Junta Takes Tentative First Step - Breakthrough?

Updated January 24, 2001

"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.

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.

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.
 
 

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:
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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.

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.
 
 

Daw Suu Kyi may face the death penalty for Treason

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.

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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.