[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

repost: Burma's Four Nine's Uprising (ASCII version)


September 1, 1999 Media Advisory
WHAT: fast 
WHERE: Parliament Hill
WHEN: September 9, 1999, 9AM
WWW:  www.web.net/~cfob

Ottawa Group Supports Burma's "Four Nines" Uprising - 

The Ottawa Burma Roundtable is one of the many groups supporting the upcoming
September 9, 1999 uprising in Burma. Joining the ranks of Burma pro-democracy
advocates in over 30 countries, the Roundtable will be raising awareness and
support for the people of Burma through a day of fasting and demonstrations,
starting at 9:00 am on Parliament Hill.

Burmese dissidents in exile are predicting that September 9 - the
numerologically significant 9.9.99 - will be the day the masses in Burma
again rise up against the junta. They base their hopes on a similarly
auspicious date 11 years ago - August 8, 1988 (8.8.88) - when massive
pro-democracy demonstrations began in Rangoon and spread across the country
until they were brutally crushed by the army and thousands of peaceful
protestors were killed. 

The Ottawa Burma Roundtable will be holding a one-day fast on Parliament Hill
to draw support for the people of Burma's resistance to military rule. The
aims of this action are as follows:   

To demand that Burma's junta enter into dialogue with Burma's
   democratically-elected National League for Democracy (NLD) and leaders of
   the ethnic nationalities.

To call on Burma's generals to immediately and unconditionally release all
   political prisoners.

To demand Burma's military stop all violations of human rights, in particular
   the unlawful coercion against the NLD members and other pro-democracy
   supports and the brutal repression of Burma's ethnic nationality groups. 

To demand the cessation of forced labour, which according to the United
   Nation's International Labour Organization (ILO) is widespread throughout
   Burma. 

To educate Canadians on the human rights situation in Burma which includes:
   rape, torture, summary execution, arbitrary arrest, forced labour, and
   forced relocation, and to demonstrate the global interconnectedness of
   human rights	(i.e. that abuses in one part of the world affect those in
   other parts of the world).

To urge the Canadian Government to impose full economic sanctions against
   Burma so that Canadian companies cannot continue to invest hundreds of
   millions of dollars in, and import millions of dollars worth of garments
   from, Burma's military apparatus. The money in turn goes to propping up
   Burma's "Narco" Dictatorship.

To urge the Canadian Government to impose full economic sanctions also as a
   way to bring down a regime which depends mostly on foreign investment and
   trade and, to a large extent, on the illegal drug trade. Canadians are
   feeling the effects of Burma's massive opium industry as  heroin addiction
   and trafficking continues to explode in Canadian cities. Most of the
   heroin comes from Burma. 

To call on the Canadian parliament to recognize the Committee to Represent
   the People's Parliament (CRPP) as the legitimate instrument of the will of 
   the Burmese people. The CRPP was formed by the NLD on September 16, 1998
   with the legal authority of the majority of NLD elected members of
   parliament. 

To urge Canadians to do what Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has requested
   time and time again: "that you use your liberty to help promote ours". For
   more information, contact Ottawa Burma Roundtable at (613) 237-8056 

Canadian Friends of Burma
145 Spruce St.#206
Ottawa, Ontario
K1R 6P1
Canada
Tel: 613-237-8056	Fax: 613-563-0017
email: cfob@web.net	www.web.net/~cfob
-
This is the OPIRG-events@ox.org list. Announcement only please.
To unsubscribe, send email to opirg-events-request@ox.org, and put
"unsubscribe" in the body.