Jim Carrey Backs Aung San Suu Kyi Via YouTube

Using the Internet to put the spotlight on Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi's 18-year house arrest (since 1989) and calling her an 'unsung hero', actor Jim Carrey has posted a personal video appeal on YouTube seeking the world’s help for the Nobel Peace Laureate.

Suu Kyi is a pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar. She is a noted prisoner of conscience and advocate of nonviolent resistance. Suu Kyi won the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990. In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship. She is currently under detention, with the Myanmar government repeatedly extending her detention.

According to the results of the 1990 general election, Suu Kyi was elected as prime minister of Myanmar, as leader of the winning National League for Democracy party. However, her detention by the military junta has so far prevented her from assuming her elected role. Suu Kyi’s political party won a landslide election, but the junta ignored the results and has ruled as an outlaw regime ever since.

According to the UN human rights expert in Myanmar, the ruling military junta has burned down and destroyed over 3,000 villages in eastern Myanmar, forcing over 1.5 million people to flee their homes.

Carrey’s YouTube post has seen 197,000 hits in six days. Suu Kyi is often referred to as the modern-day Gandhi or Nelson Mandela. However, most Americans have not even heard of her.

The significance of Carrey’s post is to raise awareness, especially in the United States, about the junta, their lawless and violent rule, and the detention of Suu Kyi.

Carrey’s appeal is in collaboration with the Human Rights Action Center and the US Campaign for Myanmar. It is believed that he most likely timed this video to coincide with George Bush's trip to the APEC summit in Sydney, Australia.