This important essay was first released for publication to commemorate the European Parliament's award to Aung San Suu Kyi of the 1990 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The award ceremony took place in her absence at Strasbourg on 10 July 1991. In the same week the essay appeared in full or in part in The Times Literary Supplement, the New York Times, the Far East Economic Review, the Bangkok Post, the Times of India and in the German, Norwegian and Icelandic press.