------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: Special Issue - FREE BURMA CAMPAIGN UPDATE Issue #303 December 16, 1995 Headings: ======== FREE BURMA CAMPAIGN LIST SERVER UP FBC: LIST OF BURMA FOCUS GROUP CONTACTS SELECTIVE PURCHASING LEGISLATION JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY - BURMA CAMPAIGN UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA-GREENSBORO - PEPSI OREGON GROUP - STOP THE LAST US CLOTHING CO. IN BURMA AFL-CIO and NCGUB: FACT SHEETS TO FREE BURMA GROUPS CORNELL: BEYOND RANGOON SHOWING FBC: AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S VIDEOTAPE AND FUND-RAISING COLORADO COLLEGE: STOPPING MINING IN BURMA BOYCOTT PEPSI STICKERS AVAILABLE STANFORD: HUMAN RIGHTS PROXY FLYER FOR STOPPING ALUMNI TOURS TO BURMA INDIANA U: APPEAL TO INDIANA U ALUMNI ASSOCIATION WRITE TO MOUNTAIN TRAVEL SOBEK MEETINGS WITH ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS ACTIONS AT U OF WISCONSIN HUMAN RIGHTS DAY ON DECEMBER 10 STANFORD: BURMESE NEW YEAR SPECIAL PIZZA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BurmaNet Editor's Note: BurmaNet will periodically put together special issues on the International Free Burma Campaign. Anyone who wants information posted should send it to christin@ksc.net.th and note that it is for posting in the FBC special issues. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FREE BURMA CAMPAIGN LIST SERVER UP MISSION STATEMENT This list has been established to improve substantially coordination of the International Free Burma campaign and facilitate communication among our FBC groups. This list is NOT for discussion of issues other than the ones directly related to our campaign activities. LIST POLICY Although "Free-Burma Coalition" is a *PRIVATE* list postings will NOT be moderated by any individual. All of us however, should make an effort to consider the perspectives of others. Further, it IS important to try NOT to overwhelm our fellow activists with a huge volume of postings on the list. In the event an individual member (or members) begins to act irresponsibly (e.g., sending abusive, vulgar, harassing or bigoted messages) and hence become a threat to the cohesiveness of our action-oriented grassroots coalition, the list will be moderated temporarily by either delaying or deleting messages that are not conducive to our campaign. We will announce the beginning of such moderation and its end. The list will be moderated only in extreme need and at the request of a substantial number of list users. LIST DISCLAIMER: Content of all posts is that of the contributing author and does NOT necessarily reflect the Free Burma Coalition as a group, unless otherwise stated openly. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE Send an email to: listserver@lists.stdorg.wisc.edu With the body of the email to read: subscribe free-burma YourFirstName YourLastName HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE Send an email to: listserver@lists.stdorg.wisc.edu With the body of the email to read: unsubscribe free-burma ****** Please note that this is the UW-Madison chapter of Free Burma Coalition (per Phil Cooney, Student Organization Office). Listowner: Zar Ni (zni@students.wisc.edu) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FBC: LIST OF FOCUS GROUPS 1) Coordination and outreach International Coordination and Outreach Christine Harmston (Canada) at cfob@web.apc.org U Nyunt Aung (UK) at naung@taywoodint.co.uk Dr. Khin Ni Ni Thein (Netherlands) at nin@ihe.nl Christopher Dietrich (France) at cd@utopia.EUnet.fr Aung Myo Min (Thailand) at caroline@ksc.net.th Win Min (Thailand) at lurie@mozart.inet.co.th Tapani.Ojasti (Finland) at ojasti@katto.kaapeli.fi Western activists (India) at burtu.atubdo@axcess.net.in Ko Soe Myint (India) at nvp!shar@unv.ernet.in Ko Aye Chan Naing (Norway) at absdf@oslonett.no Ken and Visakha Kawasaki (Japan) at brelief@gol.com Ko Maung Maung Than (Australia) at hazell@coombs.anu.edu.au U Nwe Aung (Germany) at a2639408@smail1.rrz.Uni-Koeln.DE Nick Thompson (West Coast, USA) at nickt@pangea.Stanford.EDU Liz Abercrombie (EAst Coast, USA) at thompsrc@jmu.edu Yuki Kidokoro (West Coast, USA) at yuki@ASUCLA.UCLA.EDU Simon Billenness (East Coast, USA) at simon_billenness@mail.cybercom.net Ko Htun Aung Gyaw (East Coast, USA) at hag2@crux3.cit.cornell.edu Ko Tun Myint (Midwest, USA) at tmyint@indiana.edu Ma Khin Ohn Mar & Ko Zaw Zaw (East Coast, USA) at freeburma@aol.com Brian (East Coast, USA) at BGL103@PSUVM.PSU.EDU Brad Simpson (Midwest, USA) at simpsonb@nwu.edu Ko Zaw Oo (East Coast, USA) at zo1@columbia.edu Zarni (Midwest, USA) at zni@students.wisc.edu Jane Jerome (West Coast, USA) at jjerome@bellmicro.com Kathy Polias (East Coast) at kpolias@emerald.tufts.edu> 2. Media Group a) Larry Dohrs at dohrs@u.washington.edu b) Ko Aye Chan at dvb@oslonett.no c) Dr. Christina Fink at christin@ksc.net.th d) Todd Price at taprice@students.wisc.edu e) Betty Morse at 74750.1267@compuserve.com f) David Horne at dhorne@indiana.edu g) David Wolfberg at freebrma@ix.netcom.com h) Alex Turner at alturner@students.wisc.edu i) Rick Voithofer at rjvoitho@students.wisc.edu j) Mike Ewall at MXE115@PSUVM.PSU.EDU k) Christine Harmston at cfob@web.apc.org l) Glen Norris via Free Burma Webpage (UNC Site) m) Douglas Steele at douglas.steele@law.georgetown.edu *****Media herein refers to webpage management, and audio- and video-production, print, TV, and radio. 3) Oil Group a) David Wolfberg at freebrma@ix.netcom.com b) Dr. Carol Richards at 73030.64@compuserve.com c) Martial Cosette & Yvette Pierpaoli (France) c/o Carol d) Dorothy Hill (Canada) (tel) 416-631-3576; (fax) 416-971-2292 e) Christopher Dietrich (France) at cd@utopia.EUnet.fr f) Jane Jerome at jjerome@bellmicro.com g) Gregory Lennox Wright at mauddib@leland.Stanford.EDU h) Pam Wellner at pwellner@igc.apc.org i) John Peck at jepeck@students.wisc.edu j) Jon Shay at erc@cc.colorado.edu k) Don Erickson at Tel: 312-421-5513 (o); fax 312-421-5762 4) Tourism Group a) David Wolberg at freebrma@ix.netcom.com b) Liz Trantowski at Elizabeth.A.Trantowski.3@nd.edu c) Brad Simpson at simpsonb@nwu.edu d) Rachel Kleinfeld at rachel.kleinfeld@yale.edu e) Yuki Kidokoro at yuki@ASUCLA.UCLA.EDU f) Ko Tun Myint at tmyint@indiana.edu g) Paul Michels at pauglm@vt.edu h) Linda Kwon at lkwon@students.uiuc.edu i) Andrew Miller at AEM125@PSUVM.PSU.EDU j) Nicholas Greenwood (Tel &Fax: 011-44-171-223-8987) k) Sue Wheat (Tourism Concern, UK) Tel: 011-44-181-944-0464: Fax 181-944-6583 5) Pepsi Group a) Brian Schmidt at brischmidt@aol.com b) Terry Cottam at cfob@web.apc.org c) Reid Cooper at ai268@freenet.carleton.ca (Tel: 613 788-2757) d) Teresa Ivey at TLIVEY@students.wisc.edu e) Mike/Andrew/Brian at AEM125@PSUVM.PSU.EDU f) Lynda Kellam at lmkellam@hamlet.uncg.edu g) Kathleen Kasben at klkasben@email.unc.edu h) Pamela Kearfott at clapton@merle.acns.nwu.edu i) Dale Sharkey at DS232624@wcupa.edu j) Peter Apple at prapple@cacd.rockwell.com 6) Divestment/shareholder resolution/selective purchasing Group a) Simon Billenness at simon_billenness@mail.cybercom.net (Franklin R&D) b) Conrad MacKerron (tel:) 800-786-2998 (Progressive Asset Management) c) Gregory Lennox Wright at mauddib@leland.Stanford.EDU d) Chritopher Yu at YucFCAA@aol.com e) Larry Dohrs at dohrs@u.washington.edu f) Beth Kempton at bkempton@u.washington.edu 7) A section on guest speakers (or speakers bureau) suggested by Christian (Canadian Friends of Burma) want to help?? Pls. contact her at cfob@web.apc.org For any further suggestions, feedback, or discussion, please post them to the list server at free-burma@lists.stdorg.wisc.edu Thank you. Free Burma Coalition -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SELECTIVE PURCHASING LEGISLATION People interested in working on selective purchasing legislation can contact Simon Billenness for a large packet of information which he can send to people via snail mail. He can also put people in touch with local Burma activists in their city or state. They can call or write him at Franklin Research for more details. Simon Billenness Franklin Research & Development 711 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, MA 02111 (800) 548 5684, (617) 423 6655 (617) 482 6179 fax --------------------------------------------------------- JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY - BURMA CAMPAIGN The Burma Action group at James Madison University (VA) is planning to do a major Burma campaign at Virginia Student Environmental Action Coalition to be held in January. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA-GREENSBORO - PEPSI The Uiversity of North Carolina-Greensboro group has a Burma campaign "Kick-pepsi-off-campus" and if you have any relevant info or would like to help, please contact lmkellam@email.unc.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OREGON GROUP - STOP THE LAST US CLOTHING CO. IN BURMA Columbia Sportswear is producing clothes in Burma, the only American company I know for certain to be there. They are Portland-based so our group the Burma Action Committee is trying to deal with them. We've given them a Dec. 15 deadline to make some kind of commitment to withdraw. NOW is the best time to influence their decision before positions harden. Burma Action Committee is asking other activists to call, write, or fax Columbia to ask them to withdraw and to say you will work with our group if a boycott becomes necessary. Contact Columbia's President Tim Boyle at 6600 N. Baltimore, Portland OR 97203, (503) 286-3676, fax 289-6602. If you call and can't reach him, try Angie Dubrowsky at 286-3676 ext. 4328. And PLEASE contact our group if you contact Columbia. Contact the Burma Action Committee at brischmidt@aol.com, or (503) 786-9517 (Matt Donahue). With luck this will be resolved without a boycott- with your help it can happen. -------------------------------------------------------------- AFL-CIO and NCGUB: FACT SHEETS TO FREE BURMA GROUPS AFL-CIO and the National Coalition Government of Burma, headed by Dr. Sein Win, have undertaken a joint project on disseminating fact sheets on Burmese politics, human rights, and economy to all our Free Burma Groups in the US. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CORNELL: BEYOND RANGOON SHOWING from Shwe Htee (8.8.88) Yesterday I was invited to speak at the Beyond Rangoon premiere at Cornell University. Prior to the beginning of the film, I spoke about the 1988 Uprising and the current situation in Burma. I introduced myself as a Burmese student and spoke of the terrible cruelty of the Burmese military dictatorship. I passed out flyers encouraging people to write to their Congressman and boycott companies like Pepsi-Cola, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Texaco, and other companies which still invest in the military regime. If Beyond Rangoon is playing at your university or in your area, I encourage you to talk with the theater personnel and ask if you can speak prior to the showing and/or pass out flyers. We need everyone to know and participate in the international embargo against the SLORC!!! We must continue to fight for a free Burma!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FBC: AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S VIDEOTAPE AND FUND-RAISING from Zarni We have a copy of Aung San Suu Kyi's videotaped keynote address (originally smuggled out of Burma) and will make duplicates and sell them as a part of fundraising campaign for the larger project such as NYT ad. We also have up-to-the minute Burma documents (Senate testimony, human rights reports, UN reports, city council resolutions, etc.) and are ready to put together a Burma info packet. We'll distribute a copy of the tape and an info packet to Free Burma groups for $25. The benefits of doing this are several: A). We can hold events at our localities using Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's tape (like viewing the tape plus a brief talk on Burma). B). We can approach local stations to see if they would be interested in broadcasting the entire tape (16 minutes). (media campaign) (Given the recent developments in Rangoon this has a strategic advantages as well.) Please let us know if you are interested and send a check to "Free Burma Coalition." Free Burma Coalition c/o Department of Curriculum and Instruction 225 North Mills Street., University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COLORADO COLLEGE: STOPPING MINING IN BURMA First Dynasty Gold Mining will be going into Burma soon. I talked to a "supervisor" today and informed her as to the goings-on in recent years. She knew of these things already and gave me the "we have to do what's best for the company" line. I asked her if there was someone with whom I could speak in more depth and she encourage me to write to: Timothy Haddon, CEO and President First Dynasty Mines 7979 East Tufts Avenue Suite 410 Denver, Colorado, 80237 or call 303.741.1000 and ask to speak with him. Maybe explain to them that their involvement would damage their reputation to the point that their business would begin to suffer. I might try to schedule a meeting with Haddon soon. When you do write/call, do be polite. They will simply dismiss you if you are abusive. Thanks! J_SHAY@cc.colorado.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------- BOYCOTT PEPSI STICKERS AVAILABLE The Burma Action Committee in Portland OR has taken over production of Pepsi Boycott stickers and is now taking orders. Stickers are bigger (3 1/2"), better, and list a Free Burma Web site. Price $10 per 100 or $90 per 1000, includes shipping within the US. Orders less than 100 add $.05 per sticker ($.40 minimum). Outside the US, please contact for shipping costs, or we can send an additional bill for shipping with the stickers. You can look at the old sticker design at the "Free Burma" Web site. New design is similar. To order, send a check payable to "Brian Schmidt (BAC)" Burma Action Committee, PO Box 1926 Portland OR 97207. Rush orders, please call (503) 234-2893 (Dan Paterson) or email brischmidt@aol.com. ALSO: (Boycott) Pepsi sticker and revolution's symbol Fighting peacock (both in color) are up on Free Burma Coalition server. Site address is HTTP:DANENET.WICIP.ORG/FBC/FREEBURMA.HTML ---------------------------------------------------------------------- STANFORD: HUMAN RIGHTS PROXY The Burma Proxy: This year, the following corporations: ARCO, UNOCAL, Texaco, Pepsi and Haliburton will be presented with a proxy that asks them to develop a policy for investment in countries with questioned human rights records. While the proxies can not be Burma specific (because of cryptic SEC rules) they do specifically mention Burma in the text. It is important to note that the proxies do not ask shareholders to vote on whether or not the corporations should be involved in Burma. They just ask the corporations to develop a responsible policy for investing in countries with possible human rights violations. The corporations oppose the proxies by using the argument that they have researched everything about Burma and have adequate proof that they are not contributing to any human rights violations. How Stanford has worked on the proxies: The first step we had to take was figuring out how our school makes decisions concerning proxies. We found, that Stanford actually had (an almost defunct) committee designed specifically to look at proxy voting and divestment issues. This committee was founded during the South Africa divestment campaign in the mid-80s. Since then, it had worked sporadically on issues such as the environment and tobacco. Almost every school had to confront this issue and its relation to South Africa and it is likely that some mechanism is set up. After learning that Stanford had a process set up, we tried to find out which corporations Stanford had stock in and learned that it has money in almost everyone. This information is public and you should be able to acquire it by asking the administration or, if you find a committee that works on proxies and divestment, they will know. After learning which corporations we had money in, we started campaigning to get the committee consider the Burma proxies. We followed all the normal steps: wrote articles in the paper, held rallies, did guerrilla theatre, put up signs in bathroom stalls etc.... Eventually the issue had become relatively well known on campus and the committee (the APIR) let us give a presentation about what is happening in Burma and why we think it's important that shares are voted in certain ways. Last year, because we started so late, we ran into a lot of inertia and were not able to go over all the considerable bureaucratic obstacles that Stanford has built in. This year, we have expedited the process by getting a SEAC member appointed as the student representative on the committee and by getting the committee to do a full report on Burma over the summer. The Stanford Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility voted unanimously to support the proxy presented to Unocal regarding human rights and Burma. This doesn't guarantee that the vote will go through, but it is virtually assured. Please forward this information to anyone who might be helped by knowing this (for example, anyone else working on the shareholder resolutions). The Stanford Investment Responsibility Committee (faculty, alums, etc...) would be more than happy to send out any of its information. nick nickt@pangea.stanford.edu seac@seac.stanford.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLYER FOR STOPPING ALUMNI TOURS TO BURMA Alumni tours start in January, so we need to get going on this campaign now. I have a flyer I'm printing out for some of the other universities. In order to send it to each group, I need to get the info. on each contact group (i.e., who the flyer should say to contact for more information) and tour sponsor (i.e., the director of your alumni association) including address, phone, FAX, & email address. Please provide the info. to me or to Yuki Kidokoro of UCLA Environmental Coalition (yuki@asucla.ucla.edu). If you've got a local tour sponsor/alumni assn. and don't already have the forced labor dossier on tourism from the Burma Peace Foundation, contact Yuki. It's essential documentation for the tourism campaign. For a flyer for your group contact David Wolberg at freebrma@ix.netcom.com The flyer has the following wording: Front Side... Headline: University of Illinois Alumni Association Where Is Your Conscience? {photo of child laborers in Rangoon with hotels in background} [CAPTION:] Child laborers in Rangoon remove the foundations of a building site -- the future location of the new Shangri La for Visit Myanmar Year 1996. These children earn 30 cents per day. On other projects, the laborers are not paid at all. [MAIN BODY TEXT:] The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UI-Urbana-Champaign) Alumni Ass ociation is sponsoring a travel package to Burma (Myanmar) which will further entrench a brutal military regime. Visit Myanmar Year 1996 has been designed by and for Burma's State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), one of the worlds worst vi olators of human rights. The package, Road to Mandalay, will bring UI-Urbana-Champaign Alumni to Mandalay, Pagan and Rangoon. SLORC was voted out of power in 1990, and has received the strongest possible condemnations from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch/Asia, dozens of Nobel Laureates, the European Community, and the U.S. Congress and State Department. The UN General Assembly has condemned SLORC's ongoing human rights violations (49/197), particularly summary & arbitrary executions, torture, forced labor and forced relocations, abuse of women, politically motivated arrests and detentions, restrictions on fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of expression and assembly, and the imposition of oppressive measures directed in particular at ethnic and religious minorities. The abuse is directly tied to tourism. SLORCs construction goals for Visit Myanmar Year 1996 are being met with forced labor, according to the New York Times, BBC television and ABCs Nightline. As recently as October 1, 1995, Reuters reported that "sources at the town level confirm what human rights groups have long said, that labor behind some projects...is forced and unpaid." Documented forced labor has occurred at several of the sites in UI-Urbana-Champaign's travel schedule, including the G rand Palace at Mandalay. Alumni will travel on roads built by forced labor with black-market gasoline profits going directly to the military, to an airport built by forced labor. The workers include the elderly, pregnant women, and 8-year-old children. Tourism firms have suggested that SLORC is using prison labor. This may be true: since 1988, SLORC has detained 30,000 political prisoners -- a small percentage of the 500,000 conscripted for tourism labor. Back Side: Academic Freedom? In Burma? UI-Urbana-Champaign claims its travel policy is linked to academic freedom. But mention freedom to the SLORC and they'll imprison you. Freedom doesn't exist. Gatherings of five or more are illegal. Students who ask the wrong questions are interrogated. Underclassmen and upperclass ment attend completely separate classes. Those on campus at the wrong time may be jailed. Many academics are political prisoners or teach in exile. Students from the pro-democracy movement cannot return to Burma with SLORC in power. Millions of peo ple demonstrated for democracy in 1988. Thousands of students were massacred, a year before Tienanmen Square. Many students have since been killed or tortured by the SLORC, and the junta routinely harasses the families of student exiles. Bad Deal for Tourists Tourists will be ripped off by SLORC. Docking fees go directly to SLORC. Travelers will have to convert their dollars to Burmese kyats. The junta gives tourists 6 kyats per dollar, but a dollars worth of goods in Burma will cost 120 kyats at the prevailing black market rate. In Burma, no news is bad news. SLORC controls the only radio & television broadcasts, and the only legal magazine & newspaper. In Rangoon, Alumni wont be able to listen to BBC or Voice of America because SLORC is jamming the broadcasts. Travelers will face exposure to substantial medical risks because SLORC has dismantled the health care system by murdering doctors and nurses and destroying medical facilities. Today, there is one doctor in Burma for every 12,500 people. The International Red Cross has found it impossible to operate there. After this year's devastating monsoon season, tourists must watch out for malaria, dengue, cholera, TB, tetanus, typhoid, hepatitis, and AIDS. To pacify a defiant student population, SLORC allows heroin to be sold openly on university campuses. Even Burma's tap water can be lethal. Medicine, available primarily on the black market, is often fake or expired. Bad Deal for Burma! For the sake of Visit Myanmar Year, entire towns near tourist zones have been bulldozed. UI-Urbana-Champaign's brochure romantically describes Pagan as "a ghost town." True: SLORC has forcibly relocated Pagan's 5,000 residents. Temples, shrines and monuments have been destroyed by SLORC and re-built with forced labor. SLORCs control of movement in the country will dictate where tourists can and cant go. Tour guides undergo a 6-month indoctrination prior to service. Palaung women from 200 vill ages are being relocated to an "ethnic zoo" in Rangoon for UI-Urbana-Champaign's tourists. In other countries, tourism may help foster the free exchange of new ideas. In Burma, travelers will only provide life support to the dictators. By going to Burma, UI-Urbana-Champaign alumni will unwittingly strive against the people of Burma, who have not merely cried out for democracy; theyve voted SLORC out of office. Now, the people of Burma have called for a halt to investment, tourism and foreign aid to SLORC. It is not for the Alumni Association to decree SLORC as the legitimate rulers of Burma, yet by sending members there to spend money on the regime, were doing just that. Despite receiving more than sixty pages of forced labor documentation, UI-Urbana- Champaign said "NO" to cancelling the tour. With your help, we think they'll say YES! Take our case to Louis D. Liay, Executive Director of the UI-Urbana Champaign Alumni Association, (217) 333-1471. Tell him that slave labor has no place in University endeavors. For further info, contact the Free Burma Coalition at University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana - email lkwan@students.uiuc.edu ------------- INDIANA U: APPEAL TO INDIANA U ALUMNI ASSOCIATION This letter could be used as a model for other groups protesting alumni association trips. To: Mr. Jerry Tardy Executive Director Indiana University Alumni Association From: Tun Myint President Burmese Student Association December 7, 1995 Dear Mr. Tardy: My name is Tun Myint. I am a Burmese student at Indiana University, and the president of the Burmese Student Association. I am writing this letter to express my concern about the IU Alumni Association's unanimous decision to go ahead with its sponsorship of its trip to Burma. As you know, Burma is ruled by a brutal and oppressive regime called SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council). SLORC is one the most serious violators of human rights in Asia, something that has been documented by the United States State Department , the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (Asia) and other human rights monitoring organizations. Among the human rights violations routinely practiced by the government are forced labor, torture, rape and the complete denial of civil rights and liberties to the citizens of Burma. As a Burmese political refugee who was forced to leave my country in order to avoid arrest, torture, and likely death, but also as a future IU Alumnus, I am greatly troubled by IU's participation in SLORC's "1996 Visit Myanmar Year" project. I understand that the trip is intended as an educational field trip. But I think it would be a great mistake to participate in this kind of an educational process. First, IU travelers are not going to see the true situation in Burma; they will only see SLORC's distorted version of Burma. They will visit approved sites and will talk only to officially approved people. Second, by participating in SLORC's tourist project, the IU Alumni Association will be furnishing SLORC with hard cash with which to continue persecuting the Burmese people. By my calculation, the 25 tourists will be providing SLORC with US $7,500 (25 x $3 00). With this money SLORC can purchase 62,500 assault rifle bullets from mainland China, bullets which can and will be used to shoot, and kill, those ethnic villagers whom the SLORC government has made war on for the past seven years. This may seen far fetched, but SLORC is a military dictatorship, it is starved for hard currency, and it does spend most of this currency on military weapons and supplies. Third, by participating in SLORC's Tourist Project, IU Alumni Association will be giving institutional support, and lending legitimacy, to an illegitimate government, a government that has lost the support of its own people and the support of the international community. SLORC has consistently refused to recognize the legitimacy of democratic politics, and it has invalidated an election, in 1990, in which democratic forces were supported by the vast majority of the citizens of Burma. SLORC holds political power in Burma for one reason--because it brutally wields military power. On December 1, 1995, the White House issued a statement deploring the current situation in Burma and calling on SLORC to transfer power to the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. SLORC has consistently ignored such calls. By participating in the Tourist Project, IU Alumni Association will be lending SLORC's position credibility. Fourth, it has been well-documented that SLORC has been using forced labor at the tourist sites and railway stations through which international travelers will pass on their trip through Burma. Hundreds of men, women, and children have been forcibly conscripted into SLORC's effort to improve its international image. IU Alumni Association should not support such a use of forced labor. As you know, the Alumni Associations of UCLA and Northwestern University have decided for these reasons to cancel their trips to Burma. These are major Alumni Associations of major American universities, and their decisions were undertaken with seriousness and responsibility. As a student of Indiana University I implore you to act with the same seriousness and responsibility. Canceling the trip to Burma is the right thing to do. Lending any kind of support or credibility to SLORC is the wrong thing to do. Please do the right thing. I would be happy to provide you and your colleagues with more information about human rights abuses in Burma and about the use of forced labor in the tourist projects. You can contact me by phone at 339-3888 or by e-mail at tmyint@indiana.edu. Thank you very much for your patience. Sincerely, Tun Myint CC: President Myles Brand Dean Patrick O'Meara, International Programs Dean Kenneth A. Rogers, International Services Mr. Max Skirvinm, Special Assistant to Executive Director of Indiana University Alumni Association ************************ NOTE: 1) Despite the highly publicized campaign waged by IU's Burma activists, the Alumni Association there decided to go ahead with their alumni trip to Burma. that shows the complete lack of conscience on the part of those well-informed administrators at Indiana University. Available options: A). Demonstrations at IU (Ko Tun Myint is planning to do that in the early Spring with the help of the outraged IU students.) B). Launch media attack on IU Alumni association. That is, every single opportunity that avail itself to us,be sure to highlight why IU alumni association sucks. C). Get a copy of IU alumni list and send out a standardized copy of letters telling them that there alma mata is in bed with what Wall Street Journal calls Slorc "thugs." Alumni have a lot of clout as they are one of the major sources of university fund. More ideas invited. Please write your letter to: Mr. Jerry Tardy Director, IU Alumni Suite 219, Fountain Square Bloomington, IN 47405 You can also send email message to: jtardy@ucs.indiana.edu Or Call at: (812) 855-5700 Please send copy to iuburma@indiana.edu, if you don't mind. For more information, contact: Ko Tun Myint at tmyint@indiana.edu or David Horne at dhorne@indiana.edu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- WRITE TO MOUNTAIN TRAVEL SOBEK Greetings: Mountain Travel Sobek, one of the premier adventure travel companies, recently sent out its listings of 1996 trips. There is a plan for Nevada Wier, an internationally known photographer, to lead a "Visual Journey" to Burma. I immediately sent a message expressing my dismay that such a trip was even being contemplated and attached a copy of Kevin Heppner's NOTES ON BURMA TOURISM to explain why I thought it was a bad idea. I was heartened today to receive a message from one Moira Magneson saying that she had forwarded my concerns to corporate higher ups and had posted my message on the office bulletin board. Someone is listening. List members, particularly those with an interest in responsible travel, may wish to contact Mountain Travel Sobek