Happy Birthday Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the Burmese pro-democracy movement, turns 64 tomorrow. The Burmese government will try her next week for violating the terms of her previous house arrest sentence. According to British officials, it is probable the government will find her guilty and extend her house arrest sentence by 3 to 5 years.

The UK will press the European Union to impose greater economic sanctions against the Burmese government in order to express disapproval over Suu Kyi's trial and house arrest. In May, the US renewed sanctions on Myanmar for another year after the government filed the charges against her.

As FMF's Anushay Hossain previously posted, Suu Kyi was weeks away from completing a 6-year house arrest term when an American missionary swam to her compound uninvited. She asked him to leave, but acquiesced when he cited leg cramps and asked to stay. As he left the next evening, the soldiers patrolling her home reported the intruder and the government filed charges.

The junta is preparing for elections next spring that would amend their constitution to consolidate the military's power over the country. Suu Kyi's imprisonment appears calculated to minimize dissent and challenges to the legitimacy of the elections and government.

Unlike Iran, Burma is not a country in which the US has considerable interest. It does not have oil or natural resources, and it does not a particularly strategic location the US would covet. Singapore and Thailand are cutting outflows to Burma, but it appears unlikely this will affect government decisions. Economic sanctions from foreign countries appear to have little effect on a military so indifferent to the needs or concerns of its citizens.

The test of our mettle is not in acting where our interests lie, but in acting where they do not. US and international pressure on Burma will not increase unless we put up a real big stink. Contact your members of Congress and ask how they plan to improve conditions for people in Burma. Work with your campuses and communities to organize around human rights.

You are the future of the movement, and no one is going to do it for you.

Photo Credit: The Nobel Foundation.