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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.