

“An extraordinary woman has spent 20 years under house arrest,“ the singer told the 88,000 strong crowd. “Her only crime is if she had run for election she would won have that election. Her name is Aung San Suu Kyi. I send a prayer from London to Burma for her safety.”

The band then encouraged the crowd to wear masks of the pro-democracy leader as they launched into ‘Walk On’ – a song they wrote for her – while volunteers marched onstage.

Aung San Suu Kyi – who is currently under house arrest – had her sentence extended last week.

U2 Make Political Statements In Dublin

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

U2 marked the Global Day of Action for Iran by showing footage from the country’s civil war during a show in Dublin on Saturday, July 25.

The Global Day of Action for Iran was organized by United4Iran and saw people in over 60 countries show solidarity with the Iranian people in their struggle for human rights.

The Irish rockers performed Sunday Bloody Sunday in front of a screen showing images from Iran.

The band played three nights at Croke Park in Dublin, and announced on the last night that imprisoned Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi had been named Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience.

“This month marks the twentieth anniversary of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s arrest and twenty years since Amnesty International declared her a prisoner of conscience. In those long and often dark years Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has remained a symbol of hope, courage and the undying defense of human rights, not only to the people of Myanmar but to people around the world,” said Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

Birthday Wishes For Aung San Suu Kyi

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

People from all over the world have put down 64 words on a new website in support of Aung San Suu Kyi for her 64th birthday .

Burma’s junta has held the pro-democracy leader under house arrest for over half of the past two decades and, charged in May for breaking the terms of her house arrest, Suu Kyi is now facing trial.

Outraged by the Burmese military’s actions, people are using the 64 for Aung San Suu Kyi website as a protest platform.

Paul McCartney wrote, “Aung San Suu Kyi is an inspiration to her country and the rest of the world. I truly admire her infallible resolve and her determination to stand up for what she believes in. It is vital that Aung San Suu Kyi is released so that she can govern the people who elected her and give Burma back the freedom we all take for granted.”

Bono and U2 posted something more poetic: “Packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been/A place that has to be believed to be seen/You could have flown away/A singing bird in an open cage/Who will only fly, fly for freedom/Walk on, walk on/What you’ve got they can’t deny it/Can’t sell it, can’t buy it/Walk on, walk on/Stay safe tonight.”

Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, had this to say: “Our fellow Elder, Aung San Suu Kyi, is the symbol of a more hopeful, tolerant and peaceful Burma. We’re profoundly troubled by her illegal incarceration and call on world leaders, and especially Asian members, to do everything in their power to secure her release along with all other political prisoners. We hope to embrace our dear sister in person on her 64th birthday.”

Suu Kyi’s birthday has come and gone. She’s still in jail.

Carla Bruni Protests For Aung San Suu Kyi

Wed, 27 May 2009 15:00:00 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

France’s first lady, Carla Bruni, has written an open letter calling for Burma’s junta to free the country’s opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Under house arrest in Burma for nearly 13 of the past 19 years for her pro-democratic and human rights campaigning, Suu Kyi allegedly violated the terms of her house arrest by allowing a man into her home after he swam across a lake to her property. As a consequence, she is now on trial in Rangoon and faces up to five years imprisonment if found guilty.

Ms Bruni fears that, due to recent reports that Suu Kyi’s health is poor, imprisonment could be the end for her. However, the military opened up her trial last Wednesday to reporters and diplomats, and Associated Press reports that she seems to be doing well according to Joselito Jacinto, a diplomat from the Philippine Embassy: “We saw Aung San Suu Kyi, and she appeared very strong. She sat listening intently and alertly to what was going on. She exuded a type of aura which can be described as moving, quite awe-inspiring.”

Not surprising considering that it’s Aung San Suu Kyi – a Nobel Peace Prize winner; a peaceful protester reminiscent of Mahatma Gandhi; and the first elected leader of Burma nearly 20 years ago after decades of military rule, although the military never allowed her to assume prime ministership.

This is the other concern that Ms Bruni has: “To imprison [Suu Kyi], and all of the regime’s opponents, is to smother any hope for democracy in Burma.”

Indeed, an upcoming election may be what is behind this seemingly staged event. The military has ruled Burma since 1962. They wouldn’t hand over power to Suu Kyi after her landslide victory at the last election in 1990, and are generally suspected of orchestrating a prison term for her to keep her out of the next one.

George Clooney Makes Statement Against Imprisonment Of Nobel Prize Winner

Mon, 18 May 2009 13:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

George Clooney joined Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and many others on Friday in calling for the immediate release from prison of Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Along with Bono, Madonna, Steven Spielberg, Nobel Laureates professor Elie Wiesel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and US Senator John McCain, the group released a statement protesting about the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi – who has been under house arrest for 19 years – has now been moved to a prison facility.

The only Nobel Peace Prize recipient currently imprisoned, and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma, Suu Kyi is a noted prisoner of conscience and advocate of nonviolent resistance.

“Yesterday Suu Kyi was taken to Burma’s Insein prison to face criminal charges as part of a concerted plan to deny her freedom,“ said the statement. “We must not stand by as she is silenced once again. Now is the time for the United Nations and the entire international community to speak clearly, and with one voice: Free Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Other stars to sign their name to the statement included Drew Barrymore, Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Matthew Broderick, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Ashton Kutcher, Meg Ryan and many more.

To read more about Aung San Suu Kyi’s plight, click here or visit the Not On Our Watch website.

Peter Gabriel Talks About The Elders

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Rock star and humanitarian Peter Gabriel has commented on the inspiration behind forming The Elders, the group of public figures he established with Richard Branson to solve global figures.

“People have lost trust in a lot of institutions around the world, but they still have faith in certain of key individuals,“ said the 58-year-old. “We felt that if we could get a group of elder statesmen and women together, they could have an influence and leverage and help on a few situations. We went to Nelson Mandela and he set it up a couple of years ago. We have Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan. They can connect people on the ground who are suffering with people who can make a phone call.”

The Global Elders group was set up in 2007 to bring “almost 1,000 years of collective experience” to work on solutions for seemingly insurmountable problems like climate change, HIV/AIDS, and poverty, and “use their political independence to help resolve some of the world’s most intractable conflicts.” There are currently 12 active members, including Jimmy Carter and Aung San Suu Kyi. They have launched peace missions in Darfur, the Middle East, and Zimbabwe.

More information about the work of the Global Elders can be found at their official website.

World Leaders Ask For UN Help In Burma

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

A massive group of former world leaders, presidents, and prime ministers – including Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Tony Blair, and George Bush Sr – have written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to secure the release of all political prisoners in Burma by the end of this year.

“We write this letter to applaud your public consideration of traveling to Burma, also known as Myanmar, before the end of the year,“ the leaders wrote in the letter. “We encourage this trip because it would illustrate for the world whether or not the Burmese military regime is serious about making changes called for by the United Nations Security Council and your good offices.“

The Burmese military regime is currently trying to silence the people of Burma through a major crackdown on human rights activists, but the leaders from 50 countries have joined the effort to set them free and make their voices heard.

“As you are aware, on October 11, 2007, the United Nations Security Council issued a Presidential statement calling on the Burmese military junta to release all political prisoners in Burma, including the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.

“We urge you to make it clear that all political prisoners in Burma must be released by the end of this year, regardless of whether you travel to Burma. If the Burmese junta continues to defy the United Nations by refusing to make these releases by the end of the year, we urge you to encourage the Security Council to take further concrete action to implement its call for the release of all political prisoners.“

Several human rights groups, including the US Campaign for Burma, are currently trying to get the full letter published in this Sunday’s edition of the New York Times to publicize the leaders’ involvement in the cause and raise awareness of the issue.

“The Burmese people are counting on the United Nations to take the required action to achieve the breakthrough they desperately need to both restore democracy to their country and address the serious humanitarian and human rights challenges that they face.“

The full text of the letter can be read here.

Will Ferrell Launches Human Rights Awareness Month

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Funnyman Will Ferrell launched Human Rights Awareness Month earlier this week with a passionate plea to help Burma.

“You know when you hear about something happening in the world that is so awful, so violent and terrible and evil and wrong and you think wait – I have to do something about this,” he said in a PSA. “But it just seems too big… this month, all that is going to change for you. A human rights crisis is happening right now in the South East Asian country of Burma… Today we’re launching a 30 day campaign for human rights and democracy in Burma.”

Ferrell announced that over the next month, special videos featuring stars such as Jennifer Aniston, Woody Harrelson, and Jackson Browne will be featured on the US Campaign for Burma YouTube page, to talk about the Burmese fight for freedom from an unjust and violent military regime.

“You’ll also get to know one of my heroes, an extraordinary woman called Aung San Suu Kyi, ” said Ferrell. “She sacrificed her freedom to lead a non-violent protest movement against oppression in Burma. Stay with us for 30 straight days, alert all of your friends, speak at school, speak at your churches, talk to strangers in the street… invite them to join with us, the US Campaign for Burma, as we build a coalition of millions of people who care about human rights. People power counts. Let this month be the month you join an effort to change the world.”

The full PSA can be viewed here.

Mia Farrow To Discuss Political Rights Of Women

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Actress Mia Farrow is to attend a special seminar next week to discuss the political-rights crises faced by women in Thailand and Burma.

The seminar – to be held in Thailand’s Chiang Mai University on July 21 – will be led by Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams, and will feature female activists from all around the world. Organized by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, the seminar will cover a range of issues relating to the treatment of women in the political arena, and will include video testimony from Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate who has been under house arrest in Burma.

“We don’t have such a special event very often in Thailand, let alone Chiang Mai, so I do hope that it will create interest, more understanding and support for women’s causes,” said Virada Somswasdi, president of the Foundation for Women, Law and Rural Development. “The efforts of NWI members and other women involved in the delegation to Thailand are not only to keep alive the issues of peace with justice and equality, which include violence against women and the crisis of political rights, but also to highlight the importance of a just and peaceful global community for women."

Organizers hope the seminar will promote the unseen work of women in local governments in Thailand and Burma, and give them a chance to speak out.

Other well known activists expected to attend include labor rights activist Qing Zhang from China and Dr Sima Samar from Afghanistan.

Aung San Suu Kyi - Birthday Wishes That Can't Be Heard

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:38:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

On June 19, Burma’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi will spend her 63rd birthday as a political prisoner in Burma (Myanmar). And to mark the occasion, the US Campaign for Burma have organized over 200 events to help Americans learn more about her and the struggle for human rights and democracy in her military-led country.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a brave and courageous woman whose face is now more well-known than her name. But it is a face etched with sincerity, a face that has retained its youthful vigor despite the hardships it has endured, despite the years spent watching her fellow people suffer, and the lines that now run over it only add a look of wisdom and determination to her dogged drive and dedication.

Hers’ is an incredible and powerful story in a country that is struggling – a story of an academic based at Oxford University in England who returned to her native Burma to oppose the brutal military regime in her homeland, risking her life and leaving her husband and children behind. She led the National League for Democracy to a staggering win – with 80% of the votes – at the 1990 elections, only to have her post as Prime Minister nullified, and she has been imprisoned almost ever since. She even had to wait under house arrest when her husband was diagnosed with cancer. She was prevented from seeing him before he died, not allowed to comfort him at his bedside or help her children through their pain.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a remarkable woman – immortalized in the U2 song “Walk On” and the only Nobel Peace Prize winner kept imprisoned anywhere in the world – her crime was her desire to see her people free. And tomorrow yet another birthday will creep by, its shadow filling the cracks that run through her extraordinary life. But it will not go unobserved, and the US Campaign for Burma – an organization dedicated to empowering grassroots activists around the world to bring about an end to the military dictatorship in Burma – is urging people to join them in marking the occasion.

As part of the organization’s efforts, thousands of their members have pressed the U.S. Congress to award Aung San Suu Kyi the highest U.S. honor – the Congressional Gold Medal; they have organized over 60 former Presidents and Prime Ministers from every single continent to issue a united call for Suu Kyi’s release; they have pressed the United Nations Security Council to issue its first-ever acknowledgement of Aung San Suu Kyi as a democracy leader of Burma in a presidential statement; and they have rallied 30 celebrities to record short videos about Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for human rights in Burma.

To find events the campaign has organized, or to donate to their cause, visit the US Campaign for Burma website.

Time's 100 - Peter Gabriel By Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

Fri, 16 May 2008 10:57:00 -0000

Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu wrote about Peter Gabriel’s contributions to humanity for this year’s Time 100 list:

“I did not know Peter Gabriel from a bar of soap when I met him for the first time on his friend Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island in the Virgin Islands. But within moments, he had charmed me. I heard him sing his Biko, which still moves me to tears each time I hear it, as we stood round the piano he was playing. He volunteered to give me my first swimming lessons and was a great hit with two of my grandchildren who met him there.

“What is his secret? He has a heart—in our part of the world, we would give him our highest accolade and say, “He has ubuntu.” It is that marvelous quality that speaks of compassion and generosity, about sharing, about hospitality. Peter founded WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance), presenting 50 festivals in more than 40 countries and conducting workshops in schools around the globe. He is a passionate human-rights advocate who participated in the 1988 Human Rights Now tour, and he co-founded Witness, which provides cameras and computers to activists.

“In 2007 he and Branson co-founded the Elders, which Nelson Mandela and his wife Graça Machel launched in Johannesburg on Mandela’s 89th birthday. With our world battered by so many problems—ethnic conflict, oppression of women and children, climate change—their idea was that a group of eminent people would serve as Elders for our global village. A dozen of us—including Kofi Annan, President Jimmy Carter and Fernando Cardoso (with an empty chair for Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma)—have accepted their offer and challenge.

“Peter, 58, has received many awards, including the Man of Peace award given by Nobel Peace laureates. He has ubuntu, and he deserves this latest accolade richly.”

Bishop Tutu, the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, and founded the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre support and promote peace throughout the world.

Celebrities Raising Voices For Burma

Wed, 07 May 2008 10:46:12 -0000

Written by Myrlia Purcell

Will Ferrell and Jennifer Aniston have joined the US Campaign for Burma, and are asking others to do the same for the Burma: It Can’t Wait Campaign. Stars are on a mission to raise one million voices in 30 days against the human rights atrocities occurring in the Southeast Asian country.

The people of Burma are being attacked by their own government, and, just as the world stood together to demand the freedom of Nelson Mandela, the campaign is asking people to speak up for the leader of Burma’s democratic party, Aung San Suu Kyi. The world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Suu Kyi has been deprived of her freedom for 12 of the last 18 years. She has appealed to people around the world, saying, “Please, use your liberty to promote ours.”

To make matters even worse, southwestern Burma was hit by a cyclone on Friday, May 2, leaving up to 60,000 dead, with tens of thousands missing and hundreds of thousands displaced or homeless. It is being called the worst natural disaster in Asia since the 2004 tsunami. Despite knowing about the approaching cyclone days in advance, the government did not warn its citizens. The U.S. Campaign For Burma is accepting donations to help with relief efforts in the medium-term, as the Burmese government is currently blocking international aid agencies from offering their support.

Join Woody Harrelson, Sarah Silverman, Julie Benz, Eddie Izzard and the others who are speaking out for the brave young people fighting for democracy and struggling through the wake of Cyclone Nargis. For more information visit the U.S. Campaign For Burma, and to view the celebrity videos, go to BurmaItCantWait.org.

Look To The Stars News: Aung San Suu Kyi

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