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interview with rep byron rushing on
- Subject: interview with rep byron rushing on
- From: maung@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 27 Jun 1996 12:16:00
Subject: interview with rep byron rushing on massachusetts law
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the United States Congress can pass. And we believe that as
more and more states pass legislation toward a free Burma then
you will gather more support in the United States Congress for
sanctions regarding Burma.
Q. Mr. Rushing, you sponsored this legislation. How do you
succeed in getting the endorsement of the legislators who
passed that legislation, including Governor Weld ?
A. Well, as I said earlier during the signing ceremony, this
was brought to my attention by a statement that was issued in
support of Aung San Suu Kyi by people who had received the Nobel
Prize. After she received the Nobel Prize for Peace, a group of
Nobel laureates signed the statement. Among the people who
signed that statement was a person that I respect very much, and
that was Archbishop Desmond Tutu from South Africa. And that
brought it to my consciousness and I began to read about the
situation in Burma and then began to notice that there were in
Massachusetts advocates for democracy in Burma. I met those
advocates, we talked about what kinds of strategy we can have in
legislature and we decided to create this bill and to work for
this bill. I think the bill was able to reach .... for us ...
this bill was first filed in 1994 and did not win in 1994 and we
refiled it in 1995 and now it has been passed and signed into
law. This for us, in this legislature, that's a very short
period of time for legislation to go; two years is a very short
period of time. This happened very quickly from the point of
view of a legislature. And I think that was possible .. this is
happened because of two things; one, is that the story about
Burma is so clear that people who don't know about Burma, when
you explain it to them, they understand it immediately. They
understand a democratic movement where that has been repressed,
when you talked about the demonstrations of 1988, they can
understand that. When you talked about the election that was won
by the democratic forces in Burma in 1990, they understand that.
They understand that the leader of democratic movement who
explains herself and the situation in Burma so clearly. So we
had a story that was clear and could be understood. Then we had
just an amazing amount of advocates and lobbyists. I think that
the lobbying around this bill has been some of the finest
lobbying I have seen in my career here in the legislature. And,
so, we could easily... very quickly get communications to
various legislators in the State, so that they heard from people
who are living in their districts, who are interested in this
and heard from advocacy groups on an on-going basis, and that's
what it takes. So, it's really an education process as much as
a lobbying process, and both of those were done very well.
Q. Now that the Burma Freedom and Democracy Act is still
pending in the congress, do you think the Massachusetts
legislation will have a favorable impact to that bill ?
A. I think that it is going to give a lot of support to this
bill in Congress. I am not sure that means it is going to be
able to pass this year. But I think that it is going to
certainly move it to the front of a lot of people's
consciousnless in Congress. And, the other thing that is going
to happen is you are going to see other states and other cities
taking a look at their policy in regard to companies those are
doing business in Burma.
Q. How do you feel today when the governor signed your bill
?
A. Well, I am happy about it. I am especially happy that we
are able to get publicity for the situation in Burma. I think
More people know about Burma in Massachusetts than knew about
Burma a week ago. That is very important.
Q. Do you believe that the legislation will discourage some
companies from investing in Burma and some companies that are
still investing in Burma to divest?
A. I think the first thing it is going to do, I think, it is
going to encourage companies who are thinking about investing
Burma not to do it. The ones who are not in, it's, of course,
easy for someone who is not in to make a decision not to go in.
I think we are going to see a lot of that. Of course, some of
them, we won't even know about because unless they publicize it,
we won't know that this bill has had that influence. Then, of
course, it is going to mean that companies are going to start to
leave. I think that first, you will see companies doing what
PepsiCo did, which is to have a .... work out some kind of
compromise, so they could say that they are not going to do any
future investment but they are going to maintain the investment
and connections that they have right now but they are not going
to expand them. And, I think that you will see more of that
American companies, and then eventually, you will see the
American companies leaving.
Q. Thank you very much, Mr. Rushing. So, finally what
message would you like to send to the Burmese democratic forces,
including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese people ?
A. Well, my first message is really one of .... to
congratulate the democratic forces in Burma. And to especially,
send a message of solidarity to the Burmese in Burma who are
struggling for the restoration of democracy. And to let them
know that there are people all over the world who really are
concerned about establishing democracy in Burma and as soon as
they hear the story of what is going on in Burma, they'll find
that they can relate to that story, and that they can ... and
they want to support the work that is going on there. I think
that you know that we're really... I think that we look forward
to the time when we can all come and visit Burma. ((laughs))
And come and visit Burma like when we were able to go back to
South Africa; to come for the next elections. We are looking
forward to the time when we can come to the next elections in
Burma.
Q. Thank you very much.
//End Interview//
6