wsj article - action call

[dohrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Might this help us to call attention to the plan of SLORC tourism
promoters to attend the PATA meeting in Orlando in September?



BURMANET: REPLY TO JOE CUMMINGS IN WSJ
August 29, 1996

Most of the facts Joe Cummings uses to support his argument are grossly
inaccurate.

The average person in Burma is not better off in 1996 than they were in
1985.  It is true that some people are doing better, but the vast majority
are in worse shape than before.  The United States Embassy economic report
documents the extent to which the economy is faltering.  Over the past
several months, newspaper reports and statements from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
have addressed the fact that many people can no longer afford 3 meals of
rice a day, let alone meat, fruit, or medicine.  The price of food has
risen dramatically while wages have remained stagnant.

Human rights abuses have not decreased in the face of mounting tourism.
If anything, human rights abuses in Burma have increased with more demands
for forced labor, forced relocation, and urban beautification.  In most
cities in Burma, residents along the main thoroughfares have been forced
to tear down their shops and homes to widen the road.  Many buildings have
been cut in half, and the buildings that remain must have 2 stories and be
freshly painted or the owners must tear them down and move at their own
expense.  These projects which are presently going on in Taunggyi and
Moulmein, to name just 2 places, are intended to impress tourists not locals.

In the early 1990s, a large number of residents of Pagan were also forced
to relocate because of tourism.  In this case, the SLORC wanted to
beautify the ancient city for tourists and also isolate the local
population from the tourists.

Cummings states that tourism doe not boost the use of draft labor in
Burma.  Yet in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, the son of the
Minister of Tourism, Lt. General Kyaw Ba, recently built the Sittwe Hotel
with forced labor.  The Buddha Museum in Sittwe was also built with forced
labor, and local residents refer to it as the "Dukkha Museum", or Musuem
of Suffering, for this reason.

Cummings says that most tourists don't use the roads or railways but use
planes instead.  Therefore, forced labor on roads is not connected to
tourism.  Besides the fact that most of the tourists that the Lonely
Planet book caters to do use the roads and railways, some airports in
Burma have been built or expanded with forced labor.

It is impossible to distinguish between forced labor for the people and forced
labor for tourists.  And what kind of an argument is this anyway?  Should
outsiders be providing support to a regime that uses forced labor extensively?

Cummings argues that the SLORC will make money whether Western tourists
come or not.  But as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has pointed out, boycotting
Visit Myanmar Year is not just about denying dollars to the regime.
Perhaps more importantly it is about denying international legitimacy to a
regime that has no legitimacy with its own people.  Interestingly enough,
the SLORC has done more advertising of Visit Myanmar Year inside the
country than out.

Aung San Suu Kyi has not asked tourists to boycott Burma indefinitely.  She
has merely asked that people refrain from coming during the SLORC's
campaign for Visit Myanmar Year.

The SLORC itself seems to be of two minds about tourism.  While they
want the dollars and the legitimacy, they have put signs up all over Rangoon
saying "down with foreign elements" and "down with neo-imperialists".
What kind of a welcome is that?

Joe Cummings has a vested interest in seeing tourists go to Burma.  If
they don't go, they won't be buying the Lonely Planet guidebook.  Of
course his hotel and guide contacts in Burma support tourism as this is
their main source of income.  Some others in Burma hope that tourists will
come and see how terribly the SLORC is oppressing the people and then
participate in the international campaign to bring about a return to
democracy in Burma.  Unfortunately, group tourists who are carefully guided
along the beautified tourist corridor do not have much of an opportunity to
find out what is really going on.

The most useful thing that potential tourists can do is to participate in
the Free Burma Campaign now so that they can enjoy a trip to a Free Burma
in the not-too-distant future.

****************************************************************

ACTION CALL: TELL LONELY PLANET TO GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT

On August 28, Joe Cummings, the author of Lonely Planet's Burma
guide, published an article in the Wall Street Journal claiming that
tourism and repression in Burma are unrelated.  This article is
factually inaccurate and reflects a willingness to ignore the truth in
order to profit personally.  Lonely Planet, a publication which prides
itself on cultural sensitivity, should not be supporting tourism in Burma
when Aung San Suu Kyi is asking for tourists to stay away (for the
time being).  And Cummings should be held accountable for presenting
an extremely inaccurate picture of what is going on in Burma today.

ACTION CALL:

1. Write a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal.
Attn:  Mr. Ned Crabb
200 Liberty
New York, NY  10281
Fax: 212 416 2658
Ph: 212 416 2576

2. Write/phone/fax/e-mail the following Lonely Planet offices and
express your strong displeasure with Joe Cummings' article and
the fact that Lonely Planet Publications is promoting tourism in
Burma at a time when Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu
Kyi is asking them not to come.

LONELY PLANET OFFICES:

Lonely Planet Publications
Embarcadero West
155 Filbert Street, Suite 251
Oakland CA 94607-2538, USA
Email: info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tel: 800.275.8555 or 510.893.8555
Fax: 510.893.8563

Lonely Planet Publications
PO Box 617
Hawthorn
Victoria 3122 AUSTRALIA
Email: talk2us@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tel: (03) 9819 1877
Fax: (03) 9819 6459

Lonely Planet Publications
Barley Mow Centre
10 Barley Mow Passage
Chiswick, London W4 4PH, UK
Email: 100413.3551@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tel: (0181) 742 3161
Fax: (0181) 742 2772

Lonely Planet Publications
71 bis, rue du Cardinal Lemoine
75005 Paris, FRANCE
email: 100560.415@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tel: (1) 44 32 06 20
Fax: (1) 46 34 72 55
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