Boycott! Part I (from the Kyoto Jo

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Subject: Boycott!  Part I (from the Kyoto Journal)

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Part I
Mitsubishi Boycott Articles 
from KYOTO JOURNAL
Number 32. 1996

KYOTO JOURNAL is published 3-4 times a year.
Address: 35 Minamigohomachi
Fax: +81-75-751-1196

in North America
31 Bond St.
NY, NY 10012
Fax: (212) 674-6788

E-Mail: kyo794journl@xxxxxxxxx


BOYCOTT CAMPAIGNS
SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS IN BURMA

"To observe businessmen who come to Burma
with the intention of enriching themselves is
somewhat like watching passers-by in an orchard
roughly stripping off blossoms for their fragile
beauty, blind to the ugliness of despoiled branches,
oblivious of the fact that by their action they are
imperilling future fruitfulness and committing an
injustice against the rightful owners of the trees." 
- Aung San Suu Kyi

Like China, Burma is now a highly attractive target
for foreign investment, or "constructive
engagement," as it is referred to by its proponents -
those willing to ignore blatant abuse of human
rights by those countries' oppressive regimes.
Counter to this corporate unscrupulousness is an
increasing popular awareness that ethics should
come before profits, a belief demonstrated through
consumer boycott campaigns. 

The Rainforest Action Network and the Burmese
Relief Center -- Japan collaborated this year on the
third annual Haiku Project, "using poetry and
artwork to save the rainforests and to restore
democracy and human rights in Burma." The
campaign culminated in a "Haiku-in" event in
Osaka on March 20th, significantly the vernal
equinox the first day of Spring. Haiku poems,
traditionally linked seasonally to the celebration of
nature, were solicited to address the themes of
rainforest destruction, and human rights abuses in
Burma, for presentation to President Minoru
Makihara of Mitsubishi Corporation. 

This "haiku attack" was coordinated to bring
public attention to Mitsubishi's major role in world
deforestation, and its dubious business connections
with Burma's euphemistically- named SLORC
(State Law and Order Restoration Council), a
military dictatorship which spends nearly half the
national budget on its military enforcers while
continuing to ignore the democratically expressed
will of the vast majority of Burma's population.
The campaign invited Japanese consumers to join a
boycott on Mitsubishi Corporation and all
"Mitsubishi family" companies, including
Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi
Oil, Mitsubishi Bank, Kirin Beer, and Nikon
Camera. 

Mitsubishi however is not the only company at
present feeling the heat of boycott campaigns due
to investment in Burma. Currently targeted in the
USA are Pepsi -Cola and its subsidiaries,
including Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mirinda, 7 -Up, Ruffles, Taco-Bell, Bold Gold, Smartfood,
SunChips, Doritos, Cheetos, Frito -Lay and Pizza
Hut. Pepsico sales in Burma in 1995 totalled US
$8 million. 

At a press conference in mid- April, CEO of
Pepsico Foods and Beverages International
Christopher Sinclair defended his company's
investment policy, but admitted that Pepsico might
reconsider its joint venture in Burma if boycott
pressure were to increase, saying "Obviously
pressure from consumers and shareholders is what
we will respond to." Student organisers responded
enthusiastically to this encouragement, stepping up
their campaigns on many US university campuses. 

Seeking increased foreign revenue to boost its inept
and corrupt domestic economy, SLORC is engaged
in a massive forced-labor push all over Burma to
upgrade facilities and infrastructure for
international tourism in "Visit Myanmar Year
1996". Work gangs of "volunteers" are supervised
by soldiers with guns, and 75% of Burma's
children do not complete primary school. In the
words of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, "The
fact that we have new hotels does not make up for
the fact that our children are less well-educated." 

Forced relocations are a continued SLORC policy,
especially in the case of poorer communities whose
presence might be less than tourist snapshot
picturesque. In Rangoon, the capital, a slum- 
clearance program has destroyed the homes of
approximately one million people, who were forced
into trucks and dumped in satellite towns. In
another notorious case (among many) 10,000
people, the entire population of historic Pagan,
were evicted from their ancestral homes and
workshops to make way for SLORC
"entrepreneurs". SLORC's methods of making
Burma more "attractive" to business and tourism
are blatantly ugly. 

As Aung San Suu Kyi says: "The fundamental
principle of aesthetics... that to acquire truly good
taste one has to be able to recognize both ugliness
and beauty, is applicable to the whole range of
human experience. It is important to understand
both what should be rejected and what should be
accepted." 

- Ken Rodgers

Further information is readily available from
Burmese Relief Center -- Japan, which is run by
exceptionally dedicated volunteers Ken and
Visakha Kawasaki, who happened to be in Burma
for a meditation retreat in 1988 when SLORC
violently took control. BRC-J is non - political,
concerned primarily with providing essential
humanitarian aid - food, medical supplies,
educational materials, and financial support to
refugees in temporary camps in Thailand,
Bangladesh, and India. Contacts: BRC -- J, 266-27
Ozuku, Kashihara, Nara 634, Japan; Fax (07442) 4
-6254; e-mail: brelief@xxxxxxx

Another source of information is the BurmaNet
News, an electronic news service and forum. To
subscribe, send the following on- line message
<subscribe burmanet-l > to
majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx 

Free Burma Coalition homepage: 
http://danenet.wicip.org/fbc/freeburma.html


Mitsubishi no "Hishi" wa 
Midori no 
Shirushinari 

Mitsubishi's name 
Comes from the symbol of green plants, 
Become like your name! 
- Yutaka Itakura, Kyoto 

Trees breathe for the earth 
The earth gives to all creatures 
Enough to go round 
- Maura Hurley, Kyoto 

Trees are treasured friends 
Why do you cut the trees down? 
You have no friends left! 
- Kota Mio (age 7). Kyoto 

Forest without voices 
Silent sterile plantations 
Birds, animals GONE! 
- Frank Chase. Kobe 

Frigid, barren moon, 
as great Mitsubishi waxes 
life in Burma wanes. 
- Paul Hitchfield, Tokyo 

Constructive engagement! 
'Dozers roar 
War elephants 
Victorious 
- Don Seekins. Okinawa 


PEPSI BOYCOTT UPDATE (APRIL, 1996): 
On April 23rd, Pepsi abruptly announced that it
planned to sell its 40 % joint venture. 
"I urge the international media not to accept Pepsi's
public relations claims at face value, but to look at
the facts of their presence in Burma," responded
exiled Burmese Prime Minister Dr. Sein Win of the
National Coalition Government (NCGUB). 

"This is nothing more than some paper shuffling.
The situation on the ground in Burma is absolutely
unchanged, " said Free Burma Coalition (FBC)
organizer Zar Ni. 

In an interview given prior to Pepsi's
announcement, and published in the Asia Times on
April 24th, SLORC's Minister for National
Planning and Economic Development, Brig.
General David Abel, said: ''I think that if Pepsi
goes down it won't affect the Myanmar economy at
all... And the Japanese are willing to come in. The
Japanese business community has a lot of
influence over their government and they know
they can't wait anymore.'' 





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