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Mitsubishi Boycott in Japan



For immediate release:  March 21, 1996

Contacts:
Mark Westlund, Vera Perez:  ranmedia@xxxxxxx
Burmese Relief Center-Japan:  brelief@xxxxxxx
David Wolfberg, L.A. Campaign for a Free Burma:
        freebrma@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

BOYCOTT OF MITSUBISHI IN JAPAN LAUNCHED
BY PEACEFUL PROTEST IN OSAKA


(Osaka, Japan) The boycott of Mitsubishi products-spearheaded in the United
States by Rainforest Action Network-is now being carried over into Japan.
Marking Japan's inauguration into this international effort, Burmese Relief
Center-Japan and like-minded human rights activists staged a peaceful=
 protest
called "Haiku-d'=E9tat" in central Osaka.  Protesters read hundreds of
original haiku poems, and performed a lively street theater to show how
Mitsubishi's investment in Burma causes environmental destruction and
enables the Burmese dictatorship, which spends nearly half the national
budget on the military, to continue to deny its people the most basic human
rights.  Rainforest Action Network is spearheading an international effort
to boycott Mitsubishi and its subsidiaries until the company stops logging
or purchasing timber or timber products from operations that harm the
environment or violate the human rights of the indigenous peoples who live
there.

At 11 AM in Osaka, Japan, over forty Burmese Relief Center-Japan and human
rights
activists gathered to mark the beginning of the Japanese boycott of
Mitsubishi on the historic bridge at Shinsaibashi-Dohtomburi.  Coinciding
with the Vernal Equinox, protesters peacefully assembled to urge Mr. Minoru
Makihara, President of Mitsubishi Corporation, to end support for the
Burmese military dictatorship and to stop destruction of the rainforests.

Burmese activist and Noble Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, said: "
I felt that many Japanese people cared about more than just business.  But
I think the consciousness of some Japanese people perhaps needs to be
aroused a bit...Perhaps those who care about peace and justice are not
speaking loudly enough."

Mitsubishi Corporation is a long-standing target of direct action campaigns
by Rainforest Action Network and like-minded environmental groups around
the world. Mitsubishi Corporation is one of the largest corporate
destroyers of the world's forests.  It fully or partially owns logging
operations throughout the world. Mitsubishi corporate activities lay waste
to thousands of square miles of forest.  This deforestation causes the
annual loss of millions of plant and animal species, and does immeasurable
harm to the indigenous peoples who inhabit those lands.

Rainforest Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and
support the rights of their inhabitants through grassroots education,
organizing, and non-violent direct action.  ###

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