In the midst of a major military crackdown on human rights activists in the Southeast Asian country of Burma, actor and Hollywood icon Jim Carrey has released a public service announcement on YouTube urging Americans to join the effort to free Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only
imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
In the announcement, Carrey calls Aung San Suu Kyi an “unsung hero” who “has been compared to Gandhi and Nelson Mandela”.
The video can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NySuaJ2B20E
He also explains to viewers how to pronounce Aung San Suu Kyi’s name – explaining how he first learned the pronunciation.
Carrey appeals to viewers to join the Human Rights Action Center (http://www.hrac.org) and US Campaign for Burma (http://www.uscampaignforburma.org), two organizations coordinating a global effort to free Suu Kyi and support human rights in Burma.
“Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma need our help,” said Jack Healey, legendary human rights activist and founder of the Human Rights Action Center. “In a world in which there are so few public heroes, here is a woman that is taking on a brutal military dictatorship with nothing more than the truth in her heart and the support of her people.”
Added Jeremy Woodrum, co-founder of the US Campaign for Burma. “People around the world need to come to her aid, just as they supported Mandela when he was locked up. This announcement contributes to an upsurge in activistm around Aung San Suu Kyi in the United States and throughout the world.”
Aung San Suu Kyi is the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, known for her charismatic Gandhian speeches calling for human rights and democracy in the Southeast Asian country of Burma. She has won over 60 international awards for her efforts to promote peaceful change in Burma, including the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President Bill Clinton. Her admirers include Nobel Peace Prize recipients Desmond Tutu and Adolfo Perez Esquivel, musicians R.E.M., Damien Rice, and Ani DiFranco, and Hollywood star Anjelica Huston.
Aung San Suu Kyi is not just a human rights advocate, but the rightful leader of the 55 million people of Burma. In the country’s last election, she led her political party to a landslide victory, garnering 82% of the seats in parliament. The military regime, led by General Than Shwe, annulled the results and has led by brute force ever since. Suu Kyi has been locked up for 11 of the past 17 years.
Burma is ruled by one of the world’s most brutal military regimes, which has destroyed 3,000 villages in the eastern section of the country, forcing over 1.5 million people to flee their homes. The Associated Press has compared the military regime’s attacks on civilians in eastern Burma to the tactics of the Sudanese government in Darfur, labeling eastern Burma “Southeast Asia’s Darfur”. The regime has also recruited 70,000 child soldiers, far more than any other country in the world.
Hollywood stars Eric Szmanda from the television show “Crime Scene Investigation” and Walter Koenig from “Star Trek” recently traveled to refugee camps on the Thailand-Burma border to lend support and demand the United Nations do more to help.
Suu Kyi is one of an estimated 1,200 political prisoners in Burma. She has been imprisoned for more than 11 of the past 17 years.
Carrey became interested in Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma after learning about the situation from Jack Healey.