Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi receives her Nobel Peace Prize 21 years after it was given to her. Her fight for democracy let to her house arrest in her military controlled state.
The 66-year-old champion of political freedom praised the power of her 1991 Nobel honor both for saving her from the depths of personal despair and shining an enduring spotlight on injustices in distant Myanmar.
Excerpts of her speech;
“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. Without faith in the future, without the conviction that democratic values and fundamental human rights are not only necessary but possible for our society, our movement could not have been sustained throughout the destroying years. It Is unrealistic to expect the world ever to reach a state of “absolute peace,” yet mankind must be compelled to pursue the goal “as a traveler in a desert fixes his eyes on the one guiding star that will lead him to salvation. Even if we do not achieve perfect peace on earth, because perfect peace is not of this earth, common endeavors to gain peace will unite individuals and nations in trust and friendship, and help us to make our human community safer and kinder.”
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