Tag Archives: Aung San Suu Kyi

International Buddhist Film Festival

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International Buddhist Film Festival

11–15 April

In conjunction with the Buddhist Art Forum at the Courtauld Institute of Art

This is a film festival with a difference, the program is below, lots of good films to see.

The International Buddhist Film Festival (IBFF) is returning to London this Spring, bringing a compelling selection of Buddhist cinema to the capital from 11-15 April at the Apollo Piccadilly Circus.

The diverse programme will showcase more than a dozen feature films and documentaries, most of which are European and UK premieres – from a Thai murder mystery and a Nepali road movie about a Tibetan nun’s journey to Katmandu to recover a debt, to a host of docs including a Richard Gere-narrated exploration of the life of Buddha and a self-portrait by a filmmaker who was identified as the reincarnation of a renowned Buddhist teacher when he was three years old.

Now celebrating its 10th year, the IBFF has presented festivals in cities across the world from LA, Washington DC and Mexico City to Amsterdam, Singapore and Hong Kong. This will be the first time the IBFF has visited the UK since 2009. “We are delighted to be returning to London with a wonderful new selection of world cinema with a Buddhist touch,” said Gaetano Kazuo Maida, Executive Director of IBFF. “Drawing on themes from karma, self and happiness to redemption, compassion, community and creativity – often treated with humour – there is something here for everyone, regardless of how much they already know about Buddhism,” he added.

The IBFF is being held in conjunction with the Buddhist Art Forum at the Courtauld Institute of Art at Somerset House, offering Londoners a feast of Buddhist cultural delights across cinema and art.

PROGRAM

Shugendo Now
Directed by Jean-Marc Abela and Mark Patrick McGuire
Japan, Canada / 2010 / Japanese with English subtitles / 88 min / Documentary
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Wednesday, April 11, 6:30 pm

There is a unique school of Japanese asceticism called Shugendo, the Way of Acquiring Power, a blend of Shinto, Daoism and Buddhism. Followers practice arduous rituals in mountain wildernesses and are deeply committed to protecting the natural environment. The film is a poetic and intimate journey into a rarely seen world between the developed and the wild, between the present and the infinite. Filmed on location in Japan’s Kumano Mountains, Tokyo and Osaka.

The Buddha
Directed by David Grubin
USA / 2010 / English / 112 min / Documentary
Narrated by Richard Gere
UK PREMIERE
Wednesday, April 11, 8:45 pm

The story of Buddha, the 6th century BCE prince who became a great spiritual teacher, has been told in many ways and media. This is an ambitious and imaginative film by veteran documentary director David Grubin (RFK, FDR, LBJ, The Jewish Americans, Napoleon), narrated by Richard Gere. The film features location footage plus animation and contemporary voices including poets Jane Hirshfield and US Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin, and Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman to explore the life and meaning of the man who became “awake” and continues to inspire the diverse Buddhist cultures all over the world. Filmed on location in India, Nepal and the US.

Mindfulness and Murder
Directed by Tom Waller
Thailand / 2011 / Thai with English subtitles / 90 min / Dramatic Feature
UK PREMIERE
Thursday, April 11, 6:30 pm
Director and Producer expected to attend

The body of a dead homeless youth turns up in a Bangkok monastery and the police don’t want to get involved. Former homicide detective Father Ananda is now a senior monk and is asked by the abbot to solve the murder. Based on a novel by Bangkok resident Nick Wilgis, the film explores the intimate world of a Thai Buddhist monastery while following the rules of a classic whodunit. And as usual, not everything turns out to be what it at first seems. Starring Vithaya Pansringarm as Father Ananda, with two pop music personalities in leading roles, Prinya “Way” Intachai, one of the rappers in Thaitanium, and Charina Sirisinha of the ZaZa.

Karma
Directed by Tsering Rhitar Sherpa
Nepal / 2006 / Tibetan with English subtitles / 104 min / Dramatic Feature

EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Thursday, April 11, 8:45 pm

A road movie with Tibetan Buddhist nuns: an intimate story that begins behind the walls of a nunnery in remote Mustang. Karma is a free-spirited nun, and when the abbess dies, there’s an urgent need for money to pay for the rites after her death; Karma is assigned to go with another nun to try to retrieve funds on loan to a mysterious man once known to the abbess. Her search, and her journey within, take us to Katmandu, and beyond the obvious, beyond expectations, even beyond Buddhism at one point. She gets some advice along the way, “You’re desperately after something… you won’t get it, but you won’t fail.” And the movies play a part, of course. A rare and intriguing glimpse into the inner life of Tibetan nuns in a changing world. (Karma also means “actions”…) Starring Tsering Dolkar, Ani Yeshi Lhamo, Mithila Sharma and Jampa Kalsang.

The Great Pilgrim
Directed by Jin Tiemu
China / 2009 / Chinese with English subtitles / 98 min / Documentary

EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Friday, April 13, 6:30 pm

One of the most celebrated journeys in history is that of Tang dynasty Chinese monk Xuanzang. His quest to obtain original Buddhist texts took him on a nineteen year pilgrimage to India where he studied for several years at the famous Nalanda University. Upon his return to China in 645, bearing many Sanskrit texts, he was sponsored by Emperor Taizang to translate all the texts into Chinese and to record the story of his journey. His autobiography, Great Tang Records of the Western Region, is considered so accurate in its observations that it is consulted by archeologists and historians to this day. It is also the inspiration for the many popular Journey to the West and Monkey stories in novels, comic books, and animated and live action films and television from several countries in Asia. Reenactments, location filming and animation are compellingly deployed in The Great Pilgrim to introduce a truly legendary figure.

Abraxas
Directed by Naoki Kato
Japan / 2010 / Japanese with English subtitles / 113 min / Dramatic Feature
Friday, April 13, 8:45 pm

A punk rock veteran, now a married Buddhist priest, has a crisis of identity. This film touches on karma, self, compassion, community, impermanence, a dog, fathers and sons, relative and absolute, noise and music… and weaves bravely between heartfelt emotion and borderline jaunty farce. A soft spot for thrash punk (and Leonard Cohen) will add to the pleasure. Perhaps this is something of a glimpse into the place of Buddhism in contemporary Japan… A not-too-distant kin to Juzo Itami’s The Funeral (1984), Masayuki Suo’s Fanshi Dansu (1989) and Yojiro Katika’s Departures (2008)…. A Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Competition film starring Japanese rock star Suneohair, with Rie Tomosaka and Kaoru Kobayashi.

Tulku
Directed by Gesar Mukpo
Canada / 2010 / English / 76 min / Documentary
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Saturday, April 14, 3:00 pm

At age three, Gesar Tsewang Arthur Mukpo, son of renowned Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his British wife Diana, was identified as the reincarnation of the late Jamgon Kongtrul of Sechen, one of his father’s own teachers in Tibet. Living in Boulder, Colorado and then Halifax, Nova Scotia, Gesar balanced competing cultures and strikingly different definitions of self. His life was far from that of an ordinary contemporary American or Canadian—his father was a world famous Buddhist teacher and author—but there was no monastery upbringing like that of perhaps the best known tulku, the Dalai Lama, or even like his father. The film goes beyond autobiography to explore the Tibetan tradition of recognition of reincarnations of Buddhist teachers. Other non-Tibetan tulkus are interviewed as well as renowned Tibetan teachers including Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and H.H. Ogyen Trinley the 17th Karmapa.

Crazy Wisdom
Directed by Johanna Demetrakas
USA / 2011 / English / 92 min / Documentary
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Saturday, April 14, 6:30 pm

This is the long-awaited feature documentary that explores the life, teachings, and “crazy wisdom” of Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, a pivotal figure in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. Raised and trained in the rigorous Tibetan monastic tradition, Trungpa shattered preconceived notions about how an enlightened teacher should behave—he openly smoked, drank, and had intimate relations with students—yet his teachings are recognized as authentic, vast, and influential. Trungpa taught Buddhism as though it were a matter of life and death. Allen Ginsberg considered him his guru; Thomas Merton wanted to write a book with him; Joni Mitchell wrote a song about him. Filmed in the UK, Tibet, Canada, and the US, twenty years after Trungpa’s death, with unprecedented access and exclusive archival material.

My Reincarnation
Directed by Jennifer Fox
Italy, USA / 2011 / English, Italian, and Tibetan with English subtitles / 82 min / Documentary
OFFICIAL UK PREMIERE
Saturday, April 14, 8:45 pm
Director expected to attend

Working with over a thousand hours of remarkable footage taken over an unprecedented twenty year span with extraordinary access to Tibetan Buddhist teacher Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, My Reincarnation is the intimate story of a father and son, tradition and change, dreams and realities, destiny and desire, and Tibetan Buddhism in the contemporary world. Director Jennifer Fox is a veteran world-class filmmaker with a number of award-winning productions to her credit including Beirut: The Last Home Movie, An American Love Story and Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman. Filmed on location in Italy, China and fifteen other countries.
SPOTLIGHT ON BURMA

Aung San Suu Kyi: Lady of No Fear
Directed by Anne-Gyrithe Bonne
Denmark / 2012 / English / 64 min / Documentary

Compelling and fascinating glimpses into the life of the Nobel Laureate. This new film details some of the consequences her freedom struggle has had, not only for her, but also for her closest friends and family, as she emerges from years of detention to take her place again at the forefront of her country’s transition to democracy.

Into the Current
Directed by Jeanne Hallacy
Myanmar, Thailand, USA / 2011 / English and Burmese with English
subtitles / 76 min / Documentary

This film honors the leaders of Burma’s nonviolent democracy movement and their personal sacrifices for the freedom of their people. The film explores the commitment of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, poet Min Ko Naing, comedian Zarganar and women’s leader Nilar Thein. Their stories are told through scenes of political activities filmed at great risk by the Democratic Voice of Burma, with rare archival footage and new material filmed with Burmese exiles. Bo Kyi, a former prisoner, carries the voices and the plight of 2,000 other political prisoners to the international stage.
KanZeOn

Directed by Tim Grabham and Neil Cantwell
UK, Japan / 2011 / English subtitles / 86 min / Documentary
Directors expected to attend

A mysterious and innovative meditation on sound, song, story, ritual, performance, nature, tradition and Japanese Buddhism… a fearless merging of medieval and modern, beautifully filmed with a variety of cinematic techniques on location in Japan, intimate and deeply seen. Kanzeon, another way of saying Kannon, the embodiment of compassion (in Sanskrit: Avalokiteshvara, in Tibetan: Chenrezi, in Chinese: Kuan Yin), can also be written in Japanese as “to see sounds.” Filmed on location in Kyushu, Japan.
Summer Pasture
Directed by Lynn True, Nelson Walker, Tsering Perlo
USA, China / 2010 / Tibetan with English subtitles / 85 min / Documentary

Summer Pasture is a complex and intimate portrayal of the world of a nomadic family on the Tibetan plateau at a time of profound historic change. Locho and Yama are nomadic herders who carve their existence from the land as their ancestors have for generations. But now, as traditional nomadic life confronts rapid modernization, Summer Pasture captures a family at a crossroads, ultimately revealing the profound sacrifice they will make to ensure their daughter’s future. Filmed on location in China.

For ticketing and venue information, please visit Apollo Piccadilly Circus. The booking schedule is expected soon.

Frost's Review of 2011

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2011 was an eventful political year, with the Arab Spring, phone Hacking and the death of more than one tyrant. On the flip side, it was also a year of wedding fever, Prince William finally made an honest women of Kate Middleton on April 29. Kate Moss and Jamie Hince, Lily Allen and Sam Cooper (she also announced her pregnancy), Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig, Prince Albert and Charlotte, Zara Phillips and Mark Tindall and Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell all tied the knot. Kim Kardashian got married too, but so briefly it is barely worth mentioning.

There was tragedy when Japan was struck by an record 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a tsunami. Followed by nuclear disaster at Fukushima, which is still being cleared up by brave workers, at serious risk to their own health.

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher.

In August London burned as riots spread all over England, people died, lost their homes and taxpayers were left with a bill of over 100 million.

The Arab Spring started when 26-year-old vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi. set himself on fire in protest in a Tunisian marketplace on December 17th 2010. It lead to leaders all over the Arab world standing down including Hosni Mubarak (Egypt), Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and the death of Gaddafi in October.

Silvio Berlusconi also finally stepped down.

Osama Bin Laden was killed ten years after 9/11.

The press went mad over Pippa Middleton’s bottom. As did PR companies.

Super Injunctions were the buzzword of the year, but the name of the footballer came out after he was named by multiple people on Twitter. The film star who slept with the same prostitute as Wayne Rooney, however, got away with it. Our article on it was one of our most popular of the year, getting over 14,000 hits in a matter of hours

Borders book store closed down, as did the Space Shuttle Programme and Harry Potter ended after a decade.

The Iraqi war ended in December. A date set by the Bush administration.

Liam Fox lost his job.

The Phone Hacking scandal ran and ran.

Charlie Sheen lost it, but bounced back.

Aung San Suu Kyi was finally released from house arrest.

Frost’s Politician of the year is the people of Libya.

Anders Behring Breivik went on an murderous rampage in Norway on the Island of Utoya, leaving over 80 people dead and many more injured. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called the attack a “national tragedy” and the worst atrocity in Norway since World War II. Stoltenberg further vowed that the attack would not hurt Norwegian democracy, and said the proper answer to the violence was “more democracy, more openness, but not naivety”. In his speech at the memorial service on 24 July 2011, he said what a proper reaction would be: “No one has said it better than the AUF girl who was interviewed by CNN: ‘If one man can show so much hate, think how much love we could show, standing together.’

The end of Harry Potter.

Frost started a campaign to end Prescription charges in England, the only place in the so called ‘United’ Kingdom still paying them.

Jessie J had a breakthrough year and confessed to being bisexual.

David Walliams swam the Thames. He raised £1 million for Sports relief.

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher split.

As did J-Lo and Marc Anthony

Ryan Gosling had a brilliant year and was in the brilliant Drive. http://frostmagazine.com/2011/09/drive-film-review/

Sir David Attenborough dazzled again with Frozen Planet.

Frost Women of the year: Kate Middleton. After ten years and two break-ups, Catherine Elizabeth Middleton finally married her Prince Charming. Their wedding was watched by more people than 20 million people and the new Duchess of Cambridge has been wowing press and public alike with her style, charm and poise.

Man of the year: Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs died too young, aged 56, after a long battle with cancer. He changed the world with his vision and business acumen and when he died the outpouring of grief would rival that of Princess Diana. A true loss of a visionary man.

Most inspirational person: Eva Schloss. Eva survived the holocaust. She lost her father and her brother, her mother also survived and went on to marry Otto Frank and Eva became Anne Frank’s step-sister. She is truly the most inspirational women I have ever met. If you don’t believe me, read her books. The Promise: The Moving Story of a Family in the Holocaust
or Eva’s Story: A Survivor’s Tale by the Step-Sister of Anne Frank
[Full disclosure: I was in the West End Production of the play of Eva’s life; And Then They Came For Me.]

Kim Jong-il, Lucien Freud, Christopher Hitchens, Liz Taylor, Amy Winehouse and Vaclav Havel all died in 2011.

Adele and Katy Perry released the albums of the year.

Kristen Wiig co-wrote and starred in the hilarious Bridesmaids, which proved women could be funny.

Unemployment was high and economical troubles rumbled throughout the year. The US lost their triple AAA credit rating.

Finally, a great article.

http://frostmagazine.com/2011/10/top-10-common-faults-with-human-thought/

This Month's Magazines; Kate Middleton and Getting in Shape Lead.

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This is the first of Frost magazine’s new monthly magazine round-up. Here at Frost we are addicted to magazines and our guess is that you like them too, so, here goes….

Vanity Fair has the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the cover. The world has gone crazy for Kate Middleton and there is 16 pages on the new couple, including the interesting fact that Kate has never been to America before and is ‘beyond excited’.

Horrible fact of the month comes from Christopher Hitchen’s column, which is on Pakistan: in Pakistan not only is rape not illegal, it’s a punishment. Mark Shand tells Nick Haslam about the Elephant Family, Stieg Larsson’s girlfriend tells of their life together and there is good articles on Justin Timberlake, Silvio Berlusconi and the Falcons.

Marie Claire (who are in my bad books, as they do not send the subscribers the free gifts that come with the magazine. This month it’s a choice of eyeliner or eye-shadow, last month a Body Shop moisturiser, not nice way to treat those who are most loyal) Jennifer Lawrence is on the cover, and has a very good interview inside where she says that she tells director she won’t lose more weight and was initially scared of fame.

Emily Eavis, daughter of Michael, talks about growing up as part of the world’s greatest music festival, there is lots of fashion and a summer’s sandals piece that I enjoyed, there is a low down on the Russian invasion of Chelsea; lead by Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova, Writer Natasha Green writes about choosing between her husband and her lover and 5 friends, who all went to university and did a performing arts degree, meet up to discuss where they are 10 years later. Marie Claire also have an exclusive interview with Aung San Suu Kyi. Other good article are dating advice you don’t need from your friends, a good piece on Jean Paul Gaultier and a brilliant article on the life of Princess Diana, very apt.

It’s Elle’s body issue, Elle always give there subscribers the free gift, as do RED and Glamour, Rosie Huntington-Whitley is on the cover and interviewed inside, and there is a free vest top my Kate Middleton fav Reiss.

Celia Walden ponders over why we fawn over the famous, the impossibly stylish Ines De La Fressange is in Elle edits, my personal style crush tells us about her philosophy on life, House of Holland are this month’s Style Spy, make up artist Lisa Eldridge gives a peak inside her closet and Debbie Harry tells is what books changed her life. Rob Lowe is interviewed and there are a lot of great articles on how to get in shape and be happy with how you look. Of course, there is also lots of great fashion. Lorraine Candy is temporarily stepping down from the Elle editorship to have her fourth baby.

Tatler has Romola Garai on the cover, she is interviewed inside and talks about her “ordinary body” and her desire for people to find her sexy. Kate Reardon has been the new editor for a few months now and is doing a good job, though I couldn’t find an editor’s letter.

Royal Wedding photographer Hugo Burnand talks about photographing the biggest wedding in decades, there are other articles on the top 10 poshest ghosts, Clive Anderson writes about losing his cool, there is lots of gossip, A very good guide to the Murdoch dynasty, an article on how the rich buy life (a very good read), some property porn as Belvoir Castle is featured by it’s owners the Duke and Duchess of Rutland.

There is also an article on (the last taboo!) woman’s facial hair and how to get rid of it, Alice Temperley also spills on all of her beauty secrets. If you buy it form the news-stand you get a free pair of sunglasses, but Tatler doesn’t give free gifts to it’s subscribers.

Vogue has Vanessa Paradis on the cover, she talks about staying on the move and being comfortable with your body, Stella Tennant models (can you believe she is in her 40’s!)

I really like the article by Carol Woolton on the lost world of legendary balls, including the jewellery that Elizabeth Taylor wore to the 1971 Rothschild Proust Ball, lots on the Royal wedding and who wore what, editor Alexandra Shulman was one of the guests and gives a good account. The rise of folk (as in music) gets a good spread and supermodel Arizona Muse keeps a diary for Vogue.

I also love the inspirational women who feature in Vogue’s Wonder Women piece, scientists and theatre directors alike. There is also an editorial on fashion dynasties, if you love glamour the way I do you will love reading about the Guinnesses, Dellals, Agnellis/Brandolinis and the Jaggers.

Donna Karen also does a wonderful interview and writer Vicky Ward talks about her divorce; “the equivalent of undergoing heart surgery without anesthetic.” There is also a brilliant free beauty supplement with lots of celebrities and models giving their beauty and health routines, tips and hints.

Glamour has a free Benefit beauty product (I got the Benetint) Karl Lagerfield on fashion do’s, celebrity couples you forgot about, how to find a man anywhere, the rise of gold and fame digging men, why is friendship so hard?, how the Glamour staff got their job, a very good, and slightly depressing article on female war reporters; read about the same time I saw Channel 4’s Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, you think women are equal and safe….

There is interviews with the Glamour women of the year awards, including the brilliant Adele, who is on the cover. There is lots of brilliant fashion and beauty, a very good article on why we should all see Bridesmaids by Zoe Williams, there is a number of articles on how to fake tan well and I really enjoyed the piece on Get a Blockbuster body, what Blake Lively, Jennifer Lawrence and Rosie Huntington-Whitley did to get in shape for their films. There is also a good article on the secret to good health in 100 words or less.

So, until next month!

AUNG SAN SUU KYI RECORDS MESSAGE FOR AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S 50TH BIRTHDAY

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The world’s best known political prisoner pays tribute to the world’s largest human rights organisation and looks forward to the day Amnesty no longer exists

Amnesty International, the world’s largest human rights organisation, is celebrating 50 years of work on Saturday 28 May 2011. In a message to Amnesty International, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s iconic pro-democracy leader who was released last year after having spent 15 of the last 20 years under house arrest, paid tribute to the work that Amnesty had done over the last half a century and said how happy she will be when there is no longer any need for such an organisation.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, said:

“I wish, on this 50th anniversary of Amnesty International, that its work will continue to be so successful, that there will no longer be any need for such an organisation.

“So I hope that we shall be able to cooperate together to bring about this sad, this happy day when Amnesty International no longer needs to carry on its work. “

Aung San Suu Kyi went on to talk about her early awareness of the organisation, and how she became increasingly aware of its importance when she herself became the focus of Amnesty’s campaigning.

Aung San Suu Kyi, said:

“The work that Amnesty International has done for all those who are suffering as prisoners of conscience is great – all over the world.

“I was quite young when I first learned about Amnesty International and was struck by the fact that it had been founded simply because one thinking man had read about the arrest of two young students in Portugal. One man in the UK decided because of what had happened to two young men in Portugal, that there was a need for such an organisation as Amnesty International.

“From that day I have harboured great respect for the organisation and after I was placed under house arrest and many of my colleagues were imprisoned for their political beliefs, my appreciation for Amnesty International increased by the day.”

Amnesty was started in London, in 1961, when British barrister Peter Benenson read an article about two Portuguese students who had been arrested for raising a “toast to freedom”. In the 1960s, Portugal was one of the remaining European colonial powers in Africa, ruled by the authoritarian Estado Novo regime. Anti-regime conspiracies were vigorously repressed by the Portuguese state police and deemed anti-Portuguese. The simple toast was deemed insurgent and a challenge to the government and the two were sent to prison.

Benenson wrote an article entitled ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’, in which he highlighted the plight of similar prisoners who had been jailed around the world for peacefully expressing their views. In an impassioned plea, he coined the term ‘prisoner of conscience’ and called for like-minded people across the world to unite in an appeal for amnesty on their behalf. The response was immense, and within weeks Amnesty International, a coordinated movement of ordinary people standing up for justice, had been born.

Today Amnesty has more than three million supporters, members and activists working at the forefront of human rights issues in more than 150 countries and territories across the globe. Amnesty’s purpose is to protect people when their human rights are denied, calling for an end to the discrimination, persecution and harassment that individuals face.

Aung San Suu Kyi, said:

“Basic to the strength of Amnesty International is the fact that so many ordinary people from so many countries in the world have been persuaded to take part in its work.

“The letters written by ordinary housewives, by school children, by retired people, by active young businessmen – all over the world – for the rights of those who have been imprisoned, makes a great difference.

“One single postcard means a lot, and it’s this kind of idea; that great things start from small beginnings – that has made Amnesty International such an unusual and such a globally relevant organisation.”

Speaking from Rangoon, wearing her trade-mark huge, bright flower in her hair, the political leader known simply as “The Lady” by her Burmese supporters, looked straight into the camera and smiled as she said what a happy, sad day the end of Amnesty would mark for the world. She acknowledged how vital Amnesty had been in conveying the dire situation of human rights in Burma, and asked that Burma is not neglected after the elections last November.

Aung San Suu Kyi, concluded:

“We should be sorry not to be in touch anymore with all those people who have made this such a very, very valuable organisation, but we should also be very happy when we know that there is no need for Amnesty International any more.”

For more information about Amnesty’s work; past, present and future, and to obtain a copy of the message from Aung San Suu Kyi, contact the press office.