October 2007
Monthly Archive
Wed 10 Oct 2007
it’s storming today and i’m going to try to take photographs. the water is choppy and rough. the water is choppy. it has the texture of crumpled paper.
i imagined i saw rachel’s brother on the train. i got up from my seat and sat across from him; he was sitting in one of the seats next to the doors. i said, “you know the sears tower is the tallest building in the world?”
he said, “really?” kind of sarcastically.
i looked out the window behind him and continued, “on a really clear day, you can see it from miles and miles away.” i kept staring out the window. “sometimes i wish i was traveling and doing nothing but seeing. but i know that once i’m out there i’ll wish i was in the city riding the train and looking out the window.”
he didn’t say anything. he hadn’t said a thing the whole time. i finally looked at him. and he just stared back, emotionless. it’s hard to believe that people who display no emotion are feeling nothing inside at that same moment.
we sat there for a moment, i don’t know how long. i got up and walked away.
there are times on the train when you look up and notice you are at your stop and it only felt like minutes. forty-five minutes is a long time to travel, to ride home. but recently i haven’t noticed. i don’t even recognize half of the stops to rachel’s house. i never took notice.
Tue 9 Oct 2007
CALL TO ACTION!
We will be holding the CHEVRON PROTEST through FAX and PHONE calls on TUESDAY October 9th from 1:00pm-3:00pm Pacific Time (8:00pm-10pm GMT), (4:00pm-6:00pm Eastern Time).
- * Chevron pays millions of dollars in oil and gas royalties to the current military junta. We will demand that they put these royalties in escrow for the legitimate, elected government of Burma headed by Aung San Suu Kyi. These monies are being pocketed by the military leaders - it is not their money.
- * We are also asking that Chevron contribute significantly to humanitarian efforts in Burma. Such donations should be directly to the NGO’s and not through the military government.
CALIFORNIA HEADQUARTERS
1.Chevron Corp.
6001 Bollinger Canyon Road
San Ramon, CA 94583
United States
Phone: +1 925-842-1000
Fax: +1 415-894-6817
Ask for David O’Reilly, CEO
AND Call Chevron TOLL FREE in US and enter all zeroes for your credit card #: 1-800-243-8766 - ask for a supervisor and register your concern.
- - -
You should also call your local Chevron office at 1-3pm your local time if you are outside the US/Canada/Mexico. Go to http://protestchevron.blogspot.com for the contact info for each Chevron office throughout the world.
For Q&A on what sparked the protests in Burma–first against the rise in the price of fuel, which doubled or more–read http://www.burma-watch.org (originally published by the BBC News).
Mon 8 Oct 2007
By Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek
“The Burmese government’s grotesque crackdown on pro-democracy protests will have one certain effect. The United States and the European Union will place more sanctions on the country. Its economy will suffer, its isolation will deepen. And what will this achieve? Sanctions are the Energizer Bunny of foreign policy. Despite a dismal record, they just keep on ticking. With countries like Burma, sanctions have become a substitute for an actual policy.”
read the rest of the article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21162318/site/newsweek/
Sun 7 Oct 2007
As you may have read in the news recently, the human rights atrocities committed by the military regime in Burma are not improving. The military raids towns in the middle of the night. The military goes through the streets, pulls all of the people out of their homes, lines them up and compares them to the faces of the protesters captured in pictures. If the military finds people that “match” the pictures, they brutally haul them away. Best case: the people are arrested (aka detained and probably tortured). Worst case: they “disappear.”
Earlier at a press conference/briefing Maung Maung (former prime minister of Burma) participated as a panelist. Maung Maung’s message included the below points:
- * These demonstrations were not random and are not over. The protests were planned and organized. The organizers do not want to be shot, beaten, or arrested and tortured so they have gone underground for the time being in order to reorganize. These peaceful protests will continue; however, before that happens we must assess our resources so that we know how many satellite phones still exist, where they are located, who has gone underground, who has been arrested, as well as who has “disappeared,” etc. In sum, THIS IS NOT OVER and is not losing momentum.
- * We need the international community to stop and prevent the military’s brutal crackdown however they can.
- * We need meaningful support from the international community. I.E. We need Sanctions that prevent the regime from getting any income; we need support from the Security Council; we need to challenge the regime’s credentials and their right to represent Burma at the UN; etc.
- * The regime reacts to pressure, and we need the press and the international community to hold the regime accountable. We cannot let this story disappear again like it did in 1988.
- * We need direct funding for the pro-democracy movement. What we are able to do, and the resources we are able to provide, etc. are directly related to how much money we have. Thus, we need funding in order to keep this movement strong.
Okay so, what can all of us do about this?
(1) We can show the world we care and will not tolerate these horrendous human rights violations by participating in demonstrations at home like the International Day of Action (Oct.6) with Worldwide Rallies supporting the people of Burma, thus encouraging our governments and leaders to continue to care about this issue and apply international pressure. Please check out these events at: www.burma-watch.org and participate in the demonstrations near you. If you’ve missed the demonstration, start one of your own. Talk to your peeps. Make noise…
(2) We can stay educated about the issue and educate others. Some websites and resources you might find interesting include:
Fri 5 Oct 2007
[please send this far & wide…]
Dear Friends,
If you’ve been following the news, you know last week’s massive,
peaceful demonstrations protesting the Burma/Myanmar dictatorship have
been followed by severe repression and brutality. Reports of possibly
200 monks being killed in retaliation cannot be verified or confirmed,
because of the media blackout and military crackdown. They were heard
by a Burmese army major, Major Win, who defected because he did not
want to be part of killing civilians and monks. But certainly the
death count is higher than the official government count of 9 people.
Somewhere in the range of 1,400 protestors are in jail now.
Democratically-elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who decisively won the
1990 elections, has been under house arrest for years.
If you would like to do something to support the Burmese people, these
are some simple actions you can take: (more…)
