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NYC Selective Purchasing Bill
ACTION ALERT: OCTOBER 15, 1996
NEW YORK BURMA BILL AT A STANDSTILL
URGENT ACTION REQUESTED
New York City Selective Purchasing Bill (Intro. 647) has been introduced
in the Government Operations Committee of the New York City Council.
The co-sponsors of the bill are Mary Pinkett, Wendell Foster, Thomas
Duane, Kenneth Fisher, Juanita Watkins, Adam Clayton Powell IV, Julia
Harrison, Sheldon Leffler, and John Sabini. If passed, Intro. 647 would
effectively bar New York City from making contracts with companies doing
business in Burma and would prohibit the depositing of city funds into banks
doing business in Burma.
On February 23, the New York City Council Governmental Operations
Committee heard testimony from 20 experts and activists. In response to the
initial hearing, Chairwoman of the Committee Mary Pinkett asked the City
Department of Contracts to provide a list of city contracts with companies
which would be affected by the passage of Intro. Bill #647. Since February,
the Mayor's office has been compiling a list of city contracts. Clearly, unless
there is pressure and support for this bill, the Mayor's office (which would
like to see the bill fail) will do nothing. Intro. 647 will not be brought before
the New York City Council until the Committee is able to assess that requested
list.
ACTION PLAN
We must convince the Council and the Committee that there is support for
this bill. Here are steps that must be taken immediately:
STEP 1. Write or call your council member in support of Bill 647. If you
use the sample letter enclosed, please add language requesting that your
council member contact Chair of the Government Operations Committee
Mary Pinkett and Council Speaker Peter Vallone to bring Bill 647 before
the Committee and the full City Council as soon as possible. If you do not
know your council member, you can inquire at the Press Department of the
City Council (Tel: 212-788-7113).
STEP 2. Write or call members of the Government Operations Committee
(list enclosed), referring to the sample letter enclosed.
STEP 3. Write or call Council Speaker Peter Vallone (City Hall, NY, NY
10007 or Tel: 212-788-7210) and ask him to support the bill and to place the
bill on the City Council calendar.
If you can, please send a copy of your letter to Nina Reznick: 28 E 10th St.
New York, N.Y. 10003.
SO FAR THE COUNCIL HAS ONLY HEARD FROM A HANDFUL OF
PEOPLE ON THIS ISSUE. IF YOU CARE ABOUT DEMOCRACY IN
BURMA AND AGREE THAT TRADE SANCTIONS ARE CRUCIAL TO
BRING IT ABOUT, IT IS IMPERATIVE YOU HELP NOW!
Dr. Thaung Htun: Burma UN Service Office, 777 UN Plaza, 6th floor,
New York, NY 10017 phone: (212) 338-0048 email: burma1un@xxxxxxx
Nina Reznick: phone: (212) 473-6279 fax: (212) 473-6279
SEE URGENT NEWSFLASH/ACTION ALERT, PAGE 3...
NYC Burma Selective Purchasing -- Intro #647
Sample letter to NYC Council Members 9/96
October 1996
Hon. XXXX
New York City Council
Address
New York
Dear Council Member XXX,
I am writing to remind you of our strong support for Intro #647, which
would bar companies doing business in Burma from obtaining contracts
with the City of New York.
I write also to ask your help moving this measure forward. Intro #647
has been under consideration by the City Council's Governmental
Operations Committee since a hearing on 23 February The Committee
heard extensive testimony from 20 witnesses who detailed why New
Yorkers have a direct interest in what happens in Burma.
Since then, the situation in Burma has even worsened. Gross human rights
abuses, forced labor and ecocide continue to inflict severe suffering on
Burma's peoples. In the past months over 300 non-violent pro-democracy
activists have been detained. Sixty have been sentenced to long prison terms
under terribly harsh conditions. In July, Pope John Paul publicly urged
Burma's Catholic bishops to work for human rights in their country.
News in August that heroin use among American teenagers is rising sharply
is a central reason for New Yorkers to worry about Burma. The US State
Department reports that complicity by the country's repressive military
dictatorship is allowing sharp increases in heroin trafficking from Burma.
Roughly 60% of the torrent of cheap, pure heroin hitting New York's streets
comes from that country.
International support for sanctions is mounting. In July, President Clinton's
National Security Advisor, Tony Lake, said "[On] Burma, our view is that
sanctions could be a useful tool." The European Union is considering revoking
Burma's tariff privileges because of the SLORC's use of forced labor. In the
US Congress, a measure that could invoke sanctions is supported by Senators
Patrick Moynihan and Alfonse D'Amato. This summer, grass roots consumer
pressure convinced brewers Heineken and Carlsberg to end their investment
in Burma, and caused Pepsi to sharply cut its involvement there. Massachusetts
enacted legislation similar to Intro #647 at the end of June.
As the New York City legislative process progresses, it will turn the powerful
spotlight of media and public attention on Burma and serve as a catalyst for
supporters of human rights and democracy in Burma and around the world,
just as similar City legislation regarding South Africa did in the 1980s. We
urge you to press for the speedy adoption of Intro #647.
Sincerely,
==================================================
NYC COUNCIL MEMBERS -- GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE -
WHO MUST BE URGED TO PASS SELECTIVE PURCHASING BILL
for BURMA, INTRO. 647 (as of 10/8/96)
Manhattan
Antonio Pagan 237 First Ave., 10003 212-477-1203
Andrew Eristoff 409 E. 14 St., Ste. B, 10009 212-473-4960
Bronx
Israel Ruiz, Jr. 1 E. Fordham Rd., 10468 718-220-0738
Jose Rivera 2488 Grand Councourse, 10458
718-364-3700
BROOKLYN
Mary Pinkett 324 DeKalb Avenue, 11205 718-857-0959
Annette Robinson 1360 Fulton St., Rm. 417, 11216
718-399-8900
NYC Council Speaker
Peter Vallone City Hall, NYC 10007 212-788-7210
*****************************************************
NEWSFLASH...NEWSFLASH...NEWSFLASH...NEWSFLASH
RECENT CRACKDOWN IN BURMA TESTS WEAK U.S. SANCTIONS
BILL; CLINTON COULD IMPOSE STRONGER MEASURES
On the last weekend of September, Burma's military dictatorship SLORC
arrested about 800 supporters of the pro-democracy movement for attending
a peaceful anniversary gathering of the NLD (National League for
Democracy) party called by Nobel Peace Prize laureate/NLD leader Aung
San Suu Kyi. SLORC also attempted to place Suu Kyi under house arrest
for the weekend; they have blockaded the area around her house and
prohibited her weekend public addresses there.
On September 30, President Clinton signed conditional sanctions legislation
for Burma (section 570 (a) (3) (b) of the FY '97 Foreign Operations
Appropriations Act), which mandates a very limited ban on new investment
(specifically, resource development) if the military dictatorship:
* harms, re-arrests, or exiles Aung San Suu Kyi; or
* commits large-scale repression of the Democratic opposition.
Clearly, the conditions for imposing sanctions per the new legislation have
been fulfilled twice over by the crackdown; more effective sanctions are
warranted.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Call President Clinton in support of sanctions at (202) 456-1414,
and/or write him referring to the sample letter on the next page:
Demand that in light of the recent severe crackdown, he must at
least enforce the provision barring new investment in resource
development, in accordance with the sanctions bill he just signed
(5-page copies available from Burma UN office, (212) 338-0048).
Ask him to impose more effective, wider-ranging sanctions, including
bans on all U.S. investment and imports from Burma by issuing an
executive order, as the current bill is very inadequate.
* Request a response.
Sample letter to President Clinton 10/96
urging imposition/strengthening of Burma sanctions:
October 1996
The Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
Thank you for supporting the law barring new investments in Burma
by American companies if the ruling military junta in Burma harms,
re-arrests or exiles Aung San Suu Kyi, or commits large-scale repression
of the Democratic opposition.
In recent weeks, the junta that runs Burma has been imposing visa
restrictions against government and UN officials, ministers and others,
including Nobel Laureates whom it believes will be meeting with the
leaders of the democracy movement or if they believe the visits will
benefit the movement for democracy.
They have not stopped at that, however. The junta has already stepped
up its repression in the country. The most glaring examples are the latest
roundup of elected representatives and leading members of the National
League for Democracy (NLD). Supporters of the NLD were also arrested
and beaten when they came to listen to the weekend speeches by Aung San
Suu Kyi.
Today, Aung San Suu Kyi is, for all practical purposes, under house arrest
with troops stationed at her house and on her street. Also, elected NLD
members are being coerced by the military intelligence to resign and the
military junta is making every effort to systematically decimate and
incapacitate the NLD.
Considering these events, the administration should take immediate action
to impose the sanctions against the illegitimate government of Burma
called for in section 570 (a) (3) (b) of the FY '97 Foreign Operations
Appropriations Act.
As Aung San Suu Kyi has said in her TV interview, "Do we literally have
to die on the streets before people start saying there is repression in Burma?"
Sincerely,