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Ericsson Boycott France



EuroBurmanet (Paris, FRANCE)firmly supports the Ericsson Boycott
initiative and calls for european solidarity with all active groups here 
here and around the globe for demonstrations against Ericsson. Ericsson
France has substantial sales revenue in as one of the leading cellular
companies in France.  

metta, dawn star
http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/

> From: Dan Orzech <orzech@xxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Ericsson boycott press release
> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                    October 7, 1997
> 
> Contacts:
> - Bay Area Burma Roundtable:  Dan Orzech  (510) 528-0653
> - Seattle Campaign for a Free Burma: Larry Dohrs (206) 784-5742
> - Australia Free Burma Coalition (Sydney): Amanda Zappia (02) 6297 7734
> - Australia Human Rights For Burma (Perth): Ivan Brabant (08) 9451 8905
> - Australia Burma Support Group Melbourne: Mary O'Kane (03) 93802986
> - Federation of Trade Unions-Burma (New Delhi, India): Aung San Myint
> 91-11-5623759
> - Free Burma Coalition - Philippines: Merci Ferrer (63-2) 435-2900
> - Burma Support Group Norway: Camilla Buzzi  8800 1943
> - Chicago Coalition for a Democratic Burma: Don Erickson (312) 421-5513
> - Students for Environmental Action at Stanford: Jill Shenker  (415)
> 723-3307
> - Los Angeles Burma Forum: Kevin Rudiger (310) 399-0703
> - New York - Wetlands Preserve: Mark Goldberg (212) 966-5244
> - Canadian Friends of Burma: Christine Harmston (613) 237-8056
> 
> ERICSSON HIT WITH WORLDWIDE PROTESTS OVER BURMA
> 
> Cell Phone Maker faces Demonstrations, Boycott
> 
> San Francisco, CA -- Having already lost municipal contracts worth up to
> $90 million because of its investment in Burma, Swedish telecommunications
> giant Ericsson now finds itself faced with a worldwide boycott of the
> company's cellular phones.
> 
> In the coming week, demonstrations will take place at Ericsson facilities
> or distributors in over a dozen different locations around the globe.  The
> boycott, which has already been under way in Scandanavia since June, will
> focus on Ericsson's cellular phones because Ericsson is the major supplier
> of cellular equipment to the military in Burma.  Other cellular phone
> manufacturers such as Motorola have already pulled out of Burma.
> 
> While cellular phones are widely available to the military and business
> partners of the generals in Burma, ordinary citizens in Burma who are
> caught with telecommunications equipment such as cell phones, fax machines
> or modems without a license face a prison sentence of up to fifteen years.
> 
> On June 22, 1996, James Nichols, honorary consul in Myanmar for Sweden,
> Norway and several other European countries, died in prison after serving
> six weeks of a three-year sentence. His crime -- unauthorized use of a fax
> machine.
> 
> $50 BILLION IN MARKETS CLOSED
> Ericsson's business dealings in Burma are already affecting Ericsson's
> bottom line.  The company found itself locked out of bidding last year on
> contracts worth up to $90 million with the city of San Francisco.  San
> Francisco, like New York, and a number of other cities, and the state of
> Massachusetts, bars contracts with companies which do business with the
> military in Burma.
> 
> The combined budgets of the cities and states which refuse to do business
> with Ericsson now tops $50 billion.  Ericsson's sales in Burma have never
> reached more than a few million dollars a year.
> 
> "Ericsson is trading a few million dollars in sales in Burma for the
> potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of municipal contracts,"
> says Simon Billenness, an analyst with Franklin Research and Development,
> an investment firm based in Boston.  "Investors should think twice about
> buying stock in a company which is managed like that."
> 
> Institutional investors may soon agree, as major holders of Ericsson stock
> like the University of California find themselves facing a growing chorus
> of demands to dump holdings in Burma related companies.
> 
> Burma's democratically elected leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has
> repeatedly called for Western corporations to end their support for the
> military regime in Burma. She reiterated that position most recently in a
> meeting with Unocal President John Imle at her home in Rangoon, where she
> remains under virtual house arrest.
>