Publisher's Synopsis
Burma's nonviolent "revolution of the spirit" remains one of the most inspiring and significant movements ever. A conclusion to 43 years of investigative research and unique personal involvement by Alan Clements, this urgent book presents not only a compelling case for the release of Burma's Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners but a meticulous explanation for the (corporate-media-facilitated, politically expedient, and calculated) patriarchal disgrace of a courageously wise feminine-inspired Buddhist-influenced leader -- a 77 year old political spiritual luminary likened to Nelson Mandela, Gandhi and Martin Luther King -- and her peoples' nationwide movement. For a rich tapestry of diverse ethnic peoples in this ancient, sacred 4,000-year nation of 53 million people, elegantly safeguarding for centuries the transformational power of nonviolence, the timeless wisdom "mindful intelligence" and the trans-religious practice of mindfulness meditation that is sweeping the world today, the struggle for freedom continues.
Examining the role of the international press in the ongoing crisis and the intricacies of a Dharma-based revolution as taught to Aung San Suu Kyi and National League for Democracy leaders by the late Venerable Sayadaw U Pandita, The Voice of Hope: Aung San Suu Kyi from Prison and a Letter to a Dictator is not only a tribute to the people of Burma's unwavering quest for democracy and freedom but an articulate first-of-its-kind indictment of the international communities apathy, illustrating the inherent danger of turning away from the country's legitimate civilian elected government.
Included in this epic and concisely presented work is an in-depth and exhaustive compilation of Aung San Suu Kyi's position on the Rohingya crisis in her own words, a summary of the author's findings on the first anniversary of the 2021 military coup and a detailed conversation between Alan Clements and Fergus Harlow that covers the nature of their work and of freedom itself as it relates to the ongoing struggle for democracy in Burma.
The book concludes with an unprecedented, compassionately motivated letter highlighting the power of redemption to Ming Aung Hlaing -- presently the world's foremost criminal terrorist -- from Alan Clements (a former Buddhist monk in Burma), and an open letter to Aung San Suu Kyi from renowned Rinpoche Dzongsar Jamyang Khyenste.
The Voice of Hope: Aung San Suu Kyi and A Letter to A Dictator builds upon the previous books: "Burma: The Next Killing Fields," (with a foreword by the Dalai Lama) Instinct for Freedom (nominated as the best spiritual teaching/memoir in 2003), Burma's Revolution of the Spirit, (with essays by eight Nobel Peace Laureates), Wisdom for the World: Alan Clements in Conversation with Sayadaw U Pandita, and the definitive four-volume Burma's Voices of Freedom (co-authored with Fergus Harlow) and The Voice of Hope: Conversations with Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi, a work that moved Pulitzer Prize Winner author Alice Walker to write, "Every leader in the world should read this book at least once."
