Harsh regimes most fear an opponent who gracefully stands for his or her beliefs through all manner of brutality. Want proof? The military junta in Burma is staging a farcical trial of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The petite, 63-year-old daughter of Burma's legendary independence leader was due to be released from house arrest next week. She has been in custody for most of the past two decades, though she and her democratic party won a landslide election victory in 1990.
Suu Kyi's power is of a different brand from the charismatic leader of the Tamil Tigers, a terrorist who led a de facto war against the Sri Lankan government over the same period. Velupillai Prabhakaran and many of his remaining forces were reportedly killed in a government assault this week.
For sure, their causes were different — the Tamils are an aggrieved minority; Suu Kyi is a symbol of democracy. But her brand of protest, in the end, is the more potent. The junta in Burma, also known as Myanmar, does not dare kill her. It is staging a show trial to give its repression a veneer of legitimacy.
Suu Kyi is charged with allowing American admirer John Yettaw to sleep on her floor after he illegally swam across a lake to visit her. She asked him to leave, but took pity on him as he pleaded exhaustion.
The generals' behavior is reminiscent of how South Africa's apartheid government treated a similar opponent, Nelson Mandela, who was freed and elected president after 27 years in prison. Many of the same people around the world who used to wear "Free Nelson Mandela" T-shirts have substituted Suu Kyi's name. And just as black South African protesters were inspired by Mandela, when Burmese monks staged protests in 2007, she was their symbol.
What Suu Kyi has endured is unspeakable, including being separated from her husband as he died of cancer in England. She rarely has contact with the outside world.
The question: Could Suu Kyi follow Mandela's path in becoming the inspirational, long-suffering force who eventually leads her country to a better era? Mandela proved to be a conciliatory figure, opting for truth and reconciliation commissions over bitter witch hunts of apartheid repressors. One suspects Suu Kyi would be the same.
But how to get there? The Obama administration last week decided to keep up sanctions to punish Burma's generals. Just as important is this: Keep the spotlight on Suu Kyi in as many ways as possible. The best hope is that circumstances, combined with outside pressure, might bring her to the forefront. Just as they did for Mandela.