Bruins protest with Burmese activists
Demonstrators say UNOCAL contributes to Burmese problems
By Tatiana Botton
and Kimberly Mackesy
As the bright sun shone down on Saturday afternoon, a
two-year-old Burmese American girl was stroking a palm tree. She
fit her small fingers into the grooves of the leaf and smiled.
"Pretty tree," she said. "Look at the pretty flower," she said,
putting her hands in the dirt.
She was in her own world, unaware of the significance of the
events surrounding her and occurring in her home country that
day.
Her mother, a Burmese woman now living in the United States,
protested alongside other Burmese refugees, immigrants and members
of UCLA’s Environmental Coalition. The small group gathered in
front of a UNOCAL 76 gas station in Burbank protesting the
corporation’s involvement in Burma. Their goal — to inform
passersby of the atrocities occurring in the Southeast Asian
country.
"We are the ones that are putting money in these corporations.
It’s our money that is going there to support slave labor," said
Dawn Weisz, director of the UCLA Environmental Coalition, who was
also present at the protest.
Earlier this year, the two governments of Thailand and Burma
authorized the construction of a gas pipeline between the two
countries. The pipeline, operated by the UNOCAL corporation, would
run through a significant amount of the rainforest and damage
Burma’s ecosystem, protesters explained.
But David Garcia, UNOCAL’s senior public relations
representative, argued that since the pipeline has not yet been
constructed, no one has the right to accuse them of any
wrongdoing.
"Sixty percent (of the pipeline) will be off-shore and under the
ocean. The other 40 percent will cross mostly scrub vegetation and
farmland," Garcia said. He added that UNOCAL is using forest
experts to determine the best route. Officials also maintained that
the farms crossed by the pipeline are owned by the government.
Protesters and organizers argue that the State Law and Order
Council, Burma’s military regime, exploits the country’s laborers
in order to construct the pipeline and its access roads. They also
said they believed that the council violates the human rights of
the Burmese.
Protester Maung Khin stood holding a sign splattered with red
paint that read "Unocal is making a killing in Burma." He lead the
group in cries of "Boycott Unocal!" and "Unocal out of Burma!"
Khin added, "Our Burma is ruled by a military government, and I
don’t want military rule. They have a lot of repression of the
people. The people from Burma can’t write freely or talk freely.
They’ll get arrested," he said.
"They torture and kill lot of people. They went to arrest me, so
I escaped to Thailand, and the next year to the U.S. as a refugee,"
Kim said.
But Garcia argued that UNOCAL does not tolerate any human rights
abuse or assert themselves into the politics of another nation.
"Labor will be compensated at fair wages, and there will be
absolutely no forced labor," Garcia said.
Meanwhile, protesters criticize the harsh labor they believe is
enforced by the Burmese government, and express their opinion using
signs, chants and leaflets.
Activists staged their demonstration at the 76 station located
on Alameda Avenue and Hollywood Way because the Earth Walk parade
was scheduled to pass by, organizers said.
Weisz said that very few people from Earth Walk joined the
UNOCAL protest, which she attributes to the politically charged
issues surrounding Burma.
"(The Earth Walk) was a happy, friendly sort of thing, and we
were trying to talk about real issues," she said.
Several drivers honked their horns as they drove past the 76
station in support of the protest. However, not everyone witnessing
the event showed interest.
"I’m making my living. I don’t have time to read the paper,"
said the owner of the 76 station, who refused to give his name.
"There are too many bad things going on in this country, like the
bombing of the federal building. Why do we have to care about what
is going on somewhere else," he added while counting stacks of
money at his desk.
President Clinton, in last year’s foreign policy address, also
mentioned that economics doesn’t always lead to human rights
violations.
"Experience shows us over and over again that commerce can
promote cooperation," Clinton said. "More prosperity helps to open
societies to the world; and that the more societies are open, the
more they understand that maximizing freedom and prosperity can go
hand in hand."
But the small group of protesters who stood for hours under the
hot sun said that the commerce of UNOCAL would only increase the
injustice and oppression already rampant in Burma.