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From U of Washington




Coban

Would you please forward this to the newsgroup.  Thanks and I hope all is
well!

***************************************************************************=
Burma Action Group=
University of Washington      tlandon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Box 119, HUB 207, FK-30      (206) 548-9029
Seattle, WA 98195
***************************************************************************=

>From the University of Washington Daily 6/2/95


Five years ago today, these words were heard in Rangoon, Burma:
"Multi-party democratic elections were successfully held on May 27,
[1990]. However, until a strong government has been formed
constitutionally, we have to take responsibility." The "we" in questions
is a collection of military leaders known as the State Law and Order
Restoration Council, or SLORC, which had been ruling Burma since taking
power after killing thousands of unarmed demonstrators in 1988.

Student apathy, so often criticized in the US, was not a problem
in Burma -- students have traditionally been among the leaders of those
agitating for change in many difficult times Burma has gone through. They=

have been willing to take to the streets again and again, even though
students had been shot before.

In 1988 many students were among those killed when the army
opened fire on  demonstrators. SLORC was so afraid of students, it closed=

the universities for three years. When SLORC reopened them, there were
often more protests, so SLORC clamped them shut again.

Despite SLORC's appalling human rights record, and the fact some
of the main opposition leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, were placed
under house arrest almost a year before the election date, free and fair
elections did take place on 27 May 1990.

485 seats in the People's Assembly were contested. When SLORC saw
its party, the National Unity Party (NUP) was losing despite restrictive
regulations which had made campaigning all but impossible for its
opponents (while the NUP enjoyed access through state-owned media), it
never announced the final results. Of the 476 seats for which results are=

known, 82% were won by the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu
Kyi's party, and only 2% by SLORC's NUP.

A few days of hard thought produced the statement above:
Multi-party democratic elections were held, but....

Aung San Suu Kyi is now in her sixth year of house arrest. She
has since won the Nobel Peace Prize and numerous other awards. SLORC
publishes twisted attacks on her, often focusing on the fact that she is
married to a Jew. What would Americans think if their president was
married to a black? SLORC asks.

Well, let's see...if we elect him or her, that probably means we
don't mind.

SLORC has attempted to bargain with Aung San Suu Kyi. She may
have her freedom if she goes into exile. She prefers to stay in her house=

on University Avenue in Rangoon. Early in her detention she did agree to
leave, but on condition she be allowed to walk to the airport. SLORC
didn=D5t dare let her out onto the streets.

SLORC's abuses do not stop at keeping political prisoners,
stealing elections and shooting demonstrators. Human rights violations
are widespread and horrific.

After the slaughter in 1988, thousands of people were arrested,
tortured or killed. Students came under particular attack, and many fled
through the countryside and forests to border areas which were under the
control of rebel groups who have been fighting one Rangoon government
after another for decades. Some of the students died along the way, but
others made it safely into Thailand, India or safe territory inside Burma.

The students have joined other opposition groups, including
parliamentarians, many of whom arrested when the election was hijacked.
They are still trying to re-establish democracy in Burma.

They are struggling against a regime of demonstrated brutality
and of disturbing ignorance. Several of the country=D5s rulers have only a=

fourth-grade education. Perhaps this explains their superstition about
the number nine.

The elections were held on an auspicious date for nine-lovers:
the 2 and 7 in May 27th add up to nine. SLORC first took power on a very
powerful date for them: 18 September. There are 702 delegates to the
National Convention, which is writing the new constitution. Of those, 99
would be from the parliamentarians who were not allowed to take power,
leaving, yes, 603 to be hand-picked by SLORC.

These numbers have not been as lucky as SLORC might have hoped.
Apparently a good number of the delegates have balked at the requirement
that the constitution they are writing guarantee participation of the
military in the leading role of national politics. The writing is going
rather slowly.

Education is very important in Burmese culture. Educated Burmese
find it humiliating to be ruled by their lessers. However, the strictness=

of the regime makes any protest very dangerous for those living in Burma.

Outside protest does not come only from the Burmese exile
community. More and more is being heard from others concerned with human
rights and justice, including students.

The University of Washington's Board of Regents has done its bit.
The UW's portfolio includes several million dollars=D5 worth of stock in
firms which do business in Burma, in partnership with SLORC. In March this
year the Regents passed a resolution obliging them to sponsor and vote for
shareholder resolutions related to human rights in Burma and to notify the
corporations of the Regents' position.

Students also are involved in the slow process of change, by
spreading information, by writing letters urging Congress to take some
action, by boycotts. Companies like Levi=D5s and Eddie Bauer who have
stopped their operations in Burma have stated that it is impossible to do=

business in Burma without directly supporting SLORC. However, supporting
a brutal dictatorship doesn=D5t seem to bother Pepsi and Unocal, among othe=
rs.

We don't have to put our lives on the line for basic human rights
at the University of Washington, and of course, no one should have to,
anywhere. But the Burmese students were willing to. Our efforts are puny
next to their courage and sacrifice. However, they are useful.

Cumulatively, our actions contribute to change. Eddie Bauer and
the other companies did not pull out of Burma because they woke up one
day horrified to find themselves in bed with SLORC. They pulled out
because some people rejected apathy and needled the corporations into
leaving, thus depriving the Burmese military elite of the hard currency
it uses to oppress the Burmese people, and embarrassing SLORC before the
world.