(Fwd) FBC Info Packets and Videotap

[alturner@xxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: (Fwd) FBC Info Packets and Videotapes on the way

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Tue, 2 Apr 1996 11:43:58 -0600
Reply-to:      zni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To:            Multiple recipients of list <free-burma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject:       FBC Info Packets and Videotapes on the way

Dear All,

1)  In the forthcoming issue of In These Times there will be a response
from the evil Unocal, LA-based oil giant which supports dictatorhship in
Burma (and David Wolfberg's comments on it).

2)  A major but conservative Wisconsin newspaper just did a feature story
on our Free Burma Campaign in promotion of our campaign this past Sunday.

3)  Thanks to the financial support of Burma Project and its director
Maureen Aung-Thwin, (also thanks to the NCGUB and Ko Harn), we will be able
to mail out comprehensive info packets to all of our groups.  The packet
will contain:

-a copy of FBC's mission statement and a partial list "who is on board"
Free Burm campaign,
-a sample selective purchasing ordinance
-a fact sheet on Tourism and forced labor put together by the Committee for
Restoration of Democracy in Burma
-Simon Billenness's tips on how to work on a selective purchasing ordinance,
-a sample student government resolution,
-a bundle of press clippings on Free Burma campaigns throughout the US,
-several key articles on economic sanctions (two by Desmond Tutu, one Wall
Street, two New York Times, and one Financial Times)
-a brief chapter (like 9 pages) on Burmese culture (most of our members
aren't from Burma and we want to share what our culture is like)
-one page abstract of Amnesty International's annual report,
-guides for Pepsi and Unocal campaigns (only four pages) (there will be
contact names for further info),
-a copy of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's Beijing Women's Conference Keynote address,
-a copy of Burma Freedom and Democracy Act, and
-a sample petition in support of Burma Freedom and Democracy Act
(RE: Congressional materials contact Ko Zaw Zaw at aung@xxxxxxxxxxx or
FreeBurma@xxxxxxx).

The packets are designed with the intent of covering several different
areas of such on-going Free Burma campaigns as Pepsi, Oil, Tourism,
selective purchasing ordinances/shareholder resolution/divestment/ in
schools, as well as city councils.

As part of this project, we will be sending each FBC group a copy of
videotaped 17" long keynote address  by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at Beijing
Women Conference NGO's Forum.  Also in the same tape, there will be a 12"
"Burma: A State of Despair" a BBC documentary on Burma's political
situations.  Daw Suu's tape is not copy-righted whereas the FBC has
received written consent from Vivian Morgan, one of the two documentarians
who made the film,to use the tapes for campaign-related purposes such as
broadcasting on local stations.  (We'll send a copy of Ms Morgan's letter
along with the tape.)

When a new Burma video-documentary by John Pilger, an internationally
acclaimed Australian-born documentarian, becomes available after May (the
first screening will be in early May in London, for those of you who live
in and near London), we should be able to get copies for the campaign.

For the groups with no rental access to "Beyond Rangoon", (for instance,
Australia, Canada ??, Japan and Europe) the Castle Rock has promised 50
copies.  However, we were supposed to receive the tapes three weeks ago,
and they have not arrived yet!

More importantly, the packets are meant not only for students but also for
community, labor, local business, environmenal, faculty, women's, human
rights, religious, and legislative groups.  So please spread the word about
the free info packets among all individuals and groups who might be
interested in starting a Burma campaign or who you think are our potential
allies.

Contacts:

Brad Simpson (Coordinator, Northwestern FBC) at:
simpsonb@xxxxxxx or (Tel:) 708-475-6963

Nathan Culwel-Kanarek (Coordinator, High School FBC) at:

nculwell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or (Tel:) 608-238-0062

If your group already has the info and videotapes mentioned in the packect,
please let us know so that we can save our time and $$.

Finally, please let's start thinking about more coordinated actions for
future Free Burma campaigns.  As John Tann frm Student Environmental Action
Coalition suggested, we still need to do a lot of ground work for fall
semester.
How do we keep the momentum of our grassroots movement during the summer months?
How do we do outreach to other groups (for instance, community and labor
groups) who don't have access to the internet?

peace, love, and hope,

zarni







_______________
When spiders unite they can tie down a lion.  (Ethiopian Proverb)


The Free Burma Coalition
University of Wisconsin
225 North Mills Street,
Madison, WI 53706
Tel: (608)-256-6572
Fax: (608)-263-9992