Boycott Kos until Chevron Ad is Dropped – *UPDATE*

here we go
again. . . (31+ / 0-)
Recommended by:  taylormattt,
Elise, citizenx,  trashablanca,  MBNYC,  GoldnI, , TomP,

by andgarden on Sun Sep 30, 2007 at 11:14:51 AM PDT

The image was stunning: tens of thousands of saffron-robed Buddhist monks
marching through the streets of Rangoon [also known as Yangon], protesting
the military dictatorship of Burma. The monks marched in front of the home
of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was seen weeping and
praying quietly as they passed. She hadn’t been seen for years. The
democratically elected leader of Burma, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest
since 2003. She is considered the Nelson Mandela of Burma, the Southeast
Asian nation renamed Myanmar by the regime.

After almost two weeks of
protest, the monks have disappeared. The monasteries have been emptied. One
report says thousands of monks are imprisoned in the north of the country.

No one believes that this is
the end of the protests, dubbed “The Saffron Revolution.” Nor do they
believe the official body count of 10 dead. The trickle of video, photos and
oral accounts of the violence that leaked out on Burma’s cellular phone and
Internet lines has been largely stifled by government censorship. Still,
gruesome images of murdered monks and other activists and accounts of
executions make it out to the global public. At the time of this writing,
several unconfirmed accounts of prisoners being burned alive have been
posted to Burma-solidarity Web sites.

The Bush administration is
making headlines with its strong language against the Burmese regime.
President Bush declared increased sanctions in his U.N. General Assembly
speech. First lady Laura Bush has come out with perhaps the strongest
statements. Explaining that she has a cousin who is a Burma activist, Laura
Bush said, “The deplorable acts of violence being perpetrated against
Buddhist monks and peaceful Burmese demonstrators shame the military
regime.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said,
“The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the
travesty that is taking place.” Keeping an international focus is essential,
but should not distract from one of the most powerful supporters of the
junta, one that is much closer to home. Rice knows it well: Chevron.

Fueling the military junta that
has ruled for decades are Burma’s natural gas reserves, controlled by the
Burmese regime in partnership with the U.S. multinational oil giant Chevron,
the French oil company Total and a Thai oil firm. Offshore natural gas
facilities deliver their extracted gas to Thailand through Burma’s Yadana
pipeline. The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by
the Burmese military.

The original pipeline partner,
Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of
slave labor. As soon as
the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal.

Chevron’s role in propping up the
brutal regime in Burma is clear. According to Marco Simons, U.S.
legal director at EarthRights International: “Sanctions haven’t worked
because gas is the lifeline of the regime. Before Yadana went online,
Burma’s regime was facing severe shortages of currency. It’s really Yadana
and gas projects that kept the military regime afloat to buy arms and
ammunition and pay its soldiers.”

The U.S. government has had
sanctions in place against Burma since 1997. A loophole exists, though, for
companies grandfathered in. Unocal’s exemption from the Burma sanctions has
been passed on to its new owner, Chevron.

Rice served on the Chevron
board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named
after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement
in the killing of nonviolent protesters in the Niger Delta region of
Nigeria. Like the Burmese, Nigerians suffer political repression and
pollution where oil and gas are extracted and they live in dire poverty. The
protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase
in fuel prices.

Human-rights groups around the
world have called for a global day of action on Saturday, Oct. 6, in
solidarity with the people of Burma. Like the brave activists and citizen
journalists sending news and photos out of the country, the organizers of
the Oct. 6 protest are using the Internet to pull together what will
probably be the largest demonstration ever in support of Burma. Among the
demands are calls for companies to stop doing business with Burma’s brutal
regime.

The protests began on August
19th, when the military’s decision to sharply increase the price of natural
gas and other fuels sent shockwaves through the economy.  The military has
recently responded with violence, killing at least several protestors
(including monks) and arresting hundreds more.  But the oil and gas
corporations themselves, who are partnered with the military government in
gas export projects, have shown no sign of trying to prevent further
bloodshed.  Instead, Daewoo International and the Thai gas company PTTEP
initially announced plans to export more of Burma’s natural gas, and on
September 25 PTTEP issued a statement assuring the public that their
investment was not jeopardized by the unrest.  A third company, India’s ONGC
Videsh, along with India’s Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, traveled to Burma
amidst the protests to sign three new deals to extract and export natural
gas.  And Chevron Corporation, the largest remaining U.S. company in Burma,
has simply remained silent.

“The corporations who can
influence the military junta know who they are. They must pressure the
regime to maintain peace, and respect the rights to speech and association
of the people of Burma. Instead, however, they are pursuing their business
interests while people’s lives are at stake,” added Chana Maung,
Director of ERI Southeast Asia. “The regime has resorted to violence
against the peaceful protestors, and the companies now also have blood on
their hands, but it is not too late for them to act.”

According to ERI Burma Program
Coordinator Naing Htoo, “Whether they like it or not, the companies
are not socially or politically neutral in the current unrest in Burma. They
say that their presence in Burma helps, not hurts, our people.  It’s time
for them to put their money where their mouth is.”

For example, Chevron, through
its takeover of Unocal, is a partner with the junta in the notorious Yadana
natural gas pipeline project. Unocal’s construction of that project involved
mass forced labor and other human rights abuses, committed by the army on
Unocal’s behalf. Moreover, Chevron Corporation is one of the largest foreign
investors in Burma. Their Yadana project funnels tens of millions of dollars
to the regime, money the military desperately needs to retain its
stranglehold on power.  Despite Chevron’s material support for the regime,
and direct complicity in extensive human rights abuses, Chevron claims that
it can play a positive role in contributing to the protection of human
rights. Empty rhetoric is not a substitute for action, however, and now
is the time for action. Given Unocal/Chevron’s shameful behavior thus far,
Chevron owes the people of Burma a moral obligation to immediately use its
influence with the regime to help prevent the mass slaughter of peaceful
protestors. 

Chevron’s green wash of an ad campaign could shape its global policy. My
colleague, Judy Dugan, at OilWatchdog.org makes a great argument in calling on
Chevron CEO David O’Reilly to "immediately sever Chevron’s ties to Myanmar’s
brutal government and personally speak out against its violent suppression of
peaceful protest."

Judy really socks it to O’Reilly on the hypocrisy front. Her letter:

Now let’s see if Chevron finds any truth in its advertising.

Brave bloggers and their friends outside Burma are trying to keep
information flowing to the outside world. Firepup Bob in HI sent me a set of
great links he found in the

WSJ – including Mizzima News,
Irawaddy News which reminds us
of the international oil companies including Chevron still doing business in
Burma, and Democratic Voice of Burma.