History & Accomplishments of
Students for a Democratic Burma

Spring Semester, 1995:

• Fred Anderson, a member of Penn State Amnesty International and a bi-weekly Collegian columnist, wrote two of his columns about Burma and Pepsi.
• Students questioned the president of the university in a public forum, where the president relayed to us the university’s position in favor of Pepsi’s business in Burma
• We researched Penn State’s investments in Burma. When we asked if PSU had direct stock in Pepsi, they said they didn't. Later they told a Centre Daily Times reporter that they have $43,000 worth of stock in Pepsi.
• We staged a "die-in" protest where we went to where many students already were lounging on an open field, held signs, had a few speakers speak briefly, and then all fell down, dead. The reporters liked it...
• Major pieces ran in our school paper and the paper’s editorial board took up our cause, pressuring student government to get involved in our issue.
• Boycott Pepsi stickers found their way onto machines across campus.

Fall Semester, 1995:

• Researched the Alumni Association to find out about their sponsorship of a trip to Burma
• Used that information to revitalize the Pepsi/Burma campaign which was suffering from the graduation of 2 main leaders from the previous semester.
• EcoPalooza!! U Tu Mana, a Buddhist monk of the Mon ethnic group, and Nai Ong Mon traveled from Philadelphia to talk about environmental destruction and cultural genocide in Burma.
• Students for a Democratic Burma commissioned a report on Pepsi and Burmese Human Rights Abuse, called PepsiCo: Complicity in Murder
• The Undergraduate Student Government adopted a resolution brought forth by USG Town Senator Corey Gesford. This resolution supported all of the Students for a Democratic Burma demands and threatened a student boycott of the Alumni Association if they did not cancel their trip to Burma.
• Major news coverage detailed the Alumni Association’s role in Burma. Although they followed through with the trip, there is essentially zero chance that they will risk doing such a thing next year.
• Members of Amnesty and Womyn’s Concerns chalked up the sidewalks and streets throughout the university with dead body outlines and numerous slogans regarding PepsiCo State University’s marriage. This was done the night preceding Penn State’s Homecoming Parade and football game (a HUGE public relations day for them). The administration had people scrubbing and spraying off the chalkings early next morning!
• Students for a Democratic Burma crashed the homecoming parade with a protest at Pizza Hut (along the parade route) where we flyered the crowd, parents and all. (Having organized the action and refusing to not show up cost Mike Ewall his position as a columnist in the school paper).
• By this point, it was common knowledge among Penn State’s 40,000 students that Pepsi (quite prevalent on campus) was involved with a dictatorship in Burma. Students across campus were requesting info from SDB for papers, speeches and documentaries on Pepsi/Burma.

Spring Semester, 1996:

• SDB gave the university an ultimatum to provide us with their position on our demands by the end of January (there was a change of administration in Fall, 1995) and had this printed in the paper.
• We succeeded in getting information through to the Alumni traveling to Burma before they left for the trip.
• We held a viewing of a video detailing the use of slave labor to support travel to Burma.
• The university responded to our ultimatum within the time we gave them, taking the same position in favor of constructive engagement. even though Penn State's new president, Graham Spanier, is quite progressive, having helped house Nelson Mendela in South Africa when his family lived there.
• We attacked this hypocrisy in a large story in the campus’ alternative paper, Voices. The cover was a mockery of Penn State’s logo: "PepsiState: Penn State and PepsiCo’s Investment in Tyranny."
• To celebrate the anniversary of the first student gunned down in Burma (March 13th), we hung our banner (legally) in the center of campus... "Pepsi out of Burma -- The Choice of a New Genocide -- Students for a Democratic Burma." This was covered in the papers.
• That night, we held a public viewing of "Beyond Rangoon."
• We held a call and write-in campaign asking students to contact President Spanier via phone, mail or e-mail and question the University policy in regards to Burma.
• The campus paper has taken it up themselves to run a number of political cartoons, periodically, mocking the university’s ties to PepsiCo, Nike and other large corporations.
• Students for a Democratic Burma makes Associated Press article on Free Burma movement

Last modified: 18 April 1996

http://www.actionpa.org/fcg/sdb/history.html