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TOTAL and French blood



Dawn Star wrote:
> 
> Our Australian colleague recently posted an english translation of the
> french investigative condemnation of TOTAL by the Paris-based
> international ngo, the Federation International Des 'Droits De >l'Homme'('Rights of Man')(FIDH), first published last October. 

The FIDH is to be commended for the precise and clear summary of facts
much of which had been put forward to Thierry Desmarest earlier in May
of the same year on the ocassion of the TOTAL annual general assembly of
shareholders -- in french, and not without risk here as i have heard
they have received serious physical threats after publication. TOTAL's
CEO Mr. Desmarest continues to arrogantly and blatantly lie about
TOTAL's  engagement with Slorc and their investment in Burma. He did so
publicly in his reply to EuroBurmanet in questions put forward before
the shareholders to Mr. Desmarest. He continues to lie today while
laying underwater pipe due to be completed in three months. French
ambassador  Bernard Pottier, a regular propaganda guest on Radio France
International (a government mouthpiece) last week congratulated TOTAL
and its partners among the Slorc top brass during a on-site review of
the pipeline project. That signals a continuation of official french
government policy of endorsement of the TOTAL pipeline. At the same time
they push their Iran and Iraq deals flying in the face, on both counts,
of US foreign policy so well put by Secretary of State Albright in her
first year of office.
> 
August 1997 also marks one year since Euro-Burmanet, based in Paris, on
the internet called for an international boycott of TOTAL. That call was
soon followed by insistence by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to boycott
investment in Burma, after long having been silent on TOTAL,perhaps to
give the French time to reconsider, and then the call last January by
George Soros to boycott all oil companies doing business in Burma.
Recently, in Denmark, Dr. Sein Win's appeal by the ministers in exile
set off another alarm.  It is all the more important now that a genuine
resistance campaign be intensified against TOTAL's and the French
government's weak standing endorsement of the project. Be that it may
the French are not oblivious to international opinion and condemnation -
especially while the French economy is in its worst recession in modern
history, with no sign of relief, and French exports remain a
high-profile source of revenue. Despite our effort to diffuse
information of the Burmese struggle on Euro-Burmanet, and their impact
in the french national press, TOTAL continues to launch a multi-million
dollar mass propaganda campaign as one of the country's most successful
corporation, out-flagged of course by another company now headed by
TOTAL's former PDG who approved the Yadana natural gas pipeline project.
Profits at TOTAL have never been higher, and shareholders never better
off, especially with the boom in the French stock market over the past
six months, largely from the influx of foreign capital in a sluggish
market. TOTAL makes most of its money abroad.
> 
> Only when the Free Burma Movement makes a full-fledged and organised
> effort to rally french public opinion against the pipeline, and increase international pressure against the project, will the french government move from its full endorsement of the pipeline and reconsider its narco-partners Slorc.
> 
> Actually, it is clear that the French government is continuing long-time government policy of its endorsement of the TOTAL Yadana project, ASEAN and its partners of the narco-dictatorship.
> 
> It is also timely the Dr. Sein Win, in a reported press story after his conference in Denmark of the exiled group of ministers, appealled
> publicly to the european  governments (not citing TOTAL specifically as reported in the press) to act now and stop investment in Burma. (If Dr Win did cite TOTAL, please post it).

 TOTAL is a highly visible European multinational and virtually
dominates French cities and countryside with billboards and gas
stations, as is well-known to all summer travellers here, especially in
France.
> 
> Now TOTAL is steam-rolling opposition on this issue, and Slorc does not wish to pay late fees if the project is not completed on schedule. The Thai government has recently ignored environmentalists' alarm and
> condemnation as well. Furthermore, TOTAL has long awaited, and contributed to an eventual defeat of the Karen armed resistance and once again broke down a ceasefire agreement while battles rage daily.With the Shan, Mon and other ethnic groups under fierce attack, the Karen remain undefeated, and resistance by the democratic opposition persists relentlessly against Slorc.
> 
> We have done our best, along with such groups as FIDH, SAIN and other groups to bring out the facts to the French people on TOTAL. The next year is crucial to our campaign if we are to succeed -- before the completion of the pipeline in 1998. French people are amazed by the facts, stymied by TOTAL's megalithic power, and rather cynical about another dictatorship blowing up in their face. The Quai d'Orsay foreign policy ship has been virtually sunk in Africa, and it is now looking at Asia and South America and other underdeveloped regions to make up for their losses. Mr. Desmarest has repeated said that in the extremely competitive oil and gas sector, TOTAL means business. 

That is why all activists and lobbyists and their organisations are
urged to concentrate and focus their efforts to STOP TOTAL NOW. It was
also a point I made very clear at the FBC conference last February in
Washington, DC.
> 
> Although UNOCAL has been dragged to court in the United States, has
> TOTAL been called up in court, in France? In Europe? Isn't it time to
> bring the Slorc war criminals to court, and their partners in crime and genocide?
> 
> Again, I wish to thank you, Australia, and the FIDH, SAIN and all of you who have followed the news on the TOTAL Euro-Burmanet website for what EBN hopes will be a step closer to TOTAL's withdrawal from Burma and a recognition of the Burmese democratic movement.
> 
> So that our work and dedication is not in vain, we call strongly upon
> all of  you to get TOTAL and the French government out of their Slorc
> partnership, and embrace the struggle of the Burmese victims, and the
> democratic values of French history, instead of the values of their
> aggressors. Isn't it about time, the French here in Burma turn their
> eyes on their own deeds, while this fall they bring another pro-Nazi
> WWII french collaborator to trial? Can they really wash their souls
> clean with freshly bloody hands...?

 How many Americans, Canadians and other freedom fighters fought and
died in Europe and Burma to free the French, alongside De Gaulle in
WWII? The Cold War, as it was known, is over. In the new 'ordre
geopolitique' the TOTAL and French president Chirac and the  french
government are once again playing a deadly game of international
brinksmanship, and think they hold the winning hand, all the while
proudly lamenting their waning colonial empire, as their proxy tyrants
destroy a nation of 45 million defenseless people.

That part of TOTAL's criminal story in Burma we do not see in their
televised ads. What we do see is a new french generation driving into an
assured  future with TOTAL securely in their gas tank.  
> 
> Dawn Star
> Euro-Burmanet (Paris)
> http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/total/
> (You will find most of what you need, info and contact information to
> act. The file is large, 183 K so it is good to be patient when
> downloading. But you can order and download whatever you want, using hypertext key words to build your subject files, and surf the database.
There is more in progress to add from this summer.)
> 
FIDH stories are on the EBN website
> among them, on MOGE, TOTAL's drug money laundering Slorc partner:
> http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/total/K-fidh.html
> http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/total/K-fidh/federation-internationale-des-ligues-des-droits-de-l'homme.html