Part 3: Section 24 Summary

Josef Silverstein asked how Aung San Suu Kyi—whom the New York Times had not heard of before August 26, 1988—could become the spokesperson for a popular democratic movement in a matter of weeks in a country that had been dominated, in all ways of life, by a military dictatorship for nearly 30 years. The answer, he wrote, is her name (the daughter of Aung San needed no introduction). Another part of the answer is that Burma has an egalitarian rather than sexist culture (there were no impediments to a woman's political aspirations—although, under the male military dictatorship, women's role in everything has diminished). Another part of the answer is her personal modesty: a shopkeeper who attended one of her rallies is quoted as saying "When we listen to the government leader, and then listen to her, I think...