The protesters displayed "BEEP 4 BURMA. BOYCOTT TOTAL" banners and distributed leaflets. They were very grateful for the local support in Chiswick. One of the shop owners took a leaflet, then came back for more leaflets for her colleagues in her shop only to return for even more leaflets for her friends at the neighbouring restaurant. She vowed to avoid Total petrol stations in future.

The police visited the protest briefly. They asked to check if any material might be considered offensive to the public, but didn't find any problem with the posters being used.

Whilst we'd like to make the public aware of the brutality of the regime, we've refrained from showing images of "bayoneted/macheted monks skulls" from last years protests as passers-by have young children. The article in this link has shocking images from last years monks democracy protest:
 http://myamarnews.blogspot.com/2007/10/burma-than-schwes-irrevocable-public.html


Total and Burma

A detailed report on Total Oil's involvement in Burma, written by Burma Campaign UK, can be downloaded at  http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/total.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.

Burma has the world's worst health care [2], the most corruption [3] and the most child soldiers [4].



LONDON PROTESTS NEXT WEEK

WEDNESDAY 23RD APRIL

Meet at Burma Embassy for normal daily Burmese protest
12:00-1pm
Myanmar/Burma Embassy 19A, Charles St, London W1J 5DX.
Tube: Green Park | Map:  http://preview.tinyurl.com/2vnnbh

Total London HQ, 33 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PW
1.30pm-2:30pm
Tube: Oxford Circus | Map:  http://preview.tinyurl.com/2tylug

Kilburn Total station, 409 Kilburn High Rd, Kilburn, NW6 7QG
5:00pm - 7:00pm (Wednesday)
Tube: Kilburn | Map:  http://tinyurl.com/2e8bb5


Protests are held weekly but locations may change. For information and reports on protests in London and around the country please see
 http://totaloutofburma.org


BURMA CAMPAIGN MAY 16TH PROTEST : Tell TOTAL to pull out of Burma

Our next big protest is the global day of action against TOTAL on May 16th. Every year TOTAL gives the Burmese regime $500 million through its gas platform in Burma. Since around 1/2 of the regime's money is spent on the army and its violent campaigns of repression it is fair to say that TOTAL is funding repression in Burma. We're aiming to hold protests at TOTAL Garages across Europe on May 16th, why not join us? Below are the 3 steps to holding your own protest:

1. Find your local TOTAL garage (on  http://www.total.co.uk there is a convenient Service Station Finder).
2. Download some resources (flyers to give to the public, facts and figures, the campaign briefing) at  http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/total.php
3. Spread the word and protest on the day!


You can email TOTAL right now to tell them that you think they should leave Burma via  http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/total.html

Burma Campaign UK on Facebook
 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5506647705

Get Total out of Burma on Facebook (totaloutofburma.org Facebook group)
 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6833508763


PETITIONS

Make sure you've signed:

- "Free Burma's Political Prisoners Now!" petition (global campaign launched 13 March 2008)
 http://www.fbppn.net/?page_id=5
- The Burma Campaign UK e-action to TOTAL:
 http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/total.html
- The Avaaz.org global pledge:  http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_corporate
- Don't Forget Burma - send a photo message to the regime:
 http://www.dontforgetburma.org


BURMA VIDEO

Burma Campaign UK's video channel on YouTube:

- New to Burma? Watch these videos for a brief introduction
- This is Burma Music - U2, REM, Damien Rice, KT Tunstall...
- This is Burma: News and Documentaries - including Burma's Secret War
and Inside The Crackdown

 http://www.youtube.com/burmacampaignuk


Get TOTAL OIL out of Burma group on Facebook:
 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6833508763


RECENT BURMA NEWS: (see  http://myamarnews.blogspot.com - read links for the full versions of stories)


 http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=11456

Pro-Junta Thugs Continue Attacks on Activists

Pro-democracy activists in Burma face continuing harassment ahead of next month’s national referendum on a military-drafted constitution, according to the country’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Nyan Win, a spokesperson for the party, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that unidentified thugs attacked NLD members in two different areas of Rangoon in the past week. He said that harassment also continued in other parts of the country.

“Ko Thi Han, an NLD youth leader from South Dagon Myothit Township was attacked by unknown thugs with batons on April 16 because he was wearing a ‘No’ T-shirt,” said Nyan Win. “He was returning to his home by bicycle when some people in a car started to follow him and then got out to attack him.”

Another Rangoon-based NLD activist, Win Thein, and several members of his family were similarly assaulted while they were walking home from a bus stop in North Okkalapa Township, he added.

“Other harassment of NLD activities occurred in Taunggok Township in Arakan State and Wakema and Dedaye Townships in Irrawaddy Division,” said Nyan Win.


 http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=1143

NLD member beaten and arrested for “No” placards

Apr 18, 2008 (DVB)–A National League for Democracy member was beaten and arrested after setting up a water stand in front of his house during the Thingyan festival with placards bearing the word “No”.

Ko Tin Win, an NLD member from South Dagon township, set up the stand on 12 April and invited other NLD members to come and celebrate the water festival.

As they were celebrating, three men pulled up in a truck and asked who was responsible for the placard, according to Pauk Sa, another NLD member from South Dagon township.

“Three people, presumably Swan Arr Shin members, wearing blue pants and short-sleeved t-shirts got out of a truck with licence plate number 7B-1748, asked who put the sign up and beat the guy up,” Pauk Sa said.

“There were a lot of NLD members there, but they decided not to retaliate but instead called the police and the township authorities,” he said.

“They arrived on the scene, but the Swan Arr Shin members just kept driving back and forth past the water stand.”

Then on 15 April, Tin Win was arrested by township authorities and police at around 8.30am.

When senior NLD members went to South Dagon police station to make enquiries, authorities would give no explanation of the grounds for Tin Win’s arrest.


 http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=11442

European Parliament Calls for Pressure on Junta

The European Parliament says the Burmese referendum on May 10 is a move to give the military power and keep opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi out of politics, according to its press release on April 16.

The statement also noted that “pressure within Burma is certain to mount” as the date of the referendum draws nearer.

A Dutch member of the European Parliament, Thijs Berman, who chaired the parliament’s hearing on Burma on April 2, said the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should launch an inquiry into human rights abuses in Burma and said he hoped the UNSC would start bringing human rights violations in Burma before the International Criminal Court.

He suggested the European Parliament adopt a resolution on Burma at its next meeting. He also called for economic pressure to be applied to international companies who undertake business with the Burmese regime.

While the official Burmese media are calling on voters to approve the constitution on May 10, dissident groups, such as Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and the 88 Generation Students group, are urging the Burmese public to vote against the constitution.

A Portuguese member of the European Parliament, Jose Ribeiro e Castro, called on the European Union (EU) to give more support to Suu Kyi—a former winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize. He also urged the EU to have a coherent strategy in relations with China and India in order to coordinate an international response to the regime.

Glenys Kinnock of the British Labour Party said any development assistance to Burma should be linked to political progress—part of a wider call by many parliament members for “smarter sanctions.”

The EU’s special envoy to Burma, Piero Fassino, told European Parliament members at the hearing that the junta had refused a UN plan that would lead to democracy and that the plan stressed the importance of dialogue and recognition.

The issue of Burma has also been discussed at a conference of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats-Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe, which is being held from April 15 to April 17 in the Belgian capital, Brussels. Fassino is one of the speakers at the conference.

Win Min, a Burmese political analyst based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said that after the September uprising in Burma, the EU’s stand on Burma had been stronger and that the EU is the second most influential institution after the United States in terms of pressuring the Burmese junta.

“EU pressure is an important factor because it has two permanent members of the UNSC, as well as good economic and political ties with China,” he said. “However, the EU’s decision is dependent upon a caucus decision among its 27 member states,” Win Min noted.

Meanwhile, Burmese authorities in Sittwe, northwestern Burma, arrested 23 democracy activists during the Burmese New Year festival as they marched peacefully wearing t-shirts bearing the slogan “No,” which have become increasingly popular as a sign of protest against the junta’s constitution.

The junta’s planned referendum on a new constitution will be reduced to “a mere ritual” unless international observers are allowed to monitor the vote, said the outgoing UN human rights investigator on Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, on Monday.

“How can you believe in this referendum?” Pinheiro added. “How can you have a referendum without any of the basic freedoms?”


 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7347724.stm

UN rapporteur warns Burma on vote

Burma's referendum next month will be a "ritual without real content" unless international monitors are allowed in, a top United Nations official has said.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Special Rapporteur on Burma, also accused military rulers of a clampdown on people campaigning for a "no" vote.

The referendum, set for 10 May, is on whether to adopt a new constitution.

Leaders say it will pave the way for elections by 2010, but critics say it is aimed at entrenching military rule.

The charter was drafted by the generals without input from the pro-democracy opposition.

It allocates a quarter of seats in parliament to the military and bans anyone who has been married to a foreign national from holding office - ruling out detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.



 http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/EdOp/2008/Mar/14-March-2008.html

Junta's U- turn and future Sino-Burma Relation

Dishonest Burmese rulers' decision to bar Aung San Suu Kyi from contesting the elections shows that its process leading to a democratic transition in the country is not convincing. The purpose of this decision was that the military regime threatened to ban the NLD and its leadership completely. This announcement evidently defied the international community by refusing to pursue democratization and national reconciliation. It appeared to be on the verge of a major U-turn, and it was aimed at undermining the on-going regional and international efforts.

Since the September people's movement in 2007, no political tangible result has been achieved. The regime did not free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners which the international community has been urging for. The house arrest of U Tin Oo, the deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party was extended. More political prisoners have been locked up. The UN special envoy was not allowed to go back to Burma whenever he needed to follow up on the UNSC resolution. Freedom of press has been prohibited, and citizens have no space to express their views openly and peacefully. In addition, the junta's referendum law released in February 2008 prohibits people from criticizing or campaigning against the referendum process and imposes a penalty of three years in prison. In fact, the regime's lip service to political solutions, buying time, blaming the opposition, and attacking its own citizens will not take the place of substantial reforms and will not resolve the country's problems.

Why does the regime remain deaf to the rest of the world? The reason is the regime had two trump cards in the form of Russia and China at the UNSC. Indeed, China and Russia, as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, can promote or prevent meaningful U.N. action on Burma. Recently, the Burmese military regime agreed to let Russia's Glory International Pte Ltd search for gold and other minerals in the country's northern Kachin State, which borders China. Later, Lt. General Evnevich Valery G from the Russian Defence Ministry followed his visit to Burma. According to reliable sources, the regime is trying to acquire knowledge and nuclear technology from Russia to build nuclear reactors in the country for energy purposes since dealing with North Korea and Iran has been criticized by the neighbours and the international community. Another reason is that the regime is trying to strike a balance with China and find out an alternative source for military supplies. On the other hand, China's interest in Burmese gas and building military bases in Burma's islands are life supports for the ruling regime.

Indeed, Russia and China have ignored many thousands of people in the war zones of Burma who are suffering growing humanitarian crisis for their own self-interests. They never take the burden of the UN for this humanitarian crisis. In doing so, the immoral self-interests will increase threats to Burma's neighbouring countries and the entire region. Currently, more than 4 million people are living in neighbouring countries, and one million people are suffering humanitarian crisis


 http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=1144

Overseas voters fear reprisals for voting “No”

Apr 18, 2008 (DVB)–Burmese nationals in Singapore, Japan and South Korea have been invited to vote in the upcoming constitutional referendum, but say they fear retaliation from the Burmese authorities if they do not vote “Yes”.

In Singapore, Burmese nationals were informed by letter that those who pay overseas taxes to the Burmese embassy will have the right to vote in the referendum, but were told they should vote “Yes”.

"We have been informed by letter sent from the Burmese embassy in Singapore that every Burmese national overseas who pays tax at the embassy has a right to vote but that the government who wants them to vote 'Yes'," one Burmese national said.


 http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2008/April/40-April-2008.html

Burmese junta seeks constitutional amnesty

New Delhi - A major flaw that the Burmese military junta's draft constitution has is a clause that grants amnesty to all military officers for crimes they have committed, a group of Burmese and international lawyers said.

The junta, in Chapter 14 of its draft constitution, provides immunity to all military officials from being tried and prosecuted, which groups including the Burma Lawyers Council, Global Justice Centre and Burma Justice Committee said is totally against international law.

Article 445 of the junta's draft constitution states that, "No legal action shall be taken against those (either individuals or groups who are members of SLORC and SPDC) who officially carried out their duties according to their responsibilities."

Aung Htoo, General Secretary of the BLC said, "This is an attempt to constitutionally grant amnesty for all the crimes they have committed and is totally against any international law."

The BLC, GJC and BJC in a statement said, the junta by seeking amnesty is recognizing the serious crimes that it has and is committing.

"The regime cannot, however, simply give itself immunity as it is seeking to do… This immunity is invalid under international law and cannot be accepted by the international community," the groups said.

"The rule of law must replace military might. This constitution and its illegal amnesty provision cannot bring sustainable peace to Burma," said the group.

The groups also called on the UN Security Council to create an Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate the crimes and see to criminal accountability of those members of the military regime who have committed international crimes.

Sappho Dias, Chairman of Burma Justice Committee said they have begun a move to push the UN to impose criminal sanctions against Burma's ruling generals.

"We are trying to get the UN to try to impose criminal sanctions against the Burmese generals and international communities should support this move," Dias said.

Besides the amnesty provision, the junta's draft constitution, which it seeks to approve through a referendum on May 10, has also come under attack by critics for providing immense power to the military, also known as 'Tatmadaw.'

According to the draft charter, the Tatmadaw members, with the direct appointment of the Military Chief, will automatically lay claim to 25 per cent of parliamentary seats in both the houses.

Critics said this provision is the junta's effort to ensure that the military will play a leading role in Burma's future politics.

In a bid to guarantee that any future government cannot easily amend the junta's constitution, the junta has made the amending procedure extremely rigid.

Under Chapter 12 of the draft constitution, the junta has made it clear that any bill for amendment will need 20 per cent support by legislatures before it can be accepted as a bill.

And it says that at least 75 per cent of the legislature must endorse the bill before it can be introduced to the people in a referendum.



 http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=11393

Junta Begins ‘Vote Yes’ Campaign

The Burmese military junta has initiated a “Vote Yes” campaign and is staging “referendum exhibitions” across the country in a bid to convince the people of Burma to endorse its constitution in May’s referendum, according to the headlines and news reports in The Myanma Alin on Friday.

The front-page headline in Myanma Alin—the Burmese version of The New Light of Myanmar—stated: “Approving the constitution is the responsibility of all citizens in the country. All who support our national interests must vote in favor.”

“Brig-Gen Aung Thein Lin, the mayor of Rangoon, recently told at a meeting with township-level officials that people who are pro-colonialist and undemocratic won’t vote in favor of the constitution,” said the source. “But Aung Thein Lin added that people who are anti-colonialist and democratic will vote ‘Yes’ to the constitution.”

Soe Tun, a member of the 88 Generation Students group, said that unless freedom of speech and freedom of association for dissidents could be established in the country, the referendum could not be free and fair. “The 88 Generation Students group are urging people to vote ‘No’ against the constitution,” he said. “It could put Burma under military rule for many more decades. All Burmese need is honesty for the future of the country.”


 http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=151:junta-includes-underage-people-in-voters-list&catid=7:news&Itemid=11

Junta includes underage people in voters' list

The Burmese military regime has included thousands of underage people in Northern Burma in the voters' list it has prepared countrywide for the constitutional referendum on May 10, according to its draft figure.

The draft figure has listed a total of 213,000 voters including people less than 18 years in Myitkyina Township the capital of Kachin State. The list has been handed over to Brig-Gen Thein Zaw, Minister of Communication and Post &Telegraph early last month by local members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), USDA sources said.

Among the voters over 97,000 are from among members of the USDA and the junta has included over 33,000 members under 18 years old, according to a vote station member in Myitkyina.

Kachin capital Myitkyina Township has the maximum number of eligible voters in Kachin State and the township has 13 sub-townships in the west parts of the Mali Hka (Irrawaddy River).

The draft voters' list was prepared by local USDA members and 103 polling stations were set up in Myitkyina Township, the local vote commission said.

Of them, the highest number of 38 polling stations is being set up only in Myitkyina downtown and the rest will be in other sub-townships and villages including one polling booth in Myitkyina Prison, the sources added.

All polling stations will be constructed in the same format and polling booths will be divided into three sections such as for 1,000 persons, from 1,000 to 2,000 people and from 2,000 to 3,000, people according to the Vote Commission.

Members of polling stations and the Vote Commission who were appointed by the regime in Myitkyina assume that the regime may convert the current voters' list of Myitkyina Township as pre-votes.


 http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=152:vote-no-posters-put-up-in-northern-burma&catid=7:news&Itemid=11

Vote 'No' posters put up in Northern Burma

Students have become active again and pasted and distributed hundreds of 'Vote No' posters and handouts in the three major townships in Kachin State, Northern Burma yesterday evening, said students' leaders.

About 500 of A-4 size posters and handouts exhorting the public to vote 'No' in the Burmese military regime's referendum to approve the constitution on May 10, 2008, were pasted and distributed in Myitkyina Township the capital of Kachin State, Waingmaw Township and Bhamo Township, a student activist who is part of the movement told KNG today.

In Myitkyina, the posters were mainly pasted on the entrance walls of the government hospital, on walls of the Kachin Traditional Manau Park in Shatapru Quarter and, road side walls and high schools in Du Mare, Tatkone and Manhkring Quarters, a student activist in Myitkyina said.

Hundreds of posters and handouts were mainly pasted and distributed in the public quarters in Waingmaw and Bhamo Townships, students' activists in those areas told KNG.

ye witnesses in Myitkyina said they saw local members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) tearing the roadside posters in N'jang Dung village in Tatkone, three miles north of Myitkyina downtown.

This poster campaign has been jointly organized by the underground students' organization known as the All Kachin Students Union (AKSU) and local people in three townships, Mr. Naw Awng, an AKSU leader told KNG.

The poster campaign will continue and gain momentum in Kachin State and the campaign is aimed at exhorting the public to vote 'No' in the constitutional referendum in May, he added.

Last night posters put up also demanded that the regime put an halt to both the Myitsone dam project in Mali Hka (Irrawaddy River) and Chibwe dam project in N'mai Hka (N'mai River or May Kha River). The posters also demanded a stop to the fruitless castor-oil-tree planting project, students' activists said.

Early this month, anti-referendum posters were pasted in key crowded localities in Myitkyina Township by the local people.

Meanwhile, the regime has geared up to mobilize people in Myitkyina to go to polling booths and cast the 'Yes' vote, the locals said.


 http://www.rfa.org/english/features/women/2008/04/14/witow_burma/

Burma: Life in Insein Prison

Burmese politician Daw Nan Khin Htwe Myint represents Pa-An township in the country’s parliament. She was one of three female university students jailed for their part in political activism around 1975. She became a well-known political prisoner while serving her sentence in Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison, a period she still remembers with pain. Now she has dedicated her political life to Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). She spoke recently to RFA’s Burmese service about the hard times, and about her hopes for Burmese women in politics:


 http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2008/April/41-April-2008.html

Junta arrests popular Rapper

Burmese military junta authorities in Monywa town in central Burma on Thursday arrested Yan Yan Chan a prominent rapper.

Yan Yan Chan, member of Burma's prominent Hip Hop band 'Acid', was arrested while he was staying at a friend's home in Monywa town, according to a close friend.

"We heard that he was arrested while staying at his friend's house in Monywa yesterday," said Min Yan Naing, a close friend of Yan Yan Chan and member of an underground activists group – Generation Wave - who recently fled to Thailand.

Yan Yan Chan (30) along with three other musicians founded the 'Acid' band in 2000, one of the earliest Hip Hop bands in Burma.

The authorities were said to have kept Yan Yan Chan under surveillance after his close friend and a member of 'Acid' band Zeyar Thaw (a.k.a) Kyaw Kyaw was arrested in late February. Zeyar Thaw is currently detained in Burma's notorious Insein prison in Rangoon.



 http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2008/April/37-April-2008.html

Over 500,000 IDPs at risk in Burma

At least half a million people were residing in perilous conditions as internally displaces persons (IDPs) in Burma at the close of 2007, according to a new report released yesterday.

The Norwegian Refugee Council's Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) estimates that during a twelve month period from October 2006 to October 2007, an additional 76,000 Burmese citizens were forced to flee their homes, with northern Karen state and eastern Pegu Division being hit hardest.

Burma's IDP population consists of approximately 300,000 people living in camps at temporary ceasefire areas under the surveillance of various ethnic groups, 100,000 subsisting in Burma's jungles and another 100,000 struggling to eke out a living in government controlled relocation sites.

IDMC fears that the burgeoning global food crisis, specifically the rising cost of rice, will only serve to exacerbate the IDP crisis inside the impoverished Southeast Asian country.

Burma is consistent with the broader plight of IDPs in Asia, in that a vast majority of those forced from their homes are the result of long standing conflict and protracted displacement.

The report accuses Burma's military government of being responsible for a highly disproportionate number of the recorded human rights violations against IDPs, including torture, beatings and forced conscription.





Notes:

[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