[R-G] Fwd: Monbiot / The Junta's Accomplices / Oct 09

[Anthony Fenton]

==================================

ZNet Commentary
The Junta's Accomplices October 09, 2007
By George  Monbiot

China has become the world's excuse for inaction. If there is  
anything a government or a business does not want to do, it invokes  
the Yellow Peril. Raise the minimum wage to £6 an hour? Not when the  
Chinese are paid £6 a year. Cap working time at 48 hours a week? The  
Chinese are working 48 hours a day. Cut greenhouse gas emissions? The  
Chinese are building a new power station every nanosecond. China is  
our looking-glass bogeyman. If you behave well, the bogeyman will get  
you.

As we saw during George Bush's climate pantomime last week, China the  
excuse is not the same place as the China the country. Bush insists  
that the US cannot accept mandatory carbon cuts, because China and  
India would reject them. But while he stuck to his voluntary  
approach, China and India called for mandatory cuts(1). "China" is a  
projection of the West's worst practices.

I mention this because the western companies still trading with Burma  
use it as their first and last defence. If we withdraw, they insist,  
China will fill the gap. It is true that the Chinese government has  
offered the Burmese generals political protection in return for cheap  
resources. In January, for example, China vetoed a UN resolution  
condemning the junta's human rights record. Three days later it was  
given lucrative gas concessions in the Bay of Bengal(2). It is also  
true that the Chinese government has no interest in promoting  
democracy abroad. But the more the Burmese junta must rely on a  
single source of investment and protection, the more vulnerable it  
becomes. China is not intractable. If western governments boycotted  
the Beijing Olympics, they would precipitate the biggest political  
crisis in that country since 1989.

The businesses still working in Burma are having to scrape the barrel  
of excuses. Even Tony Blair, that bundle of corporate interests in  
human form, said "we do not believe that trade is appropriate when  
the regime continues to suppress the basic human rights of its  
people."(3) Explaining his company's decision to pull out of the  
country, the CEO of Reebok noted that "it's impossible to conduct  
business in Burma without supporting this regime. In fact, the  
junta's core funding derives from foreign investment and trade."(4)  
As the junta either controls or takes a cut from most of the economy,  
as almost half the tax foreign business generates is used to buy  
arms, any company working in Burma is helping to oppress its people.

The travel firms Asean Explorer and Pettitts, which take British  
tourists round the country in defiance of Aung San Suu Kyi's pleas,  
both refused to comment when I rang them, then slammed down the phone 
(5). Aquatic, a British company which provides services for gas and  
oil firms, was more polite, but still refused to talk(6). The tourism  
companies Audley Travel and Andrew Brock Ltd promised to phone me  
back but failed to do so(7). But aside from invoking the Chinese  
bogeyman, each of the others produced a different justification.

The spokeswoman for Orient Express, a travel company which runs a  
cruiser on the River Irrawaddy and a hotel in Rangoon, told me that  
"tourism can be a catalyst for change." Given that tourism has  
continued throughout the junta's rule, I asked, how effective has  
that catalyst been? "There has been very slow progress, but we feel  
it has helped."(8) The Ultimate Travel Company explained that "We  
feel we just like to offer the people who travel with us a choice. If  
people want to travel, they can. And really I'd prefer not to enter  
into a debate about it."(9)

Rolls-Royce, which overhauls engines for Myanmar Airways, a company  
owned by the state, told me that it operates "in line with UK export  
licences. ... As long as we are meeting government requirements,  
that's what we work to. I'm not getting into a debate on this issue.  
We're doing this to ensure passenger safety."(10)

William Garvey, the boss of the furniture company which bears his  
name and which works mostly in Burmese teak, admitted that he buys  
timber "that comes from Rangoon, through government channels." But if  
he stopped, "a highly likely consequence is that the rate of felling  
would increase dramatically. ... whatever you may think about the  
Burmese government, they are still using a sustainable system for  
extracting teak." Aren't human rights a component of sustainability?  
"In the strict sense, no."(11)

The managing director of Britannic Garden Furniture, which makes its  
benches from Burmese teak, and supplies the Royal Parks and the Tower  
of London, told me "I know it's no excuse to say we don't buy it  
directly. ... You try and get teak from other sources. But it's  
rubbish. ... The government has given us no directive not to trade  
with Burma."(12)

All these companies have felt some pressure already, thanks to the  
work of the Burma Campaign UK, which includes them on its "dirty  
list"(13). But I have stumbled across one western firm which most  
Burma campaigners appear to have missed. It is run by one of the  
world's most famous sportsmen, the golfer Gary Player. Player has  
made much of his ethical credentials. Next month he will host the  
Nelson Mandela Invitational golf tournament, whose purpose is "to  
make a difference in the lives of children". One of his websites  
shows a painting of Mr Player bathed in radiant light and surrounded  
by smiling children. Nelson Mandela stands behind him, lit by the  
same faint halo(14).

Golf, to most of us, looks like a harmless if mysterious activity,  
but in Burma it is a powerful symbol of oppression. Some of the  
country's courses have been built on land seized from peasant  
farmers, who were evicted without compensation. Golf is the sport of  
the generals, who conduct much of their business on the links.

Player's website shows him, in 2002, launching the "grand opening" of  
the golf course he designed, which turned "a 650-acre rice paddy into  
The Pride of Myanmar. The golfer's paradise that stands in Myanmar  
today is said to be living proof that miracles do happen."(15) I  
asked his company the following questions. Who owned the land on  
which the course was constructed? How many people were evicted in  
order to build it? Was forced labour used in its construction? As  
Player's company is based in Florida, did the design of this course  
break US sanctions? His media spokesman told me "The Gary Player  
Group has decided not to comment on any questions regarding Myanmar- 
Burma."(16) It seems to me that there is a strong case for asking  
Nelson Mandela to remove his name from Mr Player's tournament.

If, like me, you have been shaking your head over the crushing of the  
protests, wondering what on earth you can do, I suggest you get on  
the phone to these companies, demanding, politely, that they cut  
their ties. I sense that it wouldn't take much more pressure to  
persuade them to pull out. By itself, this won't bring down the  
regime. But it will cut its sources of income, and allow us to focus  
on confronting the reality of Chinese investment, rather than the  
excuse.

www.monbiot.com

References:

1. Ewen MacAskill, 29th September 2007. Europeans angry after Bush  
climate speech 'charade'. The Guardian.

2. No author, 20th July 2007. Myanmar: Pariah or Prospect? Energy  
Compass.

3. Tony Blair, 25 Jun 2003. Prime Minister's Questions. Hansard  
Column 1042. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/ 
cmhansrd/vo030625/debtext/30625-03.htm

4. Paul Fireman, 7th June 2005. Burma: Time to Restore Human Rights  
and Democracy. Wall Street Journal.

5. Phoned on 28th September.

6. ibid.

7. ibid.

8. Pippa Isbell, Orient Express, 28th September 2007.

9. Gloria Ward, Ultimate Travel Company, 28th September 2007.

10. Martin Brodie, Rolls-Royce, 28th September 2007.

11. William Garvey, William Garvey Ltd, 28th September 2007.

12. The managing director would not give her name. 28th September 2007.

13. http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/dirty_list/dirty_list_details.html

14. The painting flashes up in the top righthand panel here: http:// 
www.nmigolf.co.za/default.asp

15. Gary Player Design, 21st November 2002. Design Excellence  
Revealed at Grand Opening of Gary Player Signature Course in Myanmar.  
http://www.garyplayer.com/newsRead.asp?cid=3&pageid=1&articleid=12

16. Duncan Cruickshank, 30th September 2007.



Published in the Guardian 2nd October 2007