In 1988 she helped to found the National League for Democracy, which won a landslide victory two years later. The military refused to honour the results and bloodily suppressed all dissent. During her detention, she refused offers of freedom in exchange for exile and remained committed to democracy. She is the most potent symbol of the struggle for democracy under South East Asia's most reviled regime. This is the only group of people that I have ever been fairly sure actually did save the world.
Citations Read about some real heroes.
A unique campaigner for women's rights and racial justice. Sir Richard Burton Nineteenth century English explorer, writer, adventurer, linguist and Renaissance man. A very interesting character. After one of his employees, whom he had not met, was abducted and held for ransom in Columbia, this man risked his own life by offering himself in exchange for the employee. He was then held hostage for three months before being released unharmed in early 1999.