Aung San Suu Kyi

It's a hard name to pronounce (Aung Sawn Sue Chee), but, it's an even harder story to follow... I'm compelled to ask a few questions: How can one woman be confined for over twelve years? and how can the military refuse any help when their entire country is in dire straits?

Since 1989, Aung San Suu Kyi has been put under continuous house arrest by Burma's military junta. Burma has received quite a bit a media since Cyclone Nargis devastated the country on 2 May, 2008. It has been over a month and the military government has not been allowing international aid into the country. We can assume that the junta fights the aid coming into their country so that their oppressive military rule would not be exposed. It is the same oppressive rule that Aung San Suu Kyi has been fighting for over twenty years.

But how does one woman fight a military government? Here is a semi-complete list of how she "fights":
-non-violence and insisting on dialog
-compelling world leaders to speak out on her behalf and her unlawful confinement
-winning the Nobel Peace Prize
-inspiring a nation as a symbol of hope and establish the National League for Democracy (NLD)
-causing the military junta to break their own laws regarding her confinement

However, the loss this woman has suffered is tremendous. In the course of her confinement she has lost her husband (who died in March of 1999), been separated from her children, and watched her people continue to suffer under oppression.

Please check out these sites if you'd like to find out more about how you can support Burma and Suu Kyi (knowledge is power, my friends).
http://www.actionburma.com/
http://burmaitcantwait.org/burmaitcantwait/

For me, she inspires heartbreak, hope, anger, and the rejection of silence (not violence).

For Damien Rice, she inspired the composition of this:

Lyrics:
Come and see me, Sing me to sleep
Come and free me, Or hold me if i need to weep
Or maybe it's not the season, Or maybe it's not the year
Or maybe there's no good reason
Why i'm locked up inside Just cause they wanna hide me,
The moon goes bright The darker they make my night

Unplayed pianos Are often by a window In a room where nobody loved goes
She sits alone with her silent song. Somebody bring her home.

Unplayed piano (unplayed piano)
Still holds a tune (still holds a tune)
Lock on the lid (years, years pass by)
In a stale, stale room (in the changing of the moon)
Maybe it's not that easy (too many windows)
Or maybe it's not that hard (in a stale, stale room)
Maybe they could release me (stale, stale room)
Let the people decide, I've got nothing to hide
I've done nothing wrong, So why've i been here so long?

Unplayed pianos Are often by a window In a room where nobody loved goes
She sits alone with her silent song. Somebody bring her home.

Unplayed piano Still holds a tune
Years pass by In the changing of the moon

**U2's "Walk On" was also written for Aung San Suu Kyi

**As of today, Aung San Suu Kyi's confinement has been extended for another year (once again, and possibly indefinitely), as the junta dubs her a "...Danger of Subversive Elements".