------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: October 21, 1995 Issue #258 SPECIAL ISSUE: OCTOBER 27 CAMPAIGN UPDATE HEADLINES: ========== PRESS RELEASE: INDIANA U- INTL ACTION DAY ANNOUNCEMENT: CARLETON UNIVERSITY JOINS CAMPAIGN REPORT FROM U WASHINGTON BURMA GROUP PENN STATE FREE BURMA GROUP TAKES ACTION REPORT FROM BURMA GROUP AT U. MICHIGAN FBC: REPORT FROM U. WISCONSIN, MADISON NORTHWESTERN B. GROUP: NOTES ON STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS OPIRG: PEPSI/BURMA "CO-SIGNING" CAMPAIGN ---------------------------------------------------------- PRESS RELEASE: INTL ACTION DAY FOR A FREE BURMA October 19, 1995 Posted by David Horne, Indiana University INTERNATIONAL ACTION DAY FOR A FREE BURMA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ U.S. CORPORATIONS PROFIT FROM SLAVE LABOR AND OPPRESSION IN BURMA ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ON OCTOBER 27, 1995 Burma activists around the world will initiate strategies to terminate corporate funding of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), Burma's military dictatorship. Burma is a Southeast Asian nation of 40 million people held hostage at gunpoint by SLORC armed criminals. The United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights watch call SLORC one of the major human rights violators in the world. Since seizing power in 1988, SLORC has murdered thousands of pro-democracy activists, and supporters of the country's Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi (after six years of unlawful detention), thousands of political prisoners remain in captivity. Moreover, the military regime, SLORC, refuses to hand over power to the elected government resulted from the 1990 election. U.S. corporations are among the top investors in Burma following Britain, France, Singapore, Thailand, and Japan: PepsiCo, Unocal, Texaco, ARCO, Chase Manhattan Bank, Walt Disney Co., Eastman Kodak Co., General Electric Co., Pan American Pharmaceutical Ltd, Sears Roebuck, Wal-Mart Stores, and many others bankroll yet another dictatorship regime in the world. The city of Bloomington conducts business with some of these companies, and thus taxpayers' monies goes directly to the coffers of Burma's genocidal regime! It must divest. World Wide Call for Sanctions and Divestment Burma activists around the world have called for the withdrawal of foreign investors until and unless SLORC transfers power to the duly elected representatives of the people headed by Aung San Suu Kyi. Many Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and Rigoberta Menchu support our call for economic sanctions. Since 1992, Bloomington has held several Burmese related events. Two Burmese refugee students attend Indiana University and led a conference this past summer. The attenders were from all parts of the country. This semester in conjunction with the I.U. Chapter of Amnesty International and Bloomington Labor Action group, students and area citizens will take the message of Burma to Bloomington. Through protests, letter writing campaigns and a future discussion in the City Council the activists hope to educate this community on the atrocities taking place in Burma. Several cities and one state have began sanctions against any company that conducts business with SLORC. Among these are Berkeley, CA, New York City, Seattle, Portland, Santa Monica, CA, San Francisco, Cambridge, MA, and hopefully in the near future Bloomington, IN. The state of Massachusetts also has taken such action. Therefore, we, the Monroe County Friends of Burma, declare October 27, 1995 "International Action Day for a Free Burma", in order to terminate corporate funding of SLORC. We invite you to join hands with us in our fight against corporate greed and injustice. We will protest at the Pepsi plant on 17th. Street in Bloomington on Oct. 27 1995 from noon to 4 p.m. There are many activist groups from about fifty U.S. universities including the University of Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, Wisconsin, UCLA, Georgetown, Washington, Boston University, Tufts, Brandeis, Penn State, Columbia, Cornell and Indiana University. For more information contact: Tun Myint (812)339-3888 email: tmyint@indiana.edu Moe Zaw Aung (812)857-6776 email: maung@indiana.edu David Horne (812)824-9680 email: dhorne@indiana.edu ************************ ANNOUNCEMENT: CARLETON UNIVERSITY GROUP IN OTTAWA JOINS OCT 27TH CAMPAIGN OPIRG-Carleton's Burma-Tibet Group (campus-based Ontario Public Interest Research Group), joins the Oct. 27th campaign for a free Burma. On that day, OPIRG will target Pizza Hut (controlled by PepsiCo) at Carleton University. Customers will be offered form letters that they can sign and hand to the Pizza Hut manager, demanding to know whether PepsiCo profits from forced farm labour in Burma. With this action, OPIRG-Carleton launches a letter co-signing campaign to PepsiCo on forced labour. Student Presidents and School Authorities (both high school and post-secondary) are urged to co-sign letters requesting assurance from PepsiCo that it does not support forced farm labour in Burma. Canadian Friends of Burma also endorses this campaign. CFOB is issuing a nation-wide action alert to all Canadian university campuses to take action for Burma on Oct. 27th. OPIRG-Carleton's action will be cited as an example of what students can do. CFOB is already providing info and names of guest speakers to university groups who are organizing for the 27th. Contact at CFOB: Christine Harmston cfob@web.apc.org 145 Spruce St. Suite 206 Ottawa, ON K1R 6P1 ph: 613-237-8056 fax:613-563-0017 Contact at OPIRG-Carleton: Reid Cooper ai268@freenet.carleton.ca 326 Unicentre 1125 Colonel By Drive Carleton University Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6 ph: 613-788-2757 fax:613-788-3989 ************************* REPORT FROM U WASHINGTON BURMA GROUP We have elected to not do a demonstration on Red Square and to have an information table instead. This is because I perceive a demonstration to be somewhat confrontational, and the administration has been more than supportive of us.... We will be going over to the UNOCAL station too. We will also be showing the video that evening. Separately, I am trying to get an article in the paper which will draw attention to: 1) the administration's proactive support of us last year; 2) that Burma activism is getting popular and hip, and plenty of info in the popular press; 3) what's happenning on the 27th and how people can get involved. - Campaign Organizer ************** PENN STATE FREE BURMA GROUP TAKES ACTION Leading into the SEAC regional conference in Lock Haven, there will be a protest against Pepsico in State College. State College (dead center, PA) is home to Pennsylvania State University and is less than an hour from Lock Haven. Penn State has a $14 million monopoly contract with Pepsico. On the 27th (next Friday), we invite all people heading to the SEAC regional in Lock Haven to stop in Penn State for the 5pm Friday protest in front of Pizza Hut (and Taco Bell across the street). We have a banner that reads "Pepsi, the choice of a new genocide" and will be staging a die-in, where we'll fall down at one point and will be outlined in chalk in front of the restaurants. Anyone wanting directions to State College or info on the conference, contact Mike Ewall at mxe115@psuvm.psu.edu or 814-862-7959 (email is better). ************************ FBC: REPORT FROM U. WISCONSIN, MADISON We in Madison will begin leafletting (and some envision leafletting) before Taco Bell and Pizza Hut beginning this Friday until Oct. 27. We're meeting with labor unions who are after Pepsi for its contributions (surprise surprise) to the lock-out of workers in Decatur, Illinois. **FYI: In some areas, we have heard that some activists have been unplugging Pepsi machines on campuses and dorms or calling 1-800-433-COLA from pay phones and leave the handsets off once it rings. **************** REPORT FROM BURMA GROUP AT U. MICHIGAN Ann Arbor, Michigan There's a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the Burma demonstration here, much more than I envisioned. We're even going to try to get a selective-purchasing act through to the Ann Arbor City Council, to boycott Pepsico... hopefully, we'll get a lot of support for this during the demonstration as well... - Demonstration Organizer ************************* NORTHWESTERN B. GROUP: NOTES ON STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS >From Brad Simpson, a Burma campaign organizer at Northwestern As I see it, there are three main issues to be dealt with, the Pepsi connection, the Unocal connection, and the alumni association trip to Burma. The goal for the last is clear: cancel the trip. The goal for the Pepsi connection is not as clear, to get Pepsi off campus (a good short-term goal, but one which leaves larger issues unresolved), to attempt a boycott, to get Arnold Weber off of the board of Pepsi, or some combination of these? And what of the Unocal connection? What ought the goal to be? to get Dean Jacobs off the board? attack their pipelines? humiliate Jacobs however we can? here the goals seem unclear. I can envision (eventually) a multi-prong strategy attacking all three of these issues. Certain tactics, i.e. utilizing campus publications and local press, could provide opportunities for dealing with all issues, as could demonstrations, etc. Three strategies which would allow this are: 1. periodic planned actions (demos or whatever) to highlight all three themes 2. creating news for local or campus press to raise awareness and begin a public dialogue- i.e. getting friendlies to start covering and exploring the issues. 3. utilizing campus politics to embarass the university, such as attempting to get various organs of student government to pass resolutions against the "Northwestern-Burma connection"; holding meetings with relevant university bodies (the alumni association)to present demands (like cancelling Burma trips). possible tactics: 1. for Pepsi a. campus boycott program- pasting flyers regularly on every vending machine b. symbolic actions such as "Pepsi dumps", Zarni's idea c. raising questions with Administration about Pepsi's monopoly on campus through meetings, petition drive, etc. with principals. d. demos outside Arnold Weber's home, office, etc. 2. Alumni accociation trip to Burma a. petition drive to demand cancellation of trip b. negative publicity (flyers, editorials) c. negotiations with University d. call-in campaign for students' parents and/or alumni to voice opposition. e. direct actions at Alumni association offices, such as die-ins, sit-downs, etc. f. letter campaign to prof. from Northwestern going on this trip, demos outside his office, boycott of his classes. g. find out which travel agency is promoting this and apply same (wherever said travel agency is located) 3. Dean Jacobs and Unocal connection a. letter writing to, demos for Dean Jacobs as outlined above b. get Kellog student govt. to pass resolution censoring dean? Once again, these are just some ideas. It seems like it will be easiest to attack the alumni trip to Burma and Pepsi on campus. Dealing with Dean Jacobs and Arnold Weber is something else entirely. I doubt there is anything we can do to force them off the boards of these corporations. Public pressure and embarrassment are unquantifiable, there is no telling what impact they will have. The questions are, assuming some combination of the above strategies and tactics, how to integrate them, along what time frame, and on what scale? Certainly there is much room for action on other campuses which could impact Northwestern. Many of these tactics (letter writing, call-in campaigns) could be very effective and coordinated nationally. ************************* OPIRG: PEPSI/BURMA "CO-SIGNING" CAMPAIGN OCT '95: There is growing outrage at firms doing business in Burma under military rule. Many actions target PepsiCo and oil firms Unocal, Texaco, Total & ARCO, which fund gas pipeline ventures supported by forced labour, forced relocation and other abuses. SUPPORTING FORCED LABOUR? PepsiCo may be profiting from forced labour in Burma. Because it cannot repatriate profits due to Burma's worthless currency, PepsiCo engages in "countertrade" in farm products. PepsiCo buys cash crops and sells them abroad to earn the money it needs to pay for imported supplies for its bottling operations. PEPSICO PULLED OUT OF SOUTH AFRICA PepsiCo withdrew from South Africa under apartheid. Why not Burma? The parallels are compelling: again, the leader of the democratic movement, the Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, is being held hostage. In South Africa the trade embargo helped bring down apartheid. Why does PepsiCo defend business with the "slave drivers" of Burma? OTHER FIRMS DO "PACK UP AND LEAVE" PepsiCo defers to US trade law to justify being in Burma. But Coca- Cola, Levi Strauss & Co., Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne, Reebok and Macy's have all either withdrawn, or rejected SLORC's tiny captive market as more trouble than it's worth! Meanwhile, PepsiCo has joined Multinational Monitor's list of ten worst corporations. DEFYING SHAREHOLDERS AND REFUGEES PepsiCo disregarded pleas by Burmese refugees to withdraw in 1990. As a result, the All Burma Students' Democratic Front called for a boycott of all products marketed by PepsiCo. Mr. Calloway rejects the importance of democratic protest. He compares boycotts to "those despised tactics of the past... practiced by Joe McCarthy and the like." But boycotters are not targetting dissidents with unfounded slurs. They are taking to task a powerful corporation for trading with dictators. It is PepsiCo that has resorted to "coercion and strong-arm tactics," in twice denying shareholders the right to vote on resolutions calling for withdrawal from Burma. Tell PepsiCo: "We insist you terminate all business in Burma, until democracy is restored!" The use of forced labour on commercial farms there is well-documented. But PepsiCo refuses our requests to investigate its suppliers of farm products or even reveal their names. It also refuses to respond to such inquiries from shareholder and human rights organizations. But PepsiCo might respond to letters from student associations that are co-signed by education authorities. Both sign lucrative contracts giving PepsiCo access to student consumers in our education system. Please approach your own student and school authorities. Be persistent but polite. Inform them of growing concern among students. Begin highly- visible actions in your school that directly target PepsiCo, such as postering, or leafleting students near vending machines. Display protest placards at the entrance to PepsiCo-controlled restaurants on campus. These include KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, East Side Mario's, D'Angelos Sandwich Shops, Chevy's, Hot n'Now & California Pizza Kitchens. If authorities refuse to write PepsiCo, or if they go ahead and sign a contract with PepsiCo, target THEM with student letters persistently urging them to ask PepsiCo about forced labour. The latest unfortunate example is the Students' Society of McGill University (SSMU) in Montreal. It just handed PepsiCo exclusive vending rights in its (William) Shatner University Centre and all SSMU-run cafeterias. Let's ensure that PepsiCo's most important customer, our education system, really makes itself heard. If PepsiCo receives dozens of inquiries from schools and universities, it might decide that business with dictators is more trouble than it's worth! HOW YOU CAN HELP Please write letters similar to the one attached: If you're in college or university, write to a) your student association b) your university governing body. Ask them to co-sign a letter to PepsiCo. Other good co-signers may be faculty heads and alumni associations. Publicize the co-signed letter. Distribute it by hand, post it, and submit it to school and community newspapers. Make sure that many people start to wonder: "does PepsiCo trade in products made by forced labour in Burma?" ------------------------------------------------------------- LETTER TO YOUR STUDENT LEADER AND SCHOOL AUTHORITY Dear_____ and _____: I would like to share with you my concerns about PepsiCo, which does business with the brutal regime in Burma, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). PepsiCo engages in "countertrade" in farm products in Burma. This means that PepsiCo must buy cash crops and sell them abroad for hard currency in order to pay for imported supplies for its bottling operations. This countertrade may well involve forced labour, extortion or land expropriation. We know that SLORC boasts repeatedly about using "voluntary" labour throughout Burma. The use of forced labour on commercial farms there is well-documented. But PepsiCo will not investigate its suppliers of farm products or even reveal their names. PepsiCo has refused to respond to inquiries from shareholder and human rights organizations. However, PepsiCo may listen to student leaders, especially if they have the backing of school and university authorities, since together they control access to student consumers. Thus I request that the governing authorities of this school/university, and the president of the student association/high school club, co-sign the enclosed letter to PepsiCo. Feel free to revise this letter using the enclosed background sheet. Please send me a copy so that I may pass it on to concerned students and local news outlets. Forced labour is not the only concern in Burma. PepsiCo's very presence on Burma's campuses legitimizes a pattern of repression against student dissidents. This has been documented by Amnesty International and other sources. PepsiCo has ignored appeals by Burmese student refugees to withdraw from Burma. The All Burma Students Democratic Front has called for a global boycott. The International Union of Students and Asian Students Association are among the 50-odd organizations that now endorse this boycott. Growing numbers of North American students are becoming outraged at PepsiCo's support for dictatorship in Burma. I hope you agree that our fellow students should be able to enjoy snack foods without supporting forced labour and repression against students anywhere in the world. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to your response. Sincerely, -------------------------------------------------------- CO-SIGNED LETTER TO PEPSICO Wayne Calloway Chairman & CEO PepsiCo, Inc. 700 Anderson Hill Road Purchase, NY 10577, USA Dear Mr. Calloway: On behalf of concerned students at our school/university, we request that you respond to allegations that PepsiCo is benefiting from forced labour in Burma (Myanmar). We understand that you operate soft-drink bottling plants under Burma's military regime, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Before agreeing to future contracts with PepsiCo, we want assurance that PepsiCo's operations in Burma do not support human rights abuses in that country. Reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch/Asia indicate that SLORC has subjected millions of Burmese to forced labour. In particular, we wish to know if PepsiCo's "countertrade" in farm products is supported by forced labour, extortion or land expropriation. We understand that, due to Burma's worthless currency, PepsiCo must buy cash crops in Burma and sell them abroad for hard currency, in order to pay for imported supplies for its bottling operations. These allegations first came to light in October 1994 through reports by the Karen Human Rights Group. We understand that you have not responded to inquiries on this issue since then. We hope you will answer the following urgent questions: - Can PepsiCo name the parties with whom it conducts its countertrade in farm products? Can it assure us that these parties... as well as the businesses from which they purchase... have no connection with the military? - Can PepsiCo demonstrate that no forced labour, land confiscation or extortion were used in the production of farm products it purchased in Burma? Many of our students enjoy PepsiCo products: Pepsi-Cola beverages, Frito- Lay chips, and restaurants such as Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC. However, we understand that a boycott against PepsiCo products is growing worldwide. If our students begin to observe this boycott, this may affect any future contracts with PepsiCo that we may consider. Thank you for your attention. We trust you will respond in the very near future. Sincerely, Sincerely, Student President University Dean/President cc. local media; local and campus contacts for Pepsi, Frito-Lay, KFC, Pizza Hut or Taco Bell CALL Pizza Hut 1-800-358-2222 KFC 1-800-CALL-KFC Taco Bell 1-800-TACO-BEL Pepsi-Cola 1-800-433-COLA Frito-Lay 1-800-FL-CHIPS (1-800-376-2257 in Canada) CONTACT PEPSICO! World Headquarters: Wayne Calloway, Chairman & CEO PepsiCo, Inc., 700 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase, NY 10577 Elaine Franklin, Manager of Corporate Information Tel. (914) 253-3122, fax (914) 253-2203 Responsible for Burma venture: Chris Sinclair, President & CEO PepsiCo Foods & Beverages International 1 Pepsi Way, Somers, NY 10589, USA FOR THE ADDRESS OF YOUR NEAREST BOYCOTT GROUP: Westchester People's Action Coalition PO Box 488, 255 Grove Street, White Plains, NY 10601, USA Tel. (914) 682-0488; fax (914) 682-9499 E-mail: ai268@freenet.carleton.ca (OPIRG-Carleton, Ottawa) Or: Brischmidt@aol.com (Pepsi-Burma Boycott Committee) FOR PEPSICO BOYCOTT INFORMATION: OPIRG-Carleton, tel (613) 788-2757, fax (613) 788-3989 Ontario Public Interest Research Group at Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive 326 Unicentre, Ottawa ON K1S 5B6, CANADA E-Mail: ai268@freenet.carleton.ca FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ON BURMA: Canadian Friends of Burma, tel (613) 237-8056, fax (613) 563-0017 National Office: 145 Spruce St., #206, Ottawa ON K1R 6P1, CANADA E-Mail: cfob@web.apc.org PEPSICO BOYCOTT ENDORSED BY A-SEED Europe (Netherlands); Asian Students Association; Asian Human Rights Commission (Hong Kong); Association of Nature Clubs (Bangladesh); Boycott Network (Italy); Brisbane Burma Group (Australia); Burma Action Group (UK); Burma Issues (Thailand); Burmese Relief Center (Japan); Canadian Federation of Students; Canadian Youth Network for Asia-Pacific Solidarity (CYNAPS, BC); Chicago Coalition for a Democratic Burma; City of Berkeley (CA); International Union of Students (Czech Republic); Jeay Sindh Taraqi Pasand Students Federation (Pakistan); All Burma Students League (India); Massachu- setts Campaign for a Free Burma; Nonviolence International (DC); Peace & Justice Coalition (VT); Pepsi-Burma Boycott Committee (USA); Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs in Canada); Rainforest Action Network in L.A.; Reconciliation International (TX); Social Justice Magazine (Sri Lanka); Westchester People's Action Coalition (NY); Westerville Social Action (OH); University of Wisconsin Greens; and many other groups worldwide COALITION FOR CORPORATE WITHDRAWAL FROM BURMA Associates to Develop Democratic Burma; Canadian Friends of Burma; Franklin Research & Development Corporation; Institute for Asian Democracy; Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility; Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union, AFL-CIO; Sierra Club COALITION ENDORSED BY National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (Government in Exile); Democratic Alliance of Burma (representing non-Burman nationalities in Burma); Karen National Union; Nobel Peace Laureates Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams