Burma - Total Denial ((including China))

Because of the current news in Burma ((see my previous post)), I can recommend this movie...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976178/

Comment from a user on IMDB sums up the movie content nicely:

Total Denial is a gripping documentary of the victory of 15 indigenous people from the jungle of Burma over a leading corporation in a U.S. court.

The film begins with scene setting clips of Burma, the legendary Aung San Sui Kyi and legitimate leader of Burma, who figureheaded led the struggle against the vicious military dictatorship even from prison.

Amid the visually stunning temples, the colourful Burmese countryside and jungle, we focus in on an area near the Thai border, where hundreds of thousands of an ethnic minority, the Karen, hide.

In 1992 TOTAL and UNOCAL do a deal with the military dictatorship to run a gas pipeline from the Andaman Sea through Burma to Thailand. The dictatorship provide 'security' by massacres of the villagers, using rape and torture and forcing them to work on construction as slaves (at gunpoint).

In addition to the Western corporations mentioned above, China's ((and to much lesser extent India's)) behaviour and responsibility as economic superpower in the region is DISGUSTING. China is the leading consumer/importer of raw goods from Burma and is protecting both the regimes in Burma and North Korea. China is of course also involved in ongoing threats against the people of Tibet and Taiwan.

It would be naive to call for a boycott of Chinese goods ((you could walk around naked and throw away most of your other goods...)) and their influence on the Burmese military regime is limited. However, China is on the leading arms suppliers and Burma provides Chinese access to the sea:

China is utilizing arms exports to increase its regional war fighting potential. For example, a reported 1989 $1.2-$1.4 billion arms deal between the PRC and Burma has possibly provided the Chinese Navy with access to a base on Hangyi Island flanking the Bay of Bengal. Rangoon may have also agreed to allow the PRC to set up a monitoring station on Grand Coco Island, just north of India's Andaman Islands in the east Indian Ocean.

((Source: http://www.ndu.edu/inss/mcnair/mcnair36/36supp.html ))

China is also getting natural resources ((especially gas and oil)) from Burma in exchange for weapons.

Pressure on China - including threatening to boycott the Olympic games in 2008 - is a viable option. Next year the eyes are on China and nothing would hurt them more than having their party spoilt.