Seattle: Activists Challenge the WT

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Subject: Seattle: Activists Challenge the WTO

For Immediate Release:

F R E E   B U R M A   C O A L I T I O N

www.freeburmacoalition.org


Seattle: Activists Challenge the WTO

November 30, 1999 -- Seattle -- Today, Free Burma supporters from around
the world joined tens of thousands of diverse citizens calling for
fundamental changes in the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Coming from France, Great Britain, Thailand, Canada and across the US,
Burma supporters asserted their message that the Burmese dictatorship's
massive use of forced labor clearly undermines the credibility of the WTO.

After the International Labor Organization (ILO) voted in June to suspend
the Burmese military junta because of widespread and ongoing forced labor,
the WTO had credible proof of forced labor within the WTO's purported free
trade regimen.  But the WTO has been unable or unwilling to show that it
has any minimum standards for its members.

In front of an overflow crowd of more than 25,000 at Seattle's Memorial
Stadium, US-based Unocal and its Burmese military partners were condemned
for forced labor and forced relocation. Free Burma activists shared the
stage with global labor leaders, as well as Indian grass-roots organizer
Vandana Shiva and Chinese democracy champion Wei Jingsheng.

"Free trade at the cost of forced labor is something that the people,
whether in the US, in Canada, in Burma, or elsewhere, don't want," said
Karen activist Stephen Dun,in a statement released at the rally.  "It is
time that the WTO bureaucrats recognize this fact and take action against 
forced labor in the WTO!"

Elsewhere in the city, Free Burma supporters joined huge, non-violent
direct actions to express rejection of the rules under which the WTO
conducts business. A 20-foot long heroin syringe, representing the Burmese
junta's leading export, was a colorful addition to an early morning
parade.  The syringe was crushed by a police officer, but the parade
caused the WTO meeting to be substantially delayed.

Free Burma supporters acted in a uniformly peaceful and positive
manner, being dedicated to non-violent tactics for political change.

END

Contact:  Free Burma Coalition Seattle Office
		206-784-5742