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BurmaNet News October 6, 1996
- Subject: BurmaNet News October 6, 1996
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 06 Oct 1996 09:27:00
----------------------------------BurmaNet----------------------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The BurmaNet News: October 6, 1996
Issue #532
Noted in Passing:
As a Chinese, I feel very sorry that the Chinese government
is backing Burma's military dictatorship. - Harry Wu, human
rights activist (see PRESS RELEASE: HARRY WU JOINS
BURMA FAST PRESS CONFERENCE)
HEADLINES:
==========
IHT: FIRING BACK, BURMA BARS U.S. OFFICIALS
AP: BURMA BLOCKS LEADER'S SPEECH
NATION: SLORC RELEASES MORE ACTIVISTS
REUTER: YANGON GOVT FREES 163 DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS
ECONOMIST: DOUBLETHINK IN MYANMAR
NATION: MAHATHIR REJECTS RP PROPOSAL ON ASEAN'S BURMA LINE
BKK POST: THAILAND WON'T REVIEW POLICY
NCGUB: VISA RESTRICTIONS WELCOMED, US URGED TO APPLY SANCTIONS
KNU REPORT: SLORC ROUNDS UP PORTERS IN TAUNGOO DISTRICT
TACOMA VOICE: TAKOMA PARK CONSIDERS BURMA BAN
INDEPEENDENT REPORT: BRITISH LABOUR PARTY SUPPORTS ASSK
PRESS RELEASE: HARRY WU JOINS BURMA FAST PRESS CONFERENCE
FBC: MADISONIANS JOIN THE FAST FOR A FREE BURMA
ANNOUNCEMENT: COME CELEBRATE APPLE'S WITHDRAWAL FROM BURMA
ANNOUNCEMENT: FREE BURMA OIL PACKETS AVAILABLE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IHT: FIRING BACK, BURMA BARS U.S. OFFICIALS
October 5-6, 1996 (International Herald Tribune)
from AP/Reuters
[BurmaNet Editor's Note: On Oct 5, the International Herald Tribune also
reprinted the Washington Post's editorial, "Cracking Down on Burma",
which we posted in yesterday's BurmaNet News.]
Rangoon - Burma's military government on Friday barred U.S. officials
from entering the country in retaliation for an American decision to keep
Burmese government officials off U.S. soil.
The moves were largely symbolic, however, since neither country is closing
down the other's embassy, and senior government officials from the two
country's rarely visit.
President Bill Clinton issues the ban on Burma's rulers and their families
on Thurdsday to increase international pressure on the regime after it
arrested more than 550 followers of the opposition leader, Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, last week.
"In spite of this attempt by the U.S. to pressure us, this action will in no way
affect our correct stance or policies." Khin Maung Win, a senior official of
the Burmese Foreign Ministry, said Friday.
Having isolated itself from 1962 to 988, Burma's government is extremely
resistant to outside pressure.
Khin Maung Win characterized the U.S. ban as interference in Burma's
internal affairs and asserted that his government was moving in the direction
of multiparty democracy.
The Foreign Ministry said the United States (word missing in the article) of
disregarding the "true situation" in Burma.
The ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council detained 573 activist
members of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy to
prevent a party congress planned for Sept. 27 to Sept. 29. According to
latest official figures, the regime had released 188 of the activists. It
continues to bar access to the opposition leader's home in Rangoon.
*******************************************************
AP: BURMA BLOCKS LEADER'S SPEECH
October 5, 1996 (abridged)
RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Troops and riot police blocked crowds of dissidents
from reaching the home of Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday, preventing the Nobel
laureate from addressing supporters for the second straight weekend.
The generals who rule Burma continued their crackdown on pro-democracy
activists, despite pressure from the United States, the European Union and
Australia.
*********************************************************
NATION: SLORC RELEASES MORE ACTIVISTS
October 6, 1996 (abridged)
Reuter
RANGOON -Another batch of 96 detained activists belonging to Aung
San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) have been
released by Burmese authorities, official Burmese media reported.
This brings to 284 the total number of detainees freed since the
ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) said that
573 NLD activists were held last week, ahead of the NLD party
congress from Sept 27 to 29.
State-run radio and television reported the releases in a late
night broadcast on Friday.
Authorities yesterday continued to block access to Suu Kyi's
Rangoon home from where she used to make weekend speeches to
thousands of supporters. Police checkpoints remained in place.
Government sources said they expected the checkpoints to be
removed in a few days' time.
************************************************************
REUTER: YANGON GOVT FREES 163 DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS
October 4, 1996 (abridged)
YANGON -- Myanmar's military government said it had released 163 of the
opposition activists it detained late last week in its recent crackdown in
Yangon to prevent public gatherings outside Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's residence.
The government said on television late on Wednesday that it had
released 75 of the 414 supporters.
The 414 figure is higher than the 400-person figure given by officials
from the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) at a news
conference on Tuesday.
The 75 were in addition to 88 members of the National League for
Democracy (NLD) released on Tuesday, the newscast said. In an earlier
wave of detentions, Slorc officials called in 159 NLD members for questioning
late last week in an effort to stop a three-day congress of NLD members from
taking place.
***********************************************************
ECONOMIST: DOUBLETHINK IN MYANMAR
October 5, 1996
There is an old joke in Myanmar: George Orwell's "Burmese Days", based on
his time as a colonial policeman, is a good book, but not as good as his second
novel about the country, "1984". The name the junta gives itself, "the State Law
and Order Restoration Council" -SLORC- has an Orwellian ring. And Orwell's
word "doublethink" might have been invented to describe the generals' mental
processes.
Thus, when the junta's spokesmen met the press on October 1st, they were able
to contradict themselves without, apparently, noticing. On the one hand, they
argued, the SLORC has brought Myanmar peace, stability and the hope of
prosperity, earning the loyalty of its people. On the other hand, stability is so
fragile that a meeting of a few hundred of its opponents might plunge the
country into bloodshed. Similarly, the SLORC is working hard to establish
multiparty democracy; but there is no need for any "opposition group". Or
again, the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is "free to go where she
wants"; but no, reporters may not cross the blockade now mounted by
soldiers at the end of her street. (In practice, she has had to sneak out to meet
them.)
The soldiers took up positions on the night of September 26th to stop members
of Miss Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), attending
a meeting at her house. The junta has acknowledged that it locked up 159 people
who wanted to attend and that another 414 activists were taken from their beds
and into custody on the night of September 27th. It said that 163 detainees had
been freed by October 2nd. Miss Suu Kyi has spoken of over 800 supporters
being arrested, and many people not directly connected to her party appear
to have been picked up recently in sweeps in the capital. The NLD's headquarters
were closed down, supposedly at the behest of the party's landlord. Telephone
lines to Miss Suu Kyi and her most senior lieutenants were out of order. Taxi
drivers were loathe to go near their houses, scared that their registration numbers
would be noted, and they would receive a knock on the door in the small hours.
The blockade of Miss Suu Kyi's house was supposed to last until September
30th, by when the planned meeting would have been over. But the soldiers
stayed put. It seems the junta has decided to stop Miss Suu Kyi's weekly
speeches over her garden gate to the crowds who gather outside. That
would close the only access she has had to ordinary people since her "release"
from six years of house arrest in July 1995.
Clearly Miss Suu Kyi can still frighten the SLORC into what looks like a
paranoid over-reaction. But, according to its own pronouncements, the SLORC
has plenty to be paranoid about. It has fretted about division in the armed
forces and accused the NLD of sowing dissension among the large and
influential Buddhist monkhood. It seems worried about the durability of the
ceasefire agreements it has signed with 16 rebel ethnic groups in the border
areas. And it knows that, in elections it arranged in 1990 and then ignored,
the people of Myanmar unambiguously chose the NLD.
It also sees itself as a victim of conspiracy by foreigners, especially from the
United States. Official newspapers have produced detailed lists of all of
Miss Suu Kyi's numerous encounters with foreign diplomats. The Americans,
says the SLORC, helped Miss Suu Kyi cook up the idea of an NLD meeting,
to bring international pressure on the junta. An American diplomat in
Yangon, Marilyn Meyers, has been accused of "intimidation" for warning
Myanmar's foreign ministry of the possible consequences of disrupting the
meeting. As she sees it, she was merely attempting to head off a worsening
of already strained relations between Myanmar and America.
Legislation signed by President Clinton on October 1st threatens a ban on
investment in Myanmar if Miss Suu Kyi is "rearrested for political acts", or
if there is "large-scale repression" of the opposition. The junta may have
met those conditions even before the law was passed. The detentions,
which follow a similar sweep before an NLD congress in May, may also
provoke European sanctions, as well as making it hard for Japan to resume
aid, and for the regional club ASEAN to admit Myanmar as a member.
The junta in public shrugs off such risks. It will do whatever is necessary,
it says, to ensure there is no repeat of the turmoil an slaughter that
surrounded its seizure of power in 1988. The necessary, it appears, includes
the quashing of all domestic opposition, even of the peaceful sort represented
by Miss Suu Kyi. She has long appealed for a dialogue with the generals, and
repeated that plea at her furtive press conference on October 2nd, but it now
seems forlorn. Miss Suu Kyi, however, refused to accept the latest bout of
repression as a setback. Rather it had shown the world that the SLORC is
"getting worse not better". True enough. And so is the NLD's ability to
function within Myanmar.
**********************************************************
NATION: MAHATHIR REJECTS RP PROPOSAL ON ASEAN'S BURMA LINE
October 6, 1996
Agence-France-Presse
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia yesterday dismissed a Philippine proposal
to review the "constructive engagement" policy of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) towards Burma, a policy now
harshly criticised as ineffective by many Western countries.
"It is a good policy. I see evidence that it has caused a change
in Burma," said Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, side-stepping
comments on the latest military clampdown by the Burmese junta on
the opposition.
"Before, Burma was completely closed. But we continued to try and
establish relations with them and today they are open," Mahathir
said after opening a meeting of the Gerakan political party.
Mahathir wants Burma integrated into Asean, along with Laos and
Cambodia, by next year. But Philippine President Fidel Ramos last
week asked for Asean to review dealings with Burma at its
informal summit scheduled to be held in Jakarta on Nov 30.
Mahathir said Asean's gentle persuasion policy had caused Rangoon
to improve the Burmese people's living conditions after seeing
how Malaysia and other Asean members administered their countries.
"We should continue to have meaningful dialogue with them," said
Mahathir.
Asean's constructive engagement policy towards Burma to gently
prod it towards greater respect for human rights has been
labelled a failure by many Western countries. But Asean has
already rejected what it sees as the West's more confrontation
al efforts to isolate Burma by according it observer status in July.
Asean, which groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, has said it is only a matter of
time before the country gains full membership in the grouping.
"We believe that we should have this constructive engagement with
them. It a very good thing," said Mahathir, adding that with
Burma's eventual entry, Asean will be able to have "some
influence or effect on them".
**********************************************************
BKK POST: THAILAND WON'T REVIEW POLICY
October 5, 1996
Thailand will not review its Burma policy during the current
political transition despite the recent military crackdown in
Rangoon, newly appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Thep Devakula
said yesterday.
Thailand will closely monitor the situation in Burma, but the
care-taker government in Bangkok should pursue the policy already
implemented, he added.
Thailand subscribes to a "constructive engagement" policy with Rangoon.
"I don't think there should be any [new] initiatives", said M.R.
Thep, who was among seven new ministers and deputy ministers
appointed by Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa before he
dissolved Parliament and called a general election on November 17.
M.R. Thep's comments emerged amid growing concern among
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states over the
new crackdown in Burma, during which some 800 cadres of Aung San
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party have been arrested.
Philippines President Fidel Ramos on Wednesday said ASEAN "might"
review its "constructive engagement" policy with Burma when
leaders hold their informal summit in Jakarta at the end of November.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
M.R. Thep played down the situation in Rangoon, however, saying
the military junta had merely "invited" NLD members in for
"discussions", as they did in May when they learned the party was
to hold a congress.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Surapong Jayanama reaffirmed
Thailand's policy of non-interference in its neighbours' internal
affairs, but urged the Burmese government to release all
detainees and engage in dialogue with the opposition.
"Thailand's constructive engagement is multi-dimensional. We
engage [Burma] in economics, politics, and social and cultural
matters," he said.
"Under this policy, we call for democratisation and national
reconciliation [in Burma]" he added.
ASEAN leaders are to consider the time frame under which to grant
Burma full membership when they meet in November, he said.
ASEAN foreign ministers failed to reach a consensus on the
question of the time frame for Burma's integration during a
meeting in New York last week.
------------------------------------------
On October 5, 1996, The NATION (SLORC Bars US Officials From Entering
Burma) added: (abridged)
In Bangkok, Foreign Ministry spokesman Surapong Jayanama said
although Burma's internal politics is not "the decisive factor"
in determining the country's Asean membership, the seven members
of the Southeast Asian grouping are unable to overlook political
developments in Rangoon.
Surapong said the government will not ignore public opinion or
the views expressed in the media and within the government and
private sector.
He added that Thailand wished to see political conflict resolved
positively and the release of all those detained "Successive Thai
governments shared the opinion that although political unrest is
a Burmese domestic affair they wanted to see it resolved through
non-violent means, by dialogue," Surapong said.
Meanwhile the Philippines said yesterday the pace of Burma's
integration into Asean was "too fast", a veiled indication that
it could oppose Rangoon's bid to join the group next year.
"The velocity or speed [of Burma's potential membership] was too
fast. They only became an observer [in Asean] this year, Foreign
Secretary Domingo Siazon said.
He said Burma's bid for membership in the regional grouping-
comprising Brunei Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - must be given more time, to
allow Rangoon to "adjust" to Asean's programmes, including the
setting up of a free trade area.
"You cannot have free trade unless the rule of law is in place. I
also agree that you cannot have free trade without participatory
democracy," Siazon said.
Although Asean welcomed the eventual membership of Burma into its
ranks, the member states "have not reached a consensus as to
when the country will be granted membership," Surapong said.
Two other Asean observers - Cambodia and Laos - will have about
two years of familiarisation before they are fully integrated as
members next-year, he added.
"Burma only just obtained its observer status, about two months
ago. It still needs time to prepare and familiarise itself with
Asean," Surapong said.
*****************************************************
NCGUB: VISA RESTRICTIONS WELCOMED, US URGED TO APPLY SANCTIONS
October 4, 1996
maung@xxxxxxxxxxx
NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA
815 15th St, N.W, Suite 910, Washington, DC 20005
Tel: (202)393-7342 (202)393 4312 Fax (202)393-7342
----------------------------------------------------
PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE
----------------------------------------------------
The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma welcomes the
proclamation suspending the entry into the United States of "persons
formulating, implementing or benefiting from policies that are impeding the
transition to democracy in Burma, and their immediate family members."
The decision is long overdue because the military junta that runs Burma has
been imposing visa restrictions against government and UN officials, ministers
and others, including Nobel Laureates, whom it believes will be meeting with
the leaders of the democracy movement or if the visits will benefit the movement
for democracy.
The military junta, however, has not stopped at that. It has already stepped
up its repression in the country. The most glaring example is the latest
round up of elected representatives and leading members of the National
League for Democracy (NLD). Supporters of the NLD were also beaten and
arrested when they came to listen to the weekend speeches by the leader of
the democracy movement, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Today, she is for all practical purposes under house arrest with troops
stationed at her house and on her street. Elected NLD members are being
coerced by the military intelligence to resign and the military junta is making
every effort to systematically decimate and incapacitate the NLD.
As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has said in her TV interview, "Do
we literally have to die on the streets before people start
saying there is a repression in Burma?"
There is a large scale repression in Burma and the United States should take
immediate action to impose sanctions, as denoted in Section 570 (a) (3) (b)
of the FY'97 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.
The people of Burma need to know that the U.S. stands firmly with them and
their democratically elected leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, at this critical
moment in our struggle for democracy.
******************************************************
KNU REPORT: SLORC ROUNDS UP PORTERS IN TAUNGOO DISTRICT
October 4, 1996
Taungoo District. Starting from September 21,the SLORC troops
station at Kler La and Kaw Thay Der villages demanded about 30 porters from
the locals every day to carry military supplies to its troops at the front
line. As the rainy season is coming to an end, the Burmese forces are
preparing to launch an offensive against the resistance groups.
On September 26, the commander of column 2 of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)
540, Soe Myint, shot and killed 2 villagers who were panning gold at Htee Nga
Peh Loh. At present LIB 538 has set up its positions
and is active in the area. The troops active in the area are looting gold or
any other valuable properties they could find from the gold panners and they
have plans to search for gold and mine it mechanically and ban the locals
from panning gold in the area.
Karen National Union Information Center
********************************************************
TACOMA VOICE: TAKOMA PARK CONSIDERS BURMA BAN
October 1996
by Justin Rood
On Monday, September 9, 1996, the Takoma Park City Council agreed to
draft a Selective Purchasing Resolution that would bar the city from
purchasing goods or services from corporations with ties to the Burmese
military government.
Following lengthy, moving and unanimous citizen testimony on behalf of
the resolution, a clearly convinced Mayor Ed Sharp agreed to place the
resolution on the agenda of the Council's upcoming work session.
Councilmembers Bruce Williams (Ward 3) and Larry Rubin (Ward 1)
volunteered their services in hammering out the resolution.
The movement in support of the boycott comes in response to the Burmese
military government's record of torture, human rights abuses, forced
labor and narcotics trafficking which is, in the words of Free Burma
Campaign of Takoma Park member Phil Robertson, "unequaled in modern
history."
"We're talking about...entire villages, required to 'donate' their labor
(to the Burmese government). If the villagers refuse, they are beaten or
shot," explained Stacey Heath, another member of the campaign, during her
testimony before the Mayor and the Council. "The labor is used in service
to clear land for railways and hotels...As a citizen of Takoma Park, I
do not want my tax dollars going to this regime."
Robertson pointed out that Takoma Park would not be the first to adopt
such a resolution. A number of cities, including Oakland, San Francisco,
and Berkeley, California, as well as the State of Massachusetts, have
passed laws boycotting corporations which cooperate with the Burmese
Government.
Nearly all of the testimony heard by the Council came from members or
invitees of the Free Burma Campaign. The members spared no effort in
appealing to the Councilmembers, at one point going so far as to ask
attendees of the hearing to stand in visible support for the measure.
The Mayor and the Council appeared duly moved by the Campaign members'
testimony. While acknowledging that councilmember participation during a
citizen hearing was highly unusual, Councilmember Rubin argued in support
of the boycott, proclaiming that "it is natural for people to help other
people who are victims of injustice...even across oceans. It's happened
throughout history." Most of the councilmembers folllowed Rubin's
unusual example and voiced their strong support for the boycott.
The Burma boycott would be Takoma Park's first since it boycotted South
African oil in the late 1980s. That boycott was officially taken off the
books last year, following the wishes of South African President Nelson
Mandela.
---------------------------------
The TAKOMA PARK NEWSLETTER: COUNCIL EMBRACES CITY SANCTIONS
AGAINST BURMA on October 3, 1996 added: (excerpts)
Tin Tin Htoo Maung, a Burmese student at Montgomery Colleges Takoma Park
campus, said she was a high school student when she participated in her
countrys pro-democracy movement in 1988.
I knew nothing about politics, she told the Council in a prepared statement,
visibly anxious. All I knew was what I saw. Peaceful, unarmed demonstrators
who called for democracy and human rights were shot and killed on the streets
by the present military regime in my country...Arrest, imprisonment, and
torture are common in Burma. People are afraid of the army.
If human rights and democracy are going to return to Burma, the international
community needs to take a stand against the multinational corporations that
are making profits with Burmas brutal dictators, Mr. Robertson told the
Council. And why should Takoma Park get involved?...Because Takoma Park
cares about these issues and is a member of the world community, believing
that we have a responsibility to step forward and support our brothers and
sisters fighting oppression wherever it occurs, he said.
People are dying every day in Burma because of forced labor, Ms. Heath said
from the lectern to the Council. As a citizen of Takoma Park, I dont want to
see my tax dollars going to Burma, Ms. Heath said. I think its in the best
of Takoma Parks tradition to associate itself with democracy.
===================================================================
For more information, contact the Free Burma Campaign of Takoma Park:
Phil Robertson (301) 270-1009, e-mail: probertson@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Stacey Heath (301) 585-9463
********************************************************
INDEPEENDENT REPORT: BRITISH LABOUR PARTY SUPPORTS ASSK
October 4, 1996 (abridged)
by U Oung Myint Tun
In recent weeks Mr Tony Blair, the leader of the Labour party,
sent a personal message to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the
National League for Democracy (Burma) and the Burmese Democracy
movement, to address the Labour party conference as a
distinguished international guest. In his letter Mr Blair
expressed strong support for the democratic movement in Burma.
He wrote: "While I appreciate the difficulties that you may have
in leaving Burma, we would be greatly honoured if you were able to
attend. The Labour party has been a consistent supporter of the
Burmese movement. And we have been deeply impressed by your own
personal role as the leader of that movement. Your courage and
dignity have been an inspiration to democrats everywhere."
******************************************************
PRESS RELEASE: HARRY WU JOINS BURMA FAST PRESS CONFERENCE
October 6, 1996
>From burmausa@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
PRESS CONFERENCE HONORS NATIONWIDE FAST FOR BURMA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leslie Kean (415) 381-6905
BERKELEY, CA - Internationally renowned human rights activist Harry Wu
will lead a panel of speakers in a press conference Tuesday to announce
a nationwide fast in support of Burma's struggle for democracy. The
event will take place at noon on Tuesday, October 8 at UC Berkeley's
Upper Sproul Plaza, at Bancroft and Telegraph. Beginning Monday,
students at over fifty-five U.S. colleges and ten high schools will
join thousands of fasters in six countries and four continents in a
unified call for sanctions against Burma.
In its crack down of the past two weeks, the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC), Burma's military junta, arrested more than
800 supporters of the democracy movement led by Nobel Laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi. Amnesty International called the arrests the worst in eight
years.
Chinese activist Harry Wu, Research Fellow at Stanford University's
Hoover Institution and a survivor of nineteen years in China's forced
labor camps, will expose China's role as the SLORC's most important
ally. China has provided Burma with over $1.2 billion in weapons. "As a
Chinese," he says, "I feel very sorry that the Chinese government is
backing Burma's military dictatorship which is killing its own people."
Mr. Wu, author with Carolyn Wakeman of Bitter Winds: A Memoir of My
Years in China's Gulag, captured the national and international
spotlight in 1995 when he was arrested in China during his
investigation of forced prison labor in his homeland.
Additionsl speakers at Tuesday's press conference include Berkeley city
council members responsible for passing the world's first selective
purchasing legislation against Burma; a representative from Congressman
Tom Lantos; David Hinkley, former regional director of Amnesty
International and a consultant to the national free Burma movement;
activists and Burmese students. Fasting students from Stanford
University will also be present, displaying banners and providing
information to the general public.
On October 1, President Clinton signed legislation which authorizes the
President to prohibit new businesses from investing in Burma if the
SLORC engages in large scale repression against democracy activists.
Fasters will urge President Clinton to immediately impose these
sanctions against the SLORC. Clinton has already acted to deny
American visas to any Burmese associated with the regime.
On U.S. investments in Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi has stated, "Companies
such as Unocal and Pepsi, Arco, and Texaco only serve to prolong the
agony of my country by encouraging the present military regime to
persevere in its intransigence." During the latest crackdown, major
national media have urged imposition of the sanctions. Even the
normally investment-friendly Wall Street Journal condemns doing
business in Burma.
The SLORC came to power in 1988 after a bloody crackdown on the
democracy movement in which thousands of peaceful demonstrators were
killed. In elections held in 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the
National League for Democracy, won 82 percent of the parliamentary
seats. The SLORC continues to ignore the election results.
Sponsored by the Burma Project USA and the Student Environmental
Action Coalition, U.C. Berkeley
******************************************************
FBC: MADISONIANS JOIN THE FAST FOR A FREE BURMA
PRESS RELEASE: MADISONIANS JOIN THE FAST FOR A FREE BURMA
October 4, 1996
Contact: Zar Ni (608)-827-7734 or 695-6375 (mobile) Madison
Madison residents including State Representative Tammy Baldwin,
City Council Alders. Mike Verveer, Brent Sieling, and Barbara Vedder,
Attorney Harry Salzberg of Salzberg Equal Justice Foundation and about 20
students and UW staff members will participate in the Fast for a Free
Burma. Students at over 50 colleges and 10 high schools and others across
the United States, as well as people in South Africa, Japan, Germany,
India, Thailand, Canada, and Norway will fast from Monday through
Wednesday, October 7-9, 1996. A press conference is scheduled at 12:00
noon on October 7 on Library Mall.
The City of Madison adopted a city ordinance last August barring
the city from doing business with U.S. companies with economic interests in
Burma. The Madison-based Free Burma Coalition has urged the UW Regents to
divest from PepsiCo and Texaco.
--------------------------------------------
FBC FAST UPDATE
October 5, 1996
New Groups joining the Fast:
1.the Burma Youth Volunteers Association and some university and high
school students in Cologne, Germany
2. students at two universities in Norway
3. pro-democracy groups (NLD, Chin, and Arakanese among others) in India
Numbers of Fasters at some universities:
Stanford, CA - 100 fasters, we have had a great response...
Palo Alto High School, CA - 15 high school students
Santa Monica College - 20 people, the list will grow for sure.
Hampshire College, MA - 15-20 students and 2 faculty members participating
College of the Atlantic - 30 fasters, demonstration at Pizza Hut
University of Houston - will be doing a demonstration, tabling during the fast
University of Washington - 10 fasters, movies, talks, candlelight vigil
Warren-Wilson College - 43 fasters, expecting 55 - rally, films, letter-writing
Wesleyan - 12 fasters
- Washington DC - 15 members & students of the Free Burma Coalition and
Democratic Burmese Student Organization in the University of Maryland
and Johns Hopkins University will fast in Lafayette Park by the White House.
- Audabon Expedition School - 10 of the 30 students are joining the fast,
1 had volunteered at a refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border
Ohio University - 2 "Burma Awareness" days, Oct 7 and 8th
with Ohmar Khin on campus for class visits, university-wide lectures, 2 radio
interviews and a video teleconference
Media: The Asia Times will carry a story on the FBC on Monday or Tuesday
the upcoming issue of the Madison-based magazine, "The Progressive" will have
an editorial on Burma and the Free Burma movement.
Activists in England will also help publicize the event.
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ANNOUNCEMENT: COME CELEBRATE APPLE'S WITHDRAWAL FROM BURMA!
October 4, 1996
simon_billenness@xxxxxxxxxxxx
We will have special reason to celebrate at our Rally for Burma on Monday,
October 7.
Page B6 of today's Boston Globe carries the story that Apple Computer has
decided to stop doing business in Burma. Apple Computer made this decision
to keep the company in compliance with our Massachusetts Burma selective
purchsing law!
Apple computer is the first company to cite the Massachusetts Burma
selective purchasing law as its reason for withdrawing from Burma. We hope
many more companies will follow...
Come to the Rally for Burma and celebrate!
Rally for Burma
Boston Common, Brewers Fountain
(behind the Park Street T station on the Green line)
Monday, October 7
5.30pm-6.30pm
Speakers will include:
State Representative Byron Rushing
U Win Maung - former Burmese diplomat
representatives from Boston College, Harvard and Tufts Burma Action Groups
See you there! Bring champagne!!
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ANNOUNCEMENT: FREE BURMA OIL PACKETS AVAILABLE
October 3, 1996
Dear Burma Activists and Others,
The Free Burma: No Petro-dollars for SLORC activist's packet is
finally available and ready for your use. The packet is intended
to provide you with the necessary information and tools to work on
the oil company campaign in your local area. It is available for
$5.00 in the US if sent by regular mail or that price plus the
cost of overnight mail, for those overseas the cost is $5.00 plus
postage.
For the those of you who have already paid for the packet, it will
be sent out immediately. We will also send it out to those of you
have requested it with an invoice. The following explains the
packet and campaign objectives and content.
All the best,
Pamela Wellner Campaign Coordinator
--------------------------------------------------------- October 1996
Dear Activist:
This information packet is intended to help you work locally on
the Free Burma- No Petro-dollars for SLORC campaign. Thank you for
your interest and efforts.
The campaign is focused solely on oil company investment in Burma.
It was spearheaded by a call for help from ethnic nationalities
living in the Tenasserim area where foreign oil companies are
developing gas pipeline projects. The Karen, Mon, and Tavoy
peoples are the victims of human rights abuses such as forced
relocation, forced labor, pillaging, rape and torture by SLORC
troops securing the pipeline area.
The campaign primarily focuses on two different gas pipeline
projects operated by Unocal(USA)/Total(France) and
Texaco(USA)/Nippon Oil(Japan)/Premier Oil(UK) in the southern
Burma Tenasserim watershed. The campaign will include Arco's new
contract for oil/gas exploration in the Andaman Sea. The
campaign's objective is to escalate public attention and pressure
on these companies so that they withdraw their operations and
investments from Burma until a genuine democratic government is in
place.
The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) maintains its
power by selling the country's resources at a furious rate. SLORC
is largely propped up by foreign oil interests. Oil income allows
them to buy arms to further suppress ethnic nationalities and the
democracy movement.
Aung San Suu Kyi, now free from house arrest, has asked that
economic sanctions be applied against the SLORC regime. In support
of Burma's democracy movement and ethnic nationalities we ask that
no US companies invest in Burma until a genuine democratic
government is in place.
We hope that you will work on this issue in your local area or in
any other area of influence you have. We need to raise public
awareness to create the necessary national/world-wide pressure on
the oil companies.
These issues are constantly changing and more information comes
out on a daily basis, we may have missed some information that you
want or need, please contact us if you have questions or want more
information, and we will do our best to provide it to you.
We have enclosed the following information to help you work on
this campaign:
- Background information and recent articles on Burma and oil
company projects.
- Background information on Burma's natural environment
- Brochures on Unocal, Texaco, and Total & boycott stickers (more
may be ordered).
- How to write a press release, organize a demonstration, protest
sites & media tips
- Sample letters to the heads of the oil companies & lists of
addresses
- Sample letter to gas station owner, & from station owner to
head of company
- Petitions to oil corporations for use with public and gas
station patrons
- Sample letters to the editor and notable quotes
- Names and addresses of oil company boards of directors
- Background information on Unocal's poor environmental and
social record
- Selective Purchasing Legislation information
- Web sites on Burma
Campaign ideas, please feel free to come up with some of your
own:
1. Letter writing campaign. Please generate as many letters as
possible to the heads of companies and board of directors. Sample
letters and lists of addresses are enclosed.
2. Tabling. Set up a table at community or campus events to
distribute information about Burma, and inform people about the
campaign. Petitions are enclosed.
3. Demonstrations. Refer to "Organizing a Demonstration."
4. Community & Campus events. Hold a presentation, concert or
other special event to raise awareness and fundraise. Videotapes
are available about the pipeline and Burma, & speakers from the
movement may be invited to speak. Contact us for a list of
speakers and videos.
5. Contracts with cities, states (& universities). Selective
Purchasing Legislation is now being passed by many city/state
entities prohibiting contracts with companies doing business with
Burma. Refer to "Selective Purchasing Legislation." If your
college/university holds stock in any of these companies, they can
be asked to vote for shareholder resolutions about Burma.
6. Generate Media. Refer to "Media Tips."
7. Promote the Boycott. Be creative in finding ways to educate
people and promote their boycott of the oil companies. RFree
BurmaS t-shirts, bumper stickers, brochures and smaller stickers
are available, refer to "How to Order More."
Thank you for answering the call by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi to activists everywhere to step up their efforts
on behalf of the people of Burma!
All the Best,
Pamela Wellner Campaign Coordinator
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