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Freedom from Fear (r)
- Subject: Freedom from Fear (r)
- From: nin@xxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 10:55:00
Typed by FBC
............
The following was first released for publication by the editor
to commemorate the European Parliament's award to
Aung San Suu Kyi of the 1990 Sakharov Prire for Freedom of Thought.
The award ceremony took place in her absence at Strasbourg on
10 July 1991. In the same week the essay appeared in full or in part
in The Times Literary Supplement, the New York Times,
the Far East Economic Review, the Bangkok Post, the Times of India
and in the German, Norwegian and Icelandic press.
FREEDOM FROM FEAR by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
=================
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. Most Burmese are
familiar with the four a-gati, the four kinds of corruption.
Chanda-gati, corruption induced by desire, is deviation from
the right path in pursuit of bribes or for the sake of those
one loves. Dosa-gati is taking the wrong path to spite those
against whom one bears ill will, and moga-gati is aberration
due to ignorance. But perhaps the worst of the four is
bhaya-gati, for not only does bhaya, fear, stifle and slowly
destroy all sense of right and wrong, it so often lies at the
root of the other three kinds ofcorruption. Just as chanda-gati,
when not the result of sheer avarice, can be caused by fear
of want or fear of losing the goodwill of those one loves,
so fear of being surpassed, humiliated or injured in some
way can provide the impetus for ill will. And it would be
difficult to dispel ignorance unless there is freedom to
pursue the truth unfettered by fear. With so close a
relationship between fear and corruption it is little
wonder that in any society where fear is rife corruption in
all forms becomes deeply entrenched.
Public dissatisfaction with economic hardships has been
seen as the chief cause of the movement for democracy in Burma,
sparked off by the student demonstrations 1988. It is true that
years of incoherent policies, inept official measures, burgeoning
inflation and falling real income had turned the country into an
economic shambles. But it was more than the difficulties of eking
out a barely acceptable standard of living that had eroded the
patience of a traditionally good-natured, quiescent people -
it was also the humiliation of a way of life disfigured by corruption
and fear. The students were protesting not just against the death
of their comrades but against the denial of their right to life by
a totalitarian regime which deprived the present of meaningfulness
and held out no hope for the future. And because the students'
protests articulated the frustrations of the people at large,
the demonstrations quickly grew into a nationwide movement.
Some of its keenest supporters were businessmen who had developed
the skills and the contacts necessary not only to survive but to
prosper within the system. But their affluence offered them no genuine
sense of security or fulfilment, and they could not but see that if
they and their fellow citizens, regardless of economic status, were
to achieve a worthwhile existence, an accountable administration was
at least a necessary if not a sufficient condition. The people of
Burma had wearied of a precarious state of passive apprehension
where they were 'as water in the cupped hands' of the powers that be.
Emerald cool we may be
As water in cupped hands
But oh that we might be
As splinters of glass
In cupped hands.
Glass splinters, the smallest with its sharp, glinting power
to defend itself against hands that try to crush, could be seen as a
vivid symbol of the spark of courage that is an essential attribute
of those who would free themselves from the grip of oppression.
Bogyoke Aung San regarded himself as a revolutionary and searched
tirelessly for answers to the problems that beset Burma during her
times of trial. He exhorted the people to develop courage: 'Don't just
depend on the courage and intrepidity of others. Each and every one of
you must make sacrifices to become a hero possessed of courage and
intrepidity. Then only shall we all be able to enjoy true freedom.'
The effort necessary to remain uncorrupted in an environment where fear
is an integral part of everyday existence is not immediately apparent
to those fortunate enough to live in states governed by the rule of law.
Just laws do not merely prevent corruption by meting out impartial
punishment to offenders. They also help to create a society in which people
can fulfil the basic requirements necessary for the preservation of human
dignity without recourse to corrupt practices. Where there are no such
laws, the burden of upholding the principles of justice and common
decency falls on the ordinary people. It is the cumulative effect on
their sustained effort and steady endurance which will change a nation
where reason and conscience are warped by fear into one where legal
rules exist to promote man's desire for harmony and justice while
restraining the less desirable destructive traits in his nature.
In an age when immense technological advances have created lethal weapons
which could be, and are, used by the powefful and the unprincipled to
dominate the weak and the helpless, there is a compelling need for a closer
relationship between politics and ethics at both the national and
international levels. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the
United Nations proclaims that 'every individual and every organ of society'
should strive to promote the basic rights and freedoms to which all human
beings regardless of race, nationality or religion are entitled. But as
long as there are governments whose authority is founded on coercion rather
than on the mandate of the people, and interest groups which place
short-term profits above long-term peace and prosperity, concerted
international action to protect and promote human rights will remain at best
a partially realized struggle.. There will continue to be arenas of struggle
where victims of oppression have to draw on their own inner resources to
defend their inalienable rights as members of the human family.
The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual
conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which
shape the course of a nation's development. A revolution which aims merely
at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement
in material conditions has little chance of genuine success. Without a
revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old
order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process
of reform and regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom,
democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to
persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring
truths, to resist the corrupting influences ofdesire, ill will,
ignorance and fear.
Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who go on trying. So free men are
the oppressed who go on trying and who in the process make themselves fit to
bear the responsibilities and to uphold the disciplines which will maintain a
free society. Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives
might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and
an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic
institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power
must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.
Always one to practise what he preached, Aung San himself constantly
demonstrated courage - not just the physical sort but the kind that enabled
him to speak the truth, to stand by his word, to accept criticism, to admit
his faults, to correct his mistakes, to respect the opposition, to parley with
the enemy and to let people be the judge of his worthiness as a leader.
It is for such moral courage that he will always be loved and respected in Burma
- not merely as a warrior hero but as the inspiration and conscience of
the nation. The words used by Jawaharlal Nehru to describe Mahatma Gandhi
could well be applied to Aung San:
'The essence of his teaching was fearlessness and truth,
and action allied to these, always keeping the welfare of
the masses in view.'
Gandhi, that great apostle of non-violence, and Aung San, the founder
of a national army, were very different personalities, but as there is
an inevitable sameness about the challenges of authoritarian rule
anywhere at any time, so there is a similarity in the intrinsic
qualities of those who rise up to meet the challenge. Nehru, who
considered the instillation of courage in the people of India one
of Gandhi's greatest achievements, was a political modernist,
but as he assessed the needs for a twentieth-century movement
for independence, he found himself looking back to the philosophy
of ancient India: 'The greatest gift for an individual or a nation
... was abhaya, fearlessness, not merely bodily courage but absence
of fear from the mind.'
Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage
acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from cultivating
the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions,
courage that could be described as 'grace under pressure' -
grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh,
unremitting pressure.
Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights,
fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear
of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property
or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear
of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades
as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless,
insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which
help to preserve man's self-respect and inherent human dignity.
It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron
rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves
from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most
crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for
fear is not the natural state of civilized man.
The wellspring of courage and endurance in the face of unbridled
power is generally a firm belief in the sanctity of ethical
principles combined with a historical sense that despite all
setbacks the condition of man is set on an ultimate course for
both spiritual and material advancement. It is his capacity for
self-improvement and self-redemption which most distinguishes
man from the mere brute. At the root of human responsibility
is the concept of peffection, the urge to achieve it, the
intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow
that path if not to the end at least the distance needed to
rise above individual limitations and environmental impediments.
It is man's vision of a world fit for rational, civilized
humanity which leads him to dare and to suffer to build
societies free from want and fear. Concepts such as truth,
justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when
these are often the only bulwarks which stand against
ruthless power.
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