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Aung San Suu Kyi's Address at Beiji



Subject:       Aung San Suu Kyi's Address at Beijing Forum

Aung San Suu Kyi's Taped Address Receive Resounding Applause


>From Wire Reports

HUAIROU, China --Aug 31 -- In just the spirit of defiance china had 
feared from the nongovernmental forum on women, thousands of cheering 
participants gathered today to hear a message from Aung San Suu Kyi on a 
videotape smuggled in from Burma -- a country with close ties to 
Beijing.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner's speech was played as a keynote address on 
the first full day of work at the NGO forum, the largest international 
women's meeting in history.

"It is not the prerogative of men alone to bring light to this world.  
Women, with their capacity for compassion and self-sacrifice, their 
courage and perseverance, have done much to dissipate the darkness of 
intolerance and hate," Ms. Suu Kyi told the forum participants.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent six years under house arrest for fighting 
for democracy in Burma, urged governments to spend "less on the war toys 
of grown men and much more on the urgent needs of humanity as a whole."

Some 3,000 women, and a few men, crammed into a small auditorium for 
August 31's biggest draw: Suu Kyi's videotaped speech smuggled out of 
Burma. They applauded her for a full minute when it was over.

"The education and empowerment of women throughout the world cannot fail 
to result in a more caring, tolerant, just and peaceful life for all," 
Suu Kyi said.

Suu drew laughter when she referred to the "age-old prejudice the world 
over ... that women talk too much," and asked, "But is this really a 
weakness?" 

She argued that men's tendency toward physical action to resolve 
conflict "has a far more damaging effect on its victims than feminine 
gossip."

"Women have a most valuable contribution to make in situations of 
conflict by leading the way to solutions based on dialogue rather than 
on viciousness or violence," she said.

Suu did not seek to attend the forum because she feared Burma's military 
rulers would bar her from returning home.

It is unclear whether China, which is close to Burma's junta, would have 
given her a visa.