Aung San Suu Kyi accepts Nobel peace prize

[Khun Don]

Aung San Suu Kyi accepts Nobel peace prize

Burmese pro-democracy leader says prize, awarded in 1991, helped shatter her sense of isolation during years of house arrest

guardian.co.uk, Saturday 16 June 2012 13.21 BST

Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-delivers-008.jpg
Aung San Suu Kyi delivers her acceptance speech during the Nobel peace prize ceremony in Oslo. Photograph: Daniel Sannum-Lauten/AFP/Getty Images

Twenty-one years after being awarded the Nobel peace prize, Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi has finally accepted her prize.

Delivering her long-awaited speech to the Norwegian Nobel committee in Oslo's city hall, the pro-democracy leader said the prize – given to her in 1991 – had helped shatter her sense of isolation during years of house arrest in Burma.

"Often during my days of house arrest it felt as though I were no longer a part of the real world," she said. The prize had "made me real once again".

She said the prize had also cast a spotlight on the struggle for freedom in the military-controlled country and ensured "we were not going to be forgotten".

Aung San Suu Kyi used her speech to highlight continuing issues in Burma, including political prisoners and ongoing clashes. "Hostilities have not ceased in the far north; to the west, communal violence resulting in arson and murder were taking place just several days before I started out the journey that has brought me here today," she said.

After spending most of the last 25 years under house arrest, the 66-year-old made a case for those still being held by the Burmese government.

"It is to be feared that because the best known detainees have been released, the remainder, the unknown ones, will be forgotten."

But the member of parliament also talked about progress and reform in Burma and told a packed audience in Oslo: "There have been changes in a positive direction; steps towards democratisation have been taken".

She added: "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."

Speaking again of the prize, she said: "When I joined the democracy movement in Burma, it never occurred to me that I might ever be the recipient of any prize or honour. The prize we were working for was a free, secure and just society where our people might be able to realise their full potential. The honour lay in our endeavour.

"When the Nobel committee chose to honour me, the road I had chosen of my own free will became a less lonely path to follow. For this I thank the committee, the people of Norway and peoples all over the world whose support has strengthened my faith in the common quest for peace."

Her acceptance speech was originally delivered by her 18-year-old son Alexander Aris in 1991. The following year Aung San Suu Kyi said she would use the $1.3m prizemoney to establish a health and education trust for Burmese people.

She is on a 17-day tour, taking in Switzerland, Britain, France, Ireland and Norway.

On Thursday she was forced to stop a news conference in the Swiss capital of Bern after complaining of travel exhaustion and vomiting.

[Betti]

I really wonder what trickles down to the people, I will find out tomorrow. Grade 4 have been asking me questions for a while. I will also try to find the local Engish-language newspaper.
I hope she's just a little exhausted, is well taken care of, and will get well soon. we all need her, the whole world, not just the people of Burma.

[Khun Don]

She is going to Oxford next week to spend some time with her sons to rest and hopefully relax a little. If you can not find an English language newspaper locally-try the British Embassy-UK papers full of Daw Suu Kyi and they may let you have an old copy for the school.

[Betti]

thanks for the tip, first I need to find out what the locals know about these news, what they've been told and "allowed" to know - even with the current situation, a Nobel Prize could be something to hush up. by the way, I can read news online, it's not blocked, but a local paper would be nice.
I don't want to go into politics at all - but last week we had a topic about migrant workers so I showed them a few photos of refugee camps and schools in Thailand - and also a photo of Aung Sang Suu Kyi visiting them just 2 weeks ago and telling them hopefully they can come home soon. many of the kids have family members abroad. there was no way around it, you could say :-) who the hell around here cares about Mexican migrant workers in the US, which is the unfortunate topic in my READING course for last week???? so I had to make migration relevant to these kids. so, then the next day someone in Grade 4 asked me if it's true that her husband is a foreigner. I said yes but he died a while back, but she has sons in England and she will go to visit them.
btw, her photos are everywhere (the internet cafe I go to has her in a montage with Mrs Clinton, as well as about 10 other posters of her, neatly above Obama and below a senior monk), and I've seen people wear t-shirts with her face and slogans. at the tourist market, where I got my postcards, they are selling lots of posters and stuff. she is everywhere.

[Susana]

I hope she's just a little exhausted, is well taken care of, and will get well soon. we all need her, the whole world, not just the people of Burma.

Betti, I look forward to knowing more about your interactions with your children. It's good to know you can speak so freely with them.

[Betti]

see my reply in the postcard thread.

[Mahindrasarath]

I'd read in the local new yesterday that Suu Kyi falls I11 during news conference in Switzerland BERNIN on Thursday evening after vomiting and excusion herself,saying " I'm sorry".
I hope that Burma could also tackle the ethnic pride devisions that have spawned the bloodiest clashes in years as i heard recently, and welcome to the new era changing ruling systems.

[Betti]

I didn't manage to get hold of an English-language newspaper, but the Burmese ones I saw were full of her photos, with the ceremony on the front page across the newsagent's rack. the one I borrowed from a local colleague had 6 pages of photos of her, including multiple shots when she was feeling unwell, maps of the trip, and the Nobel prize acceptance ceremony. sorry I couldn't read any of the articles. :-)