Hero #18: Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi
Shepard Fairey Enters Burmese Politics
Shepard Fairey has been quite busy over the last two years — between helping get Obama elected and fighting vandalism charges in the Boston courts — but not too busy to embrace the cause of one Aung San Suu Kyi.
Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the preeminent human right activists in the world today. Her father, Aung San, founded the modern Burmese army and negotiated Burma’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1947; he was assassinated by his rivals in the same year. She has opposed the military junta quasi-government of Myanmar (Burma) since they nullified her election as the democratically chosen Prime Minister in 1989.
An Oxford-educated aristocrat, Aung San Suu Kyi helped found the National League for Democracy on September 27, 1988, and was put under house arrest on July 20, 1989. She was initially offered her freedom if she agreed to leave the country, but she refused. Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for almost twenty years. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, and remains a figure of social upheaval and human rights in the country of her birth.
Hats off to Shepard Fairey for his recognition of Aung San Suu Kyi’s plight, and the profound relevance of her struggle to the current events in Iran.
