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BurmaNet News June 22, 1996
-------------------------- BurmaNet -------------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The BurmaNet News: June 22, 1996
Issue # 448
Noted in Passing:
Forced labour is endemic. Roads, dams, railways,
hospitals - they use forced labour on every new scheme.
- a Western diplomat in Rangoon (see DAILY
TELEGRAPH: CHILDREN TOIL ON THE ROAD TO
MANDALAY)
HEADLINES:
==========
ANNOUNCEMENT: MASS. GOVERNOR TO SIGN BURMA BILL
FEER: THE BURMESE BEYOND
REUTER: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT URGES EU TO ISOLATE BURMA
NATION: ASEAN LOOKING AS CONFUSED AS SLORC
BKK POST: JUNTA CLOSES IN ON RIVAL BID TO DRAFT CHARTER
THAILAND TIMES: BURMESE STUDENTS TO RALLY FOR ANNIVERSARY
BKK POST: WASHINGTON SENDS WARNING TO SLORC
DAILY TELEGRAPH: CHILDREN TOIL ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
REUTER: BURMA SAYS SUU KYI IS A PRISONER OF NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
US CONGRESSMAN TOM LANTOS: MESSAGE TO DAW SUU
NCGUB: FINAL VERSION OF MCCONNELL'S SANCTIONS LEGISLATION
FBC: NEW INTLIST MISTAKE, PEPSI BOYCOTT
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANNOUNCEMENT: MASS. GOVERNOR TO SIGN BURMA BILL
June 21, 1996
Simon Billenness <simon_billenness@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Massachusetts Governor Weld will sign the Burma Selective Purchasing Bill
at the State House on Tuesday, June 25th, 2:00 p.m. Room 157.
*********************************************************
FEER: THE BURMESE BEYOND
June 27, 196
By Aung Myo Min and Zaw Oo
Eight years ago at around this time of year, we students stood up
for a popular movement that started the current drama in Burma.
It was a period characterized not just by unprecedented
repression, but by our society's first attempt at democratic
change. Back then, democracy was quelled along with our fallen
brothers. At present, a repeat of 1988 is foreshadowed by the
increasingly aggressive stance on all sides of the Burmese conflict.
After almost three decades of self-isolation and socialist
experimentation, Burma has deteriorated terribly, becoming what
aid organizations call a least-developed country. Educational
standards have declined as well - dissent - ridden universities
having been closed from 1988 to 1991. Many young people have been
forced into unemployment. It's the pent-up frustrations of the
young, combined with the current regime's own blunders, that have
given birth to the present-day democratic movement. Indeed, Aung
San Suu Kyi has built the power of youth into her crusade against
the State Law and Order Restoration Council. The Slorc is aware
of this-it jailed dozens students along with the National League
for Democracy politicians it rounded up in late May.
The confrontation between Suu Kyi, with her young followers, and
the Slorc, with its state apparatus and powerful war machine, may
appear to be politically hopeless. After all , a bunch of
dissidents heading towards the prison doors doesn't make a very
promising impression. But the Slorc is not winning the day. For
one thing, there's an entire generation willing to sacrifice
rulers. For another, the state-dominated economy, with its hyper-
inflation and sluggish, low value-added foreign investment, is
heading towards crisis. As the Burmese saying goes, Slorc risks
acting like "a stupid crow that rides a floating dead elephant."
Half a century ago, Burma's young people undertook a national
liberation movement to free Burma from colonial repression. Now
the aim of what is known as the "second independence movement" is
to free Burma from domestic despotism. The coalition of students,
intellectuals, labour groups and ethnic groups is unified by the
vision that our actions should bring about a Burma that can stand
tall, prosperous and democratic.
Ever since the release of Suu Kyi last July, Burma's political
space has been widening, as ordinary people join the movement's
cause. The regularity of weekly forums, the growing numbers of
people who defy the Slorc ban on assembly, pamphleteering and the
growth of underground papers - all are steps towards ending
repressive rule. Some of us who fled in the wake of the crackdown
in 1988 have regrouped abroad to complement the movement inside
the country. We bridge with international forces in the border
areas and work on international lobbying campaigns.
It's not just outside pressure that is working towards change in
the Burmese government - there's also the pressure that comes
from the failings of the ruling system itself. Three internal
paradoxes pose a serious threat to Slorc power. First, the
political requirement of control over society is incompatible
with the need to open the economic system for efficiency. The
Burmese economy is failing not for a lack of natural advantages,
but because it is being dragged down by Slorc's priority of
making economic decisions for political ends. This hampers the
economic recovery that could compensate for the government's
illegitimacy.
Second, the army has stretched itself to institutional capacity.
Unlike its predecessor, the Revolutionary Council of Ne Win, or
its regional model, the Indonesian army, Slorc has had little
success in building institutional arrangements with staying
power. The fact that the same people are sitting in the same
military council proves the upward mobility of the army's younger
generation hasn't been institutionalized.
Third, the penetration of international forces, from the Cable
News Network to the United States Congress, into our struggle has
had a profound effect on Slorc's means - and on our credibility
and morale. To use brutal force before the watchful eye of the
international media is hard for Slorc, and so the opposition has
become difficult to suppress. Another massacre in Rangoon can
cause Slorc to lose foreign investment, Japanese aid, and dollar-
spending tourists. And if an outright crackdown is no longer an
option, what does Slorc have left to contain the popular groundswell?
If confrontation and violence are to come next, disaster will be
Burma's fate no matter who is victorious. Burma urgently needs to
resolve its political deadlock without further conflict, in a
manner wherein every citizen participates and shares
responsibility in the process of national reconstruction. The
final departure from military rule seems possible collapse of the
regime, on a national dialogue to find solutions to our problems,
rehumanize and redefine our relationship to each other - and
restore the dignity and quality of our lives. We could all begin
this process with mutual recognition and the assurance that
democracy is not anti-military and that not all soldiers are little demons.
Arresting elected representatives or even Suu Kyi will not stop
the historic tide of change. Renewed repression will only cause
widespread demoralization among the young of Burma. Yet the young
generation is needed to rebuild the country. Partnership is still
possible, while a protracted conflict can still sink Burma in the lowest pit.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Aung Myo Min is a member of the Foreign Affairs Department of the
All Burma Students' Democratic Front on the Thai-Burmese border.
Zaw Oo recently finished graduate studies at Columbia University.
Both exiles were in Burma's student movement in 1988.
***********************************************************
REUTER: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT URGES EU TO ISOLATE BURMA
June 20, 1996
from: julien moe <moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
STRASBOURG, France, June 20 (Reuter) - The European Parliament urged
the European Union on Thursday to isolate Burma economically and politically
in a bid to force it to move towards democracy.
The parliament said a move in June to ban the National League for Democracy
of opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi
was a ``serious attack on human rights and freedom of expression.''
Since her release from six years of house arrest in July Suu Kyi has made
repeated, unanswered pleas to the ruling State Law and Order Restoration
Council to hold a dialogue with her party to find a way to achieve democrasy
for Burma.
The parliament said the State Law and Order Council put a new law into
force on June 6 under which political criticism and public speeches can be
punished with up to 20 years' imprisonment.
Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace prize in 1991 for her non-violent efforts to
achieve democracy for Burma. At the time she was under detention for her
outspoken attacks on the military government.
European Commissioner Manuel Marin told the parliament the Commission had
proposed suspending Burma from the EU's list of countries receiving
preferential trade terms.
************************************************************
NATION: ASEAN LOOKING AS CONFUSED AS SLORC
June 21, 1996
If everybody in the United States stopped drinking Pepsi tomorrow
would democracy return to Burma? Probably not. But it would
likely do more good than simply improving the dietary habits of Americans.
Similarly, if Asean finally climbed off the fence and did more
than parrot empty phrases about constructive engagement would the
region be better served. We believe so.
What the small student groups in America seem to understand, and
the so-called skilled diplomats of Asean don't, is that international pressure
can help improve the political situation in countries like Burma.
Kowtowing does not. Fence-sitting does not. The divisions between
the two sides in Burma are so sharp it is simply not possible to
occupy the middle grand. The fence is a razor-wiretopped
barricade that injures anyone who tries to straddle it.
And by doing nothing Asean is in effect giving support to the
military government in Rangoon. The grouping's announcement last
week that it "would not interfere in Burma's internal affairs",
despite appeals from Burmese and the West to prod Rangoon to
begin a dialogue with the opposition, were splashed over the
front pages of all of Burma's state-run news- papers.
The business argument
Critics of boycotts, sanctions and other forms of overt political
pressure counter that whatever good they do is outweighed by the
hurt they cause the very people they are intended to help. If
Pepsi was to cancel its licensing agreements in Burma, several
thousand Burmese would be out of work. The scores of hotels
sprouting up around Rangoon and Mandalay similarly provide better
paying work for Burmese who have spent the last 30 years with
their heads barely above the poverty line thanks to the inept
policies of the ruling military.
They also point out that you can't stop business. Where there is
a buck to be made so a businessmen will be there to do it. No
matter if that means climbing mountains, crossing rivers or
shaking hands with the devil. The lure of profit is one of the
most irresistible forces on earth. Should French oil giant Total
pull out of Burma another smaller company carrying less political
baggage will simply step in.
The third point, and the most strenuously argued by the
pro-business sector, is that foreign involvement in Burma will
improve the country and accelerate the democratisation process.
But this is a fallacy. Foreign business involvement and democracy
do not inevitably lead to democracy.
One need look no further than Thailand for evidence of that.
Despite its long history of being open to foreign businessmen it
was only four years ago that a military-led government ordered
soldiers to gun down scores of protesting Thai citizens in Bangkok.
It is true foreign investment does improve the conditions for
democracy but it does not happen quickly or with any certainty.
It took more than 40 years in Taiwan, equally as long in Japan
and the struggle seems to be continuing in Korea.
Several weeks ago Rangoon sentenced a friend of opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi to jail for three years. His crime - illegal
ownership of three fax machines. Earlier this year, six students
got up to seven years each for poking fun at the government in a
pantomime. In more recent weeks hundreds of supporters and party
delegates were rounded up and jailed after being invited to a
party congress. They were not charged because they had not
committed any crime. Then there is the litany of complaints
against the junta cited by the United Nations, forced labour,
forced relocation of citizens, ethnic cleansing campaigns,
military atrocities, medieval punishment regimes.
Growing pains
Are these the growing pains Burmese should be fairly assumed to
bare as the country develops? We would like to suggest not.
When no pressure is placed on businessmen they do not act as
forces for democracy and in many cases working the status quo is
so profitable they are forces for quite the opposite. Certainly
in Burma there is an increasing body of evidence suggesting Total
is actively supporting Rangoon in its campaign of forced labour
to build a gas pipeline through the east of the country.
Burma today is at a crossroads. The government is under pressure
from the West and the local opposition and there are indications
that it is confused about which direction to turn. One day the
official press quotes a general vowing to 'annihilate' the
opposition, and the next day the same paper is quoting a different
general stressing the need to work toward dialogue and conciliation.
What is needed from Asean is quiet pressure. The benefits and
rewards of dialogue should be made clear to Rangoon which has
traditionally responded to challenges with a reflexive brutality.
The noises coming out of Asean's member states, however, suggest
that behind the facade of consensus there is much confusion.
Thailand and the Philippines have made gestures of support
towards the opposition, Singapore has suggested "Suu Kyi stay
behind her fence", Vietnam's communists have expressed solidarity
with the Rangoon junta and Jakarta seems unwilling to waver from
its monolithic stand of non-interference.
Asean leaders are right when they say there is more to Burma than
simply the protection of economic interests. But the result of
their failure to respond to the dynamics of the situation in
Burma means that these problems like the arms buildup, narcotics
smuggling, an Aids epidemic and illegal labour flows -are only
likely to get worse.
*****************************************************************
BKK POST: JUNTA CLOSES IN ON RIVAL BID TO DRAFT CHARTER
June 21, 1996 AFP
by Michele Cooper
BURMA's military rulers may be willing to give Aung San Suu Kyi
and the pro-democracy opposition some latitude but they have
drawn the line at tampering with their plans for a new state
constitution.
A central issue is the military's insistence on a firmly
entrenched role in managing the country's future affairs.
When the junta announced a new law on June 7 to prevent
"obstruction" to the state sponsored national constitutional
convention, many assumed that Mrs Suu Kyi's weekend rallies were
the target.
But the meetings, at which she addresses thousands of' supporters
from the gate to her family compound, continued unhindered for
the next two weekends, and there was no immediate sign they would
be halted.
The real target, analysts now believe, is the opposition National
League for Democracy's (NLD) decision to work on its own draft
constitution a decision the junta saw as an inadmissible
challenge to its position.
"Constitutional drafting is the target of this law. That is the
action which they [the junta] would consider to be a step too
far," said an Asian diplomat in Rangoon.
"If the meetings were going to be banned, the SLORC would already
have intervened," another Rangoon based analyst said. "It's the
possibility of a alternative constitution that they can't live with."
The NLD holds it is within its rights to draft a new charter
because of its landslide win in the 1990 general elections which
the junta, officially known as the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC), refused to recognize.
The SLORC has promised to hand over power to a civilian
government once the constitution is completed, but insists on a
strong military presence in future administrations.
The NLD initially took part in the state-sponsored national
constitutional convention, which has met periodically since 1993,
but the party given fresh energy with Mr. Suu Kyi's release from
six years of house arrest in July 1995 walked out last November.
The NLD said the convention was unacceptable in its present form
as elected officials made up only a small pro portion of those
attending, an given the military's insistence on 25 percent of the seats.
The NLD announced its charter plans at a party meeting at the end
of May which was in itself an act of defiance. The SLORC
attempted to disrupt the meeting by detaining more than 260 NLD
supporter ahead of time.
After the meeting, when the SLORC had already begun releasing
detainees, a new law was announced "protecting the peaceful and
systematic transfer of state responsibility and the successful
performance of the functions of the National Convention against
disturbances and oppositions".
Its terms included a prohibition against any person or
organization "carrying out the I functions of the National
Convention or drafting and disseminating the Constitution of the
State without lawful authorization".
Mrs Suu Kyi immediately said her weekend meetings were not
intended to disrupt the rule of law but rather to promote it.
Last Saturday she returned to the subject of the new law, saying:
"We are all for it if it is interpreted in the right way ... but
if it is deliberately misused against us, it will in no way be
conducive to peace and stability."
Recent commentaries in Rangoon's official press have given mixed
signals, with suggestions that dialogue is still possible
contending with warnings that the opposition needed to be more
flexible in its dealings with the military government.
*************************************************************
THAILAND TIMES: BURMESE STUDENTS TO RALLY FOR ANNIVERSARY
June 21, 1996
Bangkok: Burmese students in Thailand will today commemorate the eighth
anniversary of their fallen comrades, who were killed by Burmese security
forces during a pro-democracy demonstration in 1988, student sources said.
The students, together with their Thai colleagues, plan a lay a wreath in front of
the Burmese embassy on South Sathorn Road at 1 pm.
Afterward, they plan to distribute leaflets to the movie-goers of "Beyond Rangoon",
a Hollywood film based on the 1988 pro-democracy uprising in Burma. The
leaflets, to be distributed to people at the film's current venue, the World Trade
Center Theater 2, contain information on the Burmese military's human rights
violations in their country, student said.
****************************************************
BKK POST: WASHINGTON SENDS WARNING TO SLORC
June 21, 1996
Washington, AFP
THE US State Department warned Burma's military rulers on
Wednesday against arresting Mrs Suu Kyi amid published reports
they may be preparing for her detention.
While the SLORC has denied the report, department spokesman
Nicholas Burns said such an arrest "would represent a serious
escalation of the repression".
US officials are looking into Japanese press reports that the SLORC was
preparing to issue a warrant for Mrs Suu Kyi's arrest, he said.
The report emerged as it appeared Massachusetts would become the
first US state to impose sanctions on companies that do business
in Burma in step with six US cities which have similar laws in force.
Spokesman Jose Juves said state governor, William Weld, would
probably sign into law next week a "selective purchasing" bill
that passed the state legislature unanimously last week.
In Colombo, opposition Sri Lankan legislators, reacting to the
same report, yesterday threatened a series of protests if Mrs Suu
Kyi was arrested.
****************************************************
DAILY TELEGRAPH (UK): CHILDREN TOIL ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
June 20, 1996 (slightly abridged)
Philip Sherwell, South East Asia Correspondent
THE road to Mandalay is being upgraded by Burmese children as young as
eight as the military junta uses forced labour schemes to prepare the
country for its self-styled Tourism Year.
The boys and girls earn 16 pence for a dawn-to-dusk day of backbreaking
labour in weather veering from baking heat to monsoon downpours. They
have been put to work improving the 50-mile stretch of rutted road from
Rangoon to Pegu, a popular tourist destination and home of the famed Great
Golden God pagoda.
The children, toiling in labour gangs organised by the local authorities,
work 12 days on followed by two days off. School is a luxury they are not
allowed.
Photographs of scenes along the road are published in The Daily Telegraph
for the first time today as International Labour Organisation delegates in
Geneva consider mounting a commission of inquiry into allegations of
labour abuses in Burma. The European Union is already receiving written
testimony as part of a separate forced labour investigation that could lead
to the withdrawal of preferential tariffs for the impoverished former
British colony.
A new report by the South East Asian Information Network (SAIN) and
Earth Rights International (ERI) details refugees' accounts of human
rights abuses linked to the construction of a new gas pipeline in the
southern Burmese jungle financed by French oil giants Total and their
American partners Unocal.
But Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader, and her National League for
Democracy has urged tourists and foreign investors to stay away
"Forced labour is endemic," said a Western diplomat in Rangoon. "Roads,
dams, railways, hospitals - they use forced labour on every new scheme."
The military junta counters that it is pursuing the old Burmese tradition
of employing "corvee" (or voluntary) labour in lieu of taxation for
schemes that benefit the local communities. But several projects - such as
cleaning the Mandalay moat and the Rangoon-Pegu road - appear to be
preparations for the much-delayed Visit Myanmar (Burma) Year that
finally starts in November.
The generals are hoping an influx of dollar-wielding tourists will boost
the country's weak economy as it emerges from decades of self-imposed
isolation. But Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader, and her National
League for Democracy has urged tourists and foreign investors to stay
away, arguing that their money supports the dictatorship.
Total and Unocal have both introduced company policies that allow no
forced labour on their project to build a gas pipeline through Burma from
the Andaman Sea to Thailand. But the SAIN/ERI investigations uncovered
strong evidence from refugees reaching the Thai border of forced labour
and human rights abuses on Burmese road and infrastructure schemes
linked to the pipeline. Several villages have been cleared in the area to
make way for the projects.
"If they let us work like human beings, we might not have come to the
refugee camp. But they force us to work like slaves or animals," said one
woman who had fled to the Thai border.
**********************************************************
REUTER: BURMA SAYS SUU KYI IS A PRISONER OF NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
June 20, 1996 (slightly abridged)
from: julien moe <moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
RANGOON, Burma (Reuter) - Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is
a ``prisoner'' of the Nobel Peace Prize and is controlled by the West,
official media said Thursday.
A commentary in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said every
Nobel Peace laureate who was supported by the Western bloc became a prisoner
of the million-dollar prize.
``Desmond Tutu of South Africa, (Mikhail) Gorbachev and others who
received Nobel Prizes were caught under the bond of Western mentors and had
to do as they were told by the mentors,'' the commentary said.
``Aung San Suu Kyi too became a prisoner of Nobel Prize in 1991 while
dancing aerobics,'' it said.
The commentary, which said the ``power-hungry'' Suu Kyi was urging her
``Western mentors'' to blockade Burma and deter investors, urged Suu Kyi to
leave Burma.
``To Aung San Suu Kyi...may I express by good wishes for her to study the
nature of genuine democracy of Myanmar society; if she understands it, she
should expeditiously go back to London to peacefully enjoy the lakhs and
millions of dollars of awards from the West including the Nobel Prize.''
Burmese-language newspapers Thursday carried a second installment of a
commentary which began on Wednesday saying the government was making
efforts to open a dialogue with Suu Kyi.
Thursday's commentary said the ruling military body, the State Law and
Order Restoration Council (SLORC), was being flexible in its handling of
political and economic matters.
It also said the SLORC was working first to improve the economy before
democracy could be established.
``People will become satisfied and elated when their business prospers.
Only then will they realize that human rights and independence prevail in
their country. After that their trust in the basic political system of
democracy in their country will grow,'' it said.
Since her release from house arrest Suu Kyi has made repeated, unanswered
pleas to the SLORC to hold a dialogue with her National League for Democracy
party and ethnic groups to find a way to achieve democracy for Burma.
***********************************************************
US CONGRESSMAN TOM LANTOS: MESSAGE TO DAW SUU
June 20, 1996
Message from Congressman Tom Lantos to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's
birthday celebration at Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 19, 1996.
C o n g r e s s o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Statement by Congressman Tom Lantos
Commemorative Event Marking the 51st Birthday
of Burma's Human Rights Leader
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
June 19, 1996
Today, we are happy to celebrate the 51st birthday of one of
the world's most outstanding human rights leaders, the 1991
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi personifies the dreams and hopes of the
Burmese people for freedom and democracy. The Nobel
Committee cited her as "one of the most extraordinary examples
of civil courage in recent decades" and "an important symbol in the
struggle against oppression." Ms.Aung San Suu Kyi's immeasurable
and enduring commitment to human rights and democracy have
long inspired people beyond the boundaries of Burma in their own
struggle for these universal goals.
In a blatant breach of all international standards, Burma's
ruthless military government nullified the victory of Aung
San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, in
the 1990 elections and put her under house arrest. When the
ruling military junta finally released Aung San Suu Kyi from
her six year house arrest in July 1995, she immediately
resumed her political activities. Her leadership, vision
and popularity can never be confined to the walls of any
kind of prison -- a lesson the Burmese military junta had to
learn. When Aung San Suu Kyi recently called all democrats
for a meeting to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the
election betrayal, a helpless Burmese government could only
react by arresting over 200 of her supporters, demonstrating
to the world how worthy this regime is beneath contempt.
My wife Annette and I wish Aung San Suu Kyi all the
happiness and health on her birthday. We all pray for her
strength to continue her efforts for her country.
In deep friendship,
signed: xxx
Tom Lantos
Member of Congress
**************************************************
NCGUB: FINAL VERSION OF MCCONNELL'S SANCTIONS LEGISLATION
June 20, 1996
>From NCGUB: Senator McConnell inlcuded this language in the Foreign Aid Bill
on June 18. Senator McConnelll decided to include the mandatory sanctions
from his Bill, S1511, which he introduced on December 29, 1995. The
language will go to the full Appropriiations Committee. Now is the time to
contact all Senate members urging them to vote in favor of the mandatory
sanctions as listed below:
SECTION 569 OF THE FOREIGN AID BILL
1. LIMITATION ON FUNDS FOR BURMA
2. Sec. 569. Until such time as the President determines
3. and certifies to the Committees on Appropriations that an
4. elected government of Burma has been allowed to take office,
5. the following sanctions shall be imposed on Burma:
6. (1) No national of the United States shall make
7. any investment in Burma;
8. (2) United States assistance to Burma is prohib-
9. ited;
10. (3) The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct
11. the United States executive director of each inter-
12. national financial institution to vote against any
13. loan or other utilization of the funds of the respective
14. bank to or for Burma; and
15. (4) Except as required by Treaty obligations,
16. any Burmese national who formulates, implements,
17. or benefits from policies which hinder the transition
18. of Burma to a democratic country shall be ineligible
19. to receive a visa and shall be exclude from admission
20. to the United States.
21. SPECIAL DEBT RELIEF FOR THE POOREST
22. SEC. 570. (a) AUTHORITY TO REDUCE DEBT. --- The
23. President may reduce amounts owed to the United States
24. (or any agency of the United States) by an eligible country
25. as a result of ---
---------
Here is the portion dealing with Assistance to Burma
5. BURMA
6. Of the funds appropriated by this Act to carry out the
7. Provisions of chapter 8 of part I and chapter 4 of part II
8. of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, not less than
9. $2,500,000 shall be made available to support activities in
10. Burma, along the Burma-Thailand border, and for activi-
11. ties of Burmese student groups and other organizations lo-
12. cated outside Burma, for the purposes of fostering democ-
13. racy in Burma, supporting the provision of medical sup-
14. plies and other humanitarian assistance to Burmese located
15. in Burma or displaced Burmese along the borders, and for
16. other purposes: Provided, That of this amount, not less than
17. $200,000 shall be made available to support newspapers,
18. publications, and other media activities promoting democ-
19. racy inside Burma: Provided further, That funds made
20. available under this heading may be made available not-
21. withstanding any other provision of law: Provided further,
22. That provision of such funds shall be made available subject
23. to the regular notification procedures of the Committees on
24. Appropriations.
*****************************************************
FBC: NEW INTLIST MISTAKE, PEPSI BOYCOTT
June 20, 1996
Dear All,
1) It was brought to our attention that in the most recent issue of New
Internationalist magazine (John Pilger who directed a new documentary on
Burma called "Inside Burma: Land of Fear" is the editor for this issue),
Pepsico is listed as one of the corporations that withdrew from Burma.
For those of you who have recently joined our movement, Pepsico has not
withdrawn from Burma. Due to mounting pressure on U.S. campuses against
their complicity in human rights violations and political oppression in
Burma under thuggish Slorc, Pepsico made this cynical move announcing its
"withdrawal" in an international press conference.
PEPSI BOYCOTT IS STILL ON!!!!!!!
The reasons the Free Burma Coalition has not called of the boycott when
Pepsico announced that it was selling its 40% equity interest to local
contractor U Thein Tun, and that it was having no employees in Rangoon
where their bottling plant is are:
1) Pepsico continues to sell cola ingredients to U Thein Tun;
2) Pepsico still has allowed the use of Pepsi logo in U Thein Tun's Pepsi
bottling;
3) Pepsico is believed to buy farm products that are made with slave and
forced child labor.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself has made specific comments on Pepsi's sham
withdrawal.
Leslie Kean, co-founder of the Burma Project (USA) has usable Pepsi-related
pictures. If you want to use them, drop a note on the listserver.
In addition, Pepsico's current business partner U Thein Tun recently led a
Slorc-orchestrated mass rally of businessmen and -women, slandering Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi and her call for divestment and corporate withdrawal from
Burma.
There are so far three universities (i.e., Harvard, Stanford, and Colgate)
that under pressure from Free Burma activists and concerned citizens in the
US decided to dump Pepsico from the list of their business partners.
The official letter from Free Burma Coalition where our coalition's
position is clearly enunciated can be found on the FBC webpage:
http://danenet.wicip.org/fbc/freeburma.html
There is a black and white picture of a Burmese boy wearing a torn and
tattered T-shirt with the Pepsi logo on it on our webpage. Please feel
free to use that striking image of what has become of "the Choice of a New
Genocide" for any purpose (posters, postcards, flyers, etc.).
2) Mr. Dennis Robert, attorney-at-law and president of the Peace and
Justice group in Dallas is inviting any Dallas area activists and concerned
citizens to join the Free Burma campaign in Dallas.
Tel: 214-522-8905 or fax at 522-8013
3) Massachusetts Governor Weld will sign the statewide economic
sanctions bill on Tuesday. Please join us in congratulating Simon
Billenness and Massachusetts spiders for their tireless efforts to bring
yet another victory to our movement. Perhaps, statewide Free Burma
legislations are something we ought to consider doing in our own states.
4) Lalapolooza summer concert is going to be begin in about a week. This
year, the concert will be held in 29 different cities in US and Canada.
The organizers of the concert has agreed to have Free Burma info booths and
play PSA tape during the concerts.
5) Last but not the least, a major goal of the US Free Burma campaign is to
push for the enactment of the Burma Freedom and Democracy Act of 1995
(Senate version S1511 and House version HR 2894). This requires tremendous
grassroots support. If we can organize statewide, grassroots lobbying
campaigns in support of the Bill during the remaining days of the summer,
we can hope to accomplish this rather significant political goal before
November. Elections being around the corner, we should make the best use
of elections timing by trying to make the endorsement of the Burma Freedom
and Democracy Act both a local and a national election issue. Any questions on
the status of the bill, please contact the National Coalition Government of
the Union of Burma Information Office at 202-393-7342 (t) or 393-7343 (f).
Dr. Sein Win, a cousin of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi heads the exiled government.
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