Freedom from Fear
Aung Sang Suu Kyi, 1990
It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing
power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power
corrupts those who are subject to it. Most Burmese are familiar with the
four a-gati, the four kinds of corruption. Chanda-gati, corruption
induced by desire, is deviation from the right path in pursuit of bribes
or for the sake of those one loves. Dosa-gati is taking the wrong path
to spite those against whom one bears ill will, and moga-gati is
aberration due to ignorance. But perhaps the worst of the four is
bhaya-gati, for not only does bhaya, fear, stifle and slowly destroy all
sense of right and wrong, it so often lies at the root of the other
three kinds of corruption. Just as chanda-gati, when not the result of
sheer avarice, can be caused by fear of want or fear of losing the
goodwill of those one loves, so fear of being surpassed, humiliated or
injured in some way can provide the impetus for ill will. And it would
be difficult to dispel ignorance unless there is freedom to pursue the
truth unfettered by fear. With so close a relationship between fear and
corruption it is little wonder that in any society where fear is rife
corruption in all forms becomes deeply entrenched.
Public dissatisfaction with economic hardships has
been seen as the chief cause of the movement for democracy in Burma,
sparked off by the student demonstrations 1988. It is true that years of
incoherent policies, inept official measures, burgeoning inflation and
falling real income had turned the country into an economic shambles.
But it was more than the difficulties of eking out a barely acceptable
standard of living that had eroded the patience of a traditionally
good-natured, quiescent people - it was also the humiliation of a way of
life disfigured by corruption and fear.
The students were protesting not just against the
death of their comrades but against the denial of their right to life by
a totalitarian regime which deprived the present of meaningfulness and
held out no hope for the future. And because the students' protests
articulated the frustrations of the people at large, the demonstrations
quickly grew into a nationwide movement. Some of its keenest supporters
were businessmen who had developed the skills and the contacts necessary
not only to survive but to prosper within the system. But their
affluence offered them no genuine sense of security or fulfilment, and
they could not but see that if they and their fellow citizens,
regardless of economic status, were to achieve a worthwhile existence,
an accountable administration was at least a necessary if not a
sufficient condition. The people of Burma had wearied of a precarious
state of passive apprehension where they were 'as water in the cupped
hands' of the powers that be.
Emerald
cool we may be_
As
water in cupped hands_
But
oh that we might be_
As
splinters of glass in cupped hands.
Glass splinters, the smallest with its sharp, glinting
power to defend itself against hands that try to crush, could be seen as
a vivid symbol of the spark of courage that is an essential attribute of
those who would free themselves from the grip of oppression. Bogyoke
Aung San regarded himself as a revolutionary and searched tirelessly for
answers to the problems that beset Burma during her times of trial. He
exhorted the people to develop courage: 'Don't just depend on the
courage and intrepidity of others. Each and every one of you must make
sacrifices to become a hero possessed of courage and intrepidity. Then
only shall we all be able to enjoy true freedom.'
The effort necessary to remain uncorrupted in an
environment where fear is an integral part of everyday existence is not
immediately apparent to those fortunate enough to live in states
governed by the rule of law. Just laws do not merely prevent corruption
by meting out impartial punishment to offenders. They also help to
create a society in which people can fulfil the basic requirements
necessary for the preservation of human dignity without recourse to
corrupt practices. Where there are no such laws, the burden of upholding
the principles of justice and common decency falls on the ordinary
people. It is the cumulative effect on their sustained effort and steady
endurance which will change a nation where reason and conscience are
warped by fear into one where legal rules exist to promote man's desire
for harmony and justice while restraining the less desirable destructive
traits in his nature.
In an age when immense technological advances have
created lethal weapons which could be, and are, used by the powerful and
the unprincipled to dominate the weak and the helpless, there is a
compelling need for a closer relationship between politics and ethics at
both the national and international levels. The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights of the United Nations proclaims that 'every individual and
every organ of society' should strive to promote the basic rights and
freedoms to which all human beings regardless of race, nationality or
religion are entitled. But as long as there are governments whose
authority is founded on coercion rather than on the mandate of the
people, and interest groups which place short-term profits above
long-term peace and prosperity, concerted international action to
protect and promote human rights will remain at best a partially
realized struggle. There will continue to be arenas of struggle where
victims of oppression have to draw on their own inner resources to
defend their inalienable rights as members of the human family.
The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit,
born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in those
mental attitudes and values which shape the course of a nation's
development. A revolution which aims merely at changing official
policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material
conditions has little chance of genuine success. Without a revolution of
the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order
would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process
of reform and regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom,
democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to
persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring
truths, to resist the corrupting influences ofdesire, ill will,
ignorance and fear.
Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who go on
trying. So free men are the oppressed who go on trying and who in the
process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities and to uphold
the disciplines which will maintain a free society. Among the basic
freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and
uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A
people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions
are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must
first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.
Always one to practise what he preached, Aung San
himself constantly demonstrated courage - not just the physical sort but
the kind that enabled him to speak the truth, to stand by his word, to
accept criticism, to admit his faults, to correct his mistakes, to
respect the opposition, to parley with the enemy and to let people be
the judge of his worthiness as a leader. It is for such moral courage
that he will always be loved and respected in Burma - not merely as a
warrior hero but as the inspiration and conscience of the nation. The
words used by Jawaharlal Nehru to describe Mahatma Gandhi could well be
applied to Aung San:
'The essence of his teaching was fearlessness and
truth, and action allied to these, always keeping the welfare of the
masses in view.'
Gandhi, that great apostle of non-violence, and Aung
San, the founder of a national army, were very different personalities,
but as there is an inevitable sameness about the challenges of
authoritarian rule anywhere at any time, so there is a similarity in the
intrinsic qualities of those who rise up to meet the challenge. Nehru,
who considered the instillation of courage in the people of India one of
Gandhi's greatest achievements, was a political modernist, but as he
assessed the needs for a twentieth-century movement for independence, he
found himself looking back to the philosophy of ancient India: 'The
greatest gift for an individual or a nation . .. was abhaya,
fearlessness, not merely bodily courage but absence of fear from the
mind.'
Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious
is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from
cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions,
courage that could be described as 'grace under pressure' - grace which
is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.
Within a system which denies the existence of basic
human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of
imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends,
family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of
isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which
masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish,
reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which
help to preserve man's self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is
not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the
principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating
miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage
rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized
man.
The wellspring of courage and endurance in the face of
unbridled power is generally a firm belief in the sanctity of ethical
principles combined with a historical sense that despite all setbacks
the condition of man is set on an ultimate course for both spiritual and
material advancement. It is his capacity for self-improvement and
self-redemption which most distinguishes man from the mere brute. At the
root of human responsibility is the concept of perfection, the urge to
achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to
follow that path if not to the end at least the distance needed to rise
above individual limitations and environmental impediments. It is man's
vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him
to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear.
Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as
trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against
ruthless power.
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