Barbed-Wire Bras Help Squeeze Companies Out of Myanmar
By Daniel Nelson,
OneWorld UK (05-02-02)
Encouraged by their success in pressuring two companies to pull out of Myanmar (formerly Burma) during the last week, campaigners are planning to turn the spotlight on a major United States oil company.
As part of plans for "the broadest civil society alliance to campaign against investment in a country since apartheid in South Africa," U.S. activists opposing the Burmese military dictatorship are looking at the possibility of targeting oil and gas company Amerada Hess over its 25 percent shareholding in Premier Oil, which is currently expanding production in Myanmar.
Discussions about a challenge to Amerada Hess are underway with several trade unions and the New York City pension fund, which was active in supporting efforts for disinvestment in apartheid South Africa.
The move comes after British-based lingerie giant Triumph International last week bowed to a high-profile campaign featuring pictures of barbed-wire bras and the slogan "Support Breasts, Not Dictators", and announced it would stop manufacturing in Myanmar. "Triumph were obviously taken by surprise by the strength of feeling about doing business in Burma, having been inundated by customers pledging to boycott their products," said Yvette Mahon, co-director of the Burma Campaign UK, which ran the advertisements over two months. "This should serve as a warning to other companies operating in Burma - get out now or you could be next."
Italian clothing company Diesel this week joined Triumph, Levi Strauss, Apple, Pepsi Cola, Reebok, and other companies that voluntarily, or under pressure, have taken the decision to withdraw. Diesel stated that it would no longer source any of its clothes from Myanmar.
The company had been contacted by a customer in the English city of Manchester who told anti-junta activists that labels in some of the company's products were marked "Made in Myanmar."
"The money made from clothing exports is an important source of income for the regime," said John Jackson, also of the Burma Campaign UK, "The decisions by Triumph and Diesel show that effective campaigning and lobbying can really make a difference."
The group has set a deadline of year-end 2003 to persuade every major British clothing retailer not to source clothes from Myanmar, where garments are one of the fastest-growing exports.
Acting with 12 other pressure groups, the campaign is on the verge of launching the UK Sanctions Coalition to put pressure on the British government to introduce legislation, like that introduced in the U.S., blocking investment in Myanmar.
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton issued a federal order in 1997 banning all new investment by U.S. businesses in Myanmar, amid calls by the leader of the country's democratic opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi, for the international community to stem the inflow of foreign capital because of its role in helping to sustain military rule.
Companies approached for comment were unable to respond before publication.