Courtesy for photo THe Guardian, Getty.
Burmese demonstrators in New Delhi pray for Aung San Suu Kyi on her 64th birthday. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images/AFP/Getty Images
Aung San Suu Kyi is 64 today.
"She marks this milestone, as she has so many before, in detention – this time within the confines of Rangoon's notorious Insein jail, almost two decades after the election victory of her party.
Millions in this country have never seen Aung San Suu Kyi but she remains the thread which connects many of them to hope
They've never heard her speak. Many probably have only a vague idea of her views. But they know very well what she represents. They know very well how their lives have changed for the worse in the two decades she has been gone and what is at stake in this trial.
Ranged against her and the other brave people who struggle for a better future is an intimidating apparatus. An army over 350,000 strong. A different intelligence organisation for every day of the week. Eyes and ears everywhere. Crushing of the most minor displays of dissent. Yet for the last few weeks this unequal contest has shrunk itself down to a lone figure in the courtroom.
Aung San Suu Kyi once said that those struggling against oppression had no alternative but to draw on their "own inner resources" as they fought for their inalienable rights "as members of the human family". It's this core of dignity and determination that has won the admiration of the world ever since and which has shone through in her court appearances. Poised and dignified. Utterly assured. Mixing humour and seriousness and showing no hint of exasperation at the absurdity around her.
One could be forgiven for wondering who was on trial, captor or accused."
Posted by
Mark Canning Friday 19 June 2009 12.19 BST
guardian.co.uk
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Aung San Suu Kyi spends her 64th birthday in Rangoon's Insein jail
Latest post in a series by the British ambassador in Burma, Mark Canning, one of the few outsiders who has been allowed into the courtroom during the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
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