Aung San Suu Kyi to present the BBC's Reith Lectures

 

Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader, will deliver the 2011 BBC Reith Lectures.

Her two lectures will discuss the themes of dissent and liberty and will be broadcast on BBC Radio from 28 June.
The lectures are part of a wider series, entitled 'Securing Freedom', reflecting on global events of the past year.
Former MI5 Director-General Baroness Manningham-Buller will present three further lectures in September.
Aung San Suu Kyi said: "When I was under house arrest, it was the BBC that spoke to me - I listened.

"I am so grateful for this opportunity to exercise my right to human contact by sharing with you my thoughts on what freedom means to me, and others across the world who are still in the sad state of what I would call 'unfreedom'."

I am honoured to share this year's Reith Lectures with Aung San Suu Kyi, whose selfless courage on behalf of Burma's freedom should remind us not to take our own freedoms for granted”

End Quote Eliza Manningham-Buller Former head of MI5

"These are two very different sides of a familiar story - the struggle for liberty and its defence."

Aung San Suu Kyi's first lecture will examine the notion of dissent, and will draw on her personal experience as a campaigner for democracy.
In 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won the Burmese election by a landslide. She then spent 15 of the next 20 years under house arrest, and was finally released on November 13, 2010.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner's second lecture will explore the notion of democracy, and the responsibility of the international community towards authoritarian regimes, with reference to recent events in the Middle East.
Normally the Reith Lectures are delivered in person in front of a live audience, but due to the exceptional circumstances, Aung San Suu Kyi's lectures were recorded in Burma this week.




The second phase of this year's Reith Lectures will be broadcast in September 2011 to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington DC.

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