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Robert Sawyer

© Robert Sawyer 2012—All Rights Reserved

In November or December of 1991, Stacie Gray and I (perhaps with a little help from Robert Bollinger), created this ad for Helen Garrett of Amnesty International. The ad was to acknowledge that this rather young, little-known woman, who was about to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, was also living under house arrest and endured an existence that could be described without too much hyperbole as precarious.

I recalled this ad today when I read that 21-years later, Aung San Suu Kyi, was allowed to take her seat in Parliament. There are reasons to be optimistic, there are reasons for guarded optimism, and there are reasons to dismiss her election as a cynical ploy on the part of the powers that rule Burma, and who will use her “success” to further divide a country comprised of so many ethnic minorities, with so many disparate interests. (A lesson Mrs. Clinton and her State Department have much trouble comprehending.)

Informed people will make much of Ms. Suu Ky’s ascent, equally informed people will say little. Me? I am delighted to see even this modest victory, enjoyed by a woman who sacrificed so much, for so long, for an idea that enjoys so little purchase and is privileged by so few.

Images of this nature will be played over and over again, and we should take some genuine pleasure in them. They should also remind us to remain vigilant. Little meaningful was accomplish in the last week, but great things sometime require only a little push.

Interested in discussing further? email me at rwordplay@earthlink.net Let me know what I got right, or what I missed. I look forward to seeing your thoughts.

(Aung San Suu Kyi waves to the crowd in Burma, with her party celebrating a major victory in by-elections. Photograph: Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images. From Zoya Phan, guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 April 2012.)