Indira's school and college life was very often disturbed chiefly due
to the participation of all the members of the family in the national
movement. Her mother Kamala Nehru was also imprisoned once. Indira's
schooling began in St. Cicilia School in Allahabad. In March, 1926, she
went to Europe along with her parents and was educated at a school in
Switzerland for sometime. She came back to India and obtained education
in St. Marry convent of Allahabad. After her matriculation she was sent
to Tagore's Shantiniketan for the intermediate course. With her talents
she impressed Rabindranath Tagore.
Indira accompanied her ailing mother Kamala Nehru to Switzerland for
treatment. Kamala died there. Indira then went to Somervile College,
Oxford. Unfortunately she discontinued the course as she became ill for
long. She came back to India in 1941. Her father was released from jail
the same year. Indira married Feroz Gandhi in 1942. Feroz was a highly
educated young boy of an aristocratic Parsee family in Allahabad. Indira
had a close involvement in the Freedom Movement. She had organised the
Vanar Sena with a few thousand children of her own age. She also
participated in the Non-co-operation Movement of Mahatma Gandhi in 1930.
By 1946, she has become the mother of two sons Rajiv and Sanjay.
Indira became the President of the Indian National Congress in 1959
and continued it till her death. Feroz Gandhi died in 1960, only after
18 years of their married life. Her father died in 1964. After
Jawaharlal's death Lai Bahadur Sastri became the second Prime Minister
of India. Indira became the Information and Broadcasting Minister iri
Lai Bahadur's Cabinet. Soon after Lai Bahadur Sastri's death, Indira
Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India on 24th January,, 1966.
Indira's life was full of tragic events. Her mother died. Her husband
died. Then her father died. She also lost her younger son Sanjay who
died in a plane crash on June 23, 1980. Inspite of her personal
sufferings, she gave an efficient leadership to our country. India
progressed in all spheres of life and acquired an international fame.
During her term as the Prime Minister, many important events had
happened. Our country became victorious in the Indo-Pak war in 1971.
Indira Gandhi signed the historic Simila Pact with Pakistan. She sent
the to Indian Expedition to the South Pole. She was the leader of the
Third World. She gave order for "Operation Blue Star" to liberate the
famous golden Temple of Amritsar from the clutches of the terrorists.
She became controversial after the Operation Blue Star. She was
Brutally killed by her own body guard on October 31, 1984. She became a
martyr for her country. The whole world mourned her death.
Indira Gandhi
Born: 19 November 1917 Passed Away: 31 October 1984 http://www.culturalindia.net/leaders/indira-gandhi.html
Contributions Indira
Gandhi was, undoubtedly, one of the greatest political leaders of India.
She was the first and only woman to be elected as the Prime Minister.
She is also regarded as the most controversial political leader of the
country for her unprecedented decision of imposing "a state of
emergency". She was also criticized for carrying out the Operation
Blue-Star in Punjab that eventually scripted her assassination on 31
October 1984.
Life
Indira 'Priyadarshini' Gandhi was born on 19 November, 1917, in
Allahabad to Kamala and Jawaharlal Nehru. Indira's father was a
well-educated lawyer and an active member of the Indian Independence
Movement. Since the Nehru family was the centre of national political
activity, Indira Gandhi was exposed to politics when she was a little
child. A leader like Mahatma Gandhi was among the frequent visitors of
the Nehru house in Allahabad. She passed her Metric from Pune University
and went to Shantiniketan in West Bengal. Here, the students were made
to lead a very strict and disciplined life. She later went on to study
in Switzerland and Oxford University in London. Indira, then stayed few
months in Switzerland with her ailing mother. In 1936, after Kamala
Nehru finally succumbed to tuberculosis, she returned to India. At the
time of Kamala's death, Jawaharlal Nehru, was languishing in the Indian
jails.
After his return to the country, Indira showed an active participation
in the national movement. She also became a member of the Indian
National Congress. Here, she met Feroze Gandhi, a journalist and key
member of the Youth Congress - the youth wing of the Congress Party. In
1941, despite his father's objections, she married Feroze Gandhi. In
1944, Indira gave birth to Rajiv Gandhi followed two years later by
Sanjay Gandhi.
Post Independence
After the independence, Indira Gandhi's father Jawaharlal Nehru became
the first Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi decided to shift to
Delhi to assist his father. Her two sons remained with her but Feroze
decided to stay back in Allahabad. He was working as an editor of The
National Herald newspaper founded by Motilal Nehru.
During the 1951-52 Parliamentary Elections, Indira Gandhi handled the
campaigns of her husband, Feroze, who was contesting from Rae Bareli,
Uttar Pradesh. After being elected as MP, Feroze opted to live in a
separate house in Delhi.
Feroze soon became a prominent force against the corruption in the
Nehru led government. He exposed a major scandal involving prominent
insurance companies and the Finance Minister T.T. Krishnamachari. The
Finance Minister was considered to be a close aide of Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru. Feroze had developed as a noted figure in the
country's political circle. He, with a small coterie of supporters and
advisors continued to challenge the Central government. On 8 September
1960, Feroze died after a major cardiac arrest.
India as Congress President
In 1959, Indira Gandhi was elected as the President of the Indian
National Congress Party. She was one of the political advisors of
Jawaharlal Nehru. After the death of Jawaharlal Nehru on 27 May 1964,
Indira Gandhi decided to contest elections and eventually elected. She
was appointed as the in-charge of the Information and Broadcasting
Ministry under Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri
It was believed that Indira Gandhi was an adept at the art of politics
and image-making. This is corroborated by an event happened during the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. While the war was going, Indira Gandhi went
on a holiday trip to Srinagar. Despite repeated warnings by the security
forces that Pakistani insurgents had entered very close to the hotel,
she was staying, Gandhi refused to move. The incident fetched her huge
national and international media attention.
As Prime Minister Following
the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri on 11 January 1966, in Tashkent, the
race to the coveted throne of Prime Minister began. The party faced a
serious trouble, as, all the senior leaders of the Congress party
desired to contest. Unable to reach at a consensus, the high-command
picked Indira as their contender. The virtual reason behind Indira's
selection was the thought that "Indira would, indirectly be run by
the top leadership." But Indira Gandhi, showing extraordinary
political skills elbowed the Congress stalwarts out of power.
In 1971, in order to stop the Bangladeshi refugees from flowing in into
the country, Indira Gandhi supported the East Pakistan's struggle for
freedom against West Pakistan. India provided logistical support and
also sent troops to fight against West Pakistan. India's triumph in the
war of 1971 against Pakistan enhanced the popularity of Indira Gandhi as
a shrewd political leader.
Imposition of Emergency
In 1975, the Opposition parties and social activists staged regular
demonstrations against the Indira Gandhi-led Central government over
rising inflation, the poor state of economy and unchecked corruption.
The same year, a ruling of Allahabad High Court that Indira Gandhi had
used illegal practices during the last election helped in adding fuel to
the existing political fire. The verdict ordered her to vacate her seat,
immediately. The agitation and anger of the people intensified.
Realizing the consequences, on 26 June, 1975, Indira Gandhi declared "an
emergency, due to the turbulent political situation in the country".
During the state of emergency, her political foes were imprisoned,
constitutional rights of the citizens were abrogated, and the press
placed under strict censorship. The Gandhian socialist Jaya Prakash
Narayan and his supporters sought to unify students, peasants and labor
organizations in a 'Total non-violent Revolution' to transform Indian
society. Narayan was later arrested and jailed.
Meanwhile, her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi, began to run the country
with full-authority. Sanjay Gandhi had ordered the removal of slum
dwellings, and in an attempt to curb India's growing population,
initiated a highly resented program of forced sterilization.
In 1977, fearing military coup if the emergency continued further,
Indira Gandhi called for elections. She was brutally thrashed by the
emerging Janata Dal, led by Morarji Desai and Jai Prakash Narayan.
Congress managed to win only 153 Lok Sabha seats, as compared to 350
seats it grabbed in the previous Lok Sabha.
With so little in common among the allies of the Janata Party, the
members were busy in internal strife. In an effort to expel Indira
Gandhi from the Parliament, the Janata government ordered to arrest her.
However, the strategy failed disastrously and gained Indira Gandhi, a
great sympathy from the people who had considered her as an autocrat
just two years back.
In the next elections, Congress returned to power with a landslide
majority. Experts viewed the victory of the Congress as a result of
inefficient and ineffective "Janata Dal".
Operation Blue Star and her assassination
In September 1981, a Sikh militant group demanding "Khalistan"
entered into the premises of the Golden Temple, Amritsar. Despite the
presence of thousands of civilians in the Temple complex, Indira Gandhi
ordered the Army to barge into the holy shrine. The operation was
carried out with tanks and armored vehicles. The act was viewed as an
unparalleled tragedy in the Indian political history. The impact of the
onslaught increased the communal tensions in the country. Many Sikhs
resigned from the armed and civil administrative office and also
returned their government awards. On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi's
bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, as a revenge of the Golden
Temple assault, assassinated the Prime Minister at her Safdarjung Road
residence.
Best known as: Prime Minister of India, 1966-77 and 1980-84
Name at birth: Indira Priyadarshini
Indira
Gandhi was the prime minister of India from 1966-77 and 1980-84 and one
of the most famous women in 20th century politics. Her father was
Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India's first prime minister (1947-64),
and Indira spent her life amid Indian politics. In 1959 she was elected
to the presidency of the Indian National Congress, and in 1964 she was
elected to the parliament. When Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri died
in 1966, Gandhi was chosen as a compromise candidate to replace him. She
was elected to the office in 1967 and advanced an ambitious program of
modernization. In 1975 she was convicted of violations stemming from the
1971 election and the High Court ordered her to resign. Instead she
declared a state of emergency and clamped down on her opposition (the
conviction was later overturned). She lost the election of 1977 and was
out of office until a comeback in 1980, when she was again elected to be
prime minister. In 1984 she used the military to suppress Sikh rebels
and ordered an attack on a Sikh shrine in Amritsar; a few months later,
Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh conspirators.
Extra credit: She
was married to Feroze Gandhi (1942-60) and had two sons. Her son Sanjay
Gandhi (1946-80) was a controversial figure in her government before he
was killed in an airplane crash, and her son Rajiv Gandhi (1944-91)
succeeded her as India's prime minister in 1984. Rajiv was killed in a
1991 bombing.
Mrs. Indira
Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, 1966-77 and 1980-84. She was assassinated
in 1984.
Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) was the only child of Kamla
and Jawaharlal Nehru. She spent part of her childhood in Allahabad, where
the Nehrus had their family residence, and part in Switzerland, where
her mother Kamla convalesced from her periodic illnesses. She received
her college education at Somerville College, Oxford. A famous photograph
from her childhood shows her sitting by the bedside of Mahatma Gandhi,
as he recovered from one of his fasts; and though she was not actively
involved in the freedom struggle, she came to know the entire Indian political
leadership. After India's attainment of independence, and the ascendancy
of Jawaharlal Nehru, now a widower, to the office of the Prime Minister,
Indira Gandhi managed the official residence of her father, and accompanied
him on his numerous foreign trips. She had been married in 1942 to Feroze
Gandhi, who rose to some eminence as a parliamentarian and politician
of integrity but found himself disliked by his more famous father-in-law,
but Feroze died in 1960 before he could consolidate his own political
forces.
In 1964, the year of her father's death, Indira Gandhi was for the first
time elected to Parliament, and she was Minister of Information and Broadcasting
in the government of Lal Bahadur Shastri, who died unexpectedly of a heart
attack less than two years after assuming office. The numerous contenders
for the position of the Prime Ministership, unable to agree among themselves,
picked Indira Gandhi as a compromise candidate, and each thought that
she would be easily manipulable. But Indira Gandhi showed extraordinary
political skills and tenacity and elbowed the Congress dons -- Kamaraj,
Morarji Desai, and others -- out of power. She held the office of the
Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977. She was riding the crest of popularity
after India's triumph in the war of 1971 against Pakistan, and the explosion
of a nuclear device in 1974 helped to enhance her reputation among middle-class
Indians as a tough and shrewd political leader. However, by 1973, Delhi
and north India were rocked by demonstrations angry at high inflation,
the poor state of the economy, rampant corruption, and the poor standards
of living. In June 1975, the High Court of Allahabad found her guilty
of using illegal practices during the last election campaign, and ordered
her to vacate her seat. There were demands for her resignation.
Mrs. Gandhi's response was to declare a state of emergency, under which
her political foes were imprisoned, constitutional rights abrogated, and
the press placed under strict censorship. Meanwhile, the younger of her
two sons, Sanjay Gandhi, started to run the country as though it were
his personal fiefdom, and earned the fierce hatred of many whom his policies
had victimized. He ordered the removal of slum dwellings, and in an attempt
to curb India's growing population, initiated a highly resented program
of forced sterilization. In early 1977, confident that she had debilitated
her opposition, Mrs. Gandhi called for fresh elections, and found herself
trounced by a newly formed coalition of several political parties. Her
Congress party lost badly at the polls. Many declared that she was a spent
force; but, three years later, she was to return as Prime Minister of
India. The same year, however, her son Sanjay was killed in an airplane
crash.
In the second, post-Emergency, period of her Prime Ministership, Indira
Gandhi was preoccupied by efforts to resolve the political problems in
the state of Punjab. In her attempt to crush the secessionist movement
of Sikh militants, led by Jarnail Singh Bindranwale, she ordered an assault
upon the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar, called the "Golden Temple".
It is here that Bindranwale and his armed supporters had holed up, and
it is from the Golden Temple that they waged their campaign of terrorism
not merely against the Government, but against moderate Sikhs and Hindus.
"Operation Bluestar", waged in June 1984, led to the death of
Bindranwale, and the Golden Temple was stripped clean of Sikh terrorists;
however, the Golden Temple was damaged, and Mrs. Gandhi earned the undying
hatred of Sikhs who bitterly resented the desacralization of their sacred
space. In November of the same year, Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated, at
her residence, by two of her own Sikh bodyguards, who claimed to be avenging
the insult heaped upon the Sikh nation.
Mrs. Gandhi acquired a formidable international reputation as a "statesman",
and there is no doubt that she was extraordinarily skilled in politics.
She was prone, like many other politicians, to thrive on slogans, and
one -- Garibi Hatao, "Remove Poverty" -- became the rallying
cry for one of her election campaigns. She had an authoritarian streak,
and though a cultured woman, rarely tolerated dissent; and she did, in
many respects, irreparable harm to Indian democracy. Apart from her infamous
imposition of the internal emergency, the use of the army to resolve internal
disputes greatly increased in her time; and she encouraged a culture of
sycophancy and nepotism. At her death, her older son, Rajiv Gandhi, was
sworn in as head of the Congress party and Prime Minister.
The private life of Indira Gandhi
http://hindu.com/2001/04/29/stories/13290463.htm There have been biographies on Indira Gandhi by Pupul Jayakar,
Zareer Masani and Inder Malhotra ... does Katherine Frank's show
us her feet of clay?
A FRIEND once told me a clerihew about Robert Clive which, with
the appearance of Katherine Frank's biography of Indira Gandhi,
seems equally suited to her:
The best thing about Lord Clive
Is that he's no longer alive.
There's a great deal to be said
For being dead.
For if Indira Gandhi were not safely dead, it is pretty certain
that Katherine Frank would have been clapped in irons within
Tihar Jail, locked up by the woman whose prolific love life she
seems, rather eponymously, the first to have been entirely frank
about.
It is in the nature of biographies of the safely dead to expose
or demolish privacies long rumoured or whispered about during the
subject's lifetime. But if the subject happens to be a holy cow
or has achieved the status of a deity, there is usually a
conservative furore in our part of the world when it is proven
she had something as depraved as a normal sex life. Rushdie's
foray into the Prophet's sanctum may have been provocatively
calculated to stir an Islamic hornet's nest, but even ordinary
depositions about the erotic relationships of sacred heroes make
people deeply uncomfortable.
About five years ago, Sisir Kumar and Sugata Bose published a
volume of letters exchanged between Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
and his Austrian lover, later his wife, Emilie Schenkl. Of course
Netaji was not dead five years ago and we know he is still alive
and eating shorshe machh even as we speak, but the book did
demolish the peculiarly Bengali-Victorian myth that Netaji, being
God, had no sex life. Netaji's letters went so far as to show
that not only did he love a being other than Bengal, he even had
a daughter by her. Which self-respecting Bengali could swallow
such an insult? This was even worse than the equivalent news in
Britain, some years ago, that Field Marshall Montgomery was gay
all along. The Forward Bloc immediately rioted and burnt the book
in Calcutta, though in the end they seem to have accepted that
Bengali deities too can be allowed the occasional carnality so
long as everyone continues to believe they are immortal.
At roughly the same time, there appeared a surprisingly third-
rate biography of Nehru by the American historian Stanley Wolpert
- surprisingly because Wolpert had always possessed the most
authentic credentials for being unfailingly second rate. This
book suggested that Nehru's many wild oats were not sown
exclusively among womankind: he had also favoured mankind when
young. Wolpert's creative enthusiasm for the multiple exercise of
Nehru's crotch, which had failed to intrigue earlier biographers
like S. Gopal and Michael Brecher, caused him to forget that
there happens to be a boundary between speculation and fact. His
book was temporarily banned in India: "stopped at Customs for
inspection".
Unlike her father, who himself would never have banned Wolpert,
Indira Gandhi was no Voltairean liberal. During her lifetime no
one would have dared openly accuse her of wanting men in bed. P.
N. Haksar and P. N. Dhar, both strikingly handsome Kashmiri
pandits who served her with integrity and distinction and have
written fine memoirs, analyse her emotions with perception but
say nothing about their boss's private life. In fact the most
perceptive observation about Indira Gandhi was once made by the
singer-writer Sheila Dhar (Mrs. P. N. Dhar), who knew Mrs. G.
well enough to notice that "Indira Gandhi had the developed
instincts of an animal, she always responded to people with her
skin". The political animal that was Indira Gandhi has long been
known and done to death: there have been biographies by Pupul
Jayakar, Zareer Masani and Inder Malhotra. It is high time
someone gave us an insight into the human animal and showed us
her feet of clay.
If Katherine Frank's Emily Bronte: A Chainless Soul (Hamish
Hamilton, 1990) is any indication, she is the very woman for the
task. The Bronte biography is one of the most moving pictures of
tragic womanhood I have ever read. Some of the phrases in Frank's
Preface to her Bronte biography provide an indication of why she
has also chosen to write about Indira Gandhi: "I see Emily
Bronte's life as troubled, solitary and austere ... she made her
own choices boldly and stuck by them ... she cared nothing for
the opinions and values of others ... there was much that was
dismaying, even forbidding, in her personality and the story of
her life is riddled with misfortune, loss and failure ... yet
there was an undercurrent of triumph in this life ... It was a
life of rare and awesome autonomy".
It is an indication of the intellectual condition of the Congress
Party that its old horses, who are very hoarse and very old, are
in a flutter about the fact that Mrs. G. may actually have had an
enjoyable sex life. My instinct is to applaud, but this just will
not do. Even in an era accustomed to scurrility, sleaze and
Shobha De, the Indian Caesar's daughter should be seen to be
chaste, Hindu and properly womanly. Whereas, if the stories told
are true - and in such matters every substantial accumulation of
rumours substitutes for proof - Indira Gandhi may even have been
a bad case of epitomising the brilliant parodic one-liner against
Hindu hypocrisy which says caste no bar lekin sex baar-baar. Mrs.
Gandhi had, it seems, nearly as much love for the pleasures of
her residential bed as of her prime ministerial chair. The Kissa
was as much Kursi Ka as Palang Ka.
Her list of hits is impressively long. A Parsi husband who turned
philanderer, a scandal-mongering Malayali old enough to be her
father's typist (he was once appropriately called a Remington
Randy), a yoga teacher who degenerated into a physical
instructor, a poodle Foreign Minister who never stepped far from
her Home Ministrations - how wonderful to learn that even as she
was shackling her country with authoritarianism, she was
unshackling her libido at home. What a riproaringly wonderful and
motley crew of purdah paramours our Rushdiean Widow seems to have
had. Our hearts go out to poor R. K. Dhawan. How awful he must
feel to be left out of this litany of lovers. Can we hope for a
memoir by him which regales us with proclamations of his non-
innocence? Can we hope that Mrs. Shobha De's publishers have
given her an "undisclosed sum" as royalty advance for her next
potboiler on a subject which seems so entirely tailor-made to
suit her well-polished talons?
Anyone with half an eye can see that Indira Gandhi's life can be
made, beyond the politics and jingoistic nationalism, the very
stuff of sex drama, of Babban Khan's Punjabi farce "Chaddhi
Javaani Buddhe Noo" (which translates roughly as "The Old Chap's
Turning Horny"), of the carnivalesque Restoration Comedy
tradition of parodying the aristocracy, of the "lewd" literature
of subversion which has such strong popular roots in so many of
the country's regional languages. Though it is now too late, the
material within Frank's biography could even have been made, for
instance, into an Italian romantic film starring Gina
Lollobrigida as the lovely Indira, Marcello Mastroanni as Feroze,
Edward G. Robinson as the seductively ugly M. O. Mathai and
Anthony Quinn as the rugged yoga teacher. Surely Sonia Gandhi,
liminally poised between India and Italy, could have been
persuaded to script such a film? The finances would naturally
have been provided by a joint venture set up between the
Quattrochi Family and the Sangh Parivar. The Guests of Honour at
the first screening would have been Khushwant Singh arm in arm
with Maneka Gandhi. What scenario other than the private life of
Indira Gandhi could possibly give such an equal measure of
delight, for such diverse reasons, to secularists and feminists,
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP)?
By art alone might such contraries be fused, enmities overcome.
As exponents of the comic tradition - from Aristophanes to
Shakespeare to Swift to Rushdie to Yes Minister to Spitting Image
to R. K. Laxman to Jaspal Bhatti to Black Adder - have shown, the
literary inflation and consequent deflation of politicians into
caricatures via comic art is the only certain method for the
ordinary citizen to get even with those who exercise everyday
power over us, to make us feel that our ordinariness at least
transcends the insanities of their politics. Those who love the
exercise of power fear ridicule even more than they fear
retirement. Mrs. G. seems to have feared it most of all. In this
seems to lie the psychological roots of the Emergency.
If the Congress Party were less stuffed with hypocritical
geriatrics it would realise that in this epoch, when Kaliyuga has
gone global and formed a multinational joint venture with the
bold and the beautiful, with liberalisation and liberalism, the
world of vice has, in large sections of urban India, been turned
upside down into the world of virtue. If you want to be
politically correct, sexuality and hedonism in the woman now
betoken female power. The idea of womanly virtue, of the fallen
woman, has fortunately no more stability than the Berlin Wall. It
may remain generally embedded as a patriarchal ideal, but
everyone knows that the winds of gender equality in sexual
matters have been blowing hard and chilling the traditional
Indian male's privates into a deep recession.
Yes, there is no doubt about it, Frank has done us a favour by
making Indira Gandhi roll out of her Cleopatra rug, by making the
skeletons in her bedsheets come tumbling out with her. It is time
we took the politics out of Indira's life and started to
democratically look her straight in the face. What if Katherine
Frank has got minor dates and details wrong? The next printing
will sort those out. Meanwhile, how delightful to know at last
that Mrs. G. was only as human as any of us, that the
peccadilloes for which Jawaharlal Nehru was moralistically
castigated merely inaugurated a tradition which continued and
flourished with his daughter. As we await the future biographies
of Rajiv and Sanjay, Sonia and Maneka, Varun and Priyanka, we can
only pray that this tradition of a rich and varied sexuality is
being actively maintained even now by India's immortal First
Family.
Rukun Advani is the author of Beethoven Among the Cows and runs
Permanent Black, a publishing company in New Delhi.
Indira Gandhi
Indira Nehru Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917 and would be the only child of
Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru. Being influenced and inspired by her parents, Indira Gandhi
rose to power in India and eventually became prime minister. She dedicated her life to
progress in her country despite the overwhelming problems and challenges she encountered.
Her road to power and politics started when she turned twelve years of age. During the
time of British imperialism, many Indian National Congress workers from Allahabad did not
know when or if the British would arrest them or search their homes. In order to find out
when this would occur, the Monkey Brigade was formed. Although Indira claimed to have
thought of the idea, some asserted that the Monkey Brigade was the idea of the Congress.
In any event, Indira became the leader of this children's group whose purpose was to help
end British control in India. Being its leader, she delivered speeches while other
children actually warned the people who were going to be arrested. The Congress figured
that the British would not suspect children of participating in such involvement. Although
some deemed it a joke, Indira took her job very seriously. One of the most significant
actions of the Monkey Brigade involved Indira. The Congress party's top officials were
organizing a civil disobedience movement. After the meeting, the documents containing the
plans of the movement were placed in the trunk of a car with Indira in the back seat.
Before the car was ready to leave the area, a police inspector stopped the car in order to
search it. However, Indira pleaded with him not to inspect the car because the delay would
cause her to arrive late at school. Fortunately, the inspector believed her and the car
was not searched.
In 1938, Indira finally joined the Indian National Congress Party, something she always
longed to do. Soon afterwards in 1942, she married journalist Feroze Gandhi to whom she
eventually bore two sons. Soon after the couple was married, they were sent to prison on
charges of subversion by the British. Her first and only imprisonment lasted from
September 11, 1942 until May 13, 1943 at the Naini Central Jail in Allahabad.
Fortunately, India won its independence from Britain in 1947. In that same year,
Indira's father Jawaharlal Nehru became prime minister and served until his
death in 1964. Since her mother had died in 1936,
Indira acted as hostess and confidante and traveled with Nehru to meet famous political
figures. Later in 1959, Gandhi became the fourth woman elected president of the Indian
National Congress. After her father's death, the new Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri
appointed Indira Gandhi as minister of information and broadcasting. This position was the
fourth highest ranking position in the Cabinet. Many Indians were illiterate. Therefore,
radio and television played a major part in informing them. As minister, she most
importantly encouraged the making of inexpensive radios and started a family planning
program.
After Shastri's death in 1966, Indira Gandhi served as prime minister until India held
the next election. She won that election, and in 1967, became one of the first
women ever elected
to lead a democracy. In 1971, Gandhi was re-elected by campaigning with the slogan
"Abolish Poverty." However in 1975, Gandhi was found guilty of violating
election laws. Later, the conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court of India. Also,
to control population growth, Gandhi implemented a voluntary sterilization program. As a
result, adversaries criticized her and her administration in general. To secure her power
and because of escalating riots, on June 26, 1975, Indira Gandhi declared a state of
emergency which limited the personal freedom of Indians. Also, she ordered the arrests of
the main opposition leaders. In her opinion, her dictatorship was for the good of
India. But she allowed free elections in 1977, and the Indian people voted her out of office.
She regained her position as prime minister in
1980. Unfortunately on October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards assassinated her.
They did so to avenge the storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Gandhi had ordered the
storming in June because of what her government considered terrorist activity of
extremist Sikhs who had occupied the Temple.
As prime minister, Gandhi tried to improve the lives of Indians. With her
neighbors, the Soviet Union and China, she improved relations. She also
promoted science and technology. In 1971, India sent its first satellite into space. Economically,
Indira Gandhi led India to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world toward the
end of her time as prime minister.
Indira Gandhi’s biographyby Nayantara Sahgal keeps the fire of India’s first – and only – female Prime Minister burning bright. Review by Maitreyee Chowdhury
The first thing that strikes the reader about the book is its
dedication: John Kenneth Galbraith, in gratitude, a most unlikely
recipient of such a revere. Indira Gandhi: Tryst With Power is a story written by a cousin about another cousin who assumed the country’s highest position in office.
As such, the book is replete with opinions that only a close one can
afford to give; but it also delights in the vignettes that form an
endearing part of what is a critical appraisal of not only Mrs. Gandhi
the Prime Minister and one of the most powerful leaders that the country
has seen, but also of a lady whom many failed to understand and
comprehend.
The book maintains the unique balance of bringing out the person in
the lady who dominated Indian politics and gives glimpses into her
struggle of trying to emerge from the shadows of an illustrious father.
The writing style is engaging, and easy on the eyes. Mrs. Gandhi, the
complex persona that she exuded, and her life, would have been a
difficult read had the language been arcane.
Nayantara Sahgal is no ordinary cousin of course and has all the
right credentials to pen such a story about an authoritative figure. It
is an insider’s way of looking at history unfolding. Amongst touching
different aspects of Mrs Gandhi’s political career like the riddle about
the alleged ballot paper rigging in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections, to
lack of clarity in policies, to the emergency, the author manages to
cover a wide spectrum.
As an aside, what is fascinating is the account of Nehru recounted by
someone who is not only family but also an ardent admirer. His
erudition, civility and statesmanship loom large and the writer’s
closeness to the great man is evident throughout the book. Mrs. Gandhi
tried to remodel her personality on the lines of her illustrious father,
who in many ways was an antithesis of what she was. Nehru’s civility
and diplomacy even to his detractors earned him respect from every
quarter. On the other hand, his daughter bore a flaming personality,
steeled and resolved to the point of being cool and truculent to those
she did not approve of.
As one reads through, and events unfold, her life is more a tryst
with destiny than anything else. She was Destiny’s child chosen to do a
job. She had the legacy, the upbringing and a country which was still
trying to get on its feet. She was not the best of orators, nor was she
blessed with an astute understanding of policy, but what really worked
for her was her fearlessness. The economic conditions perhaps allowed
for some misadventures, which today would have been unsparing. Did she
feel insecure about these shortcomings, and was it one of the reasons
she wanted to quash the voice of dissent, at all times?
The legend of Indira Gandhi is borne of her ruthlessness which one
day, would also be the cause of untimely and gruesome death. She was
known for her steadfast and blind support of her cabinet ministers. It
extended to the people that worked as her support staff too and is
perhaps what is responsible for the belief that with her started the era
of populist politics and leadership cult.
There have been some fine biographies of her in the market, the one
written by Katherine Frank and the other by Pupul Jayakar. Both these
books have taken a more detailed approach, with popular photographs and
memorabilia. Less of a story, more of an account – the way most
biographies are. In contrast, this finely written book is a character
sketch. It concentrates hard on the subject, almost with a laser-like
focus and reasons out actions, always keeping in mind the whys and the
hows of this iron lady. Reading the book, one is always hankering to
ask, had she not been Nehru’s daughter, would she have been the much
feared Mrs G.
Personalities like Indira Gandhi are rare. With many shortcomings,
which she chose to address, she reached the pinnacle of a chosen
profession and changed the course of history of her countrymen. There
have been Prime Ministers after her, more successful in paving the path
to success. She perhaps may never be forgotten or forgiven in different
ways for her extremities and Nayantara Sahgal does justice in keeping
the memories alive.
Her summing up of Mrs Gandhi is perhaps read no better than in these lines: “She had once listed the four most important influences on her
character and thinking as Motilal and Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi
and Rabindranath Tagore. Her genuine yearning towards the vision,
humanity and universality of these men may have found fulfillment in
another career. The road to power distorted and finally destroyed it.”
Indira Gandhi
http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/indira-gandhi-47.php
Nationality: Indian
religion: Hindu
Born on: 19 November 1917 AD
Zodiac Sign: Scorpio Famous Scorpios
Born in: Allahabad
Died on: 31 October 1984 AD
place of death: New Delhi
father: Jawaharlal Nehru
mother: Kamala Nehru
Spouse: Feroze Gandhi (m. 1942–1960)
children: Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi
education: University of Oxford, Badminton School, Somerville College, Oxford, Visva-Bharati University
awards: 1971 - Bharat Ratna
- Jawaharlal Nehru Award
- Lenin Peace Prize
Indira Gandhi. 3 People do.
Popularly
known as the Iron Lady of India, Indira Gandhi earned a formidable
reputation across the globe as a 'statesman'. Her sheer sense of
politics and exceptional skills catapulted her position in the Indian
politics, so much so that she went on to become the first woman elected
to head a democratic country. Till date, she is the only woman to hold
the office. Born in a politically influential dynasty and growing in an
intense political atmosphere, Indira Gandhi had learned the trick of the
trade quite early in life. She possessed an authoritarian streak and
became the central figure of the Indian National Congress party, post
her father's death. She was known for her political ruthlessness and
extraordinary centralization of power. It was during her premiership
that India became the regional power in South Asia with considerable
political, economic, and military clout. She also presided over a state
of emergency and made considerable changes to the Indian Constitution.
She used the army to resolve numerous internal disputes and encouraged a
culture of sycophancy and nepotism, due to which she rubbed many
Indians on the wrong side. Gandhi initialized the Operation Blue Star,
which gave her a critical reputation and eventually scripted her
assassination.
Childhood & Early Life
Born
as Indira Nehru to Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India’s first Prime
Minister, and Kamla Nehru, she was the only child of the couple, a
younger brother dying in infancy. EDIT • LIKE 2 People Like this
Unlike
others, her childhood wasn’t a happy one, as her father was mostly away
from home due to his political commitments and her mother frequently
suffered from bouts of illness. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
She
attained her preliminary education at home after which she briefly
attended school to complete her matriculation. Indira was enrolled at
the Viswa Bharti University in Calcutta but had to leave the same due to
the ailing health of her mother in Europe. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
Post
the death of her mother, Indira attended the University of Oxford in
Britain, where she studied history, political science and economics.
However, due to her constant ill-health, she returned to India without a
degree. EDIT • LIKE 1 Person Likes this
PUBLISH
Political Pursuits
WAfter
the death of her father in 1964, Indira Gandhi was appointed as a
member of the Rajya Sabha. She also became one of the members of Lal
Bahadur Shastri's cabinet, serving as the Minister of Information and
Broadcasting. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
The
untimely death of Lal Bahadur Shastri saw numerous contenders for the
position of the Prime Minister. However, unable to come to a single
conclusion, Indira Gandhi was chosen as the compromised candidate as
they thought her to be easily manageable. She became the Prime Minister
of India in January 1966. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
Indira
Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India and continued to serve the
same until 1977. As the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi showed exceptional
political skills and resolve and drove out many senior Congressmen out
of the party and power. This led to internal dissent in the party,
leading to a split in the Indian National Congress in 1969. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
PUBLISH
As Prime Minister
During
her term as Prime Minister, Gandhi brought about a radical change in
the country’s economic, political, international and national policies.
She oversaw the implementation of over three Five-year plans - two of
which were successful in meeting the targeted growth. EDIT • LIKE 2 People Like this
One
of her crucial economic decisions included the nationalization of
fourteen major commercial banks. The move proved to be fruitful as it
improved the geographical coverage of banks with the number of branches
rising from 8200 to 62000. Furthermore, the nationalization of banks
increased household savings and saw investment in small and medium-sized
enterprises and agricultural sector. EDIT • LIKE 2 People Like this
She
then nationalized the coal, steel, copper, refining, cotton textiles,
and insurance industries. The main aim of this move was to protect
employment and secure the interest of the organised labor. As for the
private sector industries, she brought them under strict regulatory
control. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
Gandhi
even nationalized the oil companies after the 1971 war against Pakistan
when India faced oil crises. With this, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC),
the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and the Bharat Petroleum
Corporation (BPCL) were formed. The oil companies had to keep a minimum
stock level of oil, to be supplied to the military at the time of need EDIT • LIKE 2 People Like this
It
was during Gandhi’s premiership that Green Revolution brought
remarkable change in the agricultural production in India. She changed
the course of the nation - from an import dependent country, India could
now manage a decent portion of its demands from domestic production.
She mainly targeted at growth with stability and progressive achievement
of self-reliance. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
In
1971, Gandhi supported the East Pakistan in the Pakistan Civil War,
which led to the formation of Bangladesh. This helped India bring the
Himalayan states under the influence of the country. While Nepal and
Bhutan remained aligned to India, Sikkim was incorporated as an Indian
state in 1975, through a referendum. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
Under
the administrative policy of Gandhi, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura,
Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh were given statehood. As for
Chandigarh and Arunachal Pradesh, both were declared a union territory.
EDIT • LIKE 1 Person Likes this
While
Indira Gandhi shared strong ties with Soviet Union, her relationship
with the US was a strained one. During her premiership, she also
maintained close ties with Bangladesh but the same continued only until
1975. Post the assassination of Bangladesh Prime Minister, Shiekh
Mujibur Rahman, the ties between India and Bangladesh soured. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
During
her term as the Prime Minister, Gandhi worked hard to normalize
relations and reopen diplomatic establishments between India and
Pakistan. Though Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had agreed for the same, the rise
to power of General Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan in 1978 caused an absolute
downfall, marring all efforts of better relations. EDIT • LIKE 2 People Like this
Gandhi’s
ties with the Southeast Asian countries were strained, due to her
pro-Soviet tilt and ASEAN’s pro-American ties. However, the same was
revived following Gandhi's endorsement of the ZOPFAN declaration and the
disintegration of the SEATO alliance, but it did not do much to
strengthen the ties. EDIT • LIKE 1 Person Likes this
Gandhi
also brought social reforms by introducing clauses in the Indian
Constitution related to wages - equal pay for equal work to both men and
women. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
PUBLISH
State of Emergency & Loss at 1977 Elections
After
the 1971 elections, the opposition parties accused her of using
unlawful methods and electoral fraud to win the elections. Due to this, a
case was filed in the Allahabad High Court which found Gandhi guilty of
using state machinery for election campaign. EDIT • LIKE 1 Person Likes this
The
court, on June 1975, declared the elections null and void and unseated
Indira Gandhi from the Lok Sabha. Additionally, she was banned from
contesting for the next six years. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
These
were trying times for India. The country was still recuperating from
its war against Pakistan, and faced drought and oil crises. To add to
the woes, the strikes and political protests affected the economy and
created disorder across the country. To curb the same, Gandhi advised
President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a state of emergency. EDIT • LIKE 1 Person Likes this
The
period of emergency in India lasted for 21 months, from June 1975 until
March 1977. It bestowed on Gandhi the power to rule by decree, thereby
suspending elections and all civil liberties. The entire country,
including the states, came under the rule of the Central government. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
During
the emergency, all the publications were subjected to censorship by the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. As such, no one could raise
voice against the act of government. EDIT • LIKE 1 Person Likes this
Gandhi
extended the state of emergency twice, before the elections of March
1977. The Janta Party, led by Moraji Desai and Jai Prakash Narayan
appealed to the people that it was the last chance to choose between
democracy and dictatorship. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
The
result of the election was not much of a surprise. The Congress party
was defeated convincingly, winning just 153 seats. Both Indira Gandhi
and her son Sanjay Gandhi lost their seats. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
The
Janta Party, led by Moraji Desai, ordered the arrest of Indira Gandhi
and Sanjay Gandhi on charges of planning to kill the opposition leaders
during emergency. The move, however, proved to be futile as none of the
charges were proved. What’s more, Indira Gandhi gained sympathy from the
people. EDIT • LIKE 2 People Like this
The
Janta Party leaders had little in common except for their united hatred
towards Indira Gandhi. As such, the government did not function well.
The division in the Janta Party resulted into Desai’s stepping down and
Charan Singh being appointed the new Prime Minister. However, this also
did not work for long and the Parliament was dissolved in the winter
session of 1979 and election was announced in 1980. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
PUBLISH
Second Term as Prime Minister
Most
of the second term of the premiership of Indira Gandhi was spent
resolving the political problems of Punjab. A secessionist movement had
been initiated by Jarnail Singh Bindranwale, who along with his troops
had found base at the Golden Temple, the sacred place of worship for the
Sikhs. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
Bindrawale, along with his supporters, had started a campaign against the government, moderate Sikhs and Hindus. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
To
curb his growth to power, Gandhi commenced Operation Blue Star. The
main aim of the Operation was to strip clean the Golden Temple from the
terrorists and subdue Bindrawale and his men. Operation Bluestar
successfully subdued Bhindarwale and his team but several civilians lost
their lives and the shrine was ruefully damaged. Due to this, Gandhi
earned the hatred of Sikhs who declared Bindrawale a martyr of the 21st
century. EDIT • LIKE 1 Person Likes this
PUBLISH
Personal Life & Legacy
Indira
Nehru and Feroze Gandhi knew each other since childhood - this
acquaintance slowly matured into a relationship when both of them were
in the UK for their studies. They got married in March 1942 and were
later blessed with two sons - Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. EDIT • LIKE 1 Person Likes this
Operation
Blue Star changed her life as two of her Sikh bodyguards, deeply hurt
by the insult heaped upon the Sikh nation, shot her to death, in order
to avenge the insult. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
Though
Gandhi was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and was
operated upon, she failed to survive and was declared dead. She was
cremated near Raj Ghat - the spot is now known as Shakti Sthala. Her
funeral was televised live on numerous domestic and international
channels. EDIT • LIKE 1 Person Likes this
In
an attempt to honor and pay tribute to the great political leader, the
central government launched the low-cost housing programme for the rural
poor under her name, Indira Awaas Yojana. EDIT • LIKE 0 Person Likes this
The
international airport at New Delhi is named Indira Gandhi International
Airport in her honour. She also has one of the largest universities in
the world, Indira Gandhi National Open University, named after her. EDIT • LIKE 2 People Like this
An
annual award for National Integration, Indira Gandhi Award was
conceptualized and established by the Indian National Congress in 1985.
EDIT • LIKE 1 Person Likes this
She
was voted as the greatest Indian Prime Minister in a poll organised by
India Today. She was also named ‘Woman of the Millennium’ in a poll
organised by the BBC in 1999. EDIT • LIKE 2 People Like this
The
University of Oxford conferred Gandhi with an honorary degree. It also
selected her as one of the ten Oxasians, illustrious Asian graduates
from the University of Oxford. EDIT • LIKE 2 People Like this
The
Government of Bangladesh bestowed upon Gandhi its highest state award
for her ‘outstanding contribution’ to the country's independence.
Annotated Bibliography
Ashby, Ruth and Deborah Gore Ohrn, eds. Herstory. New York: Viking, 1995. This book features women who have had a profound impact on the world. It provides the
reader with concise biographies of 120 women from Queen Hatshepsut to contemporary women.
The editors divide it into three sections: the Dawn, From Revolution to Revolution, and
the Global Community. Although the first section mostly consists of royalty or the elite,
the other parts cover a wide variety of women, queens and subjects alike.
One of the women presented is Indira Gandhi. Her biography includes her early years,
family life, and education. It also discusses her rise to fame by holding the positions of
president of the National Congress party, minister of information and broadcasting, and
finally prime minister of India.
Even though the biography is brief, it highlights the main aspects of each
woman's
life. One doing research would want to further develop these points. Each biography also
contains information concerning the time the woman was born, a description of her family,
significant aspects of her life, and finally her death, if applicable, in a well-organized
fashion. Besides explaining famous women, the editors include brief descriptions on
women's life in general from prehistory to the present.
In order to assist the reader, the editors arranged the index by geography and
occupation of the women.
The most important purpose of this book is to inform that women did contribute to this
world and need to be recognized. Although nobody can dispute the significance of
men's
accomplishments, one must realize that women also impacted and continue to impact our
world. The editors, each involved in women's studies, commented that history is not
complete or accurate without women's history. The female editors and contributors
successfully describe women in history from women's perspectives. Bhatia, Krishan. Indira: A Biography of Prime Minister Gandhi. New York:
Praeger, 1974.
This book traces the life of Indira Gandhi. It describes her family life and the pain
she had to endure when her parents Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru and her grandfather Motilal
Nehru were sent to prison as a result of the Indian freedom movement. The author also
discusses Indira Gandhi's education in India, Geneva and London. In addition, the author,
one of India's most respected journalists, includes how Nehru, who was extremely concerned
about the education of his only child, wrote Indira many letters about world history.
Since he was in jail at the time, Nehru could not teach her himself.
The author also describes her marriage to Feroze Gandhi, a Parsi newspaper executive
and politician. Although the couple remained together, their busy schedules kept them
apart at times. He also describes how Indira served as her father's hostess and confidante
which gave her experience in politics. In becoming prime minister, Indira Gandhi needed to
fight to maintain her power and faced serious challenges in order to lead over 550 million
people.
Although being famous to the world, Indira, as Bhatia concludes and she herself
commented, was a very private person. To write his book, Bhatia met with Indira Gandhi,
her supporters, and those who opposed her. He also explains both her successes and
failures in order to be as objective as possible. D'Amico, Francine and Peter R. Beckman, eds. Women in World Politics. Westport:
Bergin and Garney, 1995.
This book examines the effect that women have had on world politics and what women are
actually involved in politics. Besides discussing female world leaders, such as presidents
and prime ministers, the book also includes activists and revolutionaries and others not
directly appointed or elected to a specific political position. It also considers the
concept of gender and how it affects politics and what impact culture has on politics. All
of the contributors present different views on world politics and different perspectives
on how women participate in world politics.
The editors divide the book into two sections. In the beginning of the book, the
contributors explain how individual women leaders and representatives rose to political
prominence and examine their policies, decisions, and leadership. In addition, the authors
include how society views women political leaders, and the affect that gender has on
acquiring and enforcing power. One famous politician that was written about was Indira
Gandhi. By exploring her political acumen, the author informs the reader of
Gandhi's rise
to prime minister of India. It also includes Gandhi's family background, path to power,
relations with the United States, efforts at regional hegemony, and Gandhi's perception of
herself. To further enhance this section, women who have participated in world politics
either as leaders or held prominent positions provide the reader with a first-hand
experience of political life. Each offers a different view on women in world politics. The
second half of the book explores how ordinary women influenced and affected politics.
This book includes many tables that give the reader insightful information into how
men's political views compare and contrast to women's views. In addition, the book serves
as a guide to understanding female political figures. Drieberg, Trevor. Indira Gandhi. New York: Drake, 1973.
This book provides insightful knowledge into the life of Indira Gandhi. In order to
give the reader an accurate view, Trevor Drieberg, a political reporter in India, traces
the path of Gandhi's political life from its earliest beginnings until the early
seventies. He explains how the desire for independence from the British affected Indira
Gandhi in the early part of her life. In addition, this book emphasizes the role her
father Jawaharlal Nehru played in her life. She served as his hostess since her mother
died. In return, he served as her primary inspiration. By accompanying him on world tours
and public events, she learned world politics first hand.
The author also explores Indira's rise to political fame by tracing her steps from
entering the Congress party, becoming minister of information and broadcasting, and more
importantly, her becoming prime minister.
This book includes four appendixes to provide the reader with additional information
concerning Indira Gandhi. The first appendix contains selections from her speeches and
writing from 1966 until 1972. The second one includes a letter to President Richard Nixon.
The letter reveals India's problems with Pakistan and relations with the U.S. Appendix
three discusses the treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation between the Republic of
India and other foreign countries. Finally, appendix four lists the twelve points of the
Congress party's plan for progress in 1971.
Drieberg believes that Gandhi is significant since she dominated Indian politics yet
was elected democratically and used the almost unlimited power in a democratic manner.
From the author's explanation and description of her political life, one can gain useful
information concerning Indira Gandhi. "India." URL: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/mainhist.html.
(Accessed 3 November 1998).
This useful site gives a basic overview of Indian history. It is divided into four
sections. The first provides the reader with a background of the birth of the Indus Valley
Civilization and the rise of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. The second section describes
how Britain brought imperialism to India. The third section explains how India was
transformed from British rule to an independent country and Jawaharlal Nehru's rise to
prime minister. The final section primarily focuses on Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It
describes how she split her Congress party and resorted to repressive measures, which
lasted until 1977, to ensure her power. Although she ended up losing power, she
surprisingly regained her position.
The site highlights the main events and also points out influential and notable
Indians. "Indira Gandhi." URL: http://www.cncw.com/india/indira.htm.
(Accessed 3 November 1998).
This site contains a brief biography about Indira Gandhi. It traces her birth,
education, and political life. The majority of the article focuses on her political life
starting with her joining the Congress party, becoming its president, being appointed
minister of information and broadcasting, and finally being elected prime minister.
Although it briefly informs the reader of her controversial political career, it does
not thoroughly explore any one aspect of her life. However, the site highlights the most
important aspects of the political life of Indira Gandhi. "Indira Gandhi." URL: http://www.netsrq.com/~dbois/.
(Accessed 3 November 1998).
This site provides a basic biographical overview of Indira Gandhi's life. Although it
mentions members of her family and her education, it primarily focuses on her political
career. It includes both positive and negative aspects of her political life. It traces
her rise to political power first as president of the Congress party, then minister of
information and broadcasting, and finally to prime minister.
By using this site, one can gain a basic overview of Indira Gandhi's life. As a result,
the article is not in-depth but supplies points that one could use in further research. Krishnan, Narayana Kalyana. "The Elections and the Political Struggle in
India." World Marxist Review. 28(July 1985): 97-102.
This article discusses and emphasizes the main factor that led to a victory in the
December 1984 election for the Indian National Congress party. The primary factor resulted
from the death of former prime minister, Indira Gandhi. As a result of her death, Indians
became aware of the threat to the unity and security of their country. Just before her
death, the government had the army storm Punjab because of Sikh extremists. Most Indians
became very concerned about their nation's unity, integrity, and security. This became the
central political factor in the parliamentary general elections. Therefore, the party that
could assure to create unity, integrity, and security would emerge victorious. As it
happened, the Indian people felt that the Indian National Congress could achieve this
goal. Rajiv Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi, claimed that only the Indian National Congress
could accomplish this goal. Also, many Indians felt sympathetic to the Congress because of
Indira's death.
The writer also points out that the Congress failed in such states as Andhra Pradesh,
Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim. This resulted from the dislike of the undemocratic actions
of the Congress Central Governments.
The people of India expected the Government to end their anguish and improve living
conditions. In addition, Rajiv Gandhi promised peace, non-alignment, and friendship with
countries and especially the Soviet Union. The author of this article, who is the
Secretary of the National Council of the Communist Party of India, said that his party
would work with the Rajiv Government to bring about these positive plans.
This article gives insight into the election from someone who is active in politics.
The author, who is a communist, also provides the reader with information from past
elections and the reactions of the Communist Party. One can also gain a feeling of how
Indians felt shortly after Indira Gandhi's death. Masani, Zareer. Indira Gandhi. New York: Crowell, 1976.
This book presents the life of Indira Gandhi. The author, a historian, begins by
explaining her family life and ends with the events of 1975. In discussing her early
years, the author describes how Indira Gandhi was surrounded by politics and political
figures. Motilal Nehru, her grandfather, and also Jawaharlal Nehru, her father, were two
influential leaders in the campaign for Indian independence. Indira also had contact with
Mahatma Gandhi, the primary leader for independence.
In 1947, India gained independence and Indira's father became prime minister. Indira
became her father's official hostess and political confidante. As a result, she acquired
an abundance of political knowledge. This proved helpful to her when she finally achieved
the position of prime minister of India. In this position, Gandhi encountered many
problems such as overpopulation, low food production, financial difficulties, and poor
foreign relations. Masani explores the hard times Indira Gandhi had to deal with and her
determination to end those problems as prime minister.
This book is a thorough biography of the life of Indira Gandhi until 1975. One can gain
a strong sense of what factors influenced her political actions throughout her time as
prime minister. In addition, the author revised his book in order to include the Emergency
that occurred in the middle of 1975. To Masani, the Emergency resulted from economic and
political problems. He also called democracy in India a "Western Liberal
Illusion." According to him, the masses were not properly represented. The book is
objective and provides the reader with even more insight into Indira Gandhi's political
life. Moraes, Dom. Indira Gandhi. Boston: Little Brown, 1980. This book describes the life of one of the world's most popular women, Indira Gandhi.
It gives a very informative and well-written portrayal of her. The author, a correspondent
and memoirist, divides the book into four sections: the inheritance, the ascent, the
pinnacle, and the descent of Indira Gandhi. Being the daughter of the active political
figure Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi was destined to play an active part in politics.
Just as Nehru, Indira, along with her husband Feroze Gandhi, was jailed because of
tensions with the British and struggle for independence. When independence was finally
gained and Nehru became Prime Minister of India in 1947, Indira was right by his side and
highly exposed to politics.
Moraes also explains Gandhi's political life. In addition, he devotes an entire chapter
to Indira's son Sanjay. He describes Sanjay's four-point program. According to the author,
two points, sterilization and destruction of the slums, were factors in the downfall of
Indira Gandhi.
Moraes initially wrote this book with the cooperation of Indira Gandhi and members of
her family. He provides the reader with insight into Indian life, culture, politics, and
its history. Overall, his book thoroughly explains the life of India's most famous woman. "Mrs. Gandhi is Dead, Long Live Gandhi." Economist, 3 November 1984,
35-6. The writer of this article presents Indira Gandhi's assassination. The writer divides
the article into four parts. The first informs the reader of the assassination itself. Not
only does he mention the murder, but also the writer provides the reader with the event at
Amritsar that led to her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. The writer also provides
the reader with the effects of the assassination on both Hindus and Sikhs, and describes
India as a divided community. The second section deals with Gandhi's successor and son,
Rajiv Gandhi. By including him, the writer informs the reader of what challenges Rajiv
Gandhi will face as new prime minister. The third section provides the reader with a brief
description of how India improved economically under Indira. Also, the writer includes how
Gandhi removed anyone who would challenge her political power. Finally, the writer
concludes by examining the growth of violence in India. Although he does not totally blame
Gandhi, the writer feels that she failed to check it.
Overall, the writer presents a clear description of the divisions in India that Gandhi
had to endure. In order to begin to understand India, one must understand this. The
article explains the differences and problems between religion, race, and communities in
India. NebulaSearch. Gandhi. URL: http://www.nebulasearch.com/encyclopedia/article/Gandhi.html
(Accessed 30 January 2004).
Provides only a brief biography, but the page has many links to other sources on
the web. Sahgal, Nayantara. Indira Gandhi: Her Road to Power. New York: Frederick Ungar,
1982.
This candid book primary focuses on the political life of Indira Gandhi. According to
the author, Gandhi's values differed from those of her father Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal
Bahadur Shastri, both of whom were her predecessors. Therefore, her style in dealing with
politics was contrary to theirs. To her predecessors, democracy was very important for the
growth and development of the nation. Even though Indira Gandhi believed that she was
democratic, she did not continue that democratic belief of her father and Shastri.
Instead, the writer stresses the fact that Gandhi created a highly centralized government
under her command. This can be best seen in the Emergency of 1975-1977. According to the
author, the emergency formed a one-party system, strong executive powers, and dynastic
succession. The writer also claims that Gandhi returned back to power in 1980 in order to
save Sanjay, one of her sons. Indira felt that the only way to rid the charges against him
was to become prime minister again.
This book is very interesting especially since the author is related to Gandhi. It
provides insight into the political life of Indira Gandhi. The author is not afraid to
express her criticism of Gandhi. She also provides a useful list of Indian personalities
and a clear definition of these people. In addition, the writer translates a handful of
Indian words to assist the reader when reading.
Indira Gandhi Biography
Born: November 19, 1917
Allahabad, India
Died: October 31, 1984
New Delhi, India
Indian politician and prime minister
Indira Gandhi, a prime minister of India, was the most effective and
powerful politician of her day in that country. Considered a hero by her
supporters and cursed by her enemies, who later assassinated her, Indira
Gandhi paved the way for democracy in India during the twentieth century.
Early life
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was born in the northern Indian city of
Allahabad on November 19, 1917. She was the only child of Jawaharlal
Nehru, an important figure in the nationalist movement, a movement
devoted to the improvement of culture within the nation. Later he became
India's first prime minister. Because of many of his political
beliefs, Jawaharlal, along with much of his family, was often jailed for
supporting Mohandas Gandhi's (1869–1948) nationalist
movement. Mohandas Gandhi (no relation to Indira) opposed the dominant
rule of Great Britain over India. This association placed Indira at the
center of India's struggle for freedom. Her family's fight
for freedom made Indira's upbringing shaky. Her father was often
absent from being jailed, and her mother was bed-ridden from
tuberculosis, a terrible disease affecting the lungs and bones. Because
of her father's stand against institutions run by the British
government, Indira's early schooling was not consistent. For a
while she was taught at home. Later she attended an academy run by a
poet-philosopher.
Shortly after her mother's death in 1936, Indira enrolled at
Santiniketan University and Somerville College, Oxford University, in
England. She married Feroze Gandhi (also no relation to Mohandas Gandhi)
in March 1942, despite both family's objections, as the two were
not part of the same social status or religions—he was a
descendent of Iranian immigrants; she was Hindu. Feroze Gandhi became a
lawyer and newspaper executive as well as an independent member of
Parliament. Shortly after their marriage, they were both imprisoned for
a period of thirteen months for their part in the nationalist political
demonstrations against British rule. During her imprisonment Indira
taught reading and writing to prisoners. Feroze Gandhi died in 1960.
They had two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay.
Indian independence
On August 15, 1947, Great Britain released their control over India and
the Indian Empire was quickly divided into two countries, today known as
India and Pakistan. No longer under British control, India erupted into
violence. Thousands of members of rival religious groups, the Hindus and
the Moslems, were killed during riots. During this time Indira served as
her father's hostess and housekeeper. Since her father had never
remarried after his wife's death in 1936, Indira took charge of
her father's large mansion and began helping him in political
matters. Together they worked towards peace, arranging a meeting of
Hindu and Moslem religious leaders in New Dehli, India.
Throughout the period of Indira Gandhi's political association
with her father, she focused on social welfare work, particularly
children's welfare. The Indian National Congress had led the
country to freedom and had then become its major political party. She
had joined the Congress in 1938, and later served as a member of its
Youth Advisory Board and chairman of its Woman's Department.
Prior to
Indira Gandhi.
Reproduced by permission of
AP/Wide World Photos
.
assuming the presidency of the organization in 1959, Gandhi was named
to its twenty-one-member executive Working Committee. She was elected
with more votes than any other candidate to the powerful eleven-member
Central Election Board, which named candidates and planned electoral
strategy.
As prime minister
In June 1964, following her father's death, Gandhi became
minister for information and broadcasting under Prime Minister Lal
Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966), where she helped start an Indian
television system. In January 1966, when Shastri died, Gandhi was
elected leader of the Congress Party in Parliament (the governing body
of India) and became the third prime minister of independent India.
Gandhi assumed office at a critical time in the history of the country.
A truce had ended the 1965 war between India and Pakistan only a week
earlier. The nation was in the midst of a two-year drought, resulting in
severe food shortages and a deepening economic crisis with rising prices
and rising unemployment. The political situation in India was equally as
effected. In the fourth general elections of 1967 the Congress retained
majority control (and reelected Gandhi as its leader), but lost control
in half the state legislatures. After twenty years of political
dominance, the Congress Party was experiencing serious difficulty.
A government divided
Gandhi immediately set about reorganizing the party to make it a more
effective instrument of administration and national development. Her
goal was to achieve a wider measure of social and economic justice for
all Indians. As her left-of-center policies (slightly liberal, or
supporting civil liberties and social progress) became clear, the
Congress Party split, with the younger, more liberal elements rallying
around Gandhi and the older, more conservative party leaders opposing
her. This division came to a head in July 1969 when she nationalized
(brought under the control of government) the country's fourteen
leading banks in a highly popular move meant to make credit more
available to agriculture and to small industry.
The split was formalized when Gandhi's candidate for the
presidency of India, V. V.
Giri, won over the party's official nominee. Although Gandhi
took 228 members of Parliament with her into the New Congress, this was
not a majority in the 521-member house, and she held power only with
support from more liberal parties. In December 1970, when Gandhi failed
to get the necessary support to abolish, or end, the privileges of the
former Indian princes, she called on the president to dissolve
Parliament. Midterm elections were set for March 1971, one full year
ahead of schedule.
A coalition, or alliance, of three parties of the right and an
anti-Congress socialist party opposed Gandhi, who made alliances with
liberal parties as well as some regional parties. Her platform was
essentially one of achieving social and economic change more rapidly in
an effort to improve the quality of life of India's people. Her
party won a massive victory with over a two-thirds majority in
Parliament.
End of her career
Gandhi faced major problems in the areas of food production, population
control, land reform, regulation of prices, unemployment, and industrial
production. The problems were increased by the arrival in India of
almost ten million refugees, who were uprooted as a result of the civil
unrest in East Pakistan. In November 1971 Indian troops crossed into
East Pakistan to fight Pakistani forces. A month later Gandhi announced
recognition of the Bangladesh government set up by East Pakistani rebel
leaders. On December 16 Pakistan's commander in East Pakistan
surrendered to India.
In the state elections held in India in March 1972, Gandhi's New
Congress Party scored the most overwhelming victory in the history of
independent India. However, her opponent accused her of violating
election laws, and a high court supported the charge in 1975. Because of
this development, as well as domestic unrest, Gandhi declared a state of
emergency and postponed elections. In the 1977 elections Gandhi and her
party suffered major defeats and Gandhi eventually lost her seat and the
post of prime minister.
The following year Gandhi headed the Congress Party as she returned to
Parliament. In 1979 she again became prime minister. In efforts to prove
India's nonalliance in the global community, she visited both the
United States and the U.S.S.R., the former Soviet Union, which consisted
of Russia and several smaller states. Internally, riots broke out among
Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh religious sects, or groups. Sikhs, looking to
separate themselves from India, secured weapons within their sacred
Golden Temple in Amritsar, and assumed religious protection. Gandhi
ordered government troops to storm the temple, leading to many Sikh
deaths. This led to her assassination at her residence on October 31,
1984, by her own Sikh security guards. In death, Gandhi remains a symbol
of courage and democracy in one of the world's most populated
countries.
The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi
Katherine Frank
HarperCollins £19.99, pp578 Buy it at a discount at BOL
Indira
Gandhi is often described as India's Margaret Thatcher. Superficially,
there are obvious similarities; both went to Oxford, were deeply
influenced by their fathers, spoilt their wayward sons and were skilled
at manipulating populist sentiments. And, of course, they were
implacable women, playing hard in a male-dominated world, leaders who
grew hubristic and ruthless. Together with Benazir Bhutto, Thatcher and
Gandhi have also joined the gallery of female demons who are invoked
every time feminists need to be put in their place.
When they met
in September 1976, according to Hugo Young, Thatcher's biographer, they
bonded immediately and developed a 'uniquely easy relationship'. But
the similitude can be exaggerated. One was the ambitious daughter of a
small grocer who skilfully gained entry into the corridors of power in a
secure and stable country; the other was born at a historic moment and
had power and politics thrust upon her from the moment of her birth into
a rich and influential family which lived in a grand manor house with
Serves porcelain, crystal, grand pianos and libraries, Savile Row suits
and expensive whisky. The boys were educated at Harrow and Oxbridge and
girls had English governesses who gave the children English names.
Indira's father, Jawaharlal, became 'Joe' and his sisters were renamed
'Nan' and 'Betty'.
This is the kind of exquisite detail we get
from this well-researched book by Katherine Frank, an American
biographer who lives in Britain. Astonishingly, this is the first
definitive and objective biography of an exceptional woman who had
deep flaws and, in the end, a tragic life whichever way you choose to
examine it. The writing style is unexciting and, at times, even boring,
but the material more than makes up for this. It may even be an
advantage. Too many insufferably egotistic biographers allow their own
flourishes to dominate the text and the subject ends up as a bit player.
This story is rich and exhaustingly dramatic from start to finish; the
protagonists are both making the destiny of the nation and negotiating
their own lives in a wildly unpredictable political and social
landscape. In fact, the domestic lives of the Nehru family read like
episodes from Dallas, only more quarrelsome and cruel.
Indira
was a loved grandchild and daughter but was totally controlled and
directed. When she was nine, her grandfather tried to ban physical
contact between her and her beloved mother. Like Rousseau's Emile, she
was expected to be physically resilient. Jawaharlal insisted that she
had to run long distances every day and with grace, 'breathing through
her heels'. He told her what to wear, to read, to think and she obeyed
until much later on in life, when there were one or two mild rebellions.
Eventually, she became the largely disappointed wife of an attractive
but philandering man, Feroze Gandhi. These were the men who made the
woman so many grew to hate in time. None of this excuses the inhumane
policies such as the forced sterilisation programmes of 1976 or the
betrayal of democratic principles which Indira is now infamous for (the
worst of these was the suspension of the constitution in 1975) but it
does perhaps help to understand why she was so often driven and
unyielding.
Until now, Jawaharlal Nehru seems to have got away
with rather a benign historical reputation. He married a young and (at
the time) insecure woman, Kamala, and then allowed his domineering
sisters, particularly Nan, to maltreat her for the rest of her life,
even when she was seriously ill several times with TB or pleurisy.
Indira loved her mother intensely and worried whenever she was left
alone with her in-laws, especially when Nehru was in and out of prison
in the Thirties taking on the British as the independence movement grew.
She wrote to him in 1934: 'Do you know anything about what happens to
Mummy when you are absent? Do you know that when she was in agony, there
was no one to help her?' He displayed that all-too-familiar behaviour
of Asian men who leave their wives at the mercy of their families, some
of whom think that it is their duty to treat the daughter-in-law with
disregard and calculated unkindness.
Indira was already
uncomfortable in her skin when she heard Nan say that she was 'ugly and
stupid'. The teenager was devastated and 50 years later confessed that
the woman had 'blighted my youth'. She remained convinced that she was
unattractive until she met Feroze Gandhi (not related to the mahatma,
although many make that assumption) who so lifted her spirits (at that
time) that she began to blossom. Her beauty was defrosted and came out
from below the surface; you can see this in some of the photographs in
the book. Perhaps this is why she could never quite let go of Feroze and
forgave him repeatedly. They were on the point of another
reconciliation in 1960 when he died of a heart attack, still only 48.
Sex,
too, was a big player in this saga of the Nehru and Gandhi families.
Kamala developed into an irresistibly attractive woman in her thirties.
Young men became her acolytes as she developed her own passions and
policies, all concerned with the rights of women and girls in India.
Feroze was a devotee and many reliable people believe they had a long
and satisfying affair. After she died, Nehru had affairs too and then
fell in love with Edwina Mountbatten. In time, Indira was rumoured to
have taken on a lover too.
The larger political picture is just
as riveting. The long struggle for freedom, the assassination of the
mahatma, partition and independence with her father leading the country,
all affected and involved Indira profoundly. Her own shaky start (never
intended - her father did not want a political dynasty for India) is
well recorded as is the way she transformed the political culture of her
country, moving it towards what the historian Sunil Khilnani describes
as the Jacobin idea of popular sovereignty, with the poor increasingly
committed to the idea of democracy and the vote. The role of the
impetuous Sanjay in her eventual unpopularity is also clearly described,
as are the staggering mistakes in Punjab and Kashmir. There is much
more in this long and excellent book.
My only gripe would be
that the author becomes so awed by her subject that she makes the same
mistake Indira made in coming to believe that she was India, or even
Mother India. Nobody is that big or important, not in such a large,
multifarious country and this is a lesson all leaders have had to learn,
sometimes by dying brutally, as in the case of Indira.
Biography of Indira Gandhi
http://asianhistory.about.com/od/india/p/Biography-of-Indira-Gandhi.htm
By Kallie Szczepanski, About.com Guide
Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India in the early 1980s, feared the growing power of the charismatic Sikh
preacher and militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Throughout the late
1970s and early 1980s, sectarian tension and strife had been growing
between Sikhs and Hindus in northern India.
In
1983, the Sikh leader Bhindranwale and his armed followers occupied and
fortified the second-most holy building in the sacred Golden Temple complex (also called the Harmandir Sahib or Darbar Sahib) in Amritsar, the Indian Punjab.
From their position in the Akhal Takt building, Bhindranwale and his
followers called for armed resistance to Hindu domination. They were
upset that their homeland, the Punjab, had been divided between India and Pakistan in the 1947 Partition of India.
To
make matters worse, the Indian Punjab had been lopped in half once more
in 1966 to form the Haryana state, which was dominated by
Hindi-speakers. The Punjabis lost their first capital at Lahore to Pakistan
in 1947; the newly-built capital at Chandigarh ended up in Haryana two
decades later, and the government in Delhi decreed that Haryana and
Punjab would simply have to share the city. To right these wrongs, some
of Bhindranwale's followers called for an entirely new, separate Sikh
nation, to be called Khalistan.
Tensions in the region had grown
so high that by June of 1984, Indira Gandhi decided to take action. She
made a fatal choice - to send in the Indian Army against the Sikh
militants in the Golden Temple...
Indira Gandhi's Early Life:
Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917 in Allahabad (in modern-day Uttar Pradesh), British India. Her father was Jawaharlal Nehru,
who would go on to become the first prime minister of India following
its independence from Britain; her mother, Kamala Nehru, was just 18
years old when the baby arrived. The child was named Indira
Priyadarshini Nehru.
Indira grew up as an only child. A baby
brother born in November of 1924 died after just two days. The Nehru
family was very active in the anti-imperial politics of the time;
Indira's father was a leader of the nationalist movement, and a close
friend of Mohandas Gandhi and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Sojourn in Europe:
In
March 1930, Kamala and Indira were marching in protest outside of the
Ewing Christian College. Indira's mother suffered from heat-stroke, so a
young student named Feroz Gandhi rushed to her aid. He would become a
close friend of Kamala's, escorting and attending her during her
treatment for tuberculosis,
first in India and later in Switzerland. Indira also spent time in
Switzerland, where her mother died of TB in February of 1936.
Indira
went to Britain in 1937, where she enrolled at Somerville College,
Oxford, but never completed her degree. While there, she began to spend
more time with Feroz Gandhi, then a London School of Economics student.
The two married in 1942, over the objections of Jawaharlal Nehru, who
disliked his son-in-law. (Feroz Gandhi was no relation to Mohandas
Gandhi.)
Nehru eventually had to accept the marriage. Feroz and
Indira Gandhi had two sons, Rajiv, born in 1944, and Sanjay, born in
1946.
Early Political Career:
During
the early 1950s, Indira served as an unofficial personal assistant to
her father, then the prime minister. In 1955, she became a member of
the Congress Party's working committee; within four years, she would be
president of that body.
Feroz Gandhi had a heart attack in 1958, while Indira and Nehru were in Bhutan
on an official state visit. Indira returned home to take care of him.
Feroz died in Delhi in 1960 after suffering a second heart attack.
Indira's
father also died in 1964, and was succeeded as prime minister by Lal
Bahadur Shastri. Shastri appointed Indira Gandhi his minister of
information and broadcasting; in addition, she was a member of the upper
house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha.
In 1966, Prime
Minister Shastri died unexpectedly. Indira Gandhi was named the new
Prime Minister as a compromise candidate. Politicians on both sides of a
deepening divide within the Congress Party hoped to be able to control
her. They had completely underestimated Nehru's daughter.
Prime Minister Gandhi:
By
1966, the Congress Party was in trouble. It was dividing into two
separate factions; Indira Gandhi led the left-wing socialist faction.
The 1967 election cycle was grim for the party - it lost almost 60 seats
in the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha. Indira was
able to keep the Prime Minister seat through a coalition with the Indian
Communist and Socialist parties. In 1969, the Indian National Congress
Party split in half for good.
As prime minister, Indira made some popular moves. She authorized the development of a nuclear weapons
program in response to China's successful test at Lop Nur in 1967.
(India would test its own bomb in 1974.) In order to counterbalance
Pakistan's friendship with the United States, and also perhaps due to
mutual personal antipathy with US President Richard Nixon, she forged a closer relationship with the Soviet Union.
In keeping with her socialist
principles, Indira abolished the maharajas of India's various states,
doing away with their privileges as well as their titles. She also
nationalized the banks in July of 1969, as well as mines and oil
companies. Under her stewardship, traditionally famine-prone India
became a Green Revolution success story, actually exporting a surplus of wheat, rice and other crops by the early 1970s.
In
1971, in response to a flood of refugees from East Pakistan, Indira
began a war against Pakistan. The East Pakistani/Indian forces won the
war, resulting in the formation of the nation of Bangladesh from what had been East Pakistan.
Re-election, Trial and State of Emergency:
In
1972, Indira Gandhi's party swept to victory in national parliamentary
elections based on the defeat of Pakistan and the slogan of Garibi Hatao,
or "Eradicate Poverty." Her opponent, Raj Narain of the Socialist
Party, charged her with corruption and electoral malpractice. In June
of 1975, the High Court in Allahabad ruled for Narain; Indira should
have been stripped of her seat in Parliament and barred from elected
office for six years.
However, Indira Gandhi refused to step down
from the prime ministership, despite wide-spread unrest following the
verdict. Instead, she had the president declare a state of emergency in
India.
During the state of emergency, Indira initiated a series
of authoritarian changes. She purged the national and state governments
of her political opponents, arresting and jailing political activists.
To control population growth, she instituted a policy of forced
sterilization, under which impoverished men were subjected to
involuntary vasectomies
(often under appallingly unsanitary conditions). Indira's younger son
Sanjay led a move to clear the slums around Delhi; hundreds of people
were killed and thousands left homeless when their homes were destroyed.
Downfall and Arrests:
In
a key miscalculation, Indira Gandhi called new elections in March,
1977. She may have begun to believe her own propaganda, deceiving
herself into believing that the people of India loved her and approved
of her actions during the years-long state of emergency. Her party was
trounced at the polls by the Janata Party, which cast the election as a
choice between democracy or dictatorship, and Indira left office.
In
October of 1977, Indira Gandhi was jailed briefly for official
corruption. She would be arrested again in December of 1978 on the same
charges. However, the Janata Party was struggling. A cobbled-together
coalition of four previous opposition parties, it could not agree on a
course for the country, and accomplished very little.
Indira Emerges Once More:
By
1980, the people of India had had enough of the ineffectual Janata
Party. They reelected Indira Gandhi's Congress Party under the slogan
of "stability." Indira took power again for her fourth term as prime
minister. However, her triumph was dampened by the death of her son
Sanjay, the heir apparent, in a plane crash in June of that year.
By
1982, rumblings of discontent and even outright secessionism were
breaking out all over India. In Andhra Pradesh, on the central east
coast, the Telangana region (comprising the inland 40%) wanted to break
away from the rest of the state. Trouble also flared in the
ever-volatile Jammu and Kashmir
region in the north. The most serious threat, though, came from Sikh
secessionists in the Punjab, led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
Operation Bluestar at the Golden Temple:
During
this period, Sikh extremists were waging a campaign of terror against
Hindus and moderate Sikhs in the Punjab. Bhindranwale and his following
of heavily armed militants holed up in the Akhal Takt, the second-most
holy building after the Golden Temple itself. The leader himself was
not calling for the creation of Khalistan; rather he demanded the
implementation of the Anandpur Resolution, which called for the
unification and purification of the Sikh community within India.
Indira
Gandhi decided to send the Indian Army on a frontal assault of the
building to capture or kill Bhindranwale. She ordered the attack at the
beginning of June, 1984, even though June 3rd was the most important
Sikh holiday (honoring the martyrdom of the Golden Temple's founder),
and the complex was full of innocent pilgrims. Interestingly, due to
the heavy Sikh presence in the Indian Army, the commander of the attack
force, Major General Kuldip Singh Brar, and many of the troops were also
Sikhs.
In preparation for the attack, all electricity and lines
of communication to the Punjab were cut off. On June 3, the army
surrounded the temple complex with military vehicles and tanks. In the
early morning hours of June 5, they launched the attack. According to
official Indian government numbers, 492 civilians were killed, including
women and children, along with 83 Indian army personnel. Other
estimates from hospital workers and eyewitnesses state that more than
2,000 civilians died in the bloodbath.
Among those killed were
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and the other militants. To the further
outrage of Sikhs world-wide, the Akhal Takt was badly damaged by shells
and gunfire.
Aftermath and Assassination of Indira Gandhi:
In
the aftermath of Operation Bluestar, a number of Sikh soldiers resigned
from the Indian Army. In some areas, there were actual battles between
those resigning and those still loyal to the army.
On October 31,
1984, Indira Gandhi walked out to the garden behind her official
residence for an interview with a British journalist. As she passed two
of her Sikh bodyguards, they drew their service weapons and opened
fire. Beant Singh shot her three times with a pistol, while Satwant
Singh fired thirty times with a self-loading rifle. Both men then
calmly dropped their weapons and surrendered.
Indira Gandhi died
that afternoon after undergoing surgery. Beant Singh was shot dead
while under arrest; Satwant Singh and alleged conspirator Kehar Singh
were later hanged.
When news of the Prime Minister's death was
broadcast, mobs of Hindus across northern India went on a rampage. In
the Anti-Sikh Riots, which lasted for four days, anywhere from 3,000 to
20,000 Sikhs were murdered, many of them burned alive. The violence was
particularly bad in Haryana state. Because the Indian government was
slow to respond to the pogrom, support for the Sikh separatist Khalistan
movement increased markedly in the months following the massacre.
Indira Gandhi's Legacy:
India's
Iron Lady left behind a complicated legacy. She was succeeded in the
office of Prime Minister by her surviving son, Rajiv Gandhi. This
dynastic succession is one of the negative aspects of her legacy - to
this day, the Congress Party is so thoroughly identified with the
Nehru/Gandhi family that it cannot avoid charges of nepotism. Indira
Gandhi also instilled authoritarianism into India's political processes,
warping the democracy to suit her need for power.
On the other
hand, Indira clearly loved her country, and did leave it in a stronger
position relative to neighboring countries. She sought to improve the
lives of India's poorest, and supported industrialization and
technological development. On balance, however, Indira Gandhi seems to
have done more harm than good during her two stints as the prime
minister of India.
For more information on women in power, see this list of Female Heads of State in Asia.
Complete biography of Indira Gandhi
http://www.preservearticles.com/201104306126/indira-gandhi.html
"There are two kinds of people: those
who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first
group; there is much less competition"
On November 19, way back in 1917,
Allahabad welcomed the cries of a little baby girl. Her parents
Jawarharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru named her Indira Priyadharshini. She
was affectionately called "Priyadharshini" by one and all in her
household. Indira's babyhood was every little girls dream as she grew up
in a very wealthy family where she had every little thing she wished
and had her every need catered to. But things did not remain the same
for long.
When she was two years old Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi visited her house. He was a well-known pacifist leader
known for his fervor in the Indian freedom movement. He was exiled in
South Africa due to his freedom movement and after he returned to India
he visited Indira's home. He had long talks with her parents and before
Indira could comprehend anything, things began to change in her home.
Her parents gave up all the Western possessions they had enjoyed so long.
One day, Indira's mother came to her and said "Priyadharshini, please give me your doll. I shall have to burn it".
Little Indira asked, "Why do I have to my doll mama?"
Her mother Kamala replied, "This is to
show your support to Uncle Gandhi against the British rule. Your doll is
a product of Britain my dear".
"You can surely take her mama”, said Indira and gave up her doll without the slightest grudge.'
Such was Indira's exposure to freedom in
that tender age of four. Indira's parents joined in the freedom
struggle along with Gandhi and soon her quiet home became a center of
the movement. Constant meetings were being held with a lot of freedom
fighters rallying around the house most of the time. Political leaders
were always staying at her house and no longer were the stately mansion a
quiet place.
Her parents Nehru and Kamala started to
get thoroughly involved in the freedom movement and soon, little Indira
were left all to herself. Her grandfather Motilal Nehru a great lawyer
of those days stayed with her during her lonesome hours. But things got
worse in the household when her beloved grandfather and her father were
imprisoned for the first time for their activities in the freedom
movement. This led little Indira through a bout of grief, which worsened
when her mother was also imprisoned for her involvement in the freedom
struggle.
Indian customs in those days did not
allow women to stand in the forefront and the breaking of this social
custom by Kamala Nehru led to her frequent imprisonments. Little Indira
soon became a silent observer of all the atrocities that took place
against her mother and her family. Eventually as she grew up she
hardened herself and declared, “I will not to be hurt, as my mother had
been, by Indian social customs that repressed women".
She grew up as a solemn and intelligent
child whose childhood games were related to the fight against Britain.
Her games always reflected the freedom struggle India underwent and the
involvement of her parents in the struggle against the British. But
gradually her games grew serious as she started to involve herself in
the freedom movement with her friends in a shrewd manner.
During that time, many Indian National
Congress workers from Allahabad did not know when the British would
arrest them or search their homes. This was the main fear among the
workers and in order to find out when this would occur Little Indira
called her friends and said "Let’s help out our country"
Thus she formed the Monkey Brigade.
Imitating the Monkey army in the epic Indian story Ramayana, she and her
friends took part in the struggle by writing and delivering notices,
making flags, cooking food, and spying on the police.
Indira became the leader of this children's group.
When asked, she said, "Our purpose is to help end British control in India. We will do our best even if we are just children."
Being its leader, she delivered speeches
while other children actually warned the people who were going to be
arrested. The Congress was fully aware of the Monkey Brigade movement
led by Indira.
One leader said, "Though she is just
twelve years old her idea is ingenious. The British will never suspect
children of participating with such involvement."
Indira took her job very seriously. One
of the most significant actions of the Monkey Brigade involved Indira
when she was all by herself. The Congress party's top officials were
organizing a civil disobedience movement. After the meeting, the
documents containing the plans of the movement were placed in trunk of a
car with Indira in the back seat. Before the car was ready to leave the
area, a police inspector stopped the car in order to search it.
However, Indira pleaded saying, "Please do not inspect the car. I will be delayed and I will arrive late at school."
Fortunately, the inspector said, "Ok, you may go"
He had believed her and the car was not searched. Indira triumphantly succeeded in delivering the documents intact.
Indira spent her school days visiting
jails where her parents or her favorite freedom fighters were
imprisoned. While she was in school in Poona, she often visited Mohandas
Gandhi in prison.
According_to Indira, "Gandhi uncle is one person who played an important role in shaping me up".
Not only did she visit Gandhi in the
prison, she gave him her support in her child like manner by sitting on
his bedside, as he recovered from one of his fasts.
Though Indira was not involved directly
in the freedom struggle, she came to know the entire Indian political
leadership when she was a little girl itself.
Nehru, Indira's father was in jail most of the time. But he was extremely concerned about the education of his only child.
So in order to keep her well updated in
general knowledge he told Indira, "Priyadharshini, I will write to you
all about the history of the world in my letters. Read them and store
them in your memory. That is all I can do as I am unable to sit beside
you and teach".
Thus began the long correspondence
between the father and daughter, which lasted through Nehru's prison
years. Meanwhile Indira passed her Metric from Pune University and was
then sent on to Shantiniketan, formed by Rabindranath Tagore. Here she
was made to lead a strict highly disciplined life.
As time went by Indira's mother Kamala
became ill and was sent to Switzerland to convalesce. Indira accompanied
her mother to Switzerland where she Joined a school and completed a
part of her studies. But as time went by her mother became increasingly s'ck and when Indira turned 17, her world came apart ^hen her mother passed away.
By and by she got over the loss. She
pursued her studies in Oxford University in London. Although she had
vowed to remain single, she decided to marry Feroze Gandhi, a family
friend of the Nehru's.
He was a Parsee, a member of a small
cultural group that had fled from Persia centuries earlier to escape
Muslim persecution. Since the Nehru's were of the Brahmin or priestly
class of India, Indira was criticized for her choice of a husband not
only by her father but also from the public. Despite these protests the
couple were married when Indira was 23 years old.
After, her wedding Indira became
increasingly active in the freedom movement. As a result of this, she
was jailed for nine months. As soon as she was released she got herself
involved thoroughly in politics. Due to this she could not spend much
time with her husband I and family.
Soon after her imprisonment she gave
birth to a baby boy. She named him Rajiv. When Rajiv was two years old,
the family moved to Lucknow where her husband Feroze served as Managing
Director of the National Herald. Before long Indira carried again and
little Rajiv was joined by his baby brother Sanjay.
Finally India achieved independence when
Indira was 28 years old and Indira's father became the nation's first
prime minister. Because Nehru was a widower he needed Indira to act as
hostess at official government functions. This led Indira to be on her
father's side most of the time and gradually she and her husband drifted
apart. Although they were never divorced they lived separately until he
passed away when Indira was 39 years old.
Indira lived in Nehru's shadow for
years, but she eventually began to speak out during her own campaigns
and at functions her father could not attend. Soon she became the
president of the India National Congress and sought to increase women's
participation in politics.
In 1964, Nehru passed away and Indira
Gandhi was elected to the Parliament. She was Minister of Information
and Broadcasting under Lai Bahadur Shastri who became the Prime Minister
after Nehru's death. But unfortunately Shastri died unexpectedly of a
heart attack less than two years after he became the Prime Minister of
India. There were numerous contenders for the position of the Prime
Minister ship when Shastri passed away and since the candidates were
unable to agree among themselves they picked Indira Gandhi as a
compromise candidate, thinking that she could be easily manipulated.
But they were in for a shock as Indira
showed extraordinary political skills and tenacity. She was the Prime
Minister of India from 1966 to 1977 for 11 years. She was greatly
respected and became very popular j after India's triumph in the war of
1971 against Pakistan. The explosion of a nuclear device enhanced her
reputation among middle-class Indians as a tough and shrewd political
leader and she was greatly loved by the people of India. But as time
went by North India was soon rocked by demonstrations from people who
were angry at the poor state of the economy and rampant corruption in
the country, and the poor standards of living among the people. This led
to
Indira's unpopularity and soon she lost her Prime Minister ship.
But this did not deter Indira. In 1980
Indira returned back as Prime Minister of India. The same year, however,
a sad event took place in her life. Her son Sanjay was killed in an
airplane crash.
Indira carried on in her role as the
country's leader with great zeal. She was also occupied by efforts to
resolve the political problems in the state of Punjab. A secessionist
movement of Sikh militants were waging a campaign of terrorism against
the Government and wanting a separate state of Khalistan. Jarnail Singh
Bindranwale led this movement and with supporters from the Golden
Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar. Indira wanted to end this
terrorism and she organized "Operation Bluestar" with the help of the
Indian army. This led to the death of Bindranwale and over 600 people
died in the conflict.
The Golden Temple was stripped clean of
Sikh terrorists but the Temple was damaged, and sadly Indira earned the
hatred of Sikhs who started to resent her move for peace as an invasion
on their space.
And so, On October 31 of the same year,
when she was 65 years old, Indira was walking through her garden when
two of her own Sikh security guards shot her down.
Indira will be remembered for her
commendable efforts in the development and progress of science, space
exploration, irrigation, as well as policies like the nationalization of
banks and the 20-point program. But most of all she will be remembered
for being one of the greatest leaders the country ever had.
Indira
Gandhi née: Nehru; (19 November 1917 - 31 October 1984) was the Prime
Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966
to 1977 and for a fourth term from 1980 until her assassination in 1984,
a total of fifteen years. She was India's first female Prime Minister.
In 1999, she was voted the greatest woman of the past thousand years
in a poll carried by BBC news, ahead of other notable women such as
Queen Elizabeth I of England, Marie Curie and Mother Teresa. Born
in the politically influential Nehru dynasty, she grew up in an
intensely political atmosphere. Despite the same last name, she was of
no relation to the statesman Mohandas Gandhi. Her grandfather, Motilal
Nehru, was a prominent Indian nationalist leader. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru,
was a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first
Prime Minister of Independent India. She was brought up in an
environment with great exposure to the political figures of the day, and
was particularly influenced by her father. She once said: "My father was a statesman, I'm a political woman. My father was a saint. I'm not. " In one early photograph (above), she was sitting at the bed of of Mohandas Gandhi as he recoverd from one of his fasts.
In 1937, she passed the Oxford entrance exam and studied at
Somerville college, Oxford. At university she was often subject to ill
health, and returned to India without completing her degree - though
later she was conferred an honourary degree by Oxford.
On returning to India from Oxford in 1941, Indira became involved in
the Indian Independence movement. Between 1947 and 1965, she served in
her father (J.Nehru's) government. Although she was unofficially acting
as a personal assistant, she wielded considerable power within the
government. After her father's death in 1964, she was appointed as
Minister of Information and Broadcasting in Lal Bahadur Shastri's
cabinet. Shortly after, Shastri died unexpectedly, and with the help of
Congress Party President, K. Kamaraj Indira Gandhi was chosen to be the
new Prime Minister of India.
Gandhi attracted significant electoral popularity helped by her
personality and populist economic measures. She introduced more
left-wing economic policies and sought to promote agricultural
productivity. In 1971, she led India to a decisive victory in war with
Pakistan; and in 1974, India completed their own nuclear bomb. However,
in the early 1970s, the Indian economy suffered from high inflation,
falling living standards, and combined with protests over corruption,
there was great instability that led her to impose a state of emergency
in 1975. In the state of emergency, political opponents were imprisoned,
constitutional rights removed, and the press placed under
strict censorship. This gave her a reputation for being authoritarian,
willing to ignore democractic principles.
Her son Sanjay Gandhi was also increasingly unpopular as he wielded
substantial powers, such as slum clearnace and enforced sterilisation to
deal with India's growing population. In 1977, against a backdrop of
economic difficulties and growing disillusionment, Indira Gandhi lost
the election and temporarily dropped out of politics.
However, she was returned to office in 1980. But, in this period,
she became increasingly involved in an escalating conflict with Sikh
separatists in Punjab. She was later assassinated by her own Sikh
bodyguards in 1984 for her role in storming the sacred Golden Temple.
Citation : Pettinger, Tejvan. "Biography of Indira Gandhi ", Oxford, www.biographyonline.net 12th Jan. 2013
There are many books written by Indira Gandhi, and we can found about them at the following goole pages.
Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma in 1988, after years
living and studying abroad, only to find widespread slaughter of
protesters rallying against the brutal rule of dictator U Ne Win.
She spoke out against him and initiated a nonviolent movement toward
achieving democracy and human rights. In 1989, the government placed Suu
Kyi under house arrest, and she spent 15 of the next 21 years in
custody. In 1991, her ongoing efforts won her the Nobel Prize for Peace,
Aung San Suu Kyi's father, formerly the de facto prime
minister of British Burma, was assassinated in 1947. Her mother, Khin
Kyi, was appointed ambassador to India in 1960. Suu Kyi obtained a
bachelor's degree from the University of Oxford in 1969, and in 1972,
she married. She had two children—in 1973 and 1977—and the family spent
the 1970s and 1980s in England, the United States and India.
In 1988, Suu Kyi returned to Burma to care for her dying mother, and her life took a dramatic turn.
In 1962, Burma dictator U Ne Win
staged and carried out a coup d'état in Burma, which spurred
intermittent protests over his policies for the subsequent decades. By
1988, he had resigned his post of party chairman, essentially leaving
the country in the hands of a military junta, but stayed behind the
scenes to orchestrate various violent responses to the continuing
protests and other events.
Suu Kyi returned to Burma from abroad
in 1988, amidst the slaughter of protesters rallying against U Ne Win
and his iron-fisted rule. She began speaking out against him, with
democracy and human rights at the fore of her struggle. It did not take
long for the junta to notice her efforts, and in July of 1989, the
military government of Burman—which was renamed the "Union of Myanmar"
in 1989—placed Suu Kyi under house arrest and cut off any communication
she might have with the outside world.
Though the Union military
told Suu Kyi that if she agreed to leave the country, they would free
her, she refused to do so, insisting that her struggle would continue
until the junta released the country to civilian government and
political prisoners were freed. In 1990, a parliamentary election was
held, and the party with which Suu Kyi was now affiliated—the National
League for Democracy—won more than 80 percent of the parliamentary
seats. The election results, though, were predictably ignored by the
junta. Twenty years later, they formally annulled the results.
Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in July 1995, and the next
year she attended the NLD party congress, under the continual harassment
of the military. Three years later, she founded a representative
committee and declared it as the country's legitimate ruling body, and
in response, in September 2000, the junta once again placed her under
house arrest. She was released in May of 2002.
In 2003, the NLD clashed in the streets with pro-government
demonstrators, and Suu Kyi was yet again arrested and placed under house
arrest.
In May of 2009, just before she was set to be released from
house arrest, Suu Kyi was arrested yet again, this time charged with an
actual crime—allowing an intruder to spend two nights at her home, a
violation of her terms of house arrest. The intruder, an American named
John Yettaw, had swum to her house to warn her after having a vision
of an attempt on her life. He was also subsequently imprisoned,
returning to the United States in August 2009.
That same year, the United Nations declared that Suu Kyi's detention
was illegal, under Myanmar law. In August, however, Suu Kyi went to
trial, and was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison. The
sentence was reduced to 18 months, however, and she was allowed to
serve it as a continuation of her house arrest. Those within Myanmar
and the concerned international community believed that the ruling was
simply brought down to prevent Suu Kyi from participating in the
multiparty parliamentary elections scheduled for the following year
(the first since 1990). These fears were realized when a series of new
election laws were put in place in March 2010: One law prohibited
convicted criminals from participating in elections, and another barred
anyone married to a foreign national from running for office (Suu
Kyi's husband was English).
In support of Suu Kyi, the NLD refused to re-register the party
under these new laws and was disbanded. The government parties ran
virtually unopposed in the 2010 election and easily won a vast majority
of legislative seats, with charges of fraud following in their wake.
Suu Kyi was released from house arrest six days after the election.
In November 2011, the NLD announced that it would re-register as a
political party, and in January 2012, Suu Kyi formally registered to
run for a seat in parliament. On April 1, 2012, following a grueling
and exhausting campaign, the NLD announced that Suu Kyi had won her
election. A news broadcast on state-run MRTV confirmed her victory, and
on May 2, 2012, Suu Kyi took her oath and took office.
In 1991, Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. She
has also received the Rafto prize (1990), the International Simón
Bolívar Prize (1992) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Award (1993), among other accolades.
In December 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 400–0 to
award Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal, and in May 2008, U.S.
President George Bush signed the vote into law, making Suu Kyi the
first person in American history to receive the prize while imprisoned. http://www.biography.com/people/aung-san-suu-kyi-9192617?page=2
Aung San Suu Kyi Produces Her Father’s Biopic, but Don’t Expect Miracles
General Aung San arrives at No. 10 Downing Street in London 1947 to negotiate Burma's independence with the British government
Four young men file into a conference room in downtown Rangoon,
dressed in 1940s military uniform, and stand in front of a panel of
Burma’s top cultural figures. Some of the panel members have recently
been released from prison — among them is democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi. The grilling they now give the young men is the culmination of a
four-and-a-half month process to choose the lead for a film that, just a
few years ago, would have seemed beyond belief: a big-budget feature,
produced by Suu Kyi, about her revolutionary father, General Aung San.
It’s a movie that is over 60 years in the making. Aung San was a
student leader who rose to become the founder of the modern Burmese army
and the chief negotiator of Burma’s independence from Britain. He was
assassinated just before that independence was obtained. His daughter,
who was 2 at the time, says he remained an influence on her life. “He
was very much in my life,” she told TIME’s Hannah Beech during an
interview conducted in 2010, shortly after her release from house
arrest. “Although he died, people spoke about him all the time. I was
told I was his favorite because I was the youngest and only girl.”
(MORE:The Lady: Michelle Yeoh as Political Heroine Aung San Suu Kyi)
Aung San’s legacy was glossed over by previous governments of Burma
(also called Myanmar) because of the fear that it would add luster to
his activist daughter. His photos, and recordings of his speeches,
vanished into obscurity. But with the reformist, quasi-civilian
government that took power in early 2011, Suu Kyi has been transformed
from an outlawed activist into a mainstream politician, and her father’s
life story is no longer a taboo subject. “We’d love to give the message
to the world: this is a real Burmese leader,” says Zarganar, the famous
Burmese actor and comedian who now sits on the film’s executive board.
“Now we’ve got that chance.” Unsurprisingly, Suu Kyi’s influence
pervades the entire project; she is listed as “executive producer,” but,
Grace Swe Zin Htaik, a former actress who is a member of the film
committee says, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate is taking a much more
hands-on role. “I’ve seen her becoming involved in lines, the story
treatment, and she finalized the actors and actresses selection,” she
says, “so I think she’s actually more personally involved in it.”
That Aung San is being made at all is remarkable, but it is
also being made against the backdrop of a film industry ravaged by
decades of oppression. From its inception in the early 1920s until the
coup of 1962, Burma’s movie industry was a regional powerhouse,
producing historical epics and lavish dramas at a rate of 100 or more
per year. But after a socialist government came to power in 1962,
filmmakers and artists of all kinds found themselves under the watchful
eye of the censorship committee — a situation that got worse in ’88 when
the junta took over.
Censorship was bad enough, but the advent of VCDs and DVDs — and an
“entertainment tax” levied on cinemagoers — delivered the coup de grâce
to a movie industry ill equipped to withstand competition. Most of the
motion-picture companies closed down, as did the majority of the movie
theaters: in Rangoon, Burma’s largest city and home to 4.3 million
people, there are now just eight cinemas; in the country’s second
biggest city Mandalay, population 1.3 million, there are two. Today, out
of every 10 movies made in Burma, only one makes money. Most people who
work in the movie business do so as dilettantes, funding their projects
themselves (a movie in Burma generally costs about $15,000 to make,
mostly on older equipment, with films shot and edited in as little as
two weeks). There is a state body dealing with movies, the Myanmar
Motion Picture Enterprise, allied to the Ministry of Information, but
the government provides no funding. Apart from censoring scenes, its
remit is limited to granting licenses and shooting permissions.
“There are a lot of rules here. It makes our work very difficult,”
says Zine Wyne, chairman of the nongovernmental Myanmar Motion Picture
Organization. All of this is reflected in the movies themselves, most of
which are poorly shot, badly acted comedies (a popular genre with
filmmakers because it allows them to skirt sensitive topics and so
largely escape censorial attention). The films mostly go straight to DVD
or VCD. Only about 10 locally made films a year are deemed worthy of
cinematic release.
(PHOTOS:Aung San Suu Kyi’s Path to Victory) Aung San sets its sights on a far grander stage. According
to Suu Kyi, it will be “an epic movie that will become world famous,”
to be filmed not only in Burma but also on location in Japan and
England. Its makers have plans for international distribution, and they
hope to submit it to the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
category. Comparisons have been drawn by producers to the 1982
Oscar-winning biopic Gandhi. But given the meager state of local talent, these are wildly extravagant claims.
“I’m very surprised, they don’t even know what is the synopsis, what
is the treatment, what is the script,” says local director Midi Z. “So
it’s a little strange. They want to make a huge film, a huge-budget
film. They’re full of desire, full of emotion, full of passion. But in
reality they have no knowledge of making films.” A director is yet to be
chosen. The screenwriters understandably want to get the script right
(the recent Hollywood biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi, The Lady, is
widely disliked in Burma because of supposed inaccuracies in the scenes
portraying Aung San). But the script is, as yet, unfinished, with six writers working on it — a recipe for disaster, if ever there was one.
Another problem is that few people involved in the film have
knowledge of modern techniques. In July 2012, Bill Bowling, a Hollywood
production manager who works with the Asian Film Commissions Network,
gave a workshop for the crew of Aung San in Rangoon. Bowling was reduced to explaining basic terms such as montage and establishing shot,
but his audience seemed nonetheless reluctant to accept foreign help.
“They seem to want to have just Burmese people involved in the making of
the film,” says Bowling. “Because they view it as a Burmese project. To
make it a big film, model it on an epic film, make it on a big scale,
that means bringing in some foreign experts, and they were kind of
resistant to that.”
Another alarm bell: the cast is made up of amateurs, chosen for their
appearance, attitude and nationalism, rather than acting ability. Kyaw
Kyaw Myo, who will play the film’s title character, is a soccer player
for Kanbawza FC in the Myanmar National League; Aung San’s wife is
played by a primary-school teacher. Thierry Bleu, an acting coach from
Paris, was invited to train the amateurs to an international standard.
“I got results with some of them,” he says. But he also says he is
disappointed that he was only able to work with them for a month and
hasn’t been asked to return.
The mere novelty of Aung San will guarantee it a
measure of local success, of course. But if Burma’s movie industry is to
return to anywhere near the status it enjoyed throughout a large part
of the last century, it seems more likely that that renaissance will
stem not from one single overblown big-budget epic, but from the
country’s emerging crop of young filmmakers, many of them working in
Burma’s booming television sector where they are being trained in-house.
Benefiting from Burmese TV’s growing advertising revenues, they have
all the latest digital technology at their disposal, which people in the
movie industry generally do not. And with seemingly every aspect of the
project presided over by Suu Kyi, it’s entirely possible that this,
more than anything, is a film being made to prove a political point.
“It’s just another kind of propaganda film,” says Midi Z. “It’s a
dangerous way to make a film.” MORE:Viewpoint: Aung San Suu Kyi Has Feet of Clay; Get Used to It
(CNN) -- Here is a look at the life of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Personal: Birth date: June 19, 1945
Birth place: Rangoon (Yangon), Burma (Myanmar)
Birth name: Aung San Suu Kyi
Father:
Aung San, commander of the Burma Independence Army who helped negotiate
Burma's independence from Britain. He was assassinated on July 19,
1947.
Mother: Ma Khin Kyi, a diplomat and later an ambassador to India.
Marriage: Michael Aris (January 1, 1972-March 27, 1999, his death)
Children: Kim (Burmese name: Htein Lin) a son, 1977; Alexander (Burmese name: Myint San Aung), 1973
Education: St. Hughes College, Oxford University, B.A in philosophy, politics and economics, 1967
Religion: Buddhist
Other Facts:
Referred to as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, where "Daw" is an honorific title.
Grew up in Myanmar and India, but moved to England in the 1960s.
Timeline: 1964 - Moves to England to study at Oxford University.
1969-1971 -
Works in the United Nations in New York as assistant secretary for the
Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions.
1985-1986 - Is a visiting scholar at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan.
1987 - Is a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies in Simla, India.
April 1988 - Returns to Myanmar when her mother suffers a severe stroke.
August 15, 1988 - In an open letter to the military-controlled government, asks for multiparty elections.
August 26, 1988 - In her first public address, outside the Shwedagon Pagoda, calls for a multiparty democratic government.
September 24, 1988
- Co-founds the National League for Democracy (NLD), a party dedicated
to nonviolence and civil disobedience, and is appointed general
secretary.
July 20, 1989 - Is placed under house arrest for charges of trying to divide the military, charges she denies.
May 27, 1990 -
Her party, the NLD, wins more than 80% of the legislative seats, but
the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) does not recognize
the election results.
July 10, 1991 - Wins the Sakharov human rights prize from the European Parliament.
October 14, 1991 - Wins the Nobel Peace Prize "for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights."
July 10, 1995 - Is released from house arrest, but her political activity is restricted.
September 23, 2000 - Is again placed under house arrest.
December 6, 2000 - U.S. President Bill Clinton awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Aung San Suu Kyi in absentia.
May 6, 2002 - Is released from house arrest.
May 30, 2003
- While traveling in Myanmar, her motorcade is attacked by a
pro-government mob, and she is held by the military and later placed
under house arrest.
November 29, 2004 - Learns her house arrest has been extended for another year.
May 2006 - House arrest is extended for another year.
June 9, 2006
- Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Sean McCormack tells
reporters that Aung San Suu Kyi has been hospitalized for an undisclosed
ailment.
May 25, 2007 - The government extends her house arrest for another year.
May 6, 2008 - U.S. President George W. Bush signs legislation awarding a Congressional Gold Medal in absentia to Suu Kyi.
May 27, 2008 - The government extends her house arrest for another year.
May 14, 2009
- Suu Kyi is arrested and charged with violating the terms of her house
arrest. This is in response to an incident earlier in the month, when
American John Yettaw swam uninvited to Suu Kyi's lakeside house. If
convicted she faces up to five years in prison.
May 18, 2009 - Suu Kyi's trial on charges of government subversion begins.
August 11, 2009 - Suu Kyi is found guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest and sentenced to 18 more months of home confinement.
May 7, 2010 - The NLD refuses to register for the election, thereby disqualifying itself as a political party and officially dissolves.
May 10, 2010 - Meets with Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell at her home.
November 13, 2010 - Suu Kyi is released from house arrest. She has spent 15 of the last 21 years under house arrest.
November 15, 2010 -
Speaking to reporters at the headquarters of her National League for
Democracy (NLD) pledges to keep working toward restoring democracy and
improving human rights in Myanmar.
January 28, 2011
- Suu Kyi's recorded message is played at the World Economic Forum in
Switzerland, in which she stresses the need for Myanmar to re-establish
ties with the rest of the world.
November 18, 2011 -
Nyan Win, the spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy,
says that Suu Kyi will participate in the next elections. Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy announced earlier in the day that it
planned to re-register as a political party and participate in all
future parliamentary elections.
December 13, 2011 - The National League for Democracy is granted permission to register for future elections in Myanmar.
January 18, 2012 - Registers to run for a parliamentary seat.
April 1, 2012 - Wins a seat in parliament in Myanmar's first multiparty elections since 1990.
May 2, 2012
- Along with 33 other newly elected members of her party, the National
League for Democracy, takes the oath of office for Myanmar's parliament,
resolving an impasse over the oath's wording that had been preventing
her from taking her seat in the legislature.
May 29, 2012 - Makes history by stepping on foreign soil for the first time in more than two decades when she arrives in Bangkok, Thailand.
June 1, 2012 - Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at the World Economic Forum on East Asia.
June 16, 2012 - Delivers her acceptance speech for her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, in Oslo, Norway.
June 21, 2012 - Addresses both houses of the British parliament.
September 19, 2012 - Aung San Suu Kyi accepts the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington, D.C. She later meets with President Barack Obama.
November 19, 2012
- Meets with President Barack Obama at the lakeside villa where she
spent years under house arrest. Obama praises Suu Kyi for her courage
and determination during his visit to Myanmar, the first visit by a
sitting U.S. president.
Current Situation
Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate,
has come to symbolise the struggle of Burma’s people to be free.
She has spent more than 15 years in detention, most of it under house
arrest. She was released from her current third period of detention on
Saturday 13th November 2010.
However, there are hundreds’ of political prisoners in Burma and none
of the repressive laws allowing the dictatorship to detain people
without trial and restrict other freedoms have been repealed following
the sham election on 7 November or under the new constitution. Early Life
Aung San Suu Kyi was born on June 19th, 1945, daughter of Burma’s
independence hero, Aung San, who was assassinated when she was only two
years old.
Aung San Suu Kyi was educated in Burma, India, and the United
Kingdom. While studying at Oxford University, she met Michael Aris, a
Tibet scholar who she married in 1972. They had two sons, Alexander and
Kim. Return to Burma
Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma in 1988 to nurse her dying mother,
and soon became engaged in the country’s nationwide democracy uprising.
The military regime responded to the uprising with brute force, killing
up to 5,000 demonstrators on 8th August 1988.
Following a military coup on 18th September 1988, on 24th September
1988 a new pro-democracy party, the National League for Democracy, was
formed. Aung San Suu Kyi was appointed General Secretary. Aung San Suu
Kyi gave numerous speeches calling for freedom and democracy, and
political activities continued across the country. 1990 Elections
Facing increasing domestic and international pressure, the dictatorship was forced to call a general election, held in 1990.
As Aung San Suu Kyi began to campaign for the NLD, she and many
others were detained by the regime. Aung San Suu Kyi was banned from
personally standing in the election. Despite conditions around the
elections being far from free and fair with Aung San Suu Kyi and other
democracy activists being detained, biased media, and intimidation of
politicians, the voting on the day was relatively free and fair. The NLD
won a staggering 82% of the seats in Parliament. The dictatorship never
recognised the results of the election, and refused to hand over power. Released For Five Years
Aung San Suu Kyi was held under house arrest until July 1995. When released she faced restrictions on travel.
On March 27 1999, Aung San Suu Kyi’s husband, Michael Aris, died of
cancer in London. He had petitioned the Burmese authorities to allow him
to visit Aung San Suu Kyi one last time, but they had rejected his
request. He had not seen her since a Christmas visit in 1995. The
government always urged Aung San Suu Kyi to join her family abroad, but
she knew that she would not be allowed to return to Burma. Detained Again
In 2000 Aung San Suu Kyi was again placed under house arrest after
repeated attempts to leave the capital, Rangoon, to hold political
meetings in other parts of the country. Released Again
In 2002, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest and with
freedom to travel around the country. The release was part of a deal
negotiated by UN Envoy on Burma, Razali Ismail. He had facilitated
secret meetings between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military. Confidence
building steps had been agreed, including that the dictatorship would
stop the vehement attacks on Aung San Suu Kyi in the media, and the NLD
would stop publicly calling for sanctions, although its policy of still
supporting targeted economic sanctions remained. However, when it came
to move from confidence building meetings, and instead start dealing
with matters of substance, the dictatorship refused to engage in any
meaningful dialogue. As a low-level envoy without significant political
backing from the UN itself or the international community, Razali was
unable to persuade the Generals to move the dialogue forward.
After waiting patiently, Aung San Suu Kyi began to travel the
country, holding meetings at which tens of thousands of people turned
out to see her, dashing the hopes of the Generals that during her long
period of detention the people would have forgotten her, and her support
would have waned.
The dictatorship began using members of the Union Solidarity and
Development Association to harass and attack NLD meetings. This
political militia was set up and organised by the military, with Than
Shwe, dictator of Burma, as its President. It later transformed as the
Union Solidarity and Development Party, the political party front for
the military in the elections held on 7th November 2010.
On May 30th 2003 members of the USDA attacked a convoy of vehicles
Aung San Suu Kyi was travelling in. It was an attempt by the
dictatorship to assassinate Aung San Suu Kyi, using a civilian front so
as not to take the blame. Aung San Suu Kyi’s driver managed to drive her
to safety, but more than 70 of Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters were
beaten to death. The attack became known at the Depayin Massacre. The
dictatorship claimed it was a riot between two political groups, incited
by the NLD. The United Nations General Assembly called for the incident
to be investigated, but it never was. Detained Again
Following the attack, Aung San Suu Kyi was held in detention, and then placed back under house arrest.
During this period of detention, conditions were much stricter than
in the past. Her phone line was cut, her post stopped and National
League for Democracy volunteers providing security at her compound were
removed in December 2004.
Diplomats were generally not allowed to meet her, although
occasionally UN envoys and US government officials were allowed to meet
her. However, even UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was not allowed to
meet her when he visited the country in 2009.
In May 2009, just days before her period of house arrest was due to
expire, Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested and charged with breaking the
terms of her house arrest, which forbids visitors, after John Yettaw, a
United States citizen, swam across Inya lake and refused to leave her
house. In August 2009 she was convicted, and sentenced to three years
imprisonment. In an apparent attempt to placate international outrage
about the trial, the sentence was reduced to 18 months under house
arrest. By coincidence, this meant her release date turned out to be
just 6 days after elections held in Burma, thereby ensuring that once
again she was in detention during elections. International Support
Aung San Suu Kyi has won numerous international awards, including the
Nobel Peace Prize, the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament and
the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. She has called on
people around the world to join the struggle for freedom in Burma,
saying “Please use your liberty to promote ours.”
Chronology 1945:
Born in Rangoon on June 19th, the daughter of independence hero and
national leader General Aung San and Daw Khin Kyi; General Aung San is
assassinated July 19, 1947. Aung San Suu Kyi is educated in Rangoon
until 15 years old. 1960:
Accompanies mother to Delhi on her appointment as Burmese ambassador to
India and Nepal and studies politics at Delhi University. 1964-67:
BA in philosophy, politics and economics, St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University. She is elected Honorary Fellow in 1990. 1969-71:
Assistant Secretary, Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, United Nations Secretariat, New York. 1972:
Research Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bhutan; married Dr. Michael Aris, a British scholar. 1973-77:
Birth of sons Alexander in London (1973) and Kim (1977) in Oxford. 1985-86:
Visiting Scholar, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. 1987:
Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Simla. 1988 March:
Student protests break out in Rangoon. 1988 Jul 23:
General Ne Win steps down as Chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme
Party(BSPP) after 26 years, triggering prodemocracy movement. 1988 Aug 8:
The famous 8-8-88 mass uprising starts in Rangoon and spreads to the
entire country, drawing millions of people to protest against the BSPP
government. The following military crackdown killed thousands. 1988 Aug 26:
Aung San Suu Kyi addresses half-million mass rally in front of the
famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon and calls for a democratic
government. 1988 Sep 18:
The military reestablishes its power and the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) is formed. The military again crushes the
pro-democracy movement, killing hundreds more. 1988 Sep 24:
The National League for Democracy (NLD) is formed, with Aung San Suu Kyi as general secretary. 1988 Dec 27:
Daw Khin Kyi, mother of Aung San Suu Kyi, dies. The funeral procession
draws a huge crowd of supporters, which turns into a peaceful protest
against military rule. 1989 Jul 20:
Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest in Rangoon under martial
law that allows for detention without charge or trial for three years. 1990 May 27:
Despite her continuing detention, the National League for Democracy wins
a landslide victory in the general elections by securing 82 percent of
the seats; the military junta refuses to recognise the results of the
election. 1990 Oct 12:
Awarded, in absentia, the 1990 Rafto Human Rights Prize. 1991 Jul 10:
Awarded, in absentia, the 1990 Sakharov Prize (human rights prize of the European Parliament). 1991 Aug 10:
The military regime retroactively amends the law under which Aung San
Suu Kyi is held to allow for detention for up to five years without
charge or trial. 1991 Oct 14:
Awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. 1991 Dec 10:
Aung San Suu Kyi’s ‘Freedom from Fear’ and other writings published in London. 1992:
The Nobel Committee reveals that Aung San Suu Kyi has established a
health and education trust in support of the Burmese people to use the
$1.3 million prize money. 1994 Sep 20:
Gen. Than Shwe and Gen. Khin Nyunt of SLORC meet Aung San Suu Kyi for the first time since the house arrest. 1995 Jul 10:
The junta releases Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. 1995 Oct 10:
The NLD defied junta’s ban on changes in party leadership positions and reappointed her as the party’s General Secretary. 1999 Mar 27:
Aung San Suu Kyi’s husband Michael Aris dies of prostate cancer in
London. His last request to visit Aung San Suu Kyi, whom he had last
seen in 1995, was rejected by the military junta which said if Aung San
Suu Kyi wanted to leave the country she could do so. She refused the
offer knowing that she would not be allowed to return to Burma. 1996-2000:
Aung San Suu Kyi defies travel bans imposed against her and continually
tries to leave Rangoon. In March 1996, she boarded the train bound for
Mandalay but citing a “last minute problem” the coach she was in was
left behind at the station. 2000 Sep 02:
Around 200 riot police surrounded Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s motorcade near
Dala and forced them to return to Rangoon after a nine-day standoff. 2000 Sep 23:
Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest. 2000 Oct:
Aung San Suu Kyi begins secret talks with the military junta. Substance
of the talks remains secret, and UN Special Envoy Razali acts as a
“facilitator.” 2000 Dec 07:
US President Bill Clinton confers America’s highest civilian honour on
Aung San Suu Kyi. Her son Alexander Aris receives the award on her
behalf. 2002 May 6:
Aung San Suu Kyi is freed after 19 months of house arrest. 2003 May 30:
During a tour of northern Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters are
attacked by the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA), the
regime’s militia, in the town of Depayin. As many as 70 people were
killed in the attack and over 100 people arrested, including Aung San
Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi remained in secret detention for over three
months. 2004 March:
Razali Ismail, UN special envoy to Burma, has his last meeting Aung San Suu Kyi. 2006 May 20:
Ibrahim Gambari, UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs, met
Aung San Suu Kyi, the first visit by a foreign official since Razali’s
visit in 2004. Gambari met Aung San Suu Kyi again in November 2006 but
his visit failed to secure any concessions from Burma’s military regime. 2007 May 25:
Aung San Suu Kyi’s term of house arrest was extended for another year. 2007 Sep 22:
Aung San Suu Kyi left her house to greet and pray with Buddhist monks
outside her gate during the biggest demonstrations in Burma since the
1988 uprising. This is the first time she has been seen in public since
2003. 2007 Sep 30:
The UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari meets Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon. 2007 Oct 24:
Aung San Suu Kyi reaches a total of 12 years in detention. 2007 Oct 25:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets the regime’s newly appointed liaison officer,
Aung Kyi, but no details of their discussion are made public. 2007 Nov 6:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari. Text of Aung San Suu Kyi’s statement released by U.N. envoy 08 November 2007 2008 Jan 31:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets NLD leadership. She asked that they convey to the
public the message that “We should hope for the best and prepare for
the worst.”
“What I can say is Daw Suu is not satisfied with the current meetings
with the junta, especially the fact that the process is not
time-bound,” NLD spokesperson Nyan Win said, referring to the lack of a
time frame for the talks to achieve any results. 2008 Mar 8:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari. 2009 Feb 20:
Gambari meets jointly with Aung San Suu Kyi and members of the National League for Democracy. 2009 Mar 24:
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issues a judgment declaring
that the ongoing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi is illegal and in
violation of both Burmese and international law. 2009 May 14:
Aung San Suu Kyi is arrested and charged with breaking the terms of her
house arrest, which forbids visitors, after John Yettaw, a United States
citizen, swam across Inya lake and refused to leave her house. 2009 May 18:
Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial begins, held in closed-door hearings inside
Insein prison. Aung San Suu Kyi’s two companions and John Yettaw are
also on trial. 2009 Jun 26:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari. 2009 Jul 03:
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visits Burma but is not allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi. 2009 Aug 11:
Aung San Suu Kyi is found guilty and sentenced to 18 months under house arrest. 2009 Oct 03:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets SPDC Liaison Minister Major General Aung Kyi. 2009 Oct 09:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets the UK Ambassador and the deputy heads of the Australian and US missions in Burma. 2009 Oct 24:
Aung San Suu Kyi reaches a total of 14 years in detention, most of it under house arrest. 2009 Nov 04:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets a US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. 2009 Dec 09:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets SPDC Liaison Minister Major General Aung Kyi. 2009 Dec 16:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets NLD party leaders Aung Shwe, U Lwin and Lun Tin. 2010 Jan 15:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets SPDC Liaison Minister Major General Aung Kyi. 2010 Feb 01:
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issues a judgment declaring
that the ongoing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi is illegal and in
violation of both Burmese and international law. 2010 Mar 08:
The country’s state-run newspapers publish the election laws, which ban Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part in the fake election. Click here for more information. 2010 May 06:
National League for Democracy Party in Burma is banned. 2010 May 10:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets a US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. 2010 Oct 24:
Aung San Suu Kyi reaches a total of 15 years in detention, most of it under house arrest. 2010 Nov 13:
Aung San Suu Kyi is released from detention. 2011 July 25:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets Burma Labour Minister Aung Kyi. 2011 Aug 12:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets Burma Labour Minister Aung Kyi. 2011 Aug 19:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets Burma’s president Thein Sein. 2012 April 1:
Aung San Suu Kyi wins a seat in the by-election. The National League for
Democracy (NLD) win 43 out of the 45 seats contested in the
by-election. 2012 April 11:
Aung San Suu Kyi meets President Thein Sein for the second time. 2012 May 29:
Aung San Suu Kyi visits Thailand, the first time she has left Burma in 24 years. 2012 June 13-29:
Aung San Suu Kyi makes a three-week tour of Europe in June, visiting
Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, UK and France. It was the first time she
is able to travel to Europe in 24 years. 2012 July 25:
Aung San Suu Kyi makes her first speech in parliament. She calls for laws to protect ethnic minority rights.
Aung San Suu Kyi, also called Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (born June 19, 1945, Rangoon, Burma [now Yangon, Myanmar]), politician and opposition leader of Myanmar, daughter of Aung San (a martyred national hero of independent Burma) and Khin Kyi (a prominent Burmese diplomat), and winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1991.
Aung San
Suu Kyi was two years old when her father, then the de facto prime
minister of what would shortly become independent Burma, was
assassinated. She attended schools in Burma until 1960, when her mother
was appointed ambassador to India. After further study in India, she attended the University of Oxford,
where she met her future husband, the British scholar Michael Aris. She
and Aris had two children and lived a rather quiet life until 1988,
when she returned to Burma to nurse her dying mother, leaving her
husband and sons behind. There the mass slaughter of protesters against
the brutal and unresponsive rule of military strongman U Ne Win led her to speak out against him and to begin a nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights in that country.
In July 1989 the military government of the newly named Union of Myanmar (since 2011, Republic of the Union of Myanmar) placed Suu Kyi under house arrest in Yangon
(Rangoon) and held her incommunicado. The military offered to free her
if she agreed to leave Myanmar, but she refused to do so until the
country was returned to civilian government and political prisoners were
freed. The newly formed group with which she became affiliated, the National League for Democracy
(NLD), won more than 80 percent of the parliamentary seats that were
contested in 1990, but the results of that election were ignored by the
military government (in 2010 the military government formally annulled
the results of the 1990 election). The news that Suu Kyi was being given
the Nobel Prize
set off intense vilification of her by the government, and, since she
was still being detained, her son, Alexander Aris, accepted the award in
her place.
Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest in July 1995, although
restrictions were placed on her ability to travel outside Yangon. The
following year she attended the NLD party congress, but the military
government continued to harass both her and her party. In 1998 she
announced the formation of a representative committee that she declared
was the country’s legitimate ruling parliament. Michael Aris died in
London in early 1999. Prior to his death, the military junta denied him a
visa to visit Suu Kyi in Myanmar, and Suu Kyi, anticipating that she
would not be allowed to reenter the country if she left, remained in
Myanmar.
The junta once again placed Suu Kyi under house arrest from
September 2000 to May 2002, ostensibly for having violated restrictions
by attempting to travel outside Yangon. Following clashes between the
NLD and pro-government demonstrators in 2003, the government returned
her to house arrest. Calls for her release continued throughout the
international community in the face of her sentence’s annual renewal,
and in 2009 a United Nations body declared her detention illegal under
Myanmar’s own law. In 2008 the conditions of her house arrest were
somewhat loosened, allowing her to receive some magazines as well as
letters from her children, who were both living abroad.
In May 2009, shortly before her most recent sentence was to be
completed, Suu Kyi was arrested and charged with having breached the
terms of her house arrest after an intruder (a U.S. citizen) entered her
house compound and spent two nights there. In August she was convicted
and sentenced to three years in prison, though the sentence immediately
was reduced to 18 months, and she was allowed to serve it while
remaining under house arrest. At the time of her conviction, the belief
was widespread both within and outside Myanmar that this latest ruling
was designed to prevent Suu Kyi from participating in multiparty
parliamentary elections (the first since 1990) scheduled for 2010.
That suspicion became reality through a series of new election laws
enacted in March 2010: one prohibited individuals from any participation
in elections if they had been convicted of a crime (as she had been in
2009), and another disqualified anyone who was (or had been) married to a
foreign national from running for office. In support of Suu Kyi, the
NLD refused to reregister under those new laws (as was required) and was
disbanded. The government parties faced little opposition in the
November 7, 2010, election and easily won an overwhelming majority of
legislative seats amid widespread allegations of voter fraud. Suu Kyi
was released from house arrest six days after the election and vowed to
continue her opposition to military rule.
Government restrictions on Suu Kyi’s activities were further relaxed
during 2011. She was allowed to meet freely with associates and others
in Yangon and by midyear was able to travel outside the city. In August
she met in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw
(Naypyidaw), with Thein Sein, who had become the civilian president of
Myanmar in March. Other high-profile meetings followed later in the
year, including those with Thailand’s new prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, in October and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
in December. Meanwhile, rules on political participation were eased,
and, in advance of parliamentary by-elections scheduled for April 2012,
the NLD was officially reinstated. In January 2012 Suu Kyi announced
that she was seeking election to a constituency in Yangon, and her bid
to run for office was approved by the government in February. She easily
won her seat in the April 1 elections and was sworn into office on May
2.
In late May and early June Suu Kyi visited Thailand,
her first trip outside Myanmar since 1988. Later in June she traveled
to Europe, making stopovers in several countries. Highlights of that
journey included giving the acceptance speech for her Nobel Prize in
Oslo, Norway, and being invited to address the British Parliament in
London.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s published works include Freedom from Fear: And Other Writings, 2nd ed. (1995; reissued 2010), and Letters from Burma (1997; reissued 2010).
Over the past year, Myanmar, ruled for five decades by
the military, has undergone its most dramatic reforms in decades. A new
civilian government has begun opening the economy, freeing political
prisoners, relaxing censorship, and allowing the opposition to reenter
politics.
The reforms offer the best chance for change in Myanmar in fifty
years and a rare window that American policymakers should not miss. To
respond, the United States should launch a new conditional normalization
that is far more comprehensive than the White House's current policy.
Working with other industrialized democracies, the United States should
be prepared to provide a large new aid package, upgrade relations, push
for Myanmar's reentry into global organizations, and potentially end
sanctions—if, in return, Myanmar continues to move toward holding free
elections, ending its insurgencies, and demonstrating real transparency
about its weapons programs. Through this policy shift, the United States
could prevent instability that could spread to Thailand, India, and
other partners; stop Myanmar's development of nuclear programs; and help
promote democratization in one of the world's most repressive
countries.
The Situation
From 1962 until 2010, Myanmar was ruled by the military. In November
2010, the military held elections to create a new parliament. These
elections were considered neither free nor fair: 25 percent of seats
were reserved for the army, and army-backed parties dominated the
election. Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy,
boycotted the election because of its unfairness.
Yet in 2011 the parliament has surprised everyone. Besides releasing
prisoners and promoting an end to censorship, the government this month
set the stage for new elections in which Suu Kyi will run, potentially
putting her in parliament for the first time ever. The government has
also vowed to end decades of insurgencies by ethnic minority militias in
northern and northeastern Myanmar. One of the militias, the United Wa
State Army, is considered among the most powerful narcotrafficking
groups in the world. By ending the insurgencies, the government could
restore central authority to these regions, making it easier to confront
narcotrafficking.
Though some skepticism is warranted, there is significant reason to
believe this glasnost is real. Observers who have met Myanmar's new
president, Thein Sein, including Suu Kyi, describe him as genuinely
dedicated to reform as no one from the regime has been in decades. He
apparently understands how far Myanmar, with a per capita GDP of roughly
$3,000, has fallen behind once-comparable neighbors like Thailand, and
he already has taken steps toward liberalization that will be hard to
reverse. By boosting ties with the West, Thein Sein also would reduce
Myanmar's strategic dependence on China. Just as important,
liberalization through Thein Sein, rather than a democratic uprising,
might allow senior generals to retire with their wealth intact.
The Stakes
In the past five years, Myanmar has assumed greater strategic
significance to the United States. Evidence has emerged of the regime
importing nuclear and missile technology from North Korea. Military
officials from North Korea appear to be working in underground
facilities in Myanmar. Thailand and the United States have intercepted
suspicious North Korean ships offloading machine tools with no use in
Myanmar's civilian economy. In such an opaque environment, it is not
hard to imagine nuclear technology slipping out of Myanmar and into the
hands of terrorist groups.
Worse, continued repressive rule in Myanmar would prolong the ethnic
minority insurgencies, which have made some areas ungovernable. Hundreds
of thousands of refugees have fled ethnic minority regions, potentially
destabilizing Thailand, India, and southwestern China. The refugee
exodus has also created one of the worst HIV/AIDS crises in Asia.
Finally, Myanmar and its offshore regions reportedly contain among the
ten largest deposits of petroleum in the world.
Despite the country's growing importance, and the shift in the
Myanmar government's actions, U.S. policy has changed only marginally in
two decades. In 1997, responding to human rights abuses, Congress
imposed sanctions, and it has renewed sanctions every year since. The
Obama administration has attempted to alter policy cautiously, worried
about being overruled by Congress. It has appointed a new special envoy
and held out the prospect of further policy shifts following a
"fact-finding" trip to the country by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
this week.
How to Proceed
Opportunity for liberalization in Myanmar is extremely rare; by
engaging now, the United States can help prevent retrenchment by
hard-liners, build relations with the country's future leaders, and
significantly boost American influence at this most critical time. To
take advantage of this opportunity, the United States should pursue a
policy of conditional normalization that makes clear to the Myanmar
leadership what it stands to gain if it makes substantial progress in
achieving three goals: moving toward a free election in 2015, developing
a solution to its insurgencies, and making its nuclear programs more
transparent. To verify Myanmar is achieving these goals, the United
States and its partners would follow Myanmar's progress in preparing for
a free election, insist that independent inspectors be allowed in to
observe and potentially dismantle Myanmar's nuclear program, and monitor
the government's progress in achieving permanent written ceasefires.
Because the Myanmar leadership has been isolated for so long and is
so unpredictable, Washington and its partners need to lay out this clear
road map to Myanmar's government.
Launch a Significant Aid Package. The United States should
immediately launch a new aid package, to be coordinated with the EU,
Australia, and Japan. The Obama administration has made some small
suggestions of new aid, but the United States now channels nearly all
aid to groups working from outside Myanmar. Instead, the United States
should use sanctions waivers to create a package totaling at least $200
million. This money would be delivered inside the country and would
include assistance to combat HIV/AIDS, support microfinance in rural
areas, and rebuild the country's devastated educational system, among
other initiatives. To ensure the aid is not siphoned off by government
ministries, American aid organizations would have to produce
twice-yearly reports to Congress of how they are disbursing the aid.
Upgrade Diplomatic Relations. More than many other
governments, Myanmar craves international prestige, perhaps because the
country was isolated for so long. Beyond the Clinton visit, Washington
should upgrade its embassy in Myanmar to include an ambassador—it is now
run by a charge d'affaires—and push for Myanmar to be reintegrated into
the World Bank, IMF, and other international institutions.
Promote Accountability. Realistically, Myanmar's senior
generals are unlikely to allow reforms to be consolidated if they
believe change will result in their prosecution. The country's political
situation is so unstable that the United States and its partners should
allow the generals to avoid international prosecution as long as they
retire permanently. Although the White House is still backing a UN
commission on war crimes in Myanmar, the United States should instead
encourage a truth and reconciliation commission be set up inside
Myanmar, possibly modeled on other Southeast Asian examples such as East
Timor. However, for the generals to obtain this amnesty, the senior
military leadership would have to formally retire and permanently cut
its ties to any political parties.
Remove Sanctions. The last reward would be the most
substantial: dropping all U.S. sanctions on investment in Myanmar and
coordinating with the EU, Australia, and Japan to end their sanctions as
well. Once the United States removes sanctions it would be difficult to
reinstate them, so this should be the last of the four initiatives,
taken only when Washington and its partners are convinced that progress
toward peace, free elections, permanently dismantling any nuclear and
missile programs, and ending insurgencies cannot be reversed.
Building Support for Normalization
Although this strategy is far more ambitious than the White House's
current plans, there is reason for optimism that the Obama
administration could build support for it in Congress and among partners
in Europe and Asia. Even in Congress, some leaders see the potential
for a new relationship with Myanmar, given the United States' strategic
interests and how Myanmar is changing rapidly. And up until the United
States ends sanctions, any policy changes can be reversed, without
damaging American prestige: the human rights situation in Myanmar is
unlikely to get worse simply because Washington engaged and then
reversed, while the United States would have shown Myanmar citizens, and
America's Asian partners, that it tried its best to work with the
regime. Already, American diplomats report that the EU, Australia, and
possibly even India will be willing to follow the United States' lead on
a new Myanmar policy.
Finally, there is room for considerable U.S.-China cooperation in
addressing Myanmar's nuclear program and its internal conflicts. China
does not consider Myanmar a "core interest" or a formal ally like North
Korea, yet Myanmar's instability spills over China's borders, and
Beijing is unable to address problems like refugees unilaterally. As
long as the Obama administration shows this new normalization policy is
not designed to replace China's influence in Myanmar, it will find many
complementary interests with Beijing. http://www.cfr.org/burmamyanmar/conditional-normalization-myanmar/p26554?cid=ppc-Google-myanmar_pim-suu_kyi&gclid=CMK9j7iWzbgCFVBd4godO3YAsA
Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as
trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against
ruthless power.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June1945) is a non-violent pro-democracy social activist of Myanmar; Winner of the 1990 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
It would be difficult to dispel ignorance unless there is freedom to pursue the truth unfettered by fear.
Please use your liberty to promote ours.
Revered monks and people. This public rally is aimed at informing the whole world of the will of the people... Our purpose is to show that the entire people entertain the keenest desire for a multiparty democratic system of government.
First public speech (26 August 1988)
The true measure of the justice of a system is the amount of protection it guarantees to the weakest.
Acceptance message for the 1990 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought (July 1991)
It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power
corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts
those who are subject to it. Most Burmese are familiar with the four
a-gati, the four kinds of corruption. Chanda-gati, corruption induced
by desire, is deviation from the right path in pursuit of bribes or for
the sake of those one loves. Dosa-gati is taking the wrong path to spite
those against whom one bears ill will, and moga-gati is aberration due
to ignorance. But perhaps the worst of the four is bhaya-gati, for not
only does bhaya, fear, stifle and slowly destroy all sense of right and
wrong, it so often lies at the root of the other three kinds of
corruption. Just as chanda-gati, when not the result of sheer avarice,
can be caused by fear of want or fear of losing the goodwill of those
one loves, so fear of being surpassed, humiliated or injured in some way
can provide the impetus for ill will. And it would be difficult to dispel ignorance unless there is freedom to pursue the truth unfettered by fear.
With so close a relationship between fear and corruption it is little
wonder that in any society where fear is rife corruption in all forms
becomes deeply entrenched.
The effort necessary to remain uncorrupted in an environment where
fear is an integral part of everyday existence is not immediately
apparent to those fortunate enough to live in states governed by the
rule of law. Just laws do not merely prevent corruption by meting out
impartial punishment to offenders. They also help to create a society in
which people can fulfil the basic requirements necessary for the
preservation of human dignity without recourse to corrupt practices.
Where there are no such laws, the burden of upholding the principles of
justice and common decency falls on the ordinary people. It is the
cumulative effect on their sustained effort and steady endurance which
will change a nation where reason and conscience are warped by fear into
one where legal rules exist to promote man's desire for harmony and
justice while restraining the less desirable destructive traits in his
nature.
In an age when immense technological advances have created lethal
weapons which could be, and are, used by the powerful and the
unprincipled to dominate the weak and the helpless, there is a
compelling need for a closer relationship between politics and ethics at
both the national and international levels. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
of the United Nations proclaims that 'every individual and every organ
of society' should strive to promote the basic rights and freedoms to
which all human beings regardless of race, nationality or religion are
entitled. But as long as there are governments whose authority is
founded on coercion rather than on the mandate of the people, and
interest groups which place short-term profits above long-term peace and
prosperity, concerted international action to protect and promote human
rights will remain at best a partially realized struggle.
The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an
intellectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes
and values which shape the course of a nation's development. A
revolution which aims merely at changing official policies and
institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has
little chance of genuine success. Without a revolution of the
spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would
continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of
reform and regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom,
democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to
persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring
truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire, ill will,
ignorance and fear.
Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might
be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and
an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic
institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced
power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and
fear.
Gandhi, that great apostle of non-violence, and Aung San,
the founder of a national army, were very different personalities, but
as there is an inevitable sameness about the challenges of authoritarian
rule anywhere at any time, so there is a similarity in the intrinsic
qualities of those who rise up to meet the challenge.
Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage
acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from cultivating the
habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions, courage that could
be described as "grace under pressure" — grace which is renewed
repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.
Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights,
fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of
torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or
means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of
failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as
common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless,
insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to
preserve man's self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy
for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle
that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of
fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up
again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.
The wellspring of courage and endurance in the face of unbridled
power is generally a firm belief in the sanctity of ethical principles
combined with a historical sense that despite all setbacks the condition
of man is set on an ultimate course for both spiritual and material
advancement. It is his capacity for self-improvement and self-redemption
which most distinguishes man from the mere brute. At the root of human
responsibility is the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the
intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that
path if not to the end at least the distance needed to rise above
individual limitations and environmental impediments. It is man's
vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him
to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear.
Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as
trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against
ruthless power.
Opening Keynote Address at NGO Forum on Women, Beijing China (1991)
It is a wonderful but daunting task that has fallen on me to say few
words by way of opening this Forum, the greatest concourse of women
(joined by a few brave men!) that has ever gathered on our planet. I
want to try and voice some of the common hopes which firmly unite us in
all our splendid diversity.
But first I would like to explain why I cannot be with you in person
today. Last month I was released from almost six years of house arrest.
The regaining of my freedom has in turn imposed a duty on me to work
for the freedom of other women and men in my country who have suffered
far more -- and who continue to suffer far more -- than I have. It is
this duty which prevents me from joining you today. Even sending this
message to you has not been without difficulties. But the help of those
who believe in international cooperation and freedom of expression has
enabled me to overcome the obstacles. They made it possible for me to
make a small contribution to this great celebration of the struggle of
women to mould their own destiny and to influence the fate of our global
village.
The opening plenary of this Forum will be presenting an overview of
the global forces affecting the quality of life of the human community
and the challenges they pose for the global community as a whole and for
women in particular as we approach the twenty-first century. However,
with true womanly understanding, the Convener of this Forum suggested
that among these global forces and challenges, I might wish to
concentrate on those matters which occupy all my waking thoughts these
days: peace, security, human rights and democracy. I would like to
discuss these issues particularly in the context of the participation of
women in politics and governance.
For millennia women have dedicated themselves almost exclusively to
the task of nurturing, protecting and caring for the young and the old,
striving for the conditions of peace that favour life as a whole. To
this can be added the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, no war was
ever started by women. But it is women and children who have always
suffered most in situations of conflict. Now that we are gaining control
of the primary historical role imposed on us of sustaining life in the
context of the home and family, it is time to apply in the arena of the
world the wisdom and experience thus gained in activities of peace over
so many thousands of years. The education and empowerment of women
throughout the world cannot fail to result in a more caring, tolerant,
just and peaceful life for all.
If to these universal benefits of the growing emancipation of women
can be added to the "peace dividend" for human development offered by
the end of the Cold War, spending less on the war toys of grown men and
much more on the urgent needs of humanity as a whole, then truly the
next millennia will be an age the like of which has never been seen in
human history. But there still remain many obstacles to be overcome
before we can achieve this goal. And not least among those obstacles are
intolerance and insecurity.
This year is the International Year for Tolerance. The United
Nations has recognized that "tolerance, human rights, democracy and
peace are closely related. Without tolerance, the foundations form
democracy and respect for human rights cannot be strengthened, and the
achievement of peace will remain elusive." My own experience during the
years I have been engaged in the democracy movement of Burma has
convinced me of the need to emphasize the positive aspect of tolerance.
It is not enough simply to "live and let live": genuine tolerance
requires an active effort to try to understand the point of view of
others; it implies broad-mindedness and vision, as well as confidence in
one's own ability to meet new challenges without resorting to
intransigence or violence. In societies where men are truly confident of
their own worth women are not merely "tolerated", they are valued.
Their opinions are listened to with respect, they are given their
rightful place in shaping the society in which they live.
There is an outmoded Burmese proverb still recited by men who wish
to deny that women too can play a part in bringing necessary change and
progress to their society: "The dawn rises only when the rooster crows."
But Burmese people today are well aware of the scientific reasons
behind the rising of dawn and the falling of dusk. And the intelligent
rooster surely realizes that it is because dawn comes that it crows and
not the other way round. It crows to welcome the light that has come to
relieve the darkness of night. It is not the prerogative of men alone to
bring light to this world: women with their capacity for compassion and
self-sacrifice, their courage and perseverance, have done much to
dissipate the darkness of intolerance and hate, suffering and despair.
Often the other side of the coin of intolerance is insecurity.
Insecure people tend to be intolerant, and their intolerance unleashes
forces that threaten the security of others. And where there is no
security there can be no lasting peace. In its "Human Development
Report" for last year the UNDP noted that human security "is not a
concern with weapons -- it is a concern with human life and dignity."
The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for
life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political,
social and economic aspirations. The people of my country want the two
freedoms that spell security: freedom from want and freedom from fear.
It is want that has driven so many of our young girls across our borders
to a life of sexual slavery where they are subject to constant
humiliation and ill-treatment. It is fear of persecution for their
political beliefs that has made so many of our people feel that even in
their own homes they cannot live in dignity and security.
Traditionally the home is the domain of the woman. But there has
never been a guarantee that she can live out her life there safe and
unmolested. There are countless women who are subjected to severe
cruelty within the heart of the family which should be their haven. And
in times of crisis when their menfolk are unable to give them
protection, women have to face the harsh challenges of the world outside
while continuing to discharge their duties within the home.
Many of my male colleagues who have suffered imprisonment for their
part in the democracy movement have spoken of the great debt of
gratitude they owe their womenfolk, particularly to their wives who
stood by them firmly, tender as mothers nursing their newly born, brave
as lionesses defending their young. These magnificent human beings who
have done so much to aid their men in the struggle for justice and peace
-- how much more could they not achieve if given the opportunity to
work in their own right for the good of their country and of the world.
Our endeavours have also been sustained by the activities of strong
and principled women all over the world who have campaigned not only for
my own release but, more importantly, for our cause. I cannot let this
opportunity pass without speaking of the gratitude we feel towards our
sisters everywhere, from heads of government to busy housewives. Their
efforts have been a triumphant demonstration of female solidarity and of
the power of an ideal to cross all frontiers.
In my country at present, women have no participation in the higher
levels of government and none whatsoever in the judiciary. Even within
the democratic movement only 14 out of the 485 MPs elected in 1990 were
women -- all from my own party, the National League for Democracy. These
14 women represent less than 3 percent of the total number of
successful candidates. They, like their male colleagues, have not been
permitted to take office since the outcome of those elections has been
totally ignored. Yet the very high performance of women in our
educational system and in the management of commercial enterprises
proves their enormous potential to contribute to the betterment of
society in general. Meanwhile our women have yet to achieve those
fundamental rights of free expression, association and security of life
denied also to their menfolk.
The adversities that we have had to face together have taught all of
us involved in the struggle to build a truly democratic political
system in Burma that there are no gender barriers that cannot be
overcome. The relationship between men and women should, and can be,
characterized not by patronizing behavior or exploitation, but by METTA
(that is to say loving kindness), partnership and trust. We need mutual
respect and understanding between men and women, instead of patriarchal
domination and degradation, which are expressions of violence and
engender counter-violence. We can learn from each other and help one
another to moderate the "gender weaknesses" imposed upon us by
traditional or biological factors.
There is an age old prejudice the world over to effect that women
talk too much. But is this really a weakness? Could it not in fact be a
strength? Recent scientific research on the human brain has revealed
that women are better at verbal skills while men tend towards physical
action. Psychological research has shown on the other hand that
disinformation engendered by men has a far more damaging effect on its
victims than feminine gossip. Surely these discoveries indicate that
women have a most valuable contribution to make in situations of
conflict, by leading the way to solutions based on dialogue rather than
on viciousness or violence?
The Buddhist PAVARANA ceremony at the end of the rainy season retreat
was instituted by the Lord Buddha, who did not want human beings to
live in silence "like dumb animals." This ceremony, during which monks
ask mutual forgiveness for any offence given during the retreat, can be
said to be a council of truth and reconciliation. It might also be
considered a forerunner of that most democratic of institutions, the
parliament, a meeting of peoples gathered together to talk over their
shared problems. All the world's great religions are dedicated to the
generation of happiness and harmony. This demonstrates the fact that
together with the combative instincts of man there co-exists a spiritual
aspiration for mutual understanding and peace.
This forum of non-governmental organizations represents the belief in
the ability of intelligent human beings to resolve conflicting
interests through exchange and dialogue. It also represents the
conviction that governments alone cannot resolve all the problems of
their countries. The watchfulness and active cooperation of
organizations outside the spheres of officialdom are necessary to ensure
the four essential components of the human development paradigm as
identified by the UNDP: productivity, equity, sustainability and
empowerment. The last is particularly relevant: it requires that
"development must be BY people, not only FOR them. People must
participate fully in the decisions and processes that shape their
lives." In other words people must be allowed to play a significant role
in the governance of their country. And "people" include women who make
up at least half of the world's population.
The last six years afforded me much time and food for thought. I
came to the conclusion that the human race is not divided into two
opposing camps of good and evil. It is made up of those who are capable
of learning and those who are incapable of doing so. Here I am not
talking of learning in the narrow sense of acquiring an academic
education, but of learning as the process of absorbing those lessons of
life that enable us to increase peace and happiness in our world. Women
in their role as mothers have traditionally assumed the responsibility
of teaching children values that will guide them throughout their lives.
It is time we were given the full opportunity to use our natural
teaching skills to contribute towards building a modern world that can
withstand the tremendous challenges of the technological revolution
which has in turn brought revolutionary changes in social values.
As we strive to teach others we must have the humility to acknowledge
that we too still have much to learn. And we must have the flexibility
to adapt to the changing needs of the world around us. Women who have
been taught that modesty and pliancy are among the prized virtues of our
gender are marvellously equipped for the learning process. But they
must be given the opportunity to turn these often merely passive virtues
into positive assets for the society in which they live.
These, then, are our common hopes that unite us -- that as the
shackles of prejudice and intolerance fall from our own limbs we can
together strive to identify and remove the impediments to human
development everywhere. The mechanisms by which this great task is to be
achieved provide the proper focus of this great Forum. I feel sure that
women throughout the world who, like me, cannot be with you join me now
in sending you all our prayers and good wishes for a joyful and
productive meeting.
Those of us who decided to work for democracy in Burma made our
choice in the conviction that the danger of standing up for basic human
rights in a repressive society was preferable to the safety of a
quiescent life in servitude. Ours is a nonviolent movement that depends on faith in the human predilection for fair play and compassion.
Some would insist that man is primarily an economic animal interested
only in his material well-being. This is too narrow a view of a species
which has produced numberless brave men and women who are prepared to
undergo relentless persecution to uphold deeply held beliefs and
principles. It is my pride and inspiration that such men and women exist
in my country today.
We have faith in the power to change what needs to be changed but
we are under no illusion that the transition from dictatorship to
liberal democracy will be easy, or that democratic government will mean
the end of all our problems. We know that our greatest challenges
lie ahead of us and that our struggle to establish a stable, democratic
society will continue beyond our own life span.
But we know that we are not alone. The cause of liberty and justice
finds sympathetic responses around the world. Thinking and feeling
people everywhere, regardless of color or creed, understand the deeply
rooted human need for a meaningful existence that goes beyond the mere
gratification of material desires. Those fortunate enough to live in
societies where they are entitled to full political rights can reach out
to help their less fortunate brethren in other areas of our troubled
planet.
Part of our struggle is to make the international community
understand that we are a poor country not because there is an
insufficiency of resources and investment, but because we are deprived
of the basic institutions and practices that make for good government.
Investment that only goes to enrich an already wealthy elite bent on
monopolizing both economic and political power cannot contribute toward
égalité and justice — the foundation stones for a sound democracy.
I would therefore like to call upon those who have an interest in
expanding their capacity for promoting intellectual freedom and
humanitarian ideals to take a principled stand against companies that
are doing business with the Burmese military regime. Please use your liberty to promote ours.
Every thought, every word, and every action that adds to the positive
and the wholesome is a contribution to peace. Each and every one of us
is capable of making such a contribution.
Even if we do not achieve perfect peace on earth, because perfect peace
is not of this earth, common endeavours to gain peace will unite
individuals and nations in trust and friendship and help to make our
human community safer and kinder.
To be forgotten. The French say that to part is to die a little. To be forgotten too is to die a little. It is to lose some of the links that anchor us to the rest of humanity.
Are we not still guilty, if to a less violent degree, of
recklessness, of improvidence with regard to our future and our
humanity? War is not the only arena where peace is done to death.
Wherever suffering is ignored, there will be the seeds of conflict, for
suffering degrades and embitters and enrages.
If suffering were an unavoidable part of our existence, we should
try to alleviate it as far as possible in practical, earthly ways.
As you look at me and listen to me, please remember the often repeated truth that one prisoner of conscience is one too many.
The peace of our world is indivisible. As long as negative forces
are getting the better of positive forces anywhere, we are all at risk.
It may be questioned whether all negative forces could ever be removed.
The simple answer is: “No!” It is in human nature to contain both the
positive and the negative. However, it is also within human capability
to work to reinforce the positive and to minimize or neutralize the
negative. Absolute peace in our world is an unattainable goal. But it
is one towards which we must continue to journey, our eyes fixed on it
as a traveller in a desert fixes his eyes on the one guiding star that
will lead him to salvation. Even if we do not achieve perfect peace on
earth, because perfect peace is not of this earth, common endeavours to
gain peace will unite individuals and nations in trust and friendship
and help to make our human community safer and kinder.
Of the sweets of adversity, and let me say that these are not
numerous, I have found the sweetest, the most precious of all, is the
lesson I learnt on the value of kindness. Every kindness I received,
small or big, convinced me that there could never be enough of it in our
world. To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to
the hopes and needs of others. Even the briefest touch of kindness can
lighten a heavy heart. Kindness can change the lives of people.
‘Donor fatigue’ expresses itself precisely in the reduction of
funding. ‘Compassion fatigue’ expresses itself less obviously in the
reduction of concern. One is the consequence of the other. Can we afford
to indulge in compassion fatigue? Is the cost of meeting the needs of
refugees greater than the cost that would be consequent on turning an
indifferent, if not a blind, eye on their suffering? I appeal to donors
the world over to fulfill the needs of these people who are in search,
often it must seem to them a vain search, of refuge.
Every thought, every word, and every action that adds to the
positive and the wholesome is a contribution to peace. Each and every
one of us is capable of making such a contribution. Let us join hands to
try to create a peaceful world where we can sleep in security and wake
in happiness.
Quotes about Aung San Suu Kyi
Tyranny does not crumble by itself. Freedom must be demanded and
defended, by those who have been denied it and by those who are already
free.
When the Burmese government tries to blame the victims for the
crime, and say that Aung San Suu Kyi and her party are responsible for
their own repression, I can only reply that much the same was once said
about Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Vaclav Havel.
The world is not fooled.
What you've got they can't deny it. Can't sell it, can't buy it. Walk on, walk on. Stay safe tonight.
Bono in "Walk On", a song dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi
As a tireless champion of human rights and democracy in Burma, Suu
Kyi inspires countless people around the world who strive for peace,
justice and freedom.
In the face of great hardship she has never wavered in her commitment to peaceful change.
Your determination and courage continue to inspire friends of freedom around the world.
Like your courageous father, you symbolize the authentic aspirations of
the Burmese people. History is on the side of freedom throughout the
world and I remain confident that your cause will prevail.
Any person in any country who believes in the power of good, anyone
who believes in justice, will stand by Aung San Suu Kyi. Because Aung
San Suu Kyi is one of the non-violent, compassionate leaders of our
time.
Let the people decide, I've got nothing to hide, I've done nothing wrong, So why've I been here so long?
Damien Rice in "Unplayed Piano", a song dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi
With her courage and her high ideals, Aung San Suu Kyi brings out
something of the best in us. We feel we need precisely her sort of
person in order to retain our faith in the future.
That is what gives her such power as a symbol, and that is why any
ill-treatment of her feels like a violation of what we have most at
heart.
Francis Sejersted, Chairman of the Nobel Commitee, Nobel Presentation Speech, 1991
Suu Kyi's struggle is one of the most extraordinary examples of
civil courage in Asia in recent decades. She has become an important
symbol in the struggle against oppression.
In awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 1991 to Aung San Suu Kyi, the
Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour this woman for her unflagging
efforts and to show its support for the many people throughout the
world who are striving to attain democracy, human rights and ethnic
conciliation by peaceful means.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee (1991)
In physical stature she is petite and elegant, but in moral stature
she is a giant. Big men are scared of her. Armed to the teeth and they
still run scared.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1984
We wish to use this opportunity, on the occasion of Aung San Suu
Kyi's 60th birthday, to reaffirm our solidarity with the people of Burma
and their legitimate struggle for democracy, human rights and civilian
rule.
Our sister Laureate has spent almost 15 years under house arrest. Her
determination and courage inspire us. We offer to her our heartfelt
congratulations on this auspicious day.
Many of us have witnessed sweeping political changes in our own
countries. We know that change will come to Burma, too. The illegal
military junta that rules through force and fear will yield to the power
of justice. The people of Burma will control their destiny again. But
we also know from experience that tyranny does not crumble by itself.
Freedom must be demanded and defended, by those who have been denied it
and by those who are already free.
Our Project: Documenting the Voices of Freedom from Inside
Burma's Revolution of the Spirit as She Transitions from Dictatorship to
Democracy.
Thank you Beautiful People. Thank you for caring about Burma,
freedom, and being the best that we can be.
You are Invited to Play a Vital Role in the Creation of this not-for-profit Project
For an Expanded New Edition of the book The Voice of Hope: Aung San Suu Kyi
"Every leader on the planet should read this book at least once."
~ Alice Walker, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Color Purple
Burma (called Myanmar, by some)
is undergoing one of the most epic reforms in human history: after
decades of authoritarian military rule we're seeing the dawn of a
compassion-inspired democracy born from love and nonviolence.
This next phase of Burma’s "revolution of
the spirit" is being led by former political prisoners, artists and
dissidents, including Nobel Peace laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, “an icon
of democracy...all around the world,” as declared by President Barack
Obama during his historic visit to Burma just days after his
reelection.
Freed after spending the better part of 20 years under house arrest
and prison, Aung San Suu Kyi, a recently elected Parliamentarian within
her country’s new civilian Government, has called upon freedom-loving
people everywhere, to SUPPORT Burma NOW, more than ever.
"As spiritual and political beings we are all
activists at heart. No one is outside of society...It's about our
freedom. That means everybody. We must see that nothing and no
one is separate from this freedom. No one is an island in this
world." ~ Aung San Suu Kyi
Our Intention, Our Hope
We are a team of "freedom-lovers" passionate about travelling to
Burma, the heart of this radical transition. Our intention is to
document the insights and stories of the less known leaders in their
long march toward freedom: former political prisoners; dissident
writers, musicians, journalists, filmmakers, poets and comedians;
Buddhist monks and nuns; reformed government leaders; shop owners;
returning refugees; farmers; students; and possibly Aung San Suu Kyi
herself, along with her esteemed colleagues, mentors and teachers.
The Why?
Aung San Suu Kyi's message has been consistent
from the time she entered politics: “Be free. Nobody can imprison your
mind. They can imprison your body, but they cannot imprison your mind.
We must always remember this. Free your mind.”
But how? How have the people done this for the past 24 years of
revolution? That is precisely what we want to ask these courageous
activists and more, and in so doing, bring their voices of freedom out
from Burma into the world.
These revolutionary voices - the many expressions of the strength and
effectiveness of nonviolent strategy - are a GIFT to us all and will
support the struggles for freedom going on in so many other places in
the world today, and in our own hearts and minds as well.
We must ACT quickly
Due to logistical complexities and the fragility of the transition in
Burma, our clock is ticking. Our desire is to be in country by
late-January. In service of that goal thank you from the depths of our
hearts for your generous support.
The Impact
The (New) Voice of Hope will not only carry Aung San Suu
Kyi's illuminated vision, in which politics and spirituality are
inseparable, it will for the first time bring forth the courageous
stories of many other freedom fighters from over two decades of
nonviolent resistance. Together they will inspire a conciliatory message
for all of humanity along with an impassioned call for international
action to safeguard global human rights and the environment. That is,
Aung San Suu Kyi maintains, “if enough of us become voices of hope
ourselves.”
This PROJECT is in solidarity with the Occupy movements, the Arab
Spring, the student strikes, the immolations in Tibet, and austerity
demonstrations the world over. We feel that Burma’s long struggle for
freedom, human rights and democracy is a beacon offering a fresh model
for global transformation.
For those who make a contribution, this is a unique opportunity to
invest in spreading the vital message and strategy of nonviolence to a
global audience.
"Every thought, every word, and every action
that adds to the positive and the wholesome is a contribution to peace.
Each and every one of us is capable of making such a contribution. Let
us join hands to try to create a peaceful world where we can sleep in
security and wake in happiness."
- Aung San Suu Kyi
Thank you helping us to achieve the vision - joining your hands with ours.
Our Team
Alan Clements: Among the first
Westerners to ordain as a Buddhist monk in Burma, Alan lived in a
monastery for nearly five years training in meditation under the
Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw and his successor Sayadaw U Pandita.
After leaving monastic life he became active in Burma’s
struggle for freedom, authoring (and co-authoring) several books on
their nonviolent revolution for democracy while raising international
awareness through the media, including ABC’s Nightline, CBS News, Time
and Newsweek, the Guardian, as well as delivering a keynote for Amnesty
International’s 30th year anniversary.
After 16 years of being blacklisted from Burma for his writings
and activism, he was recently “unblacklisted” by Burma’s President. And
just days ago, he was granted “official permission” to re-enter the
country! Summer Starr: Summer has
extensive experience as an activist, international speaker, legal
observer, environmental lobbyist, organizer in student movements, the
Occupy movement in NYC, and across the country. She holds a Masters
Degree in Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School, a
Masters Degree in Indigenous Politics from the University of Hawai'i,
and was a candidate for a District Seat in the Hawaii State House of
Representatives. Marcia Jacobs:Over
the past two decades working as a social worker and trauma therapist,
Marcia has been creating programs for refugees in conflict and post
conflict situations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Darfur, through
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, and various
NGOs, including the International Rescue Committee, founded by Albert
Einstein in response to the plight of refugees after WWII. Ian MacKenzie: Ian is a new media producer based in Vancouver, BC. He has a background in
video journalism, short films, and documentaries, with his work
appearing in The New York Times, National Geographic TV, CBC
Documentary, The Globe and Mail, Adbusters, and festivals around the
world. He is currently co-producing Occupy Love, and is in
post-production for the short film Reactor. Ian’s short film The
Revolution Is Love was named one of the top 10 Occupy films to watch
2011.
What we need and how your funds will be spent:
10% of contributions go to feeding the monks and nuns and to an HIV/AIDS clinic in Yangon.
Our priority is to be radically transparent in all that we do. We've
broken our costs down for you below so that when you contribute to this
vision you know precisely how your funds will be used.
Our Initial Goal: $25,000
Step 1: Getting to Burma
Flights r/t: $2,350 / Accommodation:$450 / Ground transport $100
Gifts for hosts and supporters in Burma past and present: $2000
As a service based vision, no funds are allocated for salaries or stipends.
Step 2: 28 Days in Burma documenting the Voices of Freedom
Accommodation: $2,800 / Food: $1,800 / Transportation: $1,800 /
Translator: $2,800 / Medical: $1000 / Internet/phone: $500 / Internal
flights $800
Media: Tablet, recorder, two mics: $2,500 / three 128 gb memory cards $600. / two 1 TB hard drives: $400 / SD Cards: $ 200 / Contingency Tech Needs: $400.
Indiegogo’s share of funds, pay pal and credit card processing fees $2,000.
And 10% goes to feed the monks and nuns and to an HIV/AIDS clinic in Yangon to buy food, blankets, mosquito nets, and medicines.
Second Tier Goal: $35,000
Alan spent six months in Burma in 1995 when producing the original
edition of “The Voice of Hope.” The initial $25,000 is just the
beginning of this project, covering the most basic costs of a 28 day
stay in Burma. In other words, every dollar received beyond $25,000
grants us the privilege of continuing to document as many Voices of
Freedom as possible. Thus preserving the priceless insights on
nonviolent revolution from some of the most courageous activists alive.
In addition, we need several full time professionals to transcribe
the interviews and a couple of great audio/ video editors. In addition,
we need a talented web developer and graphic artist. But for now, we're
hoping that we can fill these roles with volunteers or interns who can
work with us virtually.
If interested in offering your services please email us your resume today! Thank you.
Third Tier Stretch Funding: $50,000 +
Funding at this level will radically expedite the project by
securing the services of a production manager, quality book designer,
researchers, copy editors, a photo archivist and caption writer, social
media expert, and a radical publicist.
From our hearts, thank you for believing in us and partnering with us
to bring "Burma’s Voices of Freedom" to the world now ...and for
generations to come.
Additional Ways You Can Help
Beyond monetarily supporting this vision, there are a number of
other ways to help us to bring Burma's voices of hope and freedom to
the world. 1. Campaign Ambassadors: We need inspired hearts
willing to spread the word of our Campaign worldwide. Please reach out
through your personal email lists and social networks and circles,
inspiring friends, family and co-workers to join this ACTION, this
worldwide peaceful revolution for freedom.
If you'd like to work with us on a more full time basis please email today. 2. Tech Talents: We would like talented volunteers in the following areas:
* Transcribing interviews
* Editing interviews
* Researchers (especially, those who are knowledgeable about Burma)
* Graphic artists (and those skilled in designing book interiors & covers)
* Researching photographs for the book and getting clearances for use
* Copy editors (print)
* Audio and video editors
* Web developer (s): talented coders / word press / drupal 7
* Calling for a brilliant publicist to bring this publication to the world. 3. Calling all Members of the Media: Please carry
this story, whether blogs, newspapers, campus circulations, PSA's on
community radio or "live reads" by DJ's everywhere in the world. All we
ask is that you communicate the vision in a way that reflects unity,
reconciliation and hope for ALL the people of Burma.
Please, print any aspect of anything you see on our site and spread the word. JOIN US! Have a talent we need? Want to be a part of the movement? Send us a simple resumé. We will get back to you quickly.
From Our Hearts thank you...
The book - BRINGING BURMA'S VOICES OF FREEDOM TO THE WORLD -
will be a POWERFUL resource for anyone interested in practicing global
human rights, environmental sanity and the universal right to be free.
Please help us make this happen! http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/aung-san-suu-kyi-and-democracy-s-new-voices-of-freedom
Aung San Suu Kyi: Leading the Burmese Democracy Movement
Vision and Motivation
Burma was under British control from 1824 to 1948, when General Aung
San, the founder of Burma’s modern military, successfully negotiated
Burma’s independence from the United Kingdom. But less than a year after
Aung San’s political victory, he was assassinated by rivals within the
military. In 1962, the military consolidated its power with a coup that
overthrew the government and established a military junta led by General
Ne Win and his Socialist Program Party. The 50 years since the junta’s
rise have been marred by a regime that brought fear and poverty to
Burma.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of General Aung San, was born in 1945,
three years before Burma’s independence and her father's assassination.
After leaving the country in the early 1960s for schooling and a
position at the United Nations, Suu Kyi returned to Burma in 1988 to be
with her ailing mother. She returned to a brewing maelstrom in the
country. General Ne Win had just resigned, leaving a vacuum in political
leadership; there was growing discontent over the economy and massive,
countrywide protests on August 8, 1988. The military cracked down on the
pro-democracy demonstrations, killing thousands of protestors.[1]
At a rally of half a million people in Rangoon just three weeks
later, Suu Kyi, already in a position of great political influence as
the daughter of General Aung San, called for a democratic government on
August 26. But a new military junta, led by General Saw Maung,
forcefully took control on September 18. In response, Suu Kyi helped
establish the National League for Democracy (NLD) and has remained the
party’s Secretary General since its founding on September 27, 1988. Yet
once the government realized that a sizable political movement was
forming behind Suu Kyi’s democratic ideals, she was placed under house
arrest on July 21, 1989. [2]
Goals and Objectives
Aung San Suu Kyi has devoted her life to the achievement of a free
and open Burma, one in which the military junta is replaced by a
democratically elected government that respects human rights. In 1988,
Suu Kyi believed the best way to achieve that goal was for the NLD to
defeat the military junta in national elections. In the party’s first
election in 1990, the NLD won 83% of the parliamentary seats. Suu Kyi,
who had been campaigning while under house arrest, was slated to become
Prime Minister. Election monitors around the world recognized the
fairness of the 1990 elections. Nevertheless, the military junta
rejected the results and refused to relinquish its power. It was clear
significant violations of civil and political liberties were taking
place. [3]
In the face of this obstacle, Suu Kyi’s tactics shifted, and she
began using her house arrest as a platform to publicize Burmese human
rights violations to the international community. Despite lack of access
to the international political arena and media while under house arrest
Suu Kyi, continued to communicate with NLD cohorts and the
international community through her husband and two sons living in the
U.K.
After fulfilling her sentence, Suu Kyi was released from house arrest
in July 1995. Although free to leave the confines of her home, she was
banned from leaving Burma. Suu Kyi spent five years working to promote
democracy until she was again arrested in 2000. The Burmese government
put Suu Kyi under house arrest for a second time for attempting to break
the travel restrictions imposed on her. Again, she used her house
arrest as a thoughtful and productive time. According to Suu Kyi, “I had
ample time in which to ruminate over the meaning of words and precepts
that I had known and accepted all my life. As a Buddhist, I had heard
about dukha [suffering]. … However, it was only during my years of house
arrest that I got around to investigating the nature of the six great
dukha.” Her thoughts led her to conclude, “If suffering were an
unavoidable part of our existence, we should try to alleviate it as far
as possible in practical, earthly ways.” In her isolation she mulled
over the practical ways suffering could be alleviated in Burma such as
comprehensive health services, childcare programs, and services for
victims of human trafficking.[4]
Following her release from house arrest on May 6, 2002, Suu Kyi
immediately began a determined national campaign for the NLD, which was
shortened after she was sentenced to house arrest yet again on May 30,
2003. During her third incarceration, she continued to garner domestic
and international support from the United States and the European Union,
who aggressively pressed the Burmese government for her release.
International pressure heightened in the months leading up to the 2010
general elections, calling for the Burmese government to allow Suu Kyi
to participate as a candidate. The Burmese government, responsive to
international sanctions and rhetorical support for Suu Kyi and
democracy, released Suu Kyi from house arrest, albeit a week after
November 2010 elections. Suu Kyi was released from seven and a half
years of house arrest to crowds of jubilant supporters. After her
release, Suu Kyi began urging pro-democracy movements to form
coalitions, “I don’t think that things just happen. We have to make it
happen. We want to use this. We want to use this as an opportunity for
greater unity and greater understanding between the various groups that
all want a democracy.” [5]
Leadership
Aung San Suu Kyi’s leadership cannot be attributed solely to her
status as the daughter of a political hero. She is deeply influenced by
nonviolent civic leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma
Gandhi. As a political leader, she has managed to find an elegant,
sustained balance between defiance and nonviolence. Despite a government
ban on political gatherings of more than four people, Suu Kyi embarked
on a public speaking tour around the country in order to garner support
for the NLD; it was not the first time she had defied government orders,
nor would it be the last.
Once, while walking back from a speech she had given at a small town
rally, Suu Kyi and her supporters were suddenly surrounded by soldiers
who commanded them to get out of the road. Suu Kyi calmly responded that
they would walk down the side of the road instead. Suu Kyi explains,
“My thought was, one doesn’t turn back in a situation like this.” Having
walked straight up to the soldiers, she stood waiting for them to allow
her to pass until a Major suddenly appeared and ordered them to lower
their guns.[6]
“There is a vast difference in the attitude of a man with a gun in his
hand and that of one without a gun in his hand,” avows Suu Kyi. “When
someone doesn’t have a gun in his hand, he or she tries harder to use
his or her mind, sense of compassion and intelligence to work out a
solution.” [7]
For her efforts to bring democracy to Burma, Suu Kyi has received a
number of the world’s highest accolades, including the Sakharov Prize,
the Nobel Peace Prize and the Congressional Gold Medal. Suu Kyi, using
the $1.3 million award from her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, chose to invest
in the Burmese people and established The Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Trust for
Health and Education. Suu Kyi has donated the funds from all of the
awards that she has received to this national trust. While Suu Kyi’s
work has been supported internationally, inside Burma the government has
not only repeatedly put her under house arrest but it has also outlawed
mention of her in the press and banned her photo from public display.
Civic Environment
The government of Burma has long been widely regarded as one of the
most repressive in the world. The Burmese regime is far from an
electoral democracy; for half a century the military junta single
handedly controlled all executive, legislative, and judicial powers and
committed flagrant human rights violations. Lacking transparency and
accountability mechanisms, government corruption has been rampant at
both the national and local levels. The military government has
ruthlessly prevented the free flow of information from the outside world
by restricting press freedom, stepping up surveillance at Internet
cafes and sharply raising the fees for satellite dish licenses. Freedoms
of association and assembly have been severely restricted; unauthorized
outdoor gatherings of more than five people banned, and authorities
have regularly used force to break up or prevent demonstrations and
meetings. [8]
Despite its long history of tyrannical rule, the Burmese government
has made recent overtures toward democratic political life and freedoms.
The first parliamentary elections since 1990 were held in November 2010
though international observers ruled that the elections were flawed.
Only a few months later, parliamentarians elected U Thein Sein, a former
military general, to presidency. Since Thein Sein’s election, the
government has released more than 100 political prisoners. An estimated
2,000 political prisoners remain in Burma’s prisons however.[9]
According to Freedom House’s 2012 Freedom in the World report, Burma
still lacks governmental transparency, a democratic electoral process,
and basic rights such as freedom of association and assembly and
workers’ rights.
Yet, in a move unimaginable in previous years, Thein Sein broke from
convention and invited Aung Sang Suu Kyi to engage in dialogue in 2011.
The government made further gestures toward respecting human rights in
2011 by easing some restrictions on the press, including permitting
mention of Suu Kyi. However, journalists remain in prison and a
censorship board continues to ban politically sensitive stories. [10]
The international community remains critical of the Burmese government,
especially regarding the repression of ethnic minorities. [11] Message and Audience
In stark contrast to the violent tactics of the military government,
Suu Kyi’s core message is a call to nonviolent action in the pursuit of
democracy. The influence of Buddhism in Aung San Suu Kyi’s politics has
been a topic of scholarly analysis for years, and she believes the idea
of mutual forgiveness in Buddhism is central to the function of
democratic transition. [12]
In an interview, Suu Kyi explained that she and Gandhi share a belief
in the “inevitable sameness about the challenges of authoritarian rule”
that gives rise to similar nonviolent tactics used by opposition groups
across contexts.[13]
Between her Buddhist beliefs and her familial link to Burma's
revolutionary history, Suu Kyi is has been an easily accessible leader
for the Burmese people.
Though house arrest made it impossible to publicly march with her
compatriots, Suu Kyi’s integrity and dignified resistance could not be
squelched by any physical restrictions. In her famous “Freedom from
Fear” speech following the 1990 elections, Suu Kyi told supporters, “It
is not power that corrupts, but fear.”[14] Throughout, she has persevered in her work; “Saints, it has been said, are the sinners that go on trying.”[15]
Through a series of large, open rallies and carefully worded letters to
the members of the junta from both Suu Kyi personally and the leaders
of the NLD during her imprisonment, she managed to galvanize the
population towards the pursuit of democracy. The military junta had
ample capacity to crush any form of resistance by force, and Suu Kyi
recognized this. She crafted her message so that the Burmese population
could take effective action against the government without risking a
violent confrontation with the junta’s military forces.
She has pledged her allegiance to the Burmese people and a democratic
Burma. “My party, the National League for Democracy, and I stand ready
and willing to play any role in the process of national reconciliation…
The potential of our country is enormous. This should be nurtured and
developed to create not just a more prosperous but also a more
harmonious, democratic society where our people can live in peace,
security and freedom.”[16]
Outreach Activities
Nearly two full decades spent under house arrest have not deterred
Suu Kyi from her path towards a democratic Burma. Following her release
in 2010, she has continued her civic activism, including championing for
the NLD to participate in 2012 general elections. In a move welcomed by
international observers as a liberalizing step, the NLD was allowed to
participate in the April 2012 parliamentary elections. The party won 43
out of 44 seats in parliament, including one for Suu Kyi. Despite this
political triumph, Suu Kyi has demonstrated cautious optimism. “So many
hills remain to be climbed, chasms to be bridged, obstacles to be
reached.”[17]
Suu Kyi believes that one of the key groups who will facilitate the
transition to democracy are the youth, particularly young members of the
Burmese military. She argues that the rise in technology and
globalization will lead to their allegiances shifting; “The age is on
our side in that sense because it is the age of technology. [The
government] cannot keep even these young people…cut off completely from
the rest of the world. And I think they are going to have many
opportunities now that we never had in the past simply because of the
technological revolution.” [18]
Since the late 1980s, Burmese activists and their allies have created
a vast network of supporters; indeed, without a diverse umbrella of
domestic and international support, the Burmese Democratic Movement
would not have stood tall in the face of oppression. In May 2012, Suu
Kyi traveled outside of Burma for the first time in over 20 years to
meet with international supporters. She was welcomed by the government
of Thailand, the British parliament and the Nobel Foundation in
Stockholm, Sweden, where she was finally able to accept her Nobel Peace
Prize, originally awarded in 1991. Conscious of the important role that
the international community could play in a democratic transition, she
has called on that community for continued sanctions on the Burmese
regime and support for human development.[19]
Suu Kyi’s continued commitment to nonviolence, combined with the
esteem and faith of the Burmese people, has earned the Burmese
Democratic Movement solidarity and respect throughout the free world.[20]
Nonetheless, Suu Kyi remains vigilant: “If I advocate cautious optimism
it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do
not want to encourage blind faith. Without faith in the future, without
the conviction that democratic values and fundamental human rights are
not only necessary but possible for our society, our movement could not
have been sustained throughout the destroying years. Some of our
warriors fell at their post, some deserted us, but a dedicated core
remained strong and committed. At times when I think of the years that
have passed, I am amazed that so many remained staunch under the most
trying circumstances. Their faith in our cause is not blind; it is based
on a clear-eyed assessment of their own powers of endurance and a
profound respect for the aspirations of our people.”[21]
Rotberg, Robert I. Burma: Prospects for a Democratic Future. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998.
Stewart Lerner, Whitney. Aung San Suu Kyi: Fearless Voice of Burma. Minneapolis: Publications Company, 1997.
Ling, Bettina. Aung San Suu Kyi: Standing Up for Democracy in Burma. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1999.
Houtman, Gustaaf. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy. Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 1999.
Suu Kyi, Aung San. Freedom From Fear and Other Writings. Penguin Press, 2009.
Wintle, Justin. Perfect Hostage: A Life of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s
Prisoner of Conscience. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2008.
Footnotes [1] "Burma's 1988 protests." BBC News. 25 Sept. 2007. [2] Erlanger, Steven. " Opposition Leader Is Confined by Burmese Rulers." The New York Times 21 July 1989. Accessed 18 May 2010. [3] “Home Page.” Burmese Democratic Movement Association, UK. 20 May 2010. [4] Suu Kyi, Aung San. “Nobel Lecture by Aung San Suu Kyi” 16 June 2012. [5] Finch, Steve. “Aung San Suu Kyi Opens Up.” The Phnom Phen Post.18 November 2010. [6]
Ling, Bettina. Aung San Suu Kyi: Standing Up for Democracy in Burma.
New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1999. Pg.
14. [7] "Aung San Suu Kyi on Non-Violence.” Youtube. 20 May 2010. [8] “Burma (Myanmar) (2009).” Freedom in the World Report. Freedom House. Accessed 21 May 2010. [9] “World Report 2012: Burma.” Human Rights Watch. Accessed 30 August 2012. [10] “World Report 2012: Burma.” [11] Popham, Peter. "The backlash Against Aung San Suu Kyi" The Daily Beast 24 August 2012. [12]
Houtman, Gustaaf. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics: Aung San
Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy. Tokyo: Tokyo University
of Foreign Studies, 1999. Pg. 216. [13] Houtman, 297. [14] Suu Kyi, Aung San. Freedom from Fear and Other Writings. Penguin Press, 2009. Pg. 160. [15] Suu Kyi, Freedom from Fear. 183. [16] Suu Kyi “Nobel Lecture…” [17] Stringer, David. “Suu Kyi: Myanmar headed for better future.” The Guardian. 21 June 2012. [18] Mydans, Seth. “Myanmar Dissident Calls for Change.” The New York Times. 14 Nov. 2010. [19] “The Andrew Marr Show Interview with Aung Sang Suu Kyi.” The Andrew Marr Show, BBC. 12 June 2012. [20]
Lucas, Scott. “Burma Interview: Aung San Suu Kyi on Opposition, Talking
with the Regime, and Joining Facebook.” Enduring America. 18 Nov, 2010. [21] Suu Kyi “Nobel Lecture…”
September 6. Marriage of
Aung San, commander of the Burma Independence Army, and Ma
Khin Kyi (becoming Daw Khin Kyi), senior nurse of Rangoon
General Hospital, where he had recovered from the rigours of
the march into Burma.
1945:
June 19. Aung San Suu Kyi
born in Rangoon, third child in family. "Aung San" for
father, "Kyi" for mother, "Suu" for grandmother, also day of
week of birth.
Favourite brother is to drown tragically at an early age. The
older brother, will settle in San Diego, California, becoming
United States citizen.
1947:
July 19. General Aung San
assassinated. Suu Kyi is two years old. Daw Khin Kyi becomes
a prominent public figure, heading social planning and social
policy bodies.
1948:
January 4. The Independent
Union of Burma is established.
1960:
Daw Khin Kyi appointed
Burma's ambassador to India. Suu Kyi accompanies mother to
New Delhi.
1960-64:
Suu Kyi at high school and
Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi.
1964-67:
Oxford University, B.A. in
philosophy, politics and economics at St. Hugh's College
(elected Honorary Fellow, 1990).
British "parents" are Lord Gore-Booth, former British
ambassador to Burma and High Commissioner in India, and his
wife, at whose home Suu Kyi meets Michael Aris, student of
Tibetan civilisation.
1969-71:
She goes to New York for
graduate study, staying with family friend Ma Than E, staff
member at the United Nations, where U. Thant of Burma is
Secretary-General. Postponing studies, Suu Kyi joins U.N.
secretariat as Assistant Secretary, Advisory Committee on
Administrative and Budgetary Questions. Evenings and weekends
volunteers at hospital, helping indigent patients in programs
of reading and companionship.
1972:
January 1. Marries Michael
Aris, joins him in Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, where he
tutors royal family and heads Translation Department. She
becomes Research Officer in the Royal Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
1973:
They return to England for
birth of Alexander in London.
1974:
Michael assumes
appointment in Tibetan and Himalayan studies at Oxford
University.
1977:
Birth of second son, Kim
at Oxford.
While raising her children, Suu Kyi begins writing,
researches for biography of father, and assists Michael in
Himalayan studies.
1984:
Publishes Aung San
in Leaders of Asia series of University of Queensland Press.
(See Freedom from Fear, pp. 3-38.)
1985:
For juvenile readers
publishes Let's Visit Burma (see Freedom from
Fear, pp. 39-81), also books on Nepal and Bhutan in same
series for Burke Publishing Company, London.
1985-86:
Visiting Scholar, Center
of Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, researching
father's time in Japan. Kim with her, Alexander with Michael,
who has fellowship at Indian Institute of Advanced Studies at
Simla in northern India.
1986:
On annual visit to
grandmother in Rangoon, Alexander and Kim take part in
traditional Buddhist ceremony of initiation into
monkhood.
1987:
With fellowship at Indian
Institute Suu Kyi, with Kim, joins Michael and Alexander in
Simla. Travels to London when mother is there for cataract
surgery.
Publishes "Socio-Political Currents in Burmese Literature,
1910-1940" in journal of Tokyo University. (See Freedom
from Fear, pp. 140-164.) September. Family returns to
Oxford. Suu Kyi enrolls at London School of Oriental and
African Studies to work on advanced degree.
1988:
March 31. Informed by
telephone of mother's severe stroke, she takes plane next day
to Rangoon to help care for Daw Khin Kyi at hospital, then
moves her to family home on University Avenue next to Inya
Lake in Rangoon.
July 23. Resignation of General Ne Win, since 1962 military
dictator of Burma. Popular demonstrations of protest
continuing.
August 8. Mass uprising throughout country. Violent
suppression by military kills thousands.
August 15. Suu Kyi, in first political action, sends open
letter to government, asking for formation of independent
consultative committee to prepare multi-party
elections.
August 26. In first public speech, she addresses several
hundred thousand people outside Shwedagon Pagoda, calling for
democratic government. Michael and her two sons are
there.
September 18. Military establishes State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC). Political gatherings of more
than four persons banned. Arrests and sentencing without
trial reaffirmed. Parliamentary elections to be held, but in
expectation that multiplicity of parties will prevent clear
result.
September 24. National League for Democracy (NLD) formed,
with Suu Kyi general-secretary. Policy of non-violence and
civil disobedience. October-December. Defying ban, Suu Kyi
makes speech-making tour throughout country to large
audiences.
December 27. Daw Khin Kyi dies at age of seventy-six.
1989:
January 2. Funeral of Daw
Khin Kyi. Huge funeral procession. Suu Kyi vows that as her
father and mother had served the people of Burma, so too
would she, even unto death.
January-July. Suu Kyi continues campaign despite harassment,
arrests and killings by soldiers.
February 17. Suu Kyi prohibited from standing for
election.
April 5. Incident in Irawaddy Delta when Suu Kyi courageously
walks toward rifles soldiers are aiming at her.
July 20. Suu Kyi placed under house arrest, without charge or
trial. Sons already with her. Michael flies to Rangoon, finds
her on third day of hunger strike, asking to be sent to
prison to join students arrested at her home. Ends strike
when good treatment of students is promised.
1990:
May 27. Despite detention
of Suu Kyi, NLD wins election with 82% of parliamentary
seats. SLORC refuses to recognise results.
October 12. Suu Kyi granted 1990 Rafto Human Rights
Prize.
1991:
July 10. European
Parliament awards Suu Kyi Sakharov human rights prize.
October 14. Norwegian Nobel Committee announces Suu Kyi is
winner of 1991 Peace Prize.
1991:
December. Freedom from
Fear published by Penguin in New York, England, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand. Also in Norwegian, French, Spanish
translations.
December 10. Alexander and Kim accept prize for mother in
Oslo ceremony. Suu Kyi remains in detention, having rejected
offer to free her if she will leave Burma and withdraw from
politics. Worldwide appeal growing for her release.
1992:
Suu Kyi announces that she
will use $1.3 million prize money to establish health and
education trust for Burmese people.
1993:
Group of Nobel Peace
Laureates, denied entry to Burma, visit Burmese refugees on
Thailand border, call for Suu Kyi's release, Their appeal
later repeated at UN Commission for Human Rights in
Geneva.
1994:
February. First non-family
visitors to Suu Kyi: UN representative, U.S. congressman, New
York Times reporter.
September-October. SLORC leaders meet with Suu Kyi, who still
asks for a public dialogue.
1995:
July 10. SLORC releases
Suu Kyi from house arrest after six years of detention.
In the last four years her movements have
still been restricted. While she has had some opportunities to
telephone her family in England, she is regularly denounced in
the government-controlled media, and there is concern for her
personal safety. Efforts to revive any NLD party activities have
been balked, and its members have been jailed and physically
attacked. In the first months after detention was ended, she was
able to speak to large gatherings of supporters outside her home,
but this was stopped. Yet her popularity in the country has not
diminished.
Internationally her voice has been heard
not infrequently. Reporters with cameras and videotape have been
able to interview her in person, and telephone interviews with
the media outside Burma have also been published. Using video
cassettes she has sent out statements, including the keynote
address to the NGO Forum at the U.N. International Women's
Conference in Beijing in August 1995.
There have been a number of visitors from
abroad, including a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, whom
she told that Norway will be the first country she will visit
when free to travel. SLORC has changed its name to the State
Peace and Development Council, but its repressive policies and
violation of human rights continue unabated.
Suu Kyi discourages tourists from visiting
Burma and businessmen from investing in the country until it is
free. She finds hearing for such pleas among western nations, and
the United States has applied economic sanctions against Burma,
but Burma's neighbours follow their policy of not intervening in
the internal affairs of other sovereign states, and Burma has
been admitted into the Association of South Eastern Asian
Nations.
On March 27, 1999, Michael Aris died of
prostate cancer in London. He had petitioned the Burmese
authorities to allow him to visit Suu Kyi one last time, but they
had rejected his request. He had not seen her since a Christmas
visit in 1995. The government always urged her to join her family
abroad, but she knew that she would not be allowed to return.
This separation she regarded as one of the sacrifices she had had
to make in order to work for a free Burma.
Selected Bibliography
By Aung San Suu Kyi
Freedom from Fear and Other
Writings. Edited with introduction by Michael Aris. 2nd
ed., revised. New York and London: Penguin, 1995. (Includes
essays by friends and scholars.)
Voice of Hope: Conversations.
London: Penguin, 1997 and New York City: Seven Stories Press,
1997 (Conversations beginning in November 1995 with Alan
Clements, the founder of the Burma Project in California who
helped with the script for the film based on her life,
“Beyond Rangoon”.)
Other Sources
“Aung San Suu Kyi”, in
Current Biography, February 1992.
Clements, Alan and Leslie Kean.
Burma’s Revolution of the Spirit: The Struggle for
Democratic Freedom and Dignity. New York: Aperture, 1994.
(Many colour photographs with text, Includes essay by Aung
San Suu Kyi.)
Clements, Alan. Burma: The Next
Killing Fields. Tucson, Arizona; Odonian Press, 1992.
(With a foreword by the Dalai Lama.)
Lintner, Bertil. Burma in Revolt:
Opium and Insurgency since 1948. Boulder. Colorado:
Westview, 1994. (By a well-informed Swedish journalist.)
Mirante, Edith T. Burmese Looking
Glass. A Human Rights Adventure and a Jungle Revolution.
New York: Grove, 1993.
Smith, Martin J. Burma: Intrangency
and the Politics of Ethnicity. London: Zed Books, 1991.
(A detailed and well-organised account by a journalist of the
violent conflict between the military government and the many
minorities.)
Victor, Barbara. The Lady: Aung San
Suu Kyi: Nobel Laureate and Burma’s Prisoner.
Boston and London: Faber & Faber, 1998. (A sympathetic
account by a wellpublished author and journalist, whose
research in Burma included interviews with government
leaders.)
geboren am 19. Juni 1945 in Rangun, Burma burmesische Friedensnobelpreisträgerin (1991)
Bürgerrechtlerin, Freiheitskämpferin, Oppositionsführerin, Menschenrechtsaktivistin
65. Geburtstag am 19. Juni 2010
“The
Lady” wird die Oppositionspolitikerin in ihrer Heimat Burma (heute:
Myanmar) genannt - wegen ihrer würdevollen Ausstrahlung, ihrer zarten
Figur und eleganten Kleidung und der Blume, die sie stets im Haar trägt.
Das Schicksal Aung San Suu Kyis wurde weltweit erst bekannt, als sie
1991 den Friedensnobelpreis für ihren gewaltfreien Kampf für Demokratie
und Menschenrechte in Burma bekam. Da stand sie bereits zwei Jahre unter
Hausarrest mit beinahe totaler Isolation. Die Ehrung kann sie nicht
persönlich in Empfang nehmen, ohne Gefahr zu laufen, nie wieder in ihre
Heimat zurückkehren zu dürfen.
Suu Kyi war durch das Schicksal ihres Vaters Aung San geprägt. Der
General kämpfte erfolgreich für Burmas Unabhängigkeit von englischer
Kolonialherrschaft, wurde aber 1947 kurz vor dem Ziel Opfer eines
Attentats. Er wäre Burmas erster frei gewählter Präsident geworden.
Zu dem Zeitpunkt ist Soo Kyi erst zwei Jahre alt. Ein Leben lang
interessiert sie sich aber für ihn und sein Wirken. Die Mutter Khin Kyi
ist an dieser Verehrung nicht ganz unschuldig, denn sie prägt den
Kindern ein, das besondere Erbe des Vaters zu achten.
Aung San Soo Kyi erhält ihre Schulbildung in Indien, wo ihre Mutter
als erste weibliche Botschafterin Burmas wirkt. Dort lernt sie an den
besten Schulen und schließt Freundschaft mit Indira Gandhi und deren
Söhnen Rajiv und Sanjay. Zunächst studiert sie in Delhi
Politikwissenschaft, später in Oxford Philosophie, Politik- und
Wirtschaftswissenschaft. Sie arbeitet in New York bei der UNO und mit
ihrem Mann, dem Tibetologen Michael Aris, in Bhutan. Die beiden haben
zwei Söhne.
Während Suu Kyi in Kyoto und in Indien lehrt und forscht - auch über
die jüngste burmesische Geschichte sowie die Rolle ihres Vaters - wird
Burma unter dem brutalen Diktator Ne Win von der Außenwelt abgeschottet.
Suu Kyis Leben ändert sich völlig, als sie 1988 zu ihrer todkranken
Mutter nach Burma zurückkehrt - mitten in politische Unruhen hinein: auf
den Straßen demonstriert das Volk für demokratische Reformen. Burmas
“zweiter Kampf für Unabhängigkeit” (Aung San Soo Kyi) beginnt.
Die Bürgerrechtlerin kann als Tochter ihres Vaters nicht gleichgültig
zusehen, wie sie sagt, wird politisch aktiv und bald zur Symbolfigur.
Trotz Bedrohung durch Waffengewalt und Versammlungsverbot reist sie im
Wahlkampf für die von ihr mitgegründete Nationale Liga für Demokratie,
NLD, durchs Land und predigt unerschrocken zivilen Ungehorsam. Ihren
grandiosen Wahlsieg im Frühjahr 1990 ignoriert die politische Führung
jedoch und verhaftet, foltert und tötet viele Oppositionelle; Aung San
Suu Kyi wird unter Hausarrest gestellt.
Doch so schnell ist sie nicht mundtot zu machen. Durch einen
zehntägigen Hungerstreik erzwingt sie die Zusage, dass ihre
MitstreiterInnen in der Haft gut behandelt werden. Im
Juli verleiht ihr das europäische Parlament den Sacharow-Preis und im
selben Jahr erhält sie für ihren gewaltlosen Kampf für Menschenrechte
den Friedensnobelpreis - die Welt wird auf ihr Schicksal und das ihres
Landes aufmerksam.
Nach sechs Jahren wird ihre Gefangenschaft unter strengen Auflagen
erstmals aufgehoben und sie kann ausländische JournalistInnen empfangen.
Zwei Jahre später ist sie wieder in Haft. Die Isolation erträgt die
Buddhistin nur durch strenge Disziplin, mit Meditation, Nähen,
Gymnastik, Klavierspiel und Sprachenlernen (Französisch und Japanisch).
Ihr Gesundheitszustand verschlechtert sich während der langen
Gefangenschaft rapide, vor allem wegen der verheerenden Ernährung, denn
sie nimmt kein Geld von den Machthabern an. Trotzdem lehnt sie jedes
Angebot der Militärjunta ab, zu deren Bedingungen das Land zu verlassen.
Um Burma in seinem Freiheitskampf treu zu bleiben, verzichtet sie sogar
darauf, ihren todkranken Mann und ihre Söhne wiederzusehen. 1999 stirbt
Michael Aris an Krebs.
Seit Mai 2003 ist Burmas Hoffnungsträgerin wieder unter Hausarrest.
Indira
Gandhi was, undoubtedly, one of the greatest political leaders of India.
She was the first and only woman to be elected as the Prime Minister.
She is also regarded as the most controversial political leader of the
country for her unprecedented decision of imposing "a state of
emergency". She was also criticized for carrying out the Operation
Blue-Star in Punjab that eventually scripted her assassination on 31
October 1984.
Following
the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri on 11 January 1966, in Tashkent, the
race to the coveted throne of Prime Minister began. The party faced a
serious trouble, as, all the senior leaders of the Congress party
desired to contest. Unable to reach at a consensus, the high-command
picked Indira as their contender. The virtual reason behind Indira's
selection was the thought that "Indira would, indirectly be run by
the top leadership." But Indira Gandhi, showing extraordinary
political skills elbowed the Congress stalwarts out of power. 
Indira Gandhi’s biography by Nayantara Sahgal keeps the fire of India’s first – and only – female Prime Minister burning bright.
Indira
Gandhi née: Nehru; (19 November 1917 - 31 October 1984) was the Prime
Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966
to 1977 and for a fourth term from 1980 until her assassination in 1984,
a total of fifteen years. She was India's first female Prime Minister.
Born
in the politically influential Nehru dynasty, she grew up in an
intensely political atmosphere. Despite the same last name, she was of
no relation to the statesman Mohandas Gandhi. Her grandfather, Motilal
Nehru, was a prominent Indian nationalist leader. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru,
was a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first
Prime Minister of Independent India. She was brought up in an
environment with great exposure to the political figures of the day, and
was particularly influenced by her father. She once said: "My father was a statesman, I'm a political woman. My father was a saint. I'm not. " In one early photograph (above), she was sitting at the bed of of Mohandas Gandhi as he recoverd from one of his fasts.
1 photo
Think you know about Biography? 
Censorship was bad enough, but the advent of VCDs and DVDs — and an
“entertainment tax” levied on cinemagoers — delivered the coup de grâce
to a movie industry ill equipped to withstand competition. Most of the
motion-picture companies closed down, as did the majority of the movie
theaters: in Rangoon, Burma’s largest city and home to 4.3 million
people, there are now just eight cinemas; in the country’s second
biggest city Mandalay, population 1.3 million, there are two. Today, out
of every 10 movies made in Burma, only one makes money. Most people who
work in the movie business do so as dilettantes, funding their projects
themselves (a movie in Burma generally costs about $15,000 to make,
mostly on older equipment, with films shot and edited in as little as
two weeks). There is a state body dealing with movies, the Myanmar
Motion Picture Enterprise, allied to the Ministry of Information, but
the government provides no funding. Apart from censoring scenes, its
remit is limited to granting licenses and shooting permissions.
Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as
trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against
ruthless power.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June 1945) is a non-violent pro-democracy social activist of Myanmar; Winner of the 1990 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
We are a team of "freedom-lovers" passionate about travelling to
Burma, the heart of this radical transition. Our intention is to
document the insights and stories of the less known leaders in their
long march toward freedom: former political prisoners; dissident
writers, musicians, journalists, filmmakers, poets and comedians;
Buddhist monks and nuns; reformed government leaders; shop owners;
returning refugees; farmers; students; and possibly Aung San Suu Kyi
herself, along with her esteemed colleagues, mentors and teachers.
“The
Lady” wird die Oppositionspolitikerin in ihrer Heimat Burma (heute:
Myanmar) genannt - wegen ihrer würdevollen Ausstrahlung, ihrer zarten
Figur und eleganten Kleidung und der Blume, die sie stets im Haar trägt.
Im
Juli verleiht ihr das europäische Parlament den Sacharow-Preis und im
selben Jahr erhält sie für ihren gewaltlosen Kampf für Menschenrechte
den Friedensnobelpreis - die Welt wird auf ihr Schicksal und das ihres
Landes aufmerksam.
Aung San 
No comments:
Post a Comment