Although this is not entirely relevant to our class discussions on development, I wanted to reflect on the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader of Myanmar. She and her party, the National League for Democracy, won the 1990 elections, but were denied power by the military junta. She has been under house arrest for at least the past 15 years by the military junta as a means to undermine resistance power within Myanmar. Her release from house arrest this Saturday was a momentous occasion for anyone that considers themselves to be human rights activists.
Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and many other peace related awards throughout her life. She is a symbol for nonviolence and democracy in a country whose name itself can be synonymous with human rights violations. Despite the risk she puts herself and anyone associated with her in, she has vowed to continue to fight after her release. One of her most famous quotes goes against Machiavelli’s entire argument in The Prince. She said, “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.” Her beliefs are not radical in any way, but given where she speaks out, her strength is incredible. She is one of my idols, and the historic day of Saturday, November 13th 2010 could not pass without me dedicating a blog to it.
My main issue with Machiavelli is with his sentiments such as, “Relying on the people is like building on sand.” Leaders like Aung San Suu Kyi help me see a brighter future, a step towards a more harmonic system of world politics because of their reliance on ideas such as “Human beings the world over need freedom and security that they may be able to realize their full potential.” I’d rather believe in humanity because only that gives me the hope that change is possible.
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