Aung San Suu Kyi's** essay "Freedom from Fear" was
first released for publication to commemorate the European Parliament's
awarding to her of the 1990 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The award
ceremony took place in her absence at
** NOTE: Aung San Suu Kyi is pronounced, “Ong Sawn Sue
Chee”
http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/assk/sakharovessay.html
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Freedom
From Fear
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 of corruption.
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
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 fulfillment, 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
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
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 powerful 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 of desire, 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 practice 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
'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 endeavor, 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 perfection,
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.