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Free Burma Digest (May 1-2): Scient



Subject: Free Burma Digest (May 1-2): Scientist Shares Award with FBC

This digest contains:

1) Help Requested: Want to start Free Burma campaign: St. John's University (MN)
2) Press release: NORTHWEST AIRLINES DROPS "HEROIN HOTEL" PROMOTION
3) Press release: Berkeley Scientist Shares Award with the Free Burma Coalition
4) Announcement: American University Student Government voted uninamously for Burma-free policies
5) Think piece: Burma Divestment Revisted by Simon Billenness
6) Announcement: Interviews with a Burma Journalist  to be aired
7) Info Request: video footage of SLORC's cruelty urgently needed
8) News Update: Burmese Moslem dies in mine blast on border
9) News Update: SLORC uses May Day to warn the Burmese
 


Subject: free burma

To Whom it may concern-
I am a concerned student activist in Minnesota who is EXTREMELY
interested in the Free Burma Coalition.  Would you be so kind as to send
me or refer me to the best sources of information about the following:
1)  campus activist activities on my campus
2)  signing my campus up as a chapter organization
3)  literature about the struggle (historical and contemporary)
I appreciate any and all assitance.  I look forward to hearing from you.

~Brendan C. Kelly
Saint John's University
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F R E E   B U R M A   C O A L I T I O N
zni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx	http://FreeBurma.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NORTHWEST AIRLINES DROPS "HEROIN HOTEL" PROMOTION

Minneapolis, May 2, 1997-- Northwest Airlines has ended a controversial
promotion which offered bonus miles to frequent flyers who stayed at the
Traders Hotel in Rangoon, Burma. 

According to company documents and press reports, the Traders is
part-owned by Lo Hsing Han, once known as "King of the Golden Triangle,"
and now identified by the State Department as a "narco-trafficker." Lo's
son and business partner in the Traders Hotel, Steven Law, is barred from
the US due to suspected involvement in the drug trade. 

Burma produces and exports the majority of the world's heroin, and the
State Department reports that more than 60% of the heroin seized in the US
comes from Burma. 

An April 29 letter from Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, which manages
Traders, says "Our office received notification the Traders Hotel, Yangon
(Rangoon)  has been withdrawn from Northwest Worldperks Frequent Flyer
Program on April 14, 1997." 

Northwest's decision was hailed by opponents of Burma's military regime. 
"We respect Northwest's recognition that US companies ought not to promote
businesses owned by known narcotics traffickers," says Dr. Sein Win of the
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), Burma's
democratic government in exile. 

Burma (also called Myanmar) is increasingly identified as a
"narco-dictatorship."  US Assistant Secretary of State for International
Narcotics Affairs, Robert Gelbard, said on Feb. 28, 1997 "Drug money is so
pervasive in the Burmese economy that it taints legitimate investment. 
Since 1988, some 15 percent of foreign investment in Burma and over half
of that from Singapore has been tied to the family of narco-trafficker, Lo
Hsing Han." 

Wente Vineyards of California severed a relationship with Lo's company
last Fall under pressure from activists.  Oil company Unocal is facing a
shareholder resolution seeking an investigation into drug money-laundering
allegations against its Burmese military partner in a pipeline project. 

"In military-ruled Burma, drug money is taking over.  We are likely to see
more and more controversy over investments tied to people who poison the
world with heroin," says the NCGUB's Win. 

President Clinton announced a ban on new US investment in Burma April 22,
saying Under this brutal military regime, Burma remains the world's
leading producer of opium and heroin, and tolerates drug trafficking and
traffickers in defiance of the views of the international community." 

The Shangri-La/Traders web site (www.shangri-la.com/Shangri-La/Dir.html) 
now notes that the Northwest promotion has been terminated. According to
the web site, United Airlines and Canada Airways also provide frequent
flier miles for a stay at any of their hotel properties, including the
Traders Rangoon. 

In related news, Qantas-owned tour operator Jetabout, which last year took
41,500 visitors to Asia, has dropped Burma entirely from its itineraries,
saying the country's image does not provide "the right climate for holiday
travel and investment."

										
END

Contact:   National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma,
202-393-7342    
Larry Dohrs, Free Burma Coalition, 206-784-5742  
Roberta Barry, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, 310-665-2000
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The Free Burma Coalition
225 North Mills Street
The University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 1, 1997       

Contact: Jasper Rine (510)-642-7047 
	  Zarni           (608)-827-7734
	 Aung San Min  (310) 838-8721 
	    

Berkeley Scientist Shares Award with the Free Burma Coalition

Berkeley, CA:   Jasper Rine, professor of genetics and former director of Human Genome Project at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, who recently won the Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of California at Berkeley has donated part of his award money to the Free Burma Coalition, a U.S.-based grassroots umbrella organization working to restore freedom and human rights in Burma through Internet activism.  

	In his letter to the Coalition announcing his donation, Rine stated, "As an educator, I believe that spreading the truth is among the most important activities that define us humans.  The Free Burma Coalition is engaged in one of the most important teaching challenges globally through its successful consumer boycott and educational campaigns.  I would like to share my award with the Coalition."

	"Spreading the word about the human rights abuses and political oppression by the murderous dictatorship that has refused to transfer power to the democratically elected government, and working toward the peaceful restoration of democracy and freedom, are important to the principle and practice of freedom worldwide," added Rine.

	The Free Burma Coalition's divestment campaign across U.S. college campuses brought the situation in Burma to Rine's attention.  Last year the UC-Berkeley student government passed a resolution calling on the university administration to adopt Burma-Free investment policies.

	Aung San Min, a Burmese student exile and organizer with the Coalition, said," I am extremely pleased by this generous act of solidarity by a eminent Berkeley scientist."  He added that he and his fellow organizers are hopeful that the $1000 gift will catalyze further support from other like-minded individuals. 

	Burma has been under a military dictatorship since 1962.  After brutally crushing a popular democracy movement in 1988, the junta, known as the 
State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) held elections.  When the
 opposition National League for Democracy won a landslide victory, SLORC refused to transfer power, instead jailing more than 2,000 democracy activists including many elected representatives. The party's leader and 1991 Noble Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest for nearly six years.  
	
	SLORC is well-known for its gross human rights violations.  It routinely practices forced labor, forced relocation, the use of civilians as human mine sweepers, gang-rape, extra judicial executions and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities.  The NLD has called for worldwide economic sanctions against SLORC.  Recently the Clinton Administration has imposed economic sanctions on Burma.

	Pressure from the Free Burma Coalition has forced more than one dozen U.S. and other multinational corporations including PepsiCo, Apple Computer and Budweiser to withdraw from Burma.  The State of Massachusetts and 12 U.S. cities including the three Bay Area cities Berkeley, San Francisco, and Oakland have adopted Burma-Free business policies.  California activists with the Coalition are working on getting the State of California to adopt Burma-Free business policies and also to get Los Angeles-based Unocal oil corporation out of Burma.

//end text//
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3) from zni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On April 25, American University Student Government voted uninamously to urge the Trustees of the University to adopt Burma-free investment and purchasing policies.  If the Trustees adopt the policies, as requested, AU will become the American educational establishment that has comprehensive Burma-free policies.


Note: please send me a note with corrections, additions, etc.

1) Burma Free business resolutions

Univ. of Wisconsin
U. Chicago
Harvard
Stanford
UC-Berkeley
Penn State
American U.
College of the Atlantic, ME
University of Washington
University of Oklahoma

2) General Resolutions

University of California at Davis (1990)
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Subject: divestment revisted

Burma Divestment Revisted
by
Simon Billenness

April 15, 1997
>From Investing for a Better World

Exactly two years ago I wrote a column en titled "Not Yet Time to Divest Burma Stocks" In the column, I contended that shareholders should not. divest their stock in companies that do business in Burma. Instead, I suggested that investors should hold their shares and support Burma-related shareholder resolutions. Since the column appeared, the debate over shareholder resolutions versus divestment has been one of the few bones of contention within the Free Burma movement. After considerable debate, I have now reconsidered my position.

Shareholder resolutions still bring considerable value to the Free Burma movement. Resolutuions help keep companies on the spot.  This year, concerned investors will bring resolutions at Atlanjic Richfield (ARCO) and, for -the first time, Caterpillar. Despite Unocal's arguments before the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) ,the SEC has required Unocal.to include a resolution on the company's alleged links to Burma's heroin trade.

Shareholder resolutions have open dialogue with companies. Although Texaco kept a Burma resolution off its ballot this year;, the company met recently with religious investors affiliated with the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). The Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers have led efforts to press Unocal to allow access by an independent human rights team in the area of Unocal's pipeline in Burma.  Dialogue with Pepsico helped convince the company that it faced an escalating consumer boycott unless it withdrew completely from Burma.

Why does it now make sense to consider divestment when shareholder resolutions still bring value?	-

Originally, I argued that, since divestment is a largely symbolic action; a divestment campaign would divert the energy of Free Burma activists.  They would better spend their time on "tactics with teeth" such and selective purchasing laws, I contended.  This point is now widely held within the. Free
Burma movement.  All current state and local Burma legislation focuses pnmarily on pur-chasing restrictjons.  Many campus-based Free Burma Coalition groups have broadened their campaign from the PepSiCo boycott to lobbying.for campus selective purchasing policies. 

However; even if Free Burma activists focus primarily on boycotts -and purchasing restrictions, the question remains: what should be done about investments in companies that do business in Burma?

Campus-based Free Burma Coalition groups have explored a-variety of strategies.  Some have pressed for divestment; others have lobbied their trustees to support shareholder resolutions.  Several groups have successfully revived campus shareholder responsibility committees, many of which have lain dormant since their establishment in the heat of the anti-apartheid campaign.  Now, some of these committees have the. responsibility to examine their college's purchasing practices as well as its investment policy.

On some campuses,Free Burma- Coalition activists have pressed their university to either support Burma-related resolutions or divest.  Activists colloquially refer to this approach as the "Use It Or Lose It" strategy.  This strategy is based on the observation that, when pressured to divest from South Mrica, many universities chose the less onerous solution of supporting the shareholder resolutions.

Just as the threat of divestment can spur a university to support resolutions, the act of divestment by a few colleges and churches puts- pressure on mjajor institutional investors.  In many cases, it will take the threat of divestment before -many- large  universities and public pension funds will support
Burma-related shareholder resolutions.  In addition, as some .institutions divest, a market for -"Burma-free" funds will emerge.

Viewed in isolation, divestment.campaigns may appear to conflict with share
holder resolutions.  However, at the strategic level, incidences of divestment can help build support for resolutions. Let a thousand flowers
bloom.
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Subject: Fine on FAIR, Worldwide via RealAudio

Feel free to publicize this announcement:

Counterspin, the national media watchdog radio program of Fairness and
Accuracy in Reporting, interviews independent investigative journalist Doug
Fine about the travails involved in trying to get reporting with historical
perspective on complex issues out over traditional news channels.  The show
airs the week of its taping starting May 1, and focuses on Fine's and other
journalists' reporting from Burma.  Check your listings for where
Counterspin airs in your city, and the broadcast is also avaiable worldwide
on Realaudio at www.webactive.com.

Back tapes can be ordered by calling (212) 633-6700, which is also where
local times and affiliates for the program can be tracked down.

(Partial List of City Air Times: New York: WBAI, 99.5 FM, Friday 8 a.m.
(May 2), San Francisco: WALW, 91.7 FM, Thursday 1 p.m. (May 8), Washington,
DC: KPFW, 89.3 FM, Tuesday, 11 a.m., Los Angeles: KPFK 90.7 FM, Friday 3
p.m. and Sunday at noon, Seattle, KCMU, 90.3 FM, Saturday at 8 p.m.)


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>From zni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

We are urgently seeking raw footage of gruesome images (e.g., refugees fleeing the burning villages/camps during or after  a SLORC offensive) for PR purposes.  Please drop me a note at the above address if you have or know someone with such footage.
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Burmese Moslem dies in mine blast on border 
11:39 a.m. Apr 29, 1997 Eastern 

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, April 29 (Reuter) - A Burmese Moslem was killed and
his son wounded when they detonated an anti-personnel mine on Bangladesh's border
with Burma on Monday, police said. 

Bangladesh security sources also said on Tuesday mines had been laid on
Burmese territory either by Moslem guerrillas to restrict the movement of Burmese troops in the area, or by Burmese guards to stop cross-border insurgency. 

Police said at least seven people, including one Bangladesh border security
guard, had been killed by mines during the past year. 

An agreement was reached between the border forces of Burma and Bangladesh
in January to launch a joint operation to remove the mines along the border. But the mine
sweeping drive has yet to start. 
**********************************************************************
SLORC uses Mayday to warn workers of    anti-development forces

           RANGOON, May 1 (AFP) - Burma's top general Thursday urged workers to
           "crush" forces seeking to block investment and thus hinder the
company's development.

           In a May Day message published on the front page of the official
New Light of Myanmar, Senior General Than Shwe, chairman of the ruling junta,
said the threat came both from inside and outside the country.

           He named no names, but his mention of efforts to discourage
investment clearly referred to the US announcement last week of a ban on new
investments in Burma as a protest against human rights abuses.

           Foreign efforts to hinder Burma's development were supported by
colonialist "lackeys" inside the country, as well as government opponents who
had fled abroad and who had also resorted to "destructive and terrorist
acts," he said.

           Burma faced a "danger of internal and external destructive
elements in political,  economic and social spheres," Than Shwe added.

           These elements were trying to "prevent and hinder the flow of
technology and investment from outside that will provide the workers with skills and
 technological know-how, improve their living standards and contribute towards
 national development," he alleged.

           "It is time to oppose and crush the stooges of the colonialists
who are  obstructing improvement of the workers' living conditions and
jeopardizing  national development," Than Shwe said.

           May Day is a holiday in Burma.