Aung San Suu Kyi gives BBC Reith Lectures
"The freedom to make contact with other human beings with whom you may wish to share your thoughts and your hopes, your laughter and at times even your anger and indignation, is a right that should never be violated."
Leader of the Burmese democracy movement and former student at St Hugh's, Aung San Suu Kyi, is currently giving two of the BBC's Reith Lectures 2011. The first lecture, 'Liberty', was broadcast on Tuesday 28th June. The second, 'Dissent', will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 5th July. Both lectures, with discussion and further information, will be available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0126d29 along with a blog entry by former St Hugh's student Gwyneth Willams, now Controller of Radio 4.
Aung San Suu Kyi recorded the lectures in Burma for a BBC team that had secretly entered the country, and she was able to answer questions about the first lecture by telephone in discussion with a distinguished invited audience. She spoke of the fundamental freedoms for which the democracy movement in Burma has been struggling, and the personal decisions that people make to overcome fear and make a stand for their rights.
Other lectures in this year's series will be given by Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5 and alumna of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.