[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

TOTAL/PetroFina "Big Move" (r)



Neil McDougall, i will try to respond to some of your comments below
posted on the net, and not directly to me,so this post is also a
response for the net, however, i encourage you to refrain from personal
innuedos in net postings. first, no one is insulting the company from
the sidelines, as you say, though, it would not be unjustified, only bad
for arguement and debate, and no way to encourage a solution.

 I have entered the den of the lions and spoken twice directly with ceo
thierry desmarest with hundreds of shareholders and I can tell  you that
the lions lust for profits and dont give a damn for human rights except
to make it look good for business. stability and profits are the
dictator's promise to companies quick to ignore and deny human rights
violaions while the world's human rights organisations persist to give
proof after proof of their defiant denial of the truth.

just take a good look at the history of total. its nothing new.
argentina, south africa, burma. why thierry desmarest will tell you as
he does his shareholders how avant garde total was to be in south africa
defying the apartheid boycott, and now there to do wonderful good for
the people, you know, sort of a head start, we were there when the other
companies wouldn't dare, a sort of inconscient bravado that total
follows a higher creed than the rest of us. there is nothing "stupid" in
the fact that more than ever, perhaps over a half, i dont have the
figure handy, of the world's countries are dictatorships.

you are taking hook, line and sinker, the total company line, for long
term profits, justifying the enormous exploration and development costs.
very good for business, but very bad business in burma, where companies
that go in, do so, because they do not
have any ethics about bad business. money, only money, and competition
for growth and capital, and shareholder profits. "dictatorships are
inherently unstable". tell that to saddam hussein. the cia might tell 
you another story or the nigerian clan, or the majority of the world's
governments where one clique replaces another, military, or
authoritarian. but the worldwide total boycott campaign may help to
illuminate some of your interest in democracies, development and
dictatorship.

there is no prejudice against what you say "all companies and the
capitalist system for some political reason". what total is doing in
burma is wrong. what they do elsewhere, if it violates standards for
international human rights, is also wrong and should be
sanctioned. otherwise, whatever is their business, they are free to do
as they please, within as you say, an internationally acceptable legal
framework.

instead of talking about the complex intricacies of international
investment, you may better see undestand the serious enormity of the
total investment as it supports the illegitimate criminial military
regime for what it is and what it is doing to set
development back generations in burma, while the regime virtallly
annihilates a national
population today. so pleases save your praise for long term investments
to countries and companies that do not try to get away with murder today
in the name of that dearly beloved and most after 40 percent.

i agree with you Neil, lets stick to the facts, so please, go ahead,
contact Total, and get some more facts. That's what I have been doing
for four years now. And finally,
the french parliamentarians and deputies here and in europe, as with the
recent july resolution in brussels, sanctioned Total, and Premier in the
UK, to freeze and desist from further investments.

As did the Socialist International at the November geneva meeting.

Politics, Neil, should not be the issue here. Ethical investment for
development, to build institutions for democracy are essential or there
can be no democracy, without development. But the kind of development
that investment by Total and its fellowship of dictator-loving
companies, against the people striving for freedom and peace, in burma,
with law and justice protected and defended by genuinely democratic
institutions for the political and judicial process is no longer, and
perhaps one day will no longer be
permitted. Meanwhile, the deception and propaganda media campaigns of
the kind Total has mastered, with generals driven through paris in
government police and protected motorcades, will not be tolerated, as
the burden of proof of forced labor, drug-profits, human rights
violations, violations of internationally accepted democratic political
processes, torture, harsh imprisonment, etc and other condemnable crimes
against humanity close down these businesses abetting and promoting
dictatorship hand in hand
with the unelected brutal tyrants that make a mockery out of your humble
embrace of the brighter side of business where profits and investments
improve the standard of living and give every man woman and child a
better, decent life protecting the dignity of all of us.

re cuba, and even-handed criticism, i was referring to the iran-cuban
us/french
battle over sanctions. the french do business without sanctions in cuba.
they defied sanctions in iran. apart from that cuba, as a dictatorship,
has very little incommon with burma, but it would be interesting to know
if fidel castro ever visited rangoon. 


you should also try to understand something about the french political
climate, and french corporate history. france does not have the
powerful, independent capitalist
corporate history as does the united states, or britain. they are this
generation and during the past ten years going through privatization,
denationalizing companies to the private sector, total and elf having
grown out of state national and international policy managed by the
elite technocrats who graduate out of the national elite schools, like
ENA, or Polytechnique for the most part. To be brief, but just to shed
some light on the matter of corruption, deceit and betrayal in french
politics, just yesterday, in the national daily french newspaper,
Liberation, once Mitterand's flagship, whose publisher Serge July was a
Mitterand devotee, there is a full page back page story on Mitterand's
shadowly, evasive banker, and intimate friend of Mitterand's former
foreign minister and now leading national constitutional authority,
Roland Dumas, himself under several indictments now. (Last week the
headline news was over the scandal of former Prime Minister Michel
Rocard's book on Mitterand, revealing a darker side of a 
machiavellian prince) Well, this banker, Mitterand's private banker,
once handed the Legion d'Honneur in 1985 by the then Prime Minister
(under Mitterand in office for 14 years) Pierre Beregovoy(who later
mysteriously killed, two bullets in the head, officially a suicide but
insiders know better), this banker, who last called himself Jean-Pierre
Francois (he has several names, several estates in several countries and
Monoco) describes the french political class making up the french state.
So I will end this response to your inquiry with his comment, a very
powerful french insider, worth they say some 50 million dollars but who
really knows, and privy to state secrets and the hidden lives of french
political class: "Les hommes politiques? Des marionnettes au bout d'une
ficelle, manipulées par les groupes industriels et financiers. La rance
est une république bananière. Une campagne législative coûte au minimum
5 million de francs. Pas un homme politique sur cinquante ne les
possède....."

Why don't you come to france and see for yourself. But you will have to
live here a long while to understand the culture of money and politics
here. Its nothing like in the US. Oh, the words are the same, more or
less, a linguistic banality. Democracy means quite a different here. Why
just this weekend Chirac was excusing dictatrships in Africa during the
two day Paris African summitt, saying it was the order of the day and
that it takes development to make democracy.....

Suu Kyi believes rather it takes democracy to make development and
without it, there can be no real lasting development. Sure,
dictatorships come and go, but like Pinochet in Franco-Spain, perhaps
some day, Total will have its day in court.

dawn star

Neil McDougall wrote:
> 
> How about trying dialogue with the company instead of just insulting it
> from the sidelines? Also try not repeatedly to write stupid statements
> such as 'companies would much rather do business with dictators than with
> democratic governments'. Companies want do do long-term planning since
> the return on capital investment is calculated over many years.
> Dictatorships are inherently unstable and volatile and power can shift to
> different hands by a simple military coup with other officers gaining the
> upper hand. Well-established democracies are clearly more stable. Also
> companies wish to operate within an established legal framework so that
> their investments cannot just be appropriated i.e. they wish those in
> power to be subject to the law and not just able to make it up as they go
> along. Companies desire an independent judicial framework. Dictatorships
> clearly see themselves as above the law. For these reasons, responsible
> companies would much rather do business in countries with established
> democratic governments than with dictatorships.
> 
> Of course, there will always be a few rogue companies who will do
> business in an unethical way and be tempted to sacrifice principle
> and take higher risks by the promise of an exceptionally high return.
> 
> If you, dawn star, are prejudiced against all companies and the
> capitalist system in general for some political reason, you should say
> so. If you are not, I suggest you stop making irresponsible accusations
> about all companies (in previous postings) and stick to verifiable facts.
> How can anyone trust the facts about Total you claim to be accurate when
> at the same time you unjustifiably insult all companies?
> 
> I don't know your political motivations, but I at least respect the fact
> that you criticised trade with the Cuban dictatorship just as much as you
> criticise trade with the Burmese regime. I may not share your views but
> in this respect you are even-handed.
> 
> dawn star wrote:
> >
> > so where do we go from here as Total expands through Belgium industrial
> > territory to become even a bigger world energy giant? any comments?
> >
> > TOTAL MAKES BIG MOVE
> >
> > The London-based Financial Times business daily newspaper
> > leads its December 1 front page with a top story in headlines
> > "Total set for PetroFina takeover/ French oil group likely to announce
> > move for Belgium rival" :
> >
> > "Total, France's second-biggest oil group,
> > is expected to announce this morning the takeover of PetroFina, the
> > Belgian oil group, as the wave of mergers sweeping through
> > the oil sector set to continue...The emergence of Total as bidder for
> > PetroFina (sic), one of Belgium's biggest industrial companies, came as
> > a surprise
> > after recent speculation on Elf Aquitaine, the other big French oil
> > company.In the past, Thierry Desmarest, Total's chairman,
> > has been lukewarm towards takeovers and mergers, noting
> > that Total has one of the fastest-growing production
> > profiles in the industry. But analysts said a tie-up with
> > PetroFina would strengthen its European downstream presence,
> > as well as enhance its overall international exploration
> > effort, especially in the North Sea...."
> >
> > "Total is expected to announce a share-swap deal for PetroFina
> > stakes held by Baron Albert Frere -- the secretive Belgian financier
> > who controls 30 percent of PetroFina -- and by Belgian energy
> > group Tractebel...It is also likely to leave Mr. Frere as one of the
> > largest
> > single shareholders of Total, a position he already holds in another
> > French company, multi-utility group Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux."
> >
> > extracts reprinted from FT by dawn star
> > EuroBurmaNet
> > Worldwide Total Boycott
> > euroburma.com