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Internally Displaced Settlements Torched on the Day of Daw Suu Kyi's Release - CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY WORLDWIDE (CSW) - May 8 2002

While the world welcomed the release of pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on 6th May, the Burmese military were attacking villages in Eu Tu Klo, Karen State. According to the Committee for the Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP), the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) troops burnt down a hospital, a workshop for the handicapped, a school and seven houses. Around 500 people from Pau Kar Der internally displaced persons (IDP) village and Kho Kay village were forced to flee to Thailand.

The contrast of the day's events were captured in Daw Suu Kyi's statement on her release: "My release should not be looked at as a major breakthrough for democracy. For all people in Burma to enjoy basic freedom - that would be the major breakthrough."

CSW rejoices with the people of Burma over Daw Suu Kyi's release but remains gravely concerned about ongoing human rights abuses, particularly the escalating attacks on the internally displaced population. Last month, the UN Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution sponsored by the European Union, calling on the military junta to immediately end all institutionalised human rights abuses. Among the violations cited are the practice of forced relocation of civilians, the use of forced labour, extrajudicial killing, torture, military offensives against the ethnic minorities in Shan, Karen and Karenni States, violations of all civil and political rights, including religious freedom and equality for all.

According to a fact-finding visit undertaken by CSW Hong Kong and CSW Australia in April, there has been little overall change in the human rights situation in Karen and Karenni States near the Thai-Burma border. The 1 to 2 million IDPs, who are eking out a fragile and uncertain existence in the jungles and mountains of Burma, remain in critical need .of food, medical care and education. In the month of March alone, over 30 settlements were reportedly attacked and torched.

Saw Day Law, the Secretary of the Karen Refugee Committee, described one of the attacks, "On 2nd March, the SPDC troops came to my home village in Karen State, just a few hours walk from the Thai border. The villagers tried to escape to the forest, taking with them what they could. "When the troops arrived, they caught the chicken, killed the pigs and burned down some houses. They also destroyed the rice stocks. One villager was killed and two others maimed by the landmines planted by the soldiers. Three other villagers were forced to work as army porters, to walk ahead of the troops in the front line."

The military has stepped up cross-border security, making it increasingly dangerous for the ethnic minorities to flee to Thailand. Those caught trying to escape are often summarily executed or tortured and then executed. Doh Say Bani of the Karenni Refugee Committee said, "Our people are still being killed. Our people are still being forced to work. All our people in Burma are living in fear."

The team was also told that, in March, the SPDC troops buried an eight-year old Karenni girl alive as a human sacrifice for a river bridge they were constructing. The troops had encountered great difficulties in building the bridge in the Tongu district of Karenni State. With currency at an all time low, inflation at over 25% and the country's infrastructure close to collapsing, many divisional commanders are now paid in drugs, rather than in cash.

CSW welcomes the release of the Nobel Prize Laureate as a gesture of goodwill but urges the regime to further demonstrate its commitment to democratic reforms and human rights by fully implementing the recommendations made by the UN Commission on Human Rights. CSW reiterates its calls on the SPDC to engage in a transparent and meaningful triparte dialogue with the NLD and the ethnic minorities, which constitute a third of the country's population, and to set down a broad framework and time scale for the return of civilian rule.

The release of Daw Suu Kyi is a clear sign that external pressure is effective. CSW calls on the international community to remain vigilant and augment the pressure until there is significant and lasting improvement in Burma. CSW's James Mawdsley, who endured 14 months of solitary confinement in Burma as a prisoner of conscience, commented, "It is a joy to see Daw Suu Kyi walking free, so calm, and directed, surrounded by people who support her. If Europe and America can match her clarity of vision and constancy of purpose then positive change really could sweep across Burma. "As for the SPDC, they are still arresting innocent people, such as Pastor That Ci, Pastor Lian Za Dal and Dr Salai Tun Than, for expressing their beliefs and are still detaining elected MPs. They have no new regard for the people of Burma. To believe otherwise prolongs the suffering.

"The SPDC has released Daw Suu Kyi in Rangoon because the world is watching Rangoon. Yet in the border areas their savage attacks on the ethnic groups continue. The more light we throw on this the sooner it will stop." For more information, visit reports, photos, local project details and crayon drawings done by children showing the traumatic effects of persecution, please contact Christian Solidarity Worldwide on 020 8942 8810 or email richard.chilvers@csw.org.uk, or visit Christian Solidarity Worldwide
.

Wednesday, May 8, 2002 : Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads the National League for Democracy said: "I'm very grateful for the role that the UN has played and what Mr. Razali has done. I am cautiously optimistic. Most of the changes over the past 18 months have benefitted the NLD but it is not for the NLD but for the people that we are struggling for freedom."

MAY 6, 2002: Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader, is free today after 19 months under house arrest.

Read for details.

The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate reiterated that while the NLD had not changed its support for economic sanctions on Myanmar, or its insistence that the results of the 1990 elections should be recognized, its position was flexible and open for discussion.

International sanctions are Suu Kyi's most powerful bargaining chip in talks with the ruling generals. Many Western countries would resume investment and aid if Suu Kyi said she supported such a move.

Myanmar 's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in her first public appearance since being released from nearly 20 months of virtual house arrest, vowed Monday to do everything she can to ensure
democracy comes to Myanmar. "I hope to be able to carry out my duties to my country, my people and my party in the best possible way," she told a press conference at her National League for Democracy (NLD)
headquarters after being released earlier in the day.

Asked about the conditions for her release, she said no restrictions have been placed on her movements. "I can go wherever I like. The road to my house has not yet been opened, but this is decided in agreement between two sides because we thought, for the time being, it would be easier for us to cope that way." On the ongoing U.N.-assisted process of building confidence between the junta and the NLD, she said, "We cannot go on indefinitely with confidence building. We look forward to moving across to a more significant phase in our dealings with each other."

A junta official said that the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate was released unconditionally and that there would be no specialrestrictions placed on her political activities. The government issued a statement saying it would allow "all our citizens to participate freely in the life of our political process, while giving priority to national unity, peace and stability of the country as well as the region. We have released nearly 600 detainees in recent months and shall continue to release those who will cause no harm to the community nor threaten the existing peace, stability and unity of the nation," it said.

Suu Kyi arrived at her party headquarters shortly before noon to a tumultuous welcome. Looking fit and active, the 56-year-old daughter of the late independence hero Gen. Aung Sang walked briskly into the
building followed by dozens of reporters while a huge crowd of awaiting party supporters and well-wishers gathered outside chanted, "Long
Live Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."

She thanked the members of her party and international community who had supported her struggle for democracy in Myanmar . Asked if the NLD intends now to collaborate with the military, she said it was "too early to talk about such a thing. The authorities have said this is the new dawn for the country. We have all got to wait a bit to find out what the new dawn will bring. We have always been ready to cooperate with the
authorities for the betterment of the people of Burma," she said.

On foreign aid, she said the NLD's policy of calling for it to be curbed until it comes to power "has not yet changed because we have not been able to discuss with the authorities at the moment.. "We want what is best for the people of Burma as quickly as possible," she added.

World’s Most Prominent Political Prisoner Released from House Arrest. Free Burma Coalition Urges International Supporters to Monitor “Progress” Closely

(Washington, DC) ­ Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi was released today from a 19-month house arrest. Known for her fiery charisma and Gandhi-like essays on nonviolence and active resistance, Aung San Suu Kyi was the only Nobel Peace Prize recipient in the world under long-term house arrest.

The U.S.-based Free Burma Coalition welcomes the news of the release, and while the Coalition is cautiously optimistic about the latest development(s), it urges activists and governments around the world to continue monitoring the country’s human rights situation and political progress.

“Free Burma Coalition is pleased by the release news. We sincerely hope this is the first genuine step (by the Burmese generals) towards national reconciliation and nation-building,” said Dr. Zar Ni, a Burmese political exile and founding director of the Coalition.

Aung Din, a prominent student leader in Burma’s 1988 popular uprising who was tortured and jailed by the regime for 5 years, stresses, “There are currently about 2,000 pro-democracy activists behind bars (in Burma). Some are aging and some are ailing. The international community must call on the regime to release these political prisoners as well.”

The European Union, United States and Canada, as well as grassroots “Free Burma” activists internationally, have put consistent pressure on the Burmese regime through consumer boycotts and diplomatic and economic sanctions for a genuine political change including her release. Since 1995, over 50 multinational corporations including PepsiCo, Wal-Mart, Texaco and ARCO cut ties to Burma, owing to citizens’ campaigns led by the Free Burma Coalition and its allies. In 2000, the International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations, paved the way for further economic sanctions after discovering the pervasive use of "forced labor" throughout the country by the Burmese regime. It is believed that Aung San Suu Kyi’s release came about as a result of these multi-layered efforts.

“We re-affirm our solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi and her people by carrying on with our citizens’ efforts until and unless Burma’s democratic leadership calls for the end of international sanctions,” said Larry Dohrs, longtime Burma supporter and Vice-President of Seattle’s Newground Investment Services.

Aung San Suu Kyi rose to prominence during a nationwide uprising in 1988. Despite being placed under a previous house arrest in 1989, her popularity and charisma led her National League for Democracy party to a landslide victory in the 1990 multiparty elections. The military has refused to honor the election results.

One of the world’s poorest nations, Burma under the current military regime is in economic ruin with a high rate of HIV infection amongst its populace. The regime has been shaken by a recent abortive coup attempt by former General Ne Win (and family), who officially ruled the country from 1962-88. Unable to address the country’s economic and HIV crises, the Burmese regime appears desperate for international assistance and collaboration with the opposition.

FBC Washington Office (202) 547-5985 Dr. Zar Ni (510) 685-4170 Aung Din (301) 602-0077

Why isn't Burma on Bush's "Axis of Evil" list?

State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Chairman Senior General Than Shwe's message on Peasants Day 2002

Translation from the State Newspaper "The New Light of Myanmar" - March 2, 2002

Esteemed peasantry; Peasants Day is observed every year in honour of all the Myanmar Burmese peasantry on 2 March 2002. On this auspicious day, I would like to wish all the Myanmar peasantry well-being in body and mind and success of agricultural work.

The State Peace and Development Council is implementing political, economic and social objectives with the aim of ensuring peace and tranquillity and modernizing and developing Myanmar. In the light of the present situation, the economy of Myanmar is based on agriculture, on which over 70 per cent of the population of the nation has to rely. That is to say, at the present time, development of other economic sectors of the state banks on the strength of the agriculture sector.

Therefore, the government is implementing plans to tap land and marine resources to the full with the aim of promoting the development of the agriculture sector. Dams, reservoirs and embankments have been built with added momentum in a short time to ensure sufficient water
supply for agricultural purposes. There are altogether 130 dams, reservoirs and embankments built after 1988 inclusive of Paingkyon Sluice Gate inaugurated in Kawa Township, Bago Division, in February.

Thirty-two dams and reservoirs projects are in course of implementation, and plans are afoot to build yet another 44 irrigation facilities. River water pumping projects as well as dam and reservoir projects have been implemented to utilize water from rivers and creeks provided by
Nature. There are altogether 262 river water pumping projects. Moreover, underground water has been tapped, thereby providing drinking-water and water for agricultural purposes for rural people. Viable ways and means have been sought in all the regions to supply water for agricultural purposes. As a result, irrigated acres of land grew from 2.5 million acres of land to over 4.9 million. There were 23.8 million acres of sown acreage in 1988. The total acres have increased up to 37.14 million.

I would like to urge all the peasants to make best use of the cultivable lands which have emerged due to the arrangements of the government, and to work harder to improve socio-economic life and to meet the target of agricultural production of the state.

Esteemed peasantry; To sustain economic development of the state, a third short-term five-year plan which runs from 2001-2002 to 2005-2006 is being implemented with the following aims:

- to establish and extend agro-based industries,

- to develop the electricity sector and the energy sector in keeping with the extension of industries,

- to ensure local sufficiency of food in the agriculture sector and the meat and fish sector and to promote export,

- to develop other sectors as well,

- to extend education and health tasks for development of human resources,

- to develop rural areas. In implementing one of the six aims

- to develop rural areas where the peasants live

- the government has paid first priority to betterment of condition of transport, water supply and improvement of education, health and economic standards, which are fundamental necessities of the rural areas.

In response to the goodwill of the government, all the peasants need to cooperate with it in implementing these aims.

Esteemed peasantry; The State Peace and Development Council is safeguarding the national policy of the state - non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of national solidarity and perpetuation of sovereignty, and working hard day and night for the emergence of a
new, peaceful, modern and developed nation out of pure love of the country despite internal and external interference and difficulties and stringencies. One of the tasks being undertaken by the government is to ensure emergence of a new state constitution which guarantees the
modernization, development and perpetual existence of the nation.

If there were no acts of interference from inside and outside the country with the self-reliant efforts of the government and the people for the prosperity and development of the state and if there were no attempts to push the nation into a difficult situation, the nation would make progress more quickly and become more prosperous, and the living standard of the peasants would be higher than it is now.

Hence, I would like to urge all the peasantry emphatically to actively and harmoniously cooperate with the government in striving for the development of the agriculture sector, which plays a crucial role in the economic growth of the nation, for the realization of the aims
enshrined in the third short-term five-year plan, for the development of rural areas where the peasantry are residing, and for the emergence of a new enduring State constitution with the aim of building the nation into a peaceful, modern and developed one.

Comment: We've heard all this throughout history from dictators, like those in the defunct Soviet Union. Their message: "DO AS YOU'RE TOLD AND DON'T CREATE DIFFICULTY BY INSISTING ON DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM OF CHOICE FOR INDIVIDUALS."

It can come as no surprise to the free peoples of the world that those brutal military men, Dictators of the lovely land of Burma whose only enemy is its own people, having bankrupted their country over forty years of misrule, are now interested in developing nuclear power. Read all about their plans in Stop Press

IVANHOE MINES DEVELOPING GOLD DEPOSIT IN BURMA

Canadian company, Ivanhoe Mines, plans to develop a promising gold deposit discovered late last year in central Burma, local weekly journal The Myanmar Times reported in its latest issue. Quoting sources at the company, the journal said the Ivanhoe will form a joint venture with a Burma state mining enterprise for the move.

The Modi Taung gold project site, about 150 kilometers southeast of Mandalay covers 1,400 square-kilometer mining exploration block. Meanwhile, the journal said, copper mined by Ivanhoe at three deposits in Monywa, central Burma, has been awarded Grade-A quality certification from the London Metal Exchange. (January 1, 2002)

"The Dictator's hidden agenda gets clearer.. When ready and confident again, they will sponsor another election in which their own party will contend with the NLD without the charismatic Suu Kyi."

Report by Ko Ko Thett, The Nation, Sunday, March 18, 2001

Starve the Burmese Military Dictators of Dollars - sell your shares in companies (Unocal, Total, Friedland Mining, Ivanhoe) who support them by investing your money in Burma. Please do this before June 19, as a birthday present for Aung San Suu Kyi

Use your own

to stop Burmese Dictators in their tracks. Deny them the foreign investment they use to buy guns and bullets. Find out how this can be done.

Copy/Paste or Drag/Drop

Link your web pages to it and let's mobilize.

Statement from the National League for Democracy

Use your own

to stop Burmese Dictators in their tracks. Deny them the foreign investment they use to buy guns and bullets. Find out how this can be done.

Copy/Paste or Drag/Drop

Link your web pages to it and let's mobilize.

Use your own

to stop Burmese Dictators in their tracks. Deny them the foreign investment they use to buy guns and bullets. Find out how this can be done.

Copy/Paste or Drag/Drop

Link your web pages to it and let's mobilize.

Use your own

to stop Burmese Dictators in their tracks. Deny them the foreign investment they use to buy guns and bullets. Find out how this can be done.

Copy/Paste or Drag/Drop

Link your web pages to it and let's mobilize.

Use your own

to stop Burmese Dictators in their tracks. Deny them the foreign investment they use to buy guns and bullets. Find out how this can be done.

Copy/Paste or

Drag/Drop

Link your web pages to it and let's mobilize.

Use your own

to stop Burmese Dictators in their tracks. Deny them the foreign investment they use to buy guns and bullets. Find out how this can be done.

Copy/Paste or Drag/Drop

Link your web pages to it and let's mobilize.

Karen Christians ask for your prayers

Karen struggle for their freedom and human rights

Karen Christians ask for your prayers

Karen struggle for their freedom and human rights

Read the latest news from Burma

Friday March 9, 2001

Students in US and UK are getting impatient

"Slavery ended over 100 years ago in the United States. We shouldn't be supporting a modern form of slavery in Burma through this university's 57,000 shares in Unocal oil company," said Andrew Price, leader of the Free Burma Coalition at the University of Virginia. "We have enough problems in our own backyard, and US corporations shouldn't create more for us in Burma."

Students at American and Bucknell universities and Trinity College have already successfully pressured their universities to divest shares in and refuse to purchase from companies operating in Burma.

Clothing companies JanSport, Kenneth Cole and the Dress Barn all promised to cease sourcing from Burma late last year after protests. JanSport said after its withdrawal in October: "Recently some collegiate-licensed apparel was found to have been manufactured in [Burma] without JanSport's or the university's knowledge. This was expressly against JanSport's manufacturing policy. I assure you, JanSport . . . immediately took steps to transfer the production to an alternative facility."

On Thursday, Burma, which along with Afghanistan accounts for 90 per cent of world heroin production, was again decertified by the US government for non-compliance with its anti-narcotic efforts. Randy Beers, assistant secretary for Narcotics and Law Enforcement, said: "The government of Burma has also been unwilling or unable to take on the most powerful trafficking groups directly and continues to refuse to surrender major drug traffickers under indictment in the United States."

Sunday January 28, 2001:

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad quoted as saying --

On Elections: "When an election is held, people must learn the limits of elections. Not use elections to undermine authority."

On Forced Labour: "For a government that is poor it is a way of taxing the people -- contributing the labour instead of money,"

Junta Takes Tentative First Step - Breakthrough?

Bangkok Post: TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2001

The generals have invited in Suu Kyi for discussions on their country's future. This is a first step on what may be a very long road, but one which must be travelled, to democracy.

by Htun Aung Gyaw - President of the Civil Society for Burma based in New York City. He also was the first chairman of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front.

Read all about it

The U.S.-based Free Burma Coalition says there should be no easing of U.S. pressure on the SPDC. Jeremy Woodrum of the coalition's Washington office "We don't think that the Western world or democracy should be paralyzed by the fact that one dictator made an announcement that it would be difficult for dialogue to move forward if there continues to be pressure from these countries, especially since the SPDC has proved time and time again that they cannot be trusted and that they will back out of the dialogue pretty much any moment they feel like it."

September 24, 2000 - Stand-off in Station

Daw Suu Kyi was forcibly removed from her car by the Dictators' thugs and taken out of the public spotlight earlier this month. Read the background to this dramatic event.

The military authorities in Burma have again prevented the democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi leaving the capital, Rangoon. Daw Suu Kyi went to the main railway station, planning to travel to the northern city of Mandalay. She has not been permitted to board a train, and reports say she is still in the waiting room with the station itself surrounded by a heavy security presence, preventing visitors from entering the building. Last time she attempted the journey, Officials blamed technical problems.

Accompanying Aung San Suu Kyi is the vice chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Tin Oo, and a number of other party colleagues. Reports say a number of opposition supporters have been taken away from the station in military vehicles. Earlier, the authorities blocked the road leading to her house. In 1996, her carriage was disconnected from the rest of the train just before it left.

The move is the latest challenge to restrictions on opposition movements imposed by the military authorities. Test of wills Earlier, Aung San Suu Kyi announced she was planning to leave Rangoon by train to test the military government's resolve in maintaining its restrictions on her.

Previous efforts by the authorities to prevent the NLD leader from leaving the capital have provoked widespread international condemnation. United States President Bill Clinton has warned the Burmese authorities against any further confrontation with the opposition, saying the world is watching. Residents near her home on Rangoon's University Avenue reported that security forces had parked vans, cars and motor-cycles at both ends of the street in an effort to prevent her leaving the house.

The military authorities have maintained strict controls on Aung San Suu Kyi's travel since freeing her from six years of house arrest in 1995. Last month she was involved in a nine-day stand-off with police, after leaving her home and attempting to drive to a party meeting outside the capital. She and her supporters remained camped by the roadside until the authorities ended the protest and placed her under virtual house arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi announced last week that she was intending to make another travel attempt. "Stop us if you dare," she said in a challenge to the ruling military council. Last Sunday, the NLD issued another challenge to the government by announcing plans to draw up a new constitution. The decision contravenes a four-year-old law which forbids the drafting of a constitution without government approval.

'Crushed without mercy' - An official Burmese newspaper quoted a senior official on Thursday as saying that Aung San Suu Kyi would be "crushed" for trying to draft the constitution. "Anyone who tries to draft a new constitution in line with the colonialists is the nation's common enemy and will be crushed without mercy," said Lieutenant General Tin Oo, one of the most senior members of the ruling State Peace and Development Council. The NLD won Burma's last democratic elections in 1990 by a landslide but the military refused to hand over power. Aung San Suu Kyi was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

"We would like to see action, rather than words, There have been many words supporting democracy and we are duly grateful for them ... but words need to be backed up by action -- by action that is united and that is focused on essentials." - says Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. (extract from a videotaped address to the opening session of the two-day conference in Warsaw, Polaand, dubbed "Towards a Community of Democracies.")

As recently as February 2000, the Nobel Laureate and leader of the democracy movement in Burma reminded us that, 'By investing now, business is supporting the military regime. The real benefits of investment now go the military regime and their connections.'*

Updated September 24, 2000

"We don't give a damn (about human rights in Burma), we're shareholders," shouted a Total-Fina Shareholder in Paris on Thursday, May 25, 2000

WHY DOES FRANCE HELP DICTATORS?

Are you prepared to free yourself from bondage to the bottom line and deny drug-peddling Burmese Dictators the funds to buy weapons and pay their army? Please spare a few moments to read on before deciding what to do on deadline day -10/10/00 - for worldwide action before fears for the life of Aung San Suu Kyi become reality.

May 27, 2000 was the 10th Anniversary of free elections ignored by Burma's brutal military Dictators. Read Daw Suu Kyi's speech on this illegal act.

 Use your  to help free Burma

Imagine what would happen on the Stock Markets of the world if a majority of small shareholders in a specified Company or Corporation agreed to sell their stock on the same day and announced this in the Financial Presses of the world without naming the day. The price of their targetted stock would surely collapse. An example of this occurred in late March 2000. when animal anit-vivsection activists threatened to picket homes of individuals investing in companies engaged in this bizarre practice- Share prices in these companies went into free fall.

Imagine the consequences if this strategy was directed against Companies and Corporations which did business with some regime in a foreign country that was denying basic human rights to its peoples. It would certainly focus the minds of their Chief Executives on deciding whether such business was worth a financial crisis for their organisation. Such power would bypass the tortuous efforts of the United Nations and achieve what bullets and bombs, not to mention body-bags, could never achieve, and relatively quickly too. We have the means, that awe-some, wonderful World Wide Web. What is lacking is the strategy, the will, and the coordination of millions of shareholders.

Imagine if this strategy was focussed first on one small, faraway country, the campaign widely publicised and followed through until the dictator or junta running the country was ostracized by the world community, his or their country bankrupted. Arguments that the downtrodden people of that country would be first to feel the effect of such punitive action grossly underestimates the courage, fortitude and intelligence of ordinary folk who would understand its purpose. The people of East Timor votied for freedom in free elections despite threats of genocide by Indonesian paramilitary extremists. More recently the Taiwanese defied the might of China and threats of invasion to elect a President whose stated objective was independence for their island. The people of Burma are no less courageous than the East Timorese or Taiwanese, not to mention that indomitable lady, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has dedicated her life to gaining democracy and freedom for her people.Read her latest message to the 56TH SESSION OF THE UN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS UN meeting this April 2000 in Geneva.

I have outlined the strategy. Can you reading this, and lucky enough to number yourself among the peoples of the free world find the "will" to work together, to achieve the coordination required to topple Dictators and unpopular, unelected military junta?

Let's start with the brutal regime currently colonising Burma, or Myanmar, as the Dictators have renamed their nation without the agreement of their people. A minor item, you could suggest, and so it is when set against their brutal treatment of their own people. But just imagine what you would feel and say if your President or Prime Minister renamed the nation " ************* " without your permission, and then, if you protested, sentenced you to seven years hard labour by judges who are, without exception,  puppets of the Government.

There is a worsening scenario facing the Burmese people in the new millenium. An article by R.C. Longworth in the Chicage Tribune of November 19, 1999, discusses a globalisation survey of Industry which reveals what we knew already - that Corporations in the USA prefer Dictatorships, with "Democracy paying the price". What applies to US applies to the rest of the Industrialised world.

The leader of the Free World, US President Clinton, backs multinational corporations in a key court challenge to a Massachusetts law designed to promote democracy in Burma, while UK Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, says the human rights situation in Burma is appalling but not urgent because it had been appalling for such a long time.

Compare the patience and perseverance of a true leader of her people with the cynicism, evasiveness and materialism of some leaders of the free world.

Only one conclusion that can be drawn from this: BUCKS rather than BULLETS or BOMBS are needed in the new millenium to restore democracy in countries like Burma. The likes of Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates can be more important than Presidents and Prime Ministers, no matter how powerful the countries they represent may be. Politicians cannot impose effective economic sanctions, but the heads of big Corporations can, if they can forget about the "bottom Line" for a year or two. Are they prepared to give it a go? Are the millions of shareholders in these multinational businesses prepared to vote them into doing so? If you have any suggestions for action along these lines, or know anyone who has, please mail me. If you want to use your own Shareholder Power,this is where you should go to find out more about Burma's dire straits..

Find out if any of the Corporations in which you own shares does business with Burma. Let me know if you find this connection and, together, we'll make sure the world knows about it. That can start our campaign to mobilize shareholders around the world in a common cause against Dictators around the world.

But for callous indifference to a people without basic freedoms, the following report by John Gittelsohn of the Orange County Register, SANTA ANNA, Calif., dated Tuesday, January 4, 2000, surely takes first prize.

  Global forces shape Orange County's apparel industry.

Ron Jon Surfwear at The Block in Orange brims with thousands of pants, shorts and shirts, including a blue hooded sweatshirt with the logo of Irvine-based Gotcha stitched across the chest. Along with washing instructions, the label says: "Made in Myanmar." Myanmar has one of the world's most questionable human-rights records, but the drive to produce low-cost clothing has compelled some Orange County apparel makers to do business there and elsewhere overseas. "It becomes a numbers game," said Steve Gould, who has helped arrange overseas manufacturing for such local firms as Gotcha, Quiksilver and Pacific Sunwear. 

"People seem happy," Gotcha surfwear Chairman Marvin Winkler said of the workers he has seen overseas. "They have their standards, and we have ours."

So there it is. "People seem happy, They have their standards, and we have ours." This must be the the ultimate in dismissive remarks by an industrialist who does not care what happens to folk as long as the bottom line of his business remains healthy.

The Governments of the world are just as ineffective. Consider this statement by Stanley O. Roth, Asst. Secretary of State, E. Asian & Pacific Affairs, at a briefing of the Foreign Press at the Foreign Press Center, Washington DC on Friday, January 7, 2000. Answering a question from Parasuram of the Press Trust of India on prospects of improvement in the repressive political situation in Burma, Mr Roth said:

"It's extremely difficult to be optimistic about the situation in Burma, that I don't think one could cite any progress, in 1999, in terms of reaching or establishing a genuine political dialogue between the government and the opposition. Instead, the authorities really have resorted to repression to try to break the opposition and really have not had any efforts towards dialogue, you know, with Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD or any of the other components of the democracy movement. So I think it's an unfortunate situation.

"As you know, there was an effort; the United Nations, the secretary-general, sent an envoy out there, Mr. de Soto. That mission was not encouraging in terms of what it uncovered. There's no willingness, really, on the part of the Burmese authorities to really consider the process of dialogue, even though the mission made clear that that could then lead to some help on the economic side. So it is a frustrating situation, given the intransigence of the authorities.

And there you have the official position of the Government of the most powerful country in the world. It's "an unfortunate situation" ..... "a frustrating situation." In other words, there is nothing we can do.

Premier Oil (UK) has a 27% share in the £M 400 Yetagun Gas Project. Despite repeated requests from the UK Government it has refused so far to pull out of its investment in Burma. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has criticised the Government's call for companies, including Premier Oil, to pull out of Burma because of the military regime's human rights record. The CBI said: 'In the absence of clear legal sanctions from the UK or UN, it should be left up to companies to make commercial decisions about where they do business.' In other words - where there's profit to be made, to hell with the people.

Amnesty International is astonished that Premier Oil, in response to a call by the UK Government that it withdraw from Myanmar, has reportedly said in a news wire story that the company's ongoing dialogue with Amnesty International had made a significant difference in Myanmar.

The organization does not believe that this is the case. In fact, the human rights situation there continues to be extremely grave. As a part of the human rights organization's ongoing policy to engage with all actors in society, Amnesty International has contact with Premier Oil, just as it has similar contacts with other major international corporations.

During these meetings, the organization has stressed the sustained, grave human rights crisis in Myanmar. The Myanmar Army continues to seize civilians for forced labour duties throughout the country. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority civilians have been forcibly removed from their ancestral lands without compensation. Some 1,500 political prisoners remain in Myanmar jails in appalling conditions, and torture remains widespread in Myanmar.s secret military intelligence centres.

Amnesty International calls upon companies such as Premier, which believe that their presence in Myanmar can effect positive change, to demonstrate what effective improvements their presence has brought about. Amnesty does not endorse such a presence. Furthermore, the organization has no position on any company investing anywhere. It neither supports nor opposes punitive economic measures against countries with grave human rights violations. However, it expects companies, like all actors in a society, to be responsible in upholding human rights in the countries in which they operate.

UNOCAL and TOTAL are two other oil companies making money out of misery in Burma today.
 
 

So, I ask again, is there nothing you or I can do? Yes, there is.

Find out if any of the Corporations in which you own shares does business with Burma. Let me know if you find this connection and, together, we'll make sure the world knows about it. That will be start of a campaign to mobilize shareholders around the world.

 If you feel strongly on this subject and support the strategy I've suggested, please post your name on my guest-book and let's see how many follow us. The Free Burma movement has adopted an old Ethiopian proverb which seems very appropriate:
:

"When spiders unite they can tie down a lion!"

We could paraphrase this to our rallying cry:

"When shareholders unite they can depose dictators!"

Having read this, I hope the answer to the question I posed at the beginning is "yes". Please discuss this with your friends, tell them about this web-site, and get back to me, about deadline date - 10/10/00 - for dumping all these company shares you may own.

 Use your  to help free Burma 

Thank you on behalf of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the courageous members of her party, the National League for Democracy, and the peoples of every ethnic group in Burma.
 
 

Updated January 10, 2002
 

to find out more about Burma's history.