[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P90juy2cDiE&w=400]
Pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi confirmed Monday that she’s planning a visit to Burma’s provinces this summer. “I hope to be able to travel out of Rangoon in the month of June, as soon as I have got rid of all the work that has piled up,” she said in a video conference hosted by Hong Kong University. The Nobel Laureate has spent almost 15 of the last 21 years under house arrest.
The tour, if it proceeds, would be her first trip since her release last fall and, indeed, her first sojourn since a pro-Junta mob ambushed her entourage as she toured the countryside exactly eight years ago. Several of her supporters were killed in the May 30, 2003 attack; Suu Kyi, who initially fled, was apprehended and detained. “The generals saw her crowds growing larger,” a diplomat told TIME after the incident, “and decided they had to stop it.”
That, of course, could happen again. But Suu Kyi didn’t dwell on the danger, so neither will I. I’ve attached her keynote speech. And here are some of the most interesting bits from the live chat:
On Sanctions: Suu Kyi reiterated her support for international sanctions on Burma, saying that, as far as she can tell, the policy is hurting the government, not the people.
On China: “China can afford to be daring, to allow for all types of opinion,” she told the crowd. “Open your greatness to everybody else.” Suu Kyi also voiced support for imprisoned dissidents: “You are not alone,” she told them.
On India: The democracy campaigner called out the world’s largest democracy for its ambivalence on Burma. “India is not as concerned about our fate as we would like them to be,” she said.
On OBL: “With regards to the recent death of bin Laden, it just shows that violence ends with violence, and that there is too much violence already in our world and we’ve got to try do something about it.”
Just as the talk drew to a close, the power went out in Rangoon. It seemed a fitting ending: The Lady, in half-light, looking out at the world.