Aung San Suu Kyi

August 9, 2005

On the 17th anniversary of Burma's 1988 mass, non-violent demonstrations for democracy, we remember Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a courageous advocate of democracy and non-violence. This profile from BBC News last year provides a good overview of her work and life. Aung San Suu Kyi spent her 60th birthday last month under house arrest.

Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi

Like the South African leader Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi has become an international symbol of heroic and peaceful resistance in the face of oppression.

For the Burmese people, Aung San Suu Kyi represents their best and perhaps sole hope that one day there will be an end to the country's military repression.

As a pro-democracy campaigner and leader of the opposition National League for Democracy party ( NLD), she has spent nine of the past 15 years in some form of detention under Burma's military regime.

In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to Burma. >>more