PRESS RELEASE: LA "Free Burma" Ordi

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                  PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Kevin Rudiger (310)399-0703
                     LA "Free Burma" Ordinance Poised To Move Forward
                              Key Councilmembers Have Pledged Support
                Committee Hearing Scheduled for Tuesday, October 20, at 1pm

Los Angeles -- Despite intense opposition from L.A.-based UNOCAL, the City's
Intergovernmental Relations Committee appears ready to lend their support to
the proposed "Free Burma" ordinance which has been before their committee
for nearly a year. The proposed ordinance would prohibit business partners
of the brutal military regime in Burma from receiving City contracts. LA's
action would set the example of a major Pacific Rim city that is willing to
take action in the face of flagrant and pervasive human rights violations.

At the last hearing on the issue in August, Mr. Holden the committee chair
emphasized the importance of local action to complement federal policy.  "We
say to the President....and all those who are in authority..[federal policy]
is not enough...we must do more. We'll tell you how much more we're going to
do because we're adopting an ordinance," Councilmember Holden insisted.

Two of the three members of the IGR committee, Councilmembers Wachs and
Holden have strongly stated their support for the ordinance and so it is
expected to be moved out of the committee with a favorable recommendation.
"The human rights record of the Burmese junta is one of the worst in the
world.   The people of Los Angeles do not want our tax dollars connected to
this type of unspeakable brutality," said Councilmember Richard Alarcón (7th
District) who introduced the motion.

Burma's military dictatorship has been widely condemned by organizations
including Amnesty International, the US State Department and the United
Nations. The level and scope of human rights abuse has been widely
documented and is enormous. It includes arrest and torture of students for
peaceful expression of hopes for democracy, gang rape of ethnic women seized
by soldiers to act as porters, burning and forced relocation of villages in
the path of road and railroad development. The Burmese military has also
come under harsh criticism as the source of 90 percent of the total
production of Southeast Asian opium.

Similar ordinances have been passed in 22 U.S. cities, including New York
City, which recently passed their ordinance with a 50-0 vote. In California,
the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Santa Monica, Santa Cruz,
and West Hollywood as well as Alameda County have all enacted selective
contracting laws for Burma.

The Clinton Administration announced sanctions more than a year ago, placing
a ban on all new investment by U.S. corporations. More than a dozen U.S.
corporations have already withdrawn from Burma in response to public
pressure with the L.A.-based oil giant, ARCO withdrawing just last month.
However, a few large U.S. companies, including L.A. based UNOCAL continue to
invest there.

After Tuesday's hearing with the Intergovernmental Relations Committee, the
ordinance is expected to move forward to the Budget and Finance Committee
before proceeding to the full Council for a vote. A 100 member coalition of
local community leaders and organizations has come together to support City
restrictions on contracts with companies investing in Burma. Supporters
include a dozen labor unions and and the Los Angeles County Federation of
Labor, more than twenty religious leaders and religious organizations, and
drug treatment and prevention organizations such as the Community Coalition
for Substance Abuse Prevention and Change.

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