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L.A. Free Burma Law Passes Second C



Subject: L.A. Free Burma Law Passes Second Committee! - Full City Council

Vote Next!!
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L.A. FREE BURMA LAW PASSES BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE
PROPOSAL TO BE HEARD BEFORE FULL CITY COUNCIL SECOND WEEK IN DECEMBER!
CONTINUED COMMUNITY SUPPORT IS CRUCIAL!

The Los Angeles Free Burma ordinance cleared another major hurdle today as
it passed the Budget and Finance Committee of the Los Angeles City Council
today.     Councilmembers Alatorre, Walters, and Feuer all voted to support
the proposed law and sent it on the the full city council.      They
scheduled the item to be heard before the full city council sometime in the
second week of december.

Several members of the Burmese community testified including Aung Saw Oo of
the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) who was fortunately in
Los Angeles at the time.      Jim Lafferty, Executive Director of the
National Lawyers Guild also testified about the recent court decision
concerning the Massachusetts Burma law.     Both Mr. Lafferty and
representatives of the Los Angeles City Attorney's office argued that the
city council can act despite the recent court decision and expressed their
belief that a city ordinance could successfully be defended in court.

A woman representing UNOCAL (through their lobbyists Afriat Consulting)
testified against the ordinance but was quickly quieted by the committee
members who felt they already understood their arguments.      She did
however repeatedly misinform councilmembers.     Perhaps the most ridiculous
of the lie was:

"[L.A.'s] South Africa ordinance was in concert with and consistent with
U.S. policy.    U.S. policy had already included many apartheid sanctions.
That is not happening now."

 She makes two points here, both of which are lies.
 1.   When L.A.'s South Africa law was passed, the U.S. federal government
had NOT passed sanctions yet.     The federal govenment did so largely in
response to pressure from dozens of munipalites with selective contracting
ordinances.

2.    The U.S. federal government DOES have have sanctions against Burma.

Unfortunately, given the experiences we have had with UNOCAL at City Council
hearings, this is pretty typical.

THE ORDINANCE WILL COME BEFORE THE FULL CITY COUNCIL DURING THE SECOND WEEK
OF DECEMBER.    IT IS CRUCIAL THAT WE HAVE A LARGE TURNOUT AT THIS MEETING
IN LOS ANGELES.    WE WILL LET YOU KNOW AS SOON AS WE KNOW THE DATES.

Call the Burma Forum at (310)399-0703 if you have any questions.