At its AGM on Tuesday 17th May, the board of TOTAL Oil will face questions about its involvement in Burma. In addition, campaigners in the USA will demonstrate outside the French Embassy and 5 Consulates, attacking France’s ‘blood for gas’ foreign policy on Burma. In Holland a report will be published detailing the role TOTAL plays in propping up the regime in Burma.
In Paris, representatives of the ‘Total Pollutes Democracy: Stop TOTAL in Burma’ campaign (established by a coalition of French and international non governmental organisations and trade unions) will attend the TOTAL Oil AGM to question the company about its activities in Burma. French and European parliamentarians will question TOTAL executives on the company’s investments in Burma and the coalition’s demands that the company withdraw. The coalition has also submitted written questions that will be answered at the meeting and will distribute an open letter to shareholders and a leaflet providing information on the campaign.
In the USA the US Campaign for Burma will hold protests at the French embassy in Washington, DC as well as at consulates in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston. “France has repeatedly fought, diluted, and otherwise tried in every possible way to undermine support for human rights in Burma solely to protect the interests of TOTAL Oil’s operations in the country,” said Aung Din, a former political prisoner and co-founder of US Campaign for Burma. “It is time for France to change its Burma policy, which is nothing short of blood for gas.”
ABOUT TOTAL IN BURMA
- TOTAL is the largest European corporate funder of the regime. The Yadana gas project, in which it is a partner, is believed to earn the regime between $200m to $450m a year.
- TOTAL’s presence in Burma influences French, European Union and British foreign policy on Burma, as France vetoes effective EU sanctions in order to protect TOTAL.
- Horrific human rights abuses were committed in the region of TOTAL’s gas pipeline by pipeline security forces.
- Arms sales are closely linked to TOTAL’s gas project. The regime used its first downpayment for gas exports to buy 10 MIG jets from Russia.
“The board of TOTAL are out of touch with the modern world,” said John Jackson, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. “They need to realise the Cold War attitude of supporting dictators as long as they are ‘our’ dictators is long gone. Customers and shareholders don’t want to be involved with companies helping to prop up military dictatorships. The sooner they pull out of Burma the better for them, and the better for the people of Burma.”
The TOTAL Oil coalition is a group of 53 organisations based in 18 countries around the world pressuring TOTAL Oil to cut ties to Burma’s brutal military dictatorship.
For more information contact Penny Martin, French TOTAL Coalition, on (33) 1 43 55 25 18, or John Jackson, Director of Burma Campaign UK, on 020 7324 4712, or Jeremy Woodrum, US Campaign for Burma (1) 202 223 0300.