Aung San Suu Kyi is 60 tomorrow. She is the leader of Burma's pro-democracy opposition which, despite winning 82% of the seats in Burma's last general election in 1990, has never been allowed to take office. Burma is ruled by a military junta which has kept her under house arrest or in detention for nearly 10 of the last 16 years (source: The Guardian, 18 June 2005)
So she's spending her birthday alone. I'm sending her a birthday card, c/o the Burmese (or Union of Myanmar, as they prefer to be known - the name's a political thing too) Embassy, with my name and address in it saying "happy birthday, wishing you freedom and democracy". Just to remind them that we know their regime is illegal and oppressive. Here's the address:
Aung San Suu Kyi
c/o Mr U Nay Win
Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
19A Charles Street
Berkeley Square
London
W1J 5DX
It's a small thing, but letters to political prisoners do make a difference. Amnesty International use the following quote from a former prisoner of conscience in the Dominican Republic: "When the first 200 letters came, the guards gave me back my clothes. Then the next 200 letters came and the prison director came to see me... The letters kept coming; three thousand of them. The President was informed. The letters still kept arriving and the President called the prison and told them to let me go". Please do this small thing to make a difference.
Sarah
p.s. in the amount of time it's taken to read this, you could have found a card and written it...
2 comments:
Did mine. Sorry it was late - just posted it. Figured "better late than never", rather than "it's the thought that counts"...
Mine was late too - it arrived roundabout the same time as my fathers' day card.
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