No Business in Burma

[NBH03114@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

ERRORS-TO:INET:strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
FROM:NBH03114@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Burmese Relief Center--Japan
DATE:March 28, 1995
TIME:1:04AM JST
SUBJ:No Business with Burma

Berkeley, Calif. Bars Business with Companies in
Burma
March 1, 1995

Berkeley, Calif -- Businesses operating in Burma
(Myanmar) are barred from doing business with the
city of Berkeley, Calif, under a resolution approved
Feb. 28 by the Berkeley City Council.  The
resolution -- the first of its kind in the world --
prohibits the purchase of goods and services from
companies who do business in Burma because of the
country's repressive human rights record.

The three largest U.S. companies with operations in
Burma -- Pepsi, Texaco and Unocal -- are likely to
be affected by the resolution.  The city will direct its
fuel distributor not to purchase fuel from Unocal or
Texaco.  The law also acts as a powerful deterrent
to companies doing business with Berkeley not to
invest in Burma.

Bay Area Burma Roundtable, a citizens group
concerned with human rights in Burma and
Progressive Asset Management, an Oakland
brokerage firm specializing in socially responsible
investing, were the main proponents of the
legislation.  Congressman Ron Dellums (D--Oakland), prominent clergy and envir
onmental
groups also backed the proposal.

"This is an important victory in the struggle to bring
justice to Burma.  We hope other city, county and
state governments will not undertake economic
sanctions against companies operating in Burma
similar to the world-wide-grass-roots effort that
helped achieve an apartheid free South Africa," said
Conrad MacKerron, Director of Social Research for
Progressive Asset Management, who coordinated
the Berkeley effort.  Similar legislation was passed
by a key committee yesterday in the Massachusetts
legislature.

Berkeley was one of the first cities in the U.S. to
support the anti-apartheid movement, enacting
investment restrictions in 1979 and a ban on South
African goods in 1986.

Burma's military government denies fundamental
freedoms to its citizens and has been charged by
human rights groups with torture, execution of
political opponents and the use of the population for
slave labor. The government came to power in 1988
by brutally crushing a democracy movement led by
students and monks in which thousands were killed.

"As we have learned in the case of Iraq, oil riches
bring huge sums of money to military leaders,
enabling them to acquire sophisticated weaponry
and technology to intimidate and oppress their
citizens," said Linda Malo, the Berkeley city council
member who was chief sponsor of the legislation.

The campaign to pass the law was undertaken in
response to Burma's democracy movement, who
have called on foreign companies operating in
Burma to leave the country, Burma's elected
leaders, the National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma (NCGUB) who are now in exile,
have called for divestment of all foreign companies
from Burma, maintaining that funds paid to the
military are used to prop up the illegitimate regime. 
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the
1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has been under house
arrest for more than 5 years.

In recent years, several U.S. companies have cut
business ties with Burma, including Amoco, Levi
Strauss, Liz Claiborne, and Eddie Bauer.  However,
major companies including Pepsico, Texaco and
Unocal continue to operate in Burma.

Progressive Asset Management is also challenging
U.S. companies operating in Burma through
shareholder resolutions.

For more information on the law and the situation in
Burma, contact Conrad MacKerron at 510- 834-3722 (fax 510-836-1621)

Berkeley City Council member Linda Mala -- 510-644-6359

Jane Jarome -- Chair, Bay Area Burma Roundtable -- 408-467-2721

Simon Billeness, Franklin Research and
Development Corp. Boston (Coordinator of