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http://dassk.org
Please Use Your Liberty to Promote Ours
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. In Burma it is accepted as a political tradition that revolutionary changes are brought about through the active participation of students. The independence movement of our country was carried to a successful conclusion by young leaders, including my own father, General Aung San, who began their political careers at Rangoon University. An institution with such an outstanding reputation for spirited opposition to established authority is naturally a prime target for any authoritarian government. The Burmese military regime which assumed state power in 1962 blasted the Rangoon University Students' Union building out of existence within a few months of taking over and made it illegal for students to form a union. In 1988 the people of Burma rose up against the rule of the Burma Socialist Program Party, the civilian cloak of a military dictatorship. At the vanguard of the nationwide demonstrations were students who demanded, among other basic rights, the right to form a union. The response of the military junta was to shoot them down. More than eight years on, the students of Burma have still not relinquished their quest for an association that would promote their interests and articulate their aspirations and grievances. As recently as December, there were student demonstrations where the call for the right to form a union was reiterated. The security forces used violence to disperse the demonstrators, and a number of young people from my party, the National League for Democracy, were arrested on the grounds that they had been involved in organizing the demonstrations. I was accused of having discussions with the students. Things have indeed come to a sorry pass in a country if meetings between politicians and students are seen as acts of subversion. My party has never made a secret of its sympathy for the aspirations of students. We work to forge close links between the different generations so that a continuity of purpose and endeavor might be threaded into the fabric of our nation. When we are struggling against overwhelming odds, when we are pitting ourselves against the combined might of state apparatus and military power, we are sometimes subject to doubts — usually the doubts of those whose belief in the permanence of an existing order is absolute. It is amazing how many people still remain convinced that it is wise to accept the status quo. 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. There are multinational business concerns which have no inhibitions about dealing with repressive regimes. Their justification for economic involvement in Burma is that their presence will actually assist the process of democratization. But 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. |