Democracy was set back in Burma Saturday when the thugs that have ruled that country since 1988 detained the country’s leading democracy activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, and shut down at least six offices of her National League for Democracy. Ms. Suu Kyi was held under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and again from 2000 to 2002. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Now she is back in government custody.

It’s easiest for us Americans to focus on the need for freedom and democratization abroad when there’s a threat to our own soil — Soviet missiles pointed at us or Iraqi-backed terrorists attacking New York. Burma seems remote. But as a moral matter, the people there have the same inalienable right to choose their own government as we do. And there are ways in which America does interact with Burma. Trade is one. According to the Free Burma Coalition, companies like Saks, Federated Department Stores (which owns Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s), Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole, Crate and Barrel, and Williams Sonoma all have announced their intention not to stock products made in Burma, as a direct response to the human rights violations there and public concern about them.

In cases like that of Red China, reasonable people can debate whether trade helps the forces of freedom or hinders them. With respect to Burma, the most important thing is that Americans are speaking out against an oppressive, tyrannical regime. This will be most productive in the end if it does more than simply salve American consciences, but if it actually works in league with other tactics, overt and covert, that the free world uses to free not just Ms. Suu Kyi, but all the people of Burma.