BBC secretly record Suu Kyi's lectures

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• Iconic Myanmar pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will deliver the 2011 BBC Reith Lecture, an annual lecture series named after the first director-general of the BBC, John Reith. 
• Due to the sensitive nature in which she lives, a BBC team secretly went to Myanmar, recorded her two lectures and smuggled the material out of the country for broadcast later this month.
• The BBC said that normally the Reith Lectures are delivered in person in front of a live audience, but due to the exceptional circumstances, Aung San Suu Kyi's lectures were recorded in Burma this week.
• BBC controller Gwyneth Williams said it had been a "tense" few days while the BBC team secretly made its way into Burma and recorded with Suu Kyi.
• The lectures will be played to public audiences at two events to be held at BBC Broadcasting House in London on 20th and 27th June.
• Her two lectures will discuss the themes of dissent and liberty and will be broadcast on BBC Radio from 28th June.
• The lectures are part of a wider series, entitled 'Securing Freedom', reflecting on global events of the past year.
• The BBC said that former MI5 Director-General Baroness Manningham-Buller will present three further lectures in September.
• The BBC quoted Suu Kyi as saying: "When I was under house arrest, it was the BBC that spoke to me – I listened. I am so grateful for this opportunity to exercise my right to human contact by sharing with you my thoughts on what freedom means to me, and others across the world who are still in the sad state of what I would call 'unfreedom'".
• Her first lecture will examine the notion of dissent, and will draw on her personal experience as a campaigner for democracy.
• The second lecture will explore the notion of democracy, and the responsibility of the international community towards authoritarian regimes, with reference to recent events in the Middle East.
• Across three lectures, Eliza Manningham-Buller will assess the post-9/11 world, and will consider the role of security intelligence, reflecting on the threats to freedom and the means of countering them, as well as the implications for foreign policy.
• Manningham-Buller said, "I am honoured to share this year's Reith Lecture series with Aung San Suu Kyi, whose selfless courage on behalf of Burma's freedom should remind us not to take our own freedoms for granted.
• Aung San Suu Kyi's lectures will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service on 28th June and 5th July.
• Eliza Mannigham-Buller's lectures will be broadcast in September. Source: Indian Express

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