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Sunday, November 15, 2009
Credit where due...
I have to applaud Barack Obama for calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the saintly freedom fighter of Burma/Myanmar. Is this the first time any U.S. president has mentioned her by name?
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Bill Clinton in presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000.
1) AUNG SAN SUU KYI AWARDED THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM by President Clinton
Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy party leader who won the 1991 Nobel for her pro-democracy work and is being detained by the country's military government, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom America's highest civilian award from President Clinton. The award will be accepted by Suu Kyi's son because she has been held virtually incommunicado and allowed visits only by close relatives since Sept. 21, after a dispute with the government in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
President Clinton's remarked: Aung San Suu Kyi . . . sits confined . . . in her home in Rangoon, unable to speak to her people or the world. . . . Twelve years ago, she found herself at the helm of a popular movement for democracy and human rights. A decade ago, she led her persecuted party in parliamentary elections that were neither free, nor fair; yet they still won 80 percent of the seats. Her victory has never been recognised by the government of Burma, but her hold on the hearts of the people in Burma has never been broken. . . . She has seen her supporters beaten, tortured and killed, yet she has never responded to hatred and violence in kind. All she has ever asked for is peaceful dialogue.. . No one has done more than she to teach us that the desire for liberty is universal. [In accepting her Nobel Peace Prize, her son] said she would . . . accept such an honor only in the name of all the people of Burma. I imagine she would say the same thing today . . . that for all she has suffered . . . nothing compares to what the Burmese people . . . have endured: years of tyranny and poverty in a land of such inherent promise. . . .
This medal stands for our determination to help them see a better day. The [Burmese people's] only weapons . . . are words, reason and the example of this . . . brave woman. Let us add our voices to their peaceful arsenal.
...today I renew my call for the release of all prisoners of conscience around the world -- including Ayman Nour of Egypt, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, Oscar Biscet of Cuba, Riad Seif of Syria.
3 comments:
Bill Clinton in presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000.
1) AUNG SAN SUU KYI AWARDED THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM by President Clinton
Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy party leader who won the 1991 Nobel for her pro-democracy work and is being detained by the country's military government, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom America's highest civilian award from President Clinton. The award will be accepted by Suu Kyi's son because she has been held virtually incommunicado and allowed visits only by close relatives since Sept. 21, after a dispute with the government in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
President Clinton's remarked: Aung San Suu Kyi . . . sits confined . . . in her home in Rangoon, unable to speak to her people or the world. . . . Twelve years ago, she found herself at the helm of a popular movement for democracy and human rights. A decade ago, she led her persecuted party in parliamentary elections that were neither free, nor fair; yet they still won 80 percent of the seats. Her victory has never been recognised by the government of Burma, but her hold on the hearts of the people in Burma has never been broken. . . . She has seen her supporters beaten, tortured and killed, yet she has never responded to hatred and violence in kind. All she has ever asked for is peaceful dialogue.. . No one has done more than she to teach us that the desire for liberty is universal. [In accepting her Nobel Peace Prize, her son] said she would . . . accept such an honor only in the name of all the people of Burma. I imagine she would say the same thing today . . . that for all she has suffered . . . nothing compares to what the Burmese people . . . have endured: years of tyranny and poverty in a land of such inherent promise. . . .
This medal stands for our determination to help them see a better day. The [Burmese people's] only weapons . . . are words, reason and the example of this . . . brave woman. Let us add our voices to their peaceful arsenal.
George W. Bush
...today I renew my call for the release of all prisoners of conscience around the world -- including Ayman Nour of Egypt, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, Oscar Biscet of Cuba, Riad Seif of Syria.
Don't know if this counts, by Poppa Bush and Jimmy Carter are on this one: 59 Former Heads of State Call For Release Of World’s Only Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
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