News: Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is inspiration for this year’s Brighton Festival

By Poppy Bragg

Photo by Stuart Isett - isett.com

The 2011 Brighton Festival is taking inspiration from its guest director, Burmese Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, by celebrating liberty and freedom of expression.

Suu Kyi is the third person to hold this position, following artist Anish Kapoor in 2009 and musician/producer Brian Eno in 2010.

But unlike her predecessors she will not be able to attend the event, due to fears that if she leaves Burma she will be prevented from returning by the military junta that rules the country.

Suu Kyi said in a recorded video message that the festival was: “A time for festivity, for diversity, for creativity, for expression, for freedom of expression.

“We look to you, to use your freedom of expression to let the world know what it is like in our country, what it is like to not be able to say what you want to say.”

Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi – ‘a global symbol of moral courage’

By Poppy Bragg

The 2011 Brighton Festival will celebrate the remarkable achievements of a woman who, since 1988, has dedicated her life to fighting for the freedom of the Burmese people and for the democratisation of her country.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi has been widely lauded by the global community and has received many human rights awards including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, the Rafto Human Rights Prize in 1990  and the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

She has been described by U.S. President Barack Obama as “a hero”, British Prime Minister David Cameron called her “an inspiration” and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said she was “a global symbol of moral courage”.

Her fight for democracy has also resulted in her spending a total of 15 years in detention – the majority under house arrest.