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German tourism and economic involve (r)



We are a group of people who are dissatisfied with the actual amount of 
financial transactions going between Myanmar and the Federal Republic of Germany 
(FRG) while massive violations of human rights are still going on.  Germany did 
not only provide the basic small arms used for ethnic cleansing, the war and 
forced labour, according to its policy of constructive engagement German 
companies investing or providing credits are secured through a state-owned 
insurance policy in case the investment fails.  The ongoing pressure for 
economic sanctions in countries like the US created a void in which German 
companies filter into the market.  Just two examples out of many
http://www.merck.de/Addresses/burma.DE.html  and
http://www.sedan.de/Tourismus/Laender/Burma.html (check it out yourself)
The tourist industry is praising the country 
Quote: ?  Apparently time stood still for a long period.  Responsible herefor 
the old socialist (!!) regime.  Now Burma is opening up for tourism.  Old Asia: 
 with golden pagodas and temples, magnificent Royal castles, deep lush 
rainforest, enchanted rivers and the first five star hotels.  AND EVERYWHERE 
PEOPLE SMILE."
Our aim and objective is to start and support the long road to democracy in 
Burma through working for a change in foreign policy and public/institutional 
opinion in the FRG towards the ?Tatmandaw?.  In this year general elections will 
be held in Germany and part of our campaign will focus on the participating 
parties including the ruling conservatives. There?s a good chance that after 
years of Conservative rule a change occurs and we consider the field of election 
as a excellent framework for raising public questions.
Furthermore we would like to contact newspapers, radio-stations and focus on the 
impact of tourism as far as it actually supports a regime notorious for its 
human right violations (out of own experience we do not underestimate the amount 
of tourists from Germany).  We are also thinking on providing information and 
links for Germans visiting Thailand and the Thai-Burmese border.  Even so that 
Germans usually speak or understand English quiet well, we do intent to provide 
links to groups, NGOs and or interested other groups on a webpage and 
to provid short German translations on their most important contents.  We do 
respect and understand the importance of copyright for organisations and we are 
not interested in adding to eventually already existing problems.  We will 
concentrate our attempts on Germany and its responsibility to respect and follow 
the European Convention on Human Rights.

We would appreciate any feedback on the subject.  If any organisation is 
unwilling to be named or linked in the webpage we will need to know.  However we 
do not intend to jeopardise individuals, groups, institutions or NGOs working on 
Thai territory with refugees.  We do understand their difficult situation as far 
as international refugee law and standards are concerned.  However we also fear 
the fabrication of legal grounds for forced repatriation along this border.  
Therefor once again, before we start we will need some basic feedback, comments 
or criticism.

As far as German organisations working on the issue of Burma in the FRG are 
concerned, we do not intend to minimise their efforts or to copy ongoing (?) 
campaigns.  We are always open for networking and sharing information.  This 
campaign will be financed through fund-raising in the private sector.

We tried to keep the request as short as possible and thanx for reading ...

One more request:  In 1997 I saw and read a leaflet (maybe even just a document 
downloaded from the web) on the involvement of German companies in Myanmar.  I 
have to confess I lost it and information like this is desperately needed.  As 
far as the pipeline is concerned we are also interested in the involvement of 
Mannesman-Demag on the Thai side of the border.