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Total (r)



excellent work bcn. total's ceo thierry desmarest last may at the annual
shareholders meeting boasted of the increase from 600 000 to some 900
000 total gas card members -- all the more reason we need to terminate
total investment and support of the narco-dictatorship. total recently
launched a major advertising campaign of national french television.
visitors to france can not overlook the predominant billboards and
endless total gas stations that monopolize the country, and virtually
blunt resistance to their colossal empire here. 

all the best to bcn for their fine work. it would be a good thing to
follow up their campaign in france with producers, in television and
cinema industry now in france, especially with a new french government
having replaced the former chirac-juppe team (chirac is still
president)which stripped down the arts and culture budgets to next to
nothing.   

anyone who wants to know more about total, please visit the worldwide
total boycott site, and the total corporate site

http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/total/
http://www.total.com/

metta,
dawn star
euro-burmanet -paris

burma@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> From: Burma Centrum Nederland en XminY Solidariteitsfonds <burma@xxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Total is still the biggest investor in Burma. The campaign "Let?s talk
> business: Democracy for Burma!" asked a Dutch television programme producer
>  to write down a letter in a magazine distributed to everybody working for
> Dutch television and radio broadcasting companies. This letter was
> published in 'Spreekbuis' of 25 April 1997, in Hilversum, The Netherlands.
> 
> Please note that these are unofficial translations from Dutch.
> 
> TEXT BEGINS:
> 
> Dear colleges,
> 
> Lately I have heard and seen on radio and television some great programs
> about ethical enterprising. It is an interesting subject. Isn?t it time
> that we, as producers of this kind of programs, take a closer look at
> ourselves?
> Many of us refuel at Total with a special card - arranged by the
> broadcasting companies; which gives us a discount, and Total a lot of
> regular customers. But what else is Total doing? It is building a gas
> pipeline for the dictators in Burma.
> This project is very much contested. Not only because the Burmese army -
> the joint venture partner of Total - chased away the local inhabitants with
> brute force for its construction. Also not just because of the forced
> labour with which this joint-venture partner constructs roads and railroads
> to make the area accessible; those who refuse to co-operate voluntarily to
> hack stones for the construction of roads find themselves as prisoners at
> the same worksite.
> The most important thing is the financial contribution of Total to the
> regime - with US$ 400 million a year the pipeline will be the biggest
> source of foreign reserves!
> Why should we worry about Burma? It are our companies which enable the
> military regime to stay in power.
> Almost all foreign investments go through military holdings; the generals
> spend more than half of the state budget on the military! Only a small
> percentage is spend on health care.
> It is evident that the population wants something else. In the 1990
> elections the leader of the opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi, won 81 percent of
> the seats of the, to be formed, parliament. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
> is asking explicitly not to invest in Burma now.
> I will write a letter together with the Burma Centre Netherlands and XminY
> Solidarityfund to Total, asking the company to pull out of Burma. I call
> upon all my colleges to do the same. Send a letter to the address below,
> and the two organisations will forward it to Total.
> 
> Job de Haan, IKON-Kenmerk
> 
> END OF TEXT
> 
> Letter to Total by Job de Haan:
> 
> TEXT BEGINS:
> 
> To the Board of Total-Netherlands
> Postbox 366
> 3000 AJ Rotterdam
> 
> Hilversum, 23 April 1997
> 
> Dear Madam/Sir,
> 
> Since a number of years, as a Television producer, I gratefully make use of
> the Total card arrangement which is valid for people who work for
> broadcasting companies in order to refuel with discount. Total in its turn
> benefits from a large number of regular customers. Because my relationship
> with Total has been pleasant during all these years, and because of the
> friendly way they treat their customers, I feel obliged to address your
> presence and mode of operating in Burma. This country in Asia is being
> ruthlessly governed by a military junta with which Total has formed a
> joint-venture for the construction of a gas pipeline. For the construction
> of this pipeline, the original population has been driven away with brute
> force, forced labour is being practised and labourers who refuse to
> co-operate disappear behind bars. With this partner Total is doing business
> and is investing US$ 400 million a year; the largest source of foreign income!
> Without foreign investments the junta can not maintain its position, if
> only because it is spending half of the state budget on defence; not
> because of an external threat but for internal use. The Burmese population
> has a different opinion, which is shown by the outcome of the 1990
> elections. The Burmese opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi then won with an
> overwhelming majority of 81%. The junta has declared the elections unvalid
> and has remained in power. The argument which is often mentioned in this
> kind of situation - that in the end it will benefit the people - is
> factually not correct, because everything is going to the military, but
> also because Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Suu Kyi is explicitly asking not to
> invest in Burma right now. Heineken has already understood this message.
> Therefore as a customer of Total I call upon your company to stop investing
> in Burma, in any case to stop these investments until democracy is restored
> in the country. Looking forward to your - hopefully positive - reaction.
> 
> With kind regards,
> 
> Job de Haan, KENMERK - IKON/TV
> 
> END TEXT
> 
> Letter from Total Benelux  to Job de Haan (Benelux is BElgium,the
> NEtherlands, and LUXemburg), Rotterdam is a city in The Netherlands)
> 
> TEXT BEGINS
> 
> Rotterdam, 16 may 1997
> 
> Dear Mr De Haan,
> 
> I have received your letter of April 23rd in good order, and have also seen
> your letter in 'Spreekbuis' about the presence of Total in Burma.
> 
> Because I am not competent to answer your letter about the activities of
> Total in Asia, I have sent both documents to the Board of Communication of
> our holding company in Paris. Herewith you receive her explanation, which I
> hope will give you a different point of view about the facts you described.
> 
> I hope that we can continue our good relationship in the future.
> 
> Yours sincerely,
> 
> Total Netherlands N.V.
> 
> P Bres,
> Chairman of the Board of Directors
> 
> END TEXT
> 
> Accompanying letter by board of communication of Total:
> 
> TEXT BEGINS
> 
> 16 May 1997
> 
> Mr. De Haan,
> 
> With great regret we have read your letter dated April 23rd and your
> article of 25 April 1997 in 'Spreekbuis' about the, by Total developed,
> project in the south of Burma (region Tenasserim)
> 
> This article contains a large number of factually incorrect statements
> which can put your readers on the wrong track:
> 
> · Since at least 1992, the date of the first agreement between Total and
> the Burmese authorities for the development of the Yadana gasfield, there
> has not been a single relocation of the population in the zone where we are
> constructing the pipeline.
> 
> · None of the infrastructure related to the project has been realised by
> the Burmese army, but by international wellknown (mostly European)
> companies under the control of Total, and only with voluntary, adult people
> which were paid more than the local standards.
> 
> · The construction of a railroad by the Burmese army has nothing to do with
> the gasproject: the pipeline follows a west-east route and the railroad a
> north-south route, the pipeline is almost finished while the railroad is not.
> 
> · It is not correct to write that with US$ 400 million a year the pipeline
> is the largest source of foreign currency of the country: until
> approximately 2001-2002, this project, which the Burmese government is
> financing for 15%, will cost the Burmese authorities more than it is giving
> them as revenue. Nobody knows which political regime will be active in the
> country by then.
> 
> We hope that this explanation will enable you to judge the activities of
> our Group in a better way.
> 
> The Board of Communication of Total.
> 
> END TEXT
> 
> Letter from Job de Haan in ?Spreekbuis? of June 20th.
> 
> BEGIN TEXT
> 
> Dear colleagues, in ?Spreekbuis of April 25th I asked Total-Netherlands to
> stop her activities in Burma. I also asked colleges, who have an
> advantageous arrangement with Total, to join. I gave some arguments against
> Total and got an answer (see letter above, ed.) which I will now address.
> 
> 1. Total denies forced relocations occurred in the pipeline area.
> · The biggest buyer of the Yadana project gas, a Thai energy-company, was
> advertising in the Bangkok Post on 17 April 1995. In this advertisement
> was, among other things, stated that: "Myanmar has recently cleared the way
> by relocating a total of 11 Karen villages that would otherwise obstruct
> the passage of the gas resource development project".
> · There are numerous testimonies of refugees, which, more or less, all say
> the same thing. A short notice to leave the village, accompanied by threats
> and violence and often the burning down of the village after departure so
> that the villagers can not return. This and more can be read in the reports
> Total Denial by EarthRights International and Southeast Asian Information
> Network and Burma, Total and human rights: dissection of a project by the
> International Federation of Human Right Leagues.
> 2. Total denies that, for the construction of the infrastructure required
> for the project, forced labour has been used. Only adult and voluntary
> labour was used.
> · According to the report by the International Federation of Human Rights
> Leagues, at the moment the report was published, 50.000 people were forced
> to grind stones. Both reports mention that western people regurlaly visited
> the worksites of forced labour projects.
> · Total seems to know about the fact that children are forced to perform
> labour, considering the following quote from a 15-year old girl from the
> area: "The soldier came to my house and told all the people that ?you have
> to be ready before five o?clock in the morning. You have to go and work
> with the English? (the rural population in Burma usually call Caucasians
> ?English?, ed.). ?.There were about forty of us. While we were working
> there were two English guys watching us".
> · The fact that forced labourers sometimes got paid doesn?t mean that they
> weren?t forced to work by the SLORC.
> 3. Total denies a connection between the railroad which is under
> construction in the area and the construction of the pipeline.
> · It is true that no direct connection between the construction of the
> railroad and the pipeline has been proven. Proven is however that the army
> is using the railroad for the transport of troops, supplies and equipment
> necessary for the military bases which were build for securing the pipeline.
> 4. Total denies that the Yadana project will be the most important source
> of reserves for the country. The revenues will not exceed the costs until
> the year 2001-2002 and it is, according to the company, not known which
> regime will be active in Burma at that time.
> · Although the Burmese government is a co-financer of the project, and as
> such should pay a part of the costs, she is not able to pay her part. Total
> decided, together with partner Unocal, to lend SLORC the money. When the
> project commences in 1998, SLORC must pay the companies back. Contrary to
> what Total says, the project doesn?t cost the Burmese government anything,
> which means costs will never exceed revenues.
> 
> I would like to add that the arguments against investing in Burma are
> getting more support. In March 1997, a federal judge in the United States
> decided that Total?s partner Unocal can be held responsible for human
> rights violations committed by the Burmese government. Total aswell can be
> held responsible because the company is active in the United States. In the
> same month, the European Union postponed the Burmese trade-advantages
> because of gross human rights violations. "The impressive report contains a
> frightening list of human rights violations, like violations of the right
> to live, oppression of ethnic groups and the use of forced labour" (press
> release of the Dutch delegation on behalf of the European Union, April 16th
> 1997).
> Total?s arguments are not convincing and contrary to what is really
> happening in Burma. Furthermore, I think that Nobel prize winner Aung San
> Suu Kyi should be our most important internal source of information. She is
> putting her life on the line and we should respect this. I?m asking every
> college who didn?t respond so far, to do this right now.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Job de Haan
> IKON/TV
> 
> END TEXT
> 
> This is all the correspondence we have had with Total. We figured it should
> be on the net.Kind regards,
> 
> Members of the Campaign "Let's talk business: Democracy for Burma!"