How To Love Lit Podcast

Aung San Suu Kyi - Fear Creates Corruption - Nobel Acceptance Speech! Hi, I’m Christy Shriver and we’re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.   

And I’m Garry Shriver, and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.  This week, we want to turn our attention to the words and ideas of peace advocate and Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.  Her story is set in Southeast Asia.  A region that includes the nations of Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.  It is the most diverse region of Asia and includes hundreds of different cultures, religions, racial make ups and languages.  Just politically there are nine different kinds of regimes represented in this region of the world, ranging from military juntas, like Myanmar to monarchies like Brunei to democracies like the Philippines. Freedom House, a non-profit that monitors democracies and indexes freedoms around the world, does not rate a single country in the region as “free”.  Countries such as The Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia are rated as partly free, but Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are not.  Of course, there are many variables that create barriers to freedom in the region, and each country has its own unique story.  This week, we want to explore the story of Myanmar and of a woman who has devoted her life to its survival.   

Many people may know Myanmar by its other name, Burma.   

Yes, and that is confusing.  Up until 1989, it was called Burma, but in 1989, the military dictatorship changed the name of the country claiming it was more historically accurate to call it Myanmar instead of the British-derived Burma.  However, there was no public referendum on that, and many opposed the change, including Aung San Suu Kyi.  She, along with many others continue to refer to the country as Burma.  This is just one indication of the many political problems that plague this nation.   

The country is large, over 55 million people life there.  It’s natural beauty ranges from pristine beaches to the Himalayan mountains where many tribal groups live in relative seclusion.  Myanmar has cool wildlife like tigers and leopards and elephants.   It’s full of of buddhist temples, in fact, there are thousands pagodas in Myanmar earning the country the nickname, the land of pagodas, just the ancient Bagan city has over 2000 still standing.   Almost any landscape picture of Myanmar will showcase the glittery golden pagodas that dot the landscape, reminding us that this is a with a deep and rich history. 

But before we get too far into politics or religion, let’s situate it geographically.   It is bordered by India to the West, and by Western China, Thailand and Laos to the east.  It is also the largest nation in continental Southeast Asia. Remember India is considered Southern Asia, and China is considered Eastern Asia, so Mynamar is between the two.