Monday, October 31, 2011

Revoluton of Spirit

Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech for the Nobel Peace Prize was most impactful to me because of the recognition of the entire group of people and not just accepting it as the work she did personally. Her mother worked tremendously for democracy and decent human rights in Burma. After winning her election with 82% of votes, the military voided it all causing all of her work to be voided as well. She had the brains, the determination, and the civil backing, but not enough authority. “…in the last resort, through the sheer economic un-workability of totalitarianism this present regime will be swept away. And today in the face of rising inflation, a mismanaged economy and near worthless Kyat, the Burmese Government is undoubtedly reaping as it has sown.” It was sad to read about the misfortune of her and of the progression of Burma. She never made it about her; it was always for the greater good of the population in struggle. The totalitarian regimes run rampant with no struggle and no one in the population is able to stand against them.

In Burma now, they have made some progression towards democracy. In 1990, for the first time in 30 years, the government of Burma held free elections. But the winning election results were annulled by the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Burma has taken up the policy of presidential Republic, where two branches of government are present, but the executive branch works separately from the legislative branch. Although, the human rights still lack in current day Burma; forced labor, human trafficking, and child labor still exist, and the military is also notorious for rampant use of sexual violence as an instrument of control, including allegations of systematic rapes and taking of sex slaves.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma

3 comments:

  1. I think the fact that she wasn't there to accept the award, because she was standing her ground against Burma, solidified that she deserved the Noble Prize.

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  2. The sacrifices she made for Burma show a lot about how she could put anything before herself. Its good to see that the country is making progress toward democracy.

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  3. It's so sad that Burma had to go through all those hardships but at least it has come to a stop.

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