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interview with rep byron rushing on



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//
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