I for one never begrudged U2 their success and I am not one of their knockers. They are a hard working professional Band who have worked hard at their craft for over 30 years. They have stayed living in Ireland and invest in the country. Indeed Bono (Paul Hewson) and The Edge (David Evans) live within bombast distance of a friend’s Martello Tower in Killiney Co. Dublin.
Paul was a near neighbour on the Northside of Dublin growing up in Cedarwood whilst I lived down the road in Willow Park. I never knew him but Dublin is not a huge city and I would see him at the next bustop by the roundabout on Ballymun Avenue with a Dunnes Stores bag of records waiting for the 19A bus into town. There, like all of us in Dublin at the time, he and the guys would hang out in the Dandelion Market on Stephen’s Green, a development site which became a bit of a groovy market a bit like Camden Lock in London. We also had some mutual acquaintances and I caught some of their early concerts in the Project Arts Centre which acted as a catalyst for so much in the visual and performing arts in Dublin.
In common with others U2 have taken advantage of an extraordinary tax break introduced by Charles Haughey when he was Finance Minister which exempted royalties earned abroad from creative writing from income tax. Now this was originally intended to get writers to settle in Ireland and encourage native talent but it has been availed of by film directors, script writers and pop musicians all of whom structure their tax affairs to take the bulk of their income in royalties.
The Boys
Glastonbury organisers were accused yesterday of using heavy-handed tactics against demonstrators who tried to embarrass U2 during the rock group’s debut at the festival. Activists from protest group Art Uncut made their point by unfurling a 25-metre inflatable balloon bearing the slogan ‘U pay tax 2?’ in front of the 50,000 fans watching the band perform on the festivals Pyramid Stage. Friday’s protest was directed at U2’s 2006 decision to cut their tax bill by moving their business affairs from Ireland to the Netherlands.
Before 2006 U2 Ltd, which deals with U2’s royalties payments, was registered in Ireland, the band’s native country, for tax purposes. At the time, Ireland had an astonishing policy of allowing artists to pay zero tax on royalties. In 2006, the Irish government decided to cap the income which can be subject to this exemption at 250,000 Euros per annum. Following this change in the law, U2 Ltd decided to move their tax affairs to Holland in order to pay less tax.
Irish politicians called it a cynical tax-avoidance ploy by the world’s highest-earning musicians, who last year raked in about £80 million. Members of the 30-strong group of activists, who were aged between 18 and 35 and included a teacher, artists and musicians, said within minutes of the unveiling they were set upon by security guards, who pinned protesters to the wall and left one, 23-year-old Claudia Stevens, with a broken finger.
U2 business acumen is legendary directed by their “5th Member”, their Manager Paul McGuiness who has always directed their affairs and who takes an equal share with the band members. U2’s members are worth almost £1 billion between them through savvy investments. The band was one of the first music successes to obtain all rights to its music. Frontman Bono, 51, and lead guitarist The Edge, 49, each own 25 per cent of Dublin’s Clarence Hotel. Bono, who has a £300 million stake in Facebook and a £220 million share in media company Forbes Media LLC, owns properties worth more than £30 million.
Meanwhile, The Edge has a £30 million Californian mansion; bassist Adam Clayton, 51, has a £12.5 million house in London plus a home near Nice, and drummer Larry Mullen Jr, 49, owns properties in upstate New York and the French Riviera worth a total of £30 million. Now they are not the first band to organise their affairs to minimise their tax payments, the Rolling Stones for instance have always been a company in the Netherland Antilles, but it does sit uneasily with Bono’s pronouncements on Western Nations not giving enough to Africa.
Indeed I am worried that with Bono and Chris Martin both at Glastonbury nobody is looking after Africa. I shouldn’t have worried as it turns out Bono asked God to deputise for him over the weekend!
Activists with a birthday cake for Aung San Suu Kyi
Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi marks her 65th birthday on Saturday under house arrest as activists hold protests around the globe and world leaders call for the ruling junta to free her. US President Barack Obama on Friday called on the Myanmar regime to free Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in a message sending best wishes for her 65th birthday. Obama hailed the Myanmar opposition leader's "determination, courage, and personal sacrifice in working for human rights and democratic change" as she marks her birthday Saturday under house arrest in Yangon.
Her integrity and commitment to non violence and the people of Burma contrasts with the ugliness of the regime of General Than Shwe and his fellow Military Goons who run the country as a personal kleptocracy as the steal the birthright and hope of the Burmese people.
The military regime has kept Suu Kyi in detention for almost 15 years and she has been barred from running in upcoming elections that critics have denounced as a sham aimed at entrenching the generals' power. Even so, the woman known in Myanmar simply as "The Lady" remains the most powerful symbol of freedom in a country where the army rules with an iron fist.
Monks protesting
The opposition leader is expected to spend a quiet day at her dilapidated lakeside mansion, where she lives with two female assistants, cut off from the outside world without telephone or Internet access. Her supporters plan to throw a small party at one of their houses in northern Yangon in her absence. Members of her National League for Democracy are planting about 20,000 saplings around Myanmar to mark her birthday and plan to send spicy food to her home to share with workers doing renovations. "We believe Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's political spirit will keep growing as long as the trees grow," said lawyer Aung Thein, an active NLD figure. "Daw" is a term of respect in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Shoes abandoned by protestors as they fled
Suu Kyi's party won the last vote in 1990 but was never allowed to take office. A UN working group this week pronounced her detention a breach of international human rights law, prompting new calls for her release.
"I wish to convey my best wishes to Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace laureate, on the occasion of her 65th birthday on June 19," Obama said in his message. "I once again call on the Burmese government to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally and to allow them to build a more stable, prosperous Burma that respects the rights of all its citizens."
Amnesty International USA reports;
“Aung San Suu Kyi's last birthday was spent in the infamous Insein (pronounced "insane") prison – notorious for its foul conditions and unrelenting use of torture. Today, more than 2,100 political prisoners are being held in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), many of whom are hidden away in the prison's darkest corners.
Insein prison
But in Honour of Suu Kyi's 65th birthday on June 19th, we're doing all we can to fill those corners with light and expose Myanmar's treatment of political dissents for what it really is…insane. Help drive our ongoing work to protect human rights in Myanmar. Less than a month ago, a youth member of the former National League for Democracy, the political party headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, had his sentence in Insein prison extended by 10 years. Life without human rights is insane. His original offence - distributing a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi.
General Than Shye Leader of the Goon Squad
This blatant manipulation of laws and outright injustice has got to stop. We've fought tirelessly on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi for the past 2 decades and such abuse of human rights only fuels our desire to bring violators to justice once and for all. Our team of researchers and experts are observing Myanmar closely and reporting back whenever there are new developments and opportunities for action. And given that national elections are planned for later this year, our teams are remaining particularly vigilant to ensure that no person is improperly detained during election-related crackdowns without setting off major alarms across the human rights spectrum. But we need your help. This kind of in-depth reporting is done by few, but requires resources and the support of many.
Please say that you'll join the fight to protect political dissidents in Myanmar. Stand with us as we stand with Suu Kyi and the more than 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar. Let Myanmar's government know that a light still shines for human rights even in the darkest corners.”
Next Saturday 19th June will be the 65th birthday of Burma's jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. As has been the case for much of her life, the brave freedom fighter and Nobel Peace Laureate will be allowed no celebrations or contact with her loved ones.
Tension builds once again as Myanmar prepares for its elections. Many fear that widespread arrests and detainment will result from election-related crackdowns. Moreover, contributing to the anxiety is the anticipated release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held under house arrest for nearly 15 years.
Aung San Suu Kyi addressing supporters before her arrest
But Suu Kyi has been close to completing her sentence before. Just last year, as she neared her release date, she was found guilty of allowing an uninvited American man to stay at her home after he strapped homemade flippers to his feet and swam across a lake bordering her house. Authorities sentenced her to 18 more months of detention - meaning that she would not be released until after Myanmar's elections were completed. These arbitrary sentences just won't do. Demand that Aung San Suu Kyi be released immediately and unconditionally.
Earlier this year, Suu Kyi's party, National League for Democracy (NLD), was dissolved for refusing to re-register as a political party, a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader because she is serving a prison term.
It is painfully obvious that Myanmar's government is doing all it can to box Suu Kyi and her supporters into a corner. Her very existence challenges the military's authority because she inspires the people of Myanmar to believe. More than ever, it's up to us to stand united.
General Than Shwe - Leader of the Myanmar Dictatorship
When news about one of the most iconic and revered leaders of our time breaks, whatever the outcome, we need to be able to call on you to stand with Aung San Suu Kyi and stand up for human rights.
The biggest tragedy of all is that Aung San Suu Kyi should have never been arrested in the first place. Her punishment is politically motivated and is an outright violation of international law. But as long as we continue to carry the torch for Aung San Suu Kyi, then Myanmar's junta can't touch us. Help light the way for the people of Myanmar.
Sign the Amnesty International petition to release Aung San Suu Kyi;
This video “Burma VJ” exposes the atrocities and injustices that have been taking place under the junta's unbending rule. In the film the undercover network of VJs (video journalists) record the appalling treatment of the Burmese citizens and monks which caused a global uproar during the recent uprising. The VJs risk torture, imprisonment and even death in their quest to report what is going on in their closed country.
Martin Luther King Jr. achieved much in his life before it was tragically cut short on the evening of April 4, 1968. Martin Luther King Day is on Monday January 18 2010, this year. It is a day that celebrates one of the greatest civil rights leaders the world has ever known.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I Have a Dream"
Delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Leaders worldwide condemned Myanmar's decision last week to extend Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's imprisonment by 18 months after finding her guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest.
It's time for global leaders to match words with actions.
While Amnesty applauds the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' condemnation of the verdict in Aung San Suu Kyi's trial, the 10-nation ASEAN bloc must ratchet up pressure for the release of Suu Kyi and thousands of other political prisoners in Myanmar.
The head of the Myanmar's ruling military junta, Than Shwe, has brushed off criticisms before, and there's little reason to believe he'll clean-up his act unless ASEAN shows that this time it means business.
That's why we're calling on ASEAN to convene a meeting of the top brass in foreign affairs from all 10 member nations to come up with concrete measures to finally address the growing human rights crisis in Myanmar.
General Than Shwe
We're turning up the heat ourselves by calling on supporters to send 10,000 postcards – instead of emails – to the Thai government, which currently chairs ASEAN. (Don't worry – we'll send the postcard for you, so you don't have to buy postage, lick stamps or find a mailbox.)
Send a postcard today demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and thousands of other political prisoners in Myanmar. Time is running out. Vietnam will replace Thailand as chair of ASEAN at the end of next month. Critics have raised concerns that ASEAN's new human rights body will be toothless under Vietnam's leadership.
We must ramp up our calls on Thailand to show leadership on human rights in Myanmar in order for it to make a difference in the remaining weeks of its chairmanship.
Act now. Help us send 10,000 postcards to the Thai government by September 1st to urge them to call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and thousands of other political prisoners in Myanmar.
Paste this link into your browser to send a postcard.
The Burmese pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been found guilty on the 11th August 2009 of violating state security laws, in effect preventing her from campaigning in next year's elections. A court in Rangoon convicted her of breaking the terms of her house arrest when she allowed an American man, John Yettaw, to stay at her home on Inya Lake after he swam there uninvited in May.
Ms Suu Kyi, who had denied the charge, was sentenced to an additional three years house arrest but this was commuted to eighteen months by the military government. There's been strong international condemnation. She has now been returned to her home where she has lived under house arrest for nearly twenty years. Mr Yettaw was found guilty on three separate charges and sentenced to seven years in prison.
Ms Suu Kyi's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, won national elections in 1990 but the military refused to relinquish power. In the general election, Suu Kyi won right to be Prime Minister, as leader of the winning National League for Democracy party, which won 59% of the vote and 394 of 492 seats. Her subsequent detention by the military junta prevented her from assuming office. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 but has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years. Her father, General Aung San, founded the modern Burmese army and negotiated Burma's independence from the United Kingdom in 1947; he was assassinated by his rivals in the same year.
Aung San Suu Kyi aged 2 with her parents
Myanmar's military junta extended Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's imprisonment by 18 months after finding her guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest. Critics of Myanmar's military regime condemned the outcome of the 3-month sham trial, calling it a pretext to keep Suu Kyi out of the running during next year's presidential elections.
Aung San Suu Kyi is escorted to a car on the third day of her trial at Yangon's Insein Prison
The trial was held in camera in Insein Prison except for one day when international observers and diplomats were allowed to observe proceedings. As the generals have carried out the trial in secret, deep inside the Yangon prison diplomats were shocked to find themselves suddenly being taken to witness the trial - coming face to face with Suu Kyi for the first time in nearly six years. She called out to diplomats in English, telling them she hoped she would see them again 'in better days'. 'She was ramrod straight, dignified, composed,' British ambassador Mark Canning, who sat in court with 10 other ambassadors, told the Independent. She seemed to crackle with energy - you could see the way she commanded her defence team, and in fact commanded the wider courtroom.' 'She exuded an aura that can only be described as awe-inspiring,' Philippines charge d'affaires Joselito Chad Jacinto added.
The junta — which currently detains more than 2,100 political prisoners — commuted Suu Kyi's sentence from three years hard labour in prison to an 18-month extension to her house arrest in the hopes that the international community will view the reduced sentence as an act of leniency. But Suu Kyi should have never been imprisoned in the first place.
Protester killed in 2007
Suu Kyi's deplorable imprisonment has been denounced by everyone from heads of state worldwide to nine of Suu Kyi's fellow Nobel laureates. Join the court of world opinion in condemning Daw Ang San Suu Kyi's sham trial. Tell the leader of Myanmar's military junta that Suu Kyi shouldn't serve another minute of her sentence. We know that the odds of success may seem stacked against us any time we appeal to authoritarian rulers. But the recent release of two U.S. journalists from North Korea is proof that even totalitarian regimes are vulnerable to relentless international pressure. The fact that Myanmar's government reduced Suu Kyi's sentence is also a sign that the military regime is susceptible to the world community's criticisms.
Burmese monks protest 2007
It has been proven time after time that even military dictatorships and other repressive regimes are no match for world condemnation lending support to internal democracy campaigners. Just last year, Ma Khin Khin Leh, another prisoner of conscience in Myanmar, obtained her release after Amnesty activists sent tens of thousands of letters to Myanmar's leaders on her behalf.
Join Amnesty today in calling for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's immediate release.
In a famous speech given to the National League for Democracy Suu Kyi brought the concepts of Mahatma Gandhi into clear focus when she said:
“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… 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. 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. 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 the setbacks 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. 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.”
Aung San Suu Kyi, elected leader of the Burmese people
Aung San Suu Kyi was today awarded Amnesty International's highest honour, the Ambassador of Conscience Award. The human rights group said it hoped this would help protect the Burmese pro-democracy leader as she faces a potential prison sentence. Amnesty secretary-general Irene Khan said the award coincided with the 20th anniversary of Ms Suu Kyi's initial arrest on 20 July 1989, as she led a campaign to oust Burma's military dictators.
Rock band U2 were due to announce the award tonight at a Dublin concert. U2, who won the honour in 2005 in recognition of singer Bono's humanitarian work, have been honouring Ms Suu Kyi at each performance of their European tour.
Bono
Closing arguments were heard today in the trial of Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, marking a transition into a crucial phase of her court case and her 20-year non-violent struggle against Myanmar's military junta. The court's verdict could come at any time.
Suu Kyi could spend as many as 5 years in Myanmar's notorious Insein Prison — which some have referred to as the "darkest hell-hole in Burma" — if she's convicted. Critics have condemned the regime's trumped-up charges as a flimsy pretext for keeping her in prison and out of the country's 2010 elections.
Meanwhile, Myanmar authorities have been cracking down on other democracy activists outside the courtroom. The military regime arrested at least 50 opposition party members on Sunday as they peacefully observed the anniversary of the death of Myanmar independence hero Gen. Aung San.
While the trial was initially open to journalists and diplomats, Myanmar authorities closed the courthouse doors, leaving the international community in the dark on the subsequent proceedings. The country's military junta is hoping that by the time the court reaches a verdict in Suu Kyi's case, the world will have long since forgotten about her.
Ms Suu Kyi's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, won national elections in 1990 but the military refused to relinquish power. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 but has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years. Ms Khan said: "In those long and often dark years, Suu Kyi has remained a symbol of hope, courage and the undying defence of human rights." Ms Suu Kyi, 64, is on trial for allegedly violating the terms of her house-arrest: harbouring an American who swam to her Rangoon home uninvited. The offence can carry a five-year prison sentence. Foreign diplomats have been barred from key parts of her trial. Her supporters accuse Burma's junta of seeking to put her behind bars until after elections planned for next year.
Saffron Revolution crushed in 2007
Former Czech President Vaclav Havel, a fellow Nobel Laureate and the first winner of the award in 2003, said foreign recognition probably has deterred Burma's rulers from imposing even harsher punishments on Ms Suu Kyi. "I know from my own experience that international attention can, to a certain extent, protect the unjustly persecuted from punishments that would otherwise be imposed. Goodness knows what would have happened if her fate had not been highlighted as it is again today," Mr Havel said in a statement.
Her trial has been adjourned until tomorrow. Ms Suu Kyi's lawyer, Nyan Win, said he expected a verdict in two or three weeks. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (64) is a non-violent pro-democracy campaigner and leader of the opposition National League for Democracy in Myanmar (Burma). According to the New York Times she has been held under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years by the military junta. In 1991 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship.
The decision of the Nobel Committee mentions:
"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 1991 to Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (Burma) for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.
...Suu Kyi's struggle is one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades. She has become an important symbol in the struggle against oppression...
...In awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 1991 to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour this woman for her unflagging efforts and to show its support for the many people throughout the world who are striving to attain democracy, human rights and ethnic conciliation by peaceful means."
Let us all condemn the self serving Burmese Junta who have imprisoned a whole Nation and cut shabby deals to enrich themselves and their families with the natural resources of what should be the richest nation in the region. What brave Generals they are who have only ever fought against their own people whilst running a kleptocracy. How they must fear the reckoning which is surely to come. Let us join Amnesty International in honouring Daw Aung San Suu Kyi the democratically elected leader of Burma, daughter of the leader of its struggle for independence and a true daughter of Burma.
Free Aung San Suu Kyi and free the people of Burma from the military freeloaders who enslave them.
Here is Aung San Suu Kyi’s website;
http://www.dassk.com/index.php
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the grounds of the Rangoon house where she has been imprisoned for most of the past 20 years
