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[OPIRG-EVENTS] Burma's Nobel Peace Laureate



From: "Canadian Friends of Burma" <cfob@cfob.org>
To: <opirg-events@ox.org>
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 19:00:24 -0500

COMMEMORATE BURMA'S AUNG SAN SUU KYI's 10th ANNIVERSARY
WINNING THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

When: Fri. Dec.7, 2001, at 6pm to 9pm
Where: Sandy Hill Community Centre, 250 Somerset St. East, The Conference
Room
For more info: call Canadian Friends of Burma at 237-8056

* PAINTING DISPLAY - by Burmese artist, Maung Maung Tinn

* SPEAKERS:

* NANCY RICHE, the Secretary Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress
* TIN MOE, famous Burmese poet and former political prisoner in Burma
* Canadian Members of Parliament

* FREE BURMESE FOOD
* CHAMPAGNE TO TOAST AUNG SAN SUU KYI!

Dec 10th marks the 10 anniversary of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi winning the
Nobel Peace Prize. To this day, she remains under detention in Burma for the
very reasons that won her the Prize - an unrelenting commitment to the
non-violent pursuit of democracy and human rights for the people of Burma.

As the daughter of the Burma's liberation leader Aung San, Aung San Suu Kyi
joined the struggle to overcome military rule in 1988. Although her party,
the National League for Democracy (NLD) won 82% of the seats in Burma's 1990
national elections, the NLD is still prevented by the military from taking
office.

Denied the right to take leadership as head of the party, Aung San Suu Kyi
has spent the majority of the last decade under house arrest, refusing to
give up the struggle for Burma. Thousands of her colleagues in the NLD and
other political parties remain in prison. Aung San Suu Kyi is the only Nobel
Peace Laureate currently under detention for her commitment to human rights
and democracy.

Burma, renamed Myanmar by the military regime in 1989, has been under
dictatorship since 1962. Following the massacres of pro-democracy
demonstrators in 1988, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
took power and has since been ruling the country with violence and
oppression unsurpassed by its predecessors. Renamed itself the State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) in 1997, this regime is internationally
condemned for its gross violations of human rights and its continuous
refusal to hand over power to the Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected
party.

Freedom of expression is non-existant in Burma and over 1,500 political
prisoners languish in the country's jails. Military offensives against Burma
's ethnic minorities continue in their brutality. Millions of citizens have
been forced to seek refuge in other countries. Aung San Suu Kyi and her
democratic forces are asking for international action to help stop the
violence and liberate their country.

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