Since her release from house-arrest on November 13th Myanmar's pre-eminent opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has sought to revitalise her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and to strengthen its ties with emerging pro-democracy groups. During the NLD leader's most recent, seven-year period of incarceration a new generation of pro-democracy activists has emerged, many of whom are currently serving lengthy jail terms for leading protests against the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC, the ruling military junta) in 2007. A number of new pro-democracy parties have also been formed during the past year and contested the November 7th national elections. In recent weeks Aung San Suu Kyi has had a number of meetings that appear to be aimed at addressing a broadening of the pro-democracy movement. She has urged NLD youth members to develop a pro-democracy network, using modern communications technology to reach out beyond the party. Aung San Suu Kyi has also made it clear in a number of interviews with foreign media that she is willing to work with all pro-democracy groups, including those that contested the elections despite the fact that she had called for a boycott. In late November she met representatives of two parties that fought the elections, the Democracy Party (DP) and the Peace and Diversity Party (PDP), and an agreement was reached on developing joint political and social programmes, although details have yet to be finalised. In a speech on Myanmar's National Day, November 25th, Aung San Suu Kyi stated that she and her party were ready to work with any group that wanted national reconciliation.

Despite the euphoria following Aung San Suu Kyi's release, the pro-democracy movement is operating in a challenging environment. There is limited freedom of assembly and practically no freedom of speech, with all national media heavily censored. The NLD itself is no longer a legal political party, and in late November the Supreme Court announced that it would not consider an appeal lodged by the NLD challenging the decision to disband the party. (According to the Election Commission, any party that failed to register to take part in the election would lose its legal political status-a ruling that the NLD claims should have applied only to new political parties and not those formed under previous legislation, which has not been repealed.) The NLD leader has sought to manage expectations of what she and her party can achieve. Stating that the NLD alone cannot bring about change, she has urged people to join the pro-democracy movement and take action by themselves.