Character Catalog

Collection of political and philosophical essays in which she sets out her vision of democracy and non-violent resistance. The eponymous essay is considered her founding text.

Series of weekly columns published in a Japanese newspaper, recounting daily and political life in Burma. These letters were circulated clandestinely and helped sustain international attention.

A lengthy interview conducted in secret during her house arrest, in which she sets out her democratic and Buddhist convictions. A key reference for understanding her political thought.

Political party she co-founded in September 1988 following the popular uprising, which became the main opposition party under the Burmese dictatorship.

First woman to de facto lead the Burmese government, a role equivalent to that of Prime Minister. However, her handling of the Rohingya crisis severely damaged her international reputation.

It is true that we must understand fear in order to overcome it. The fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it, and the fear of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

I ask you not to be discouraged. Our struggle is just and we must continue to move forward with gentleness but with determination.

During the years when I was cut off from the outside world, the Nobel Prize was like a ray of light penetrating my solitude. It reminded me that the struggle for democracy and human rights was not confined to our small country.

Democracy is the only ideological system that takes into account human fallibility, and that provides mechanisms to correct the errors of those who govern.

The family home on the shores of Inya Lake, where Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest for more than fifteen years in total. It became a place of pilgrimage for her supporters, who would come to listen to her speak from the gate.

The former capital and largest city of Myanmar, the scene of the 1988 uprisings and Aung San Suu Kyi's major political speeches before hundreds of thousands of people.

The venue for the official Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony. Aung San Suu Kyi was only present to deliver her acceptance speech in 2012, twenty-one years after the prize was awarded.

The city where she studied (St Hugh's College, Oxford) and where her family lived — her husband Michael Aris and their two sons. She refused to leave Burma to rejoin her family for fear of not being allowed to return.

The administrative capital built by the junta, where Aung San Suu Kyi served as State Counsellor between 2016 and 2021, and where she has been detained since the 2021 coup.

Aung San Suu Kyi almost always wore fresh flowers tucked into her dark hair, a detail that became an iconic symbol of her affirmed femininity in the face of military brutality. This personal touch became a globally recognised symbol of gentle resistance.

She consistently wore the longyi, the traditional Burmese garment, rather than Western clothing. This sartorial choice affirmed her cultural roots and her closeness to the Burmese people.

During her years of house arrest, a small radio allowed her to listen to the BBC World Service, her only window onto the outside world. She mentioned it on several occasions as one of her rare connections to international reality.

Aung San Suu Kyi played the piano during her captivity, including works by Bach. Music served her as a tool for mental discipline and active meditation in the face of isolation.

She had access to works of Buddhist philosophy and the writings of Gandhi, which nourished her thinking on non-violent resistance. Reading was at the heart of her intellectual life during her long years of isolation.

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize medal, kept by her family for years, became the symbol of international recognition of her struggle. She was only able to receive it in person twenty-one years after it was awarded.