We have just returned from City Chambers where we attended the long-awaited ceremony to award the Freedom of the City to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the brave and great Burmese pro-democracy campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize winner under house arrest by the Burmese military regime.
To recap, this award was proposed to Glasgow City Council in a joint campaign between Glasgow Women’s Library and Amnesty International in 2007 and we have been waiting for a time when Daw Suu Kyi’s representative could attend the ceremony – it was a privilege to meet Dr Thuang Htun today and to hear that this award has given her and the people of Burma a sense of international support.
It was a moving and powerful ceremony, and at this time, as we approach International Women’s Day, may we remember, honour and celebrate women around the world who are brave and dignified in the face of daily oppression.
Aung San Suu Kyi – you are an inspiration and we look forward to the day that you are free in a democratic Burma. We hope that then, you will come to Glasgow.
News links about this event: On the BBC website (City honours democracy campaigner) and the Burma Digest (Aung San Suu Kyi to be Awarded Freedom of Glasgow)
