Burma: A seismic shift is taking place
As a country scorched by decades of atrocity and greed, Burma’s political landscape has now undergone a seismic shift towards democracy and restorative justice, a shift that will remain precarious without understanding and support from outside the country. This transition was facilitated by the nonviolent activism of those who chose decades of imprisonment over compromising their conscience, and who too often paid with their lives. Their courageous voices are brought to the world in our books, Burma’s Voices of Freedom, crafted from new and exclusive materials, including many hours of rare, never-before-transcribed audio recordings, an extensive photographic collection of iconic historical images, a detailed chronology of key events, and dozens of feature-length interviews with every key leader of Burma’s long struggle for freedom, including Aung San Suu Kyi's closest colleagues and mentors: the late U Win Tin (who spent 19 years in solitary), U Tin Oo (who spent 19 years in detention), U Win Htein (who spent 20 years in prison), and the late U Kyi Maung (who spent 11 years in solitary).
In addition, we present an unprecedented section with Aung San Suu Kyi’s cherished spiritual advisor, the late Venerable Sayadaw U Pandita, from whose book In This Very Life Daw Suu learned meditation during her many years of house arrest, and to whom she turned to for guidance upon her release. One of Burma's most eminent Buddhist scholars and mindfulness meditation masters, an inspiration to many in the pro-democracy movement, the 95-year-old elder monk passed away in April 2016, just weeks after delivering his “final words” to me in a series of nine interviews that followed on from our original discussion in 2013.
The above words greet the reader at the start of the introduction in Alan Clements’ monumental work, Burma’s Voices of Freedom. This is a powerful book indeed, covering many areas of the spiritual as well as the worldly. I spoke with Alan earlier this year about the book. We will be providing excerpts from this powerful series in upcoming posts.