Kilburn protest against Total Oil support for Burma dictatorship
Awyame | 11.01.2008 19:51 | Anti-militarism | Repression | Social Struggles | London
Seven protestors held a demonstration at the Kilburn Total petrol station at 409 Kilburn High Rd on 10th January, calling on the company to stop being an accomplice to the crimes of the military dictatorship, as the largest western investor and financial supporter of the brutal corrupt regime.
The protestors including two Burmese, distributed leaflets for www.burmacampaign.org.uk calling on Total to end its partnership with the military dictatorship and pull out of Burma. The residents of Kilburn showed a lot of interest in the protest, with many discussions and several passers-by returning to ask for multiple leaflets to pass on to their friends and colleagues.
Total is in a joint venture with the dictatorship in the Yadana gas project
in southern Burma. [1]
The gas project funds the junta with hundreds of millions of dollars a year
and represents a major source of foreign currency for the regime to buy
weapons and finance the army.
Over 40% of Burma's GDP is spent on the military in a war against its own
people.
Burma has the world's worst health care [2], the most corruption [3] and the
most child soldiers [4].
Recent Burma news:
1,000 households from villagers in Pauktaw Township were being forced to work unpaid all day every day on road construction [5]. The township authority ordered the villagers to complete the road before Burmese army day. According to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) some five million people across Burma are facing the shortage of food to feed themselves [6] . The massive use of forced labour in Burma for construction projects leaves many villagers unable to even grown their own food. Far from benefiting from foreign investment in Burma, to many Burmese it means unpaid forced labour.
The Naga National Democratic Organisation (NNDO) called for a boycott of the junta's Naga New Year festival along the indo-Burmese border. They have asked tourists not to visit the festival as it earns the junta foreign exchange and only want to invite tourists when they are allowed to do so freely by themselves [7].
Total protests resume in Brighton on Saturday 12th January
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/389114.html
Protests in London next week:
Wednesday 16th January
Total London HQ, 33 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PW
8.30am-10:30am
Tube: Oxford Circus | Map: http://tinyurl.com/2tylug
Thursday 17th January
5.00pm - 7.00pm
Protest at Total petrol station, Dorset House, 170-172 Marylebone Rd, London NW1 5AR.
Nearest tube: Baker Street. Map: http://tinyurl.com/2zg4qf
Notes:
Protests are held weekly but locations may change. For information and reports on protests in London and around the country please see
http://totaloutofburma.blogspot.com
[1] Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s democracy leader, has said that “Total is the
biggest supporter of the military regime in Burma.” For more information
about Total Oil's investment in Burma see the Burma Campaign UK website:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/total.php.
[2] The World Health Organization's ranking
of the world's health systems:
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
[3] Burma joins Somalia in 179th place as the most corrupt countries in the
world according to Transparency International 2007 index rankings:
http://www.transparency.org/news_room/in_focus/2007/cpi2007/cpi_2007_table
[4] Human Rights Watch report on Child Soldiers in Burma:
http://hrw.org/reports/2002/burma/Burma0902-08.htm#P1672_511418
[5] 1,000 households in Forced Labor on Road Construction in Pauktaw Township in January 2008
http://www.narinjara.com/details.asp?id=1584
[6] United Nations World Food Programme say five million people across Burma are facing the shortage of food to feed themselves.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/burmese/news/story/2007/10/070927_wednesday_afternoon.shtml
[7] Naga ethnic minority call for boycott of Naga New Year festival in opposition to junta's exploitation as a tourist attraction
http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2008/Jan/25-Jan-2008.html
Total is in a joint venture with the dictatorship in the Yadana gas project
in southern Burma. [1]
The gas project funds the junta with hundreds of millions of dollars a year
and represents a major source of foreign currency for the regime to buy
weapons and finance the army.
Over 40% of Burma's GDP is spent on the military in a war against its own
people.
Burma has the world's worst health care [2], the most corruption [3] and the
most child soldiers [4].
Recent Burma news:
1,000 households from villagers in Pauktaw Township were being forced to work unpaid all day every day on road construction [5]. The township authority ordered the villagers to complete the road before Burmese army day. According to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) some five million people across Burma are facing the shortage of food to feed themselves [6] . The massive use of forced labour in Burma for construction projects leaves many villagers unable to even grown their own food. Far from benefiting from foreign investment in Burma, to many Burmese it means unpaid forced labour.
The Naga National Democratic Organisation (NNDO) called for a boycott of the junta's Naga New Year festival along the indo-Burmese border. They have asked tourists not to visit the festival as it earns the junta foreign exchange and only want to invite tourists when they are allowed to do so freely by themselves [7].
Total protests resume in Brighton on Saturday 12th January
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/389114.html Protests in London next week:
Wednesday 16th January
Total London HQ, 33 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PW
8.30am-10:30am
Tube: Oxford Circus | Map:
http://tinyurl.com/2tylug Thursday 17th January
5.00pm - 7.00pm
Protest at Total petrol station, Dorset House, 170-172 Marylebone Rd, London NW1 5AR.
Nearest tube: Baker Street. Map:
http://tinyurl.com/2zg4qf Notes:
Protests are held weekly but locations may change. For information and reports on protests in London and around the country please see
http://totaloutofburma.blogspot.com [1] Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s democracy leader, has said that “Total is the
biggest supporter of the military regime in Burma.” For more information
about Total Oil's investment in Burma see the Burma Campaign UK website:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/total.php. [2] The World Health Organization's ranking
of the world's health systems:
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html [3] Burma joins Somalia in 179th place as the most corrupt countries in the
world according to Transparency International 2007 index rankings:
http://www.transparency.org/news_room/in_focus/2007/cpi2007/cpi_2007_table [4] Human Rights Watch report on Child Soldiers in Burma:
http://hrw.org/reports/2002/burma/Burma0902-08.htm#P1672_511418 [5] 1,000 households in Forced Labor on Road Construction in Pauktaw Township in January 2008
http://www.narinjara.com/details.asp?id=1584 [6] United Nations World Food Programme say five million people across Burma are facing the shortage of food to feed themselves.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/burmese/news/story/2007/10/070927_wednesday_afternoon.shtml [7] Naga ethnic minority call for boycott of Naga New Year festival in opposition to junta's exploitation as a tourist attraction
http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2008/Jan/25-Jan-2008.html
Awyame