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FRENCH STUDENTS DEMAND UNIVERSITIES



FRENCH STUDENTS DEMAND UNIVERSITIES RE-OPEN

On 4 March 1998, students at the Lycee Jean Baptiste Dumas (College) in
Ales, southern France, officially wrote to the ruling State Peace and
Development Council in Rangoon, demanding that universities and
institutions of higher learning in Burma be re-opened.  The students called
on other colleges and universities to join them in the campaign to re-open
Burmese schools that have been closed since December 1996.  The
administration of the college endorsed the students' demands.  A student
representative handed over a copy of the letter to Beaudee Zawmin of the
Washington, DC, office of the National Coalition Government of the Union of
Burma, and Harn Yawnghwe, Director of the Brussels-based European Office
for the Development of Democracy in Burma.  

The two Burmese were in France 6-8 March, to participate in a debate about
the role of media and the film `Beyond Rangoon' in promoting democracy in
Burma at the 16th Ales Film Festival.  They also met with the Deputy Mayor
of Nimes, Alain Fabre-Pujol, who is a Socialist Member of the French
National Assembly (Parliament).  He promised to discuss possible action
with Jacques Lang, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and to ask a
question in the National Assembly regarding the French Government's
position on Burma especially with regard to tourism.  They were interviewed
in Montpellier by Midi-Libre a regional newspaper in the south of France
and Charlie Hebdo, a well-known Paris-based weekly.  A press conference was
also arranged at the Press Club in Montpellier for the
Montpellier-Herault-Languedoc-Roussillon region.

They also met with the executive of Info-Birmanie, a French non-government
organization formed in 1995 to support the democracy movement in Burma.
They discussed strategy and plans for the Burmese democracy movement in
France.  The letter from the Lycee Jean Baptiste Dumas and the Ales Film
Festival are the latest in a series of events organized by Info-Birmanie.

In March 1997, the film `Beyond Rangoon' was screened at the 15th Ales Film
Festival and Aung Ko, the Paris-based Burmese lead actor participated in
the week-long activities  which included a performance by Diatribe, a
French hard rock group who dedicated a song `Outrage' to Burma; photo
exhibitions; video showings and two `live chats' on the internet to
introduce Burma to the French public.  The Aung San Suu Kyi Week was
sponsored by the Lycee Jean Baptise Dumas and the School of Mines in Ales.

In May 1997, the School of Architecture in Montpellier hosted a similar
Aung San Suu Kyi Week to educate the French public about the situation in
Burma.  In addition to the photo exhibitions, the videos - `Burma
Deception', `No Childhood At All', `Barefoot and Sandalwood', and the film
`Beyond Rangoon', a debate on the changing architecture of Rangoon -
`Rangoon to Yangon' was held.  

In June 1997, three members of the Parliament of France met in Lezan with
members of Info-Birmanie to find out more about the situation in Burma and
to pledge their support for the struggle of the Burmese people.

In October 1997, the University of Toulouse - Le Mirail which specializes
in Politics and International Relations, hosted an Aung San Suu Kyi Week.
The Director of the French Administrative Department of Haute-Garonne where
Toulouse is located, officially presided over the activities which were
held at the Resistance Museum.  Seven French artist composed songs for
democracy in Burma and gave a concert in honour of  the struggle of the
Burmese people for democracy and human rights.  A digitial audio tape of
the performance is available from Info-Birmanie.

In November 1997, the community of Limoges in southern France, hosted an
Aung San Suu Kyi Week on its own, with materials supplied by Info-Birmanie.

In December 1997, Paris-based labour unions and student organizations
formed a collective to support the Burmese democracy movement.  They were
hoping to host a visit by Burmese students but the visit had to be canceled
because of  visa problems.

On 8 March 1998, Christine Lazerges, Deputy (Member of Parliament) for
Montpellier and Vice-Chair of the Law Commission, asked a question in the
National Assembly on what the French Government is doing to help restore
democracy in Burma.

>From 20-26 April 1998, the School of Political Science in Bordeaux will be
hosting an Aung San Suu Kyi Week.  A new student-based organization called
`Verite Birman' or Burmese Truth as been formed to coordinated a
nation-wide campaign in France in support of the Burmese people.

These activities show that in spite of the investment in the Yadana natural
gas pipeline in Burma made by the French oil company, Total, and package
tour operators, the ordinary people of France do not support the Burmese
military dictatorship.  Given the facts, they are just as willing the
citizens of other democracies to support the people of Burma.  There is,
therefore, hope that the French people will be able to persuade their
government and their businesses to refrain from investing in Burma which
only perpetuates an illegal dictatorship and prolong the suffering of the
people of Burma - End.


Euro-Burma Office, Brussels, 10 March 1998.