It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. –Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi

This woman is amazing.  He name is Aung San Suu Kyi, and she is the daughter of General Aung San–founder of the modern Burmese army and negotiator of Burma’s independence from the United Kingdom.  She drew much of her political inspiration from India’s Mahatma Gandhi, especially with regards to her policy of non-violence.  Her Buddhism also influenced her politics.

Suu Kyi rallied for a new democracy in Burma, as a military junta had taken over.  However, in 1988, she was put under house arrest, being told that they would free her if she left the country and never returned.  She refused to leave, even though her two sons and her husband remained out of the country.

In 1990, the military junta, led by General Than Shwe, held a general election in which the National League for Democracy won with 82% of the votes.  Aung San Suu Kyi, being the party’s prime candidate, would have assumed Prime Ministership, but instead, the junta nullified the election results.  This created a huge international outcry, but Suu Kyi remained in her home, under arrest.  She spent 14 of the next 20 years under house arrest, but during those times she was out of house arrest, she never left the country, knowing that she would not be allowed to re-enter.

She has received many peace prizes, notably the Nobel Peace Prize she received in 1991, for her non-violent and peace-promoting practices.  The Nobel committee stated:

well this is interesting…

After countless attacks on how detrimental an effect the Internet, or rather, social networking, has had on people, it is unexpected to see that the Internet may be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Endorsed by companies such as Google, MTV Networks, and Microsoft, the Internet for Peace (I4P) was nominated by WIRED Magazine.  Supporters and “ambassadors” range from the Vice President of Paraguay, Luìs Federico Franco Gómez, to Shirin Ebadi, 2003’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient, to designer Giorgio Armani.

In a press release, I4P stated, “the basic idea is that, being available to everyone and conveying messages of sympathy and humanity, the Internet really is a great tool for democracy”.  I’m not gonna lie, I kind of like where they’re going here…

If you support the campaign, here is some info on how to join.  You can also go to the website to see the various media they have related to the subject.  What do you think about the Internet winning the Nobel Peace Prize?  Do you think it’s a good idea?   Comments are appreciated.

below is I4P’s mission, as seen on www.internetforpeace.org:

We have finally realized that the Internet is much more than a network of computers.
It is an endless web of people. Men and women from every corner of the globe are
connecting to one another, thanks to the biggest social interface ever known to humanity.
Digital culture has laid the foundations for a new kind of society.
And this society is advancing dialogue, debate and consensus through communication.
Because democracy has always flourished where there is openness, acceptance,
discussion and participation. And contact with others has always been the most
effective antidote against hatred and conflict.
That’s why the Internet is a tool for peace.
That’s why anyone who uses it can sow the seeds of non-violence.
And that’s why the next Nobel Peace Prize should go to the Net.
A Nobel for each and every one of us.

“Stand By Me” performed by musicians around the world:

The Playing for Change Foundation is dedicated to connecting the world through music. Look for the upcoming documentary film “Playing for Change: Peace Through Music”.

www.playingforchange.com

The trailer, in English.

“After the bombing of Nagasaki, the survivors began to pray, not for vengeance on America, but that Nagasaki would be the last city to know the horrors of the atomic bomb.” -Full Circle: The Epic Return to Trinity

A few years ago, I visited Hiroshima for the first time.  I took a tour around the city with a few friends of mine, in which our tour guide spared no details of the death, devastation, and tragedy that resulted from the US’s dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  But what really struck me, even more than the shocking details of the bombs’ aftermath, was how the survivors reacted.  Understandably, the bombs trumped any offensive strategy that the Japanese would or could have had. Instead, the prevailing sentiment resulting from the bombs was the hope that no one else would ever have to go through what had just occurred, rather than the hope for revenge on the United States.  Hiroshima has since dedicated itself to encouraging and spreading peace, despite the atrocities its people witnessed, and the city represents a part of human nature that I don’t think people see enough of.  There is so much ugliness in the world, and so many people who want to get back at those who have wronged them, but every once in a while, we come across someone who can take that ugliness and turn it around.  Coming full circle doesn’t necessarily mean ending up where you started–rather, it can mean finishing a cycle and starting with a fresh, clean slate.

Matt Taylor’s “Full Circle: The Epic Return to Trinity” is a movie that explores this, following the pilgrimage of three monks from Nagasaki to San Francisco, and then ultimately to New Mexico’s Trinity site, where the first atomic bomb was detonated as a test.  They take with them a flame kindled from the embers of a temple that had been ruined after the bomb in Nagasaki, that had been burning for 60 years.  The purpose of their journey was to carry the flame from the site of the last bomb’s detonation back to the testing site or birthplace of the first, closing the circle that had opened as a result of the 3 bombs.

I am going to try to get the version of the trailer in English up of the movie so you can watch it. (Below is the movie’s trailer in Japanese.)  In the meantime, I would love to read (and possibly post) anyone’s stories similar to that of Hiroshima’s reactions to the devastation its people suffered.

Full Circle: The Epic Return to Trinity

-Fernanda