PepsiCo: Complicity in Murder

The current political crisis dates back to the imposition of military rule in the early 1960's. Due to strong calls from the ethnic minorities for autonomy, the military, under General Ne Win, seized control in 1962. After this, they imposed an extremely isolationist form of socialism in which no international investment was allowed in Burma and travelers were given visas only for one week at a time. The economy was centrally controlled by high ranking military officials.

This rule resulted, on several occasions, in uprisings spearheaded by students. In each case, these efforts were responded to by bullets. The most recent of these popular movements occurred in 1988, after the extremely poor handling of the economy led to massive inflation of the cost of staple goods, such as rice. This time, the students were joined by other academics, monks, workers and people of all backgrounds. Again, the military response was murderous. During the famous August 8, 1988 general strike, it is estimated that at least 3,000 protesters were massacred in Rangoon alone.

This pressure forced Ne Win to step down but did not precipitate any real change in the situation. Eventually, on September 18, 1988, the military junta, known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council, took control of the country. In essence, these are officers sympathetic to Ne Win, and it is widely speculated that he still holds a tremendous influence in the affairs of Burma. This led to renewed protests and further massacres. At this point Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the Burmese liberator from British colonial rule, Aung San, emerged as the prominent leader for the pro-democracy movement. In a typical move to silence her, she was placed under house arrest with no trial.

After the brutal suppression of government protests in 1988, most Western governments cut off aid to Burma. This has forced the SLORC to seek out other forms of "hard" currencies to finance their purchase of massive amounts of weapons and other instruments of repression.

Eventually the SLORC allowed elections to be held in 1990. Given a multiplicity of newly registered political parties, the SLORC assumed that they would emerge in a dominant position to manipulate a coalition government. The results of the election were quite dramatic. Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, won 392 of the possible 485 seats in the National Assembly, or 82%. The SLORC's party, the National Unity Party, won 10 seats. Of course, these results did not please the SLORC and the elections were annulled. In addition, many of the winning NLD candidates were t immediately thrown in jail. At least 16 remain imprisoned to this date.

Many of the legitimately elected officials had to flee from SLORC controlled areas. They regrouped in Manerplaw and formed the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma. In the last year this location has been overrun by SLORC forces and the NCGUB has been forced out of the country.

Suppression of Rights to Free Speech, Association and Assembly:

"The SLORC continued to restrict severely basic rights to free speech, association, and assembly. In July and August the authorities arrested five persons for trying to smuggle our information on conditions in Burma to the outside world." (US State Dept., 1995)

Detention of Political Prisoners:

"Human Rights Watch/Asia estimates that at least 1,000 political prisoners remain in Burmese jails, including sixteen members of parliament elected in 1990." (HRW/A, July 1995)

Human Rights Violations Against Ethnic Minorities:

"Gross human rights violations against ethnic minority groups systematically committed by the Myanmar armed forces constitute a pattern of repression and state-sponsored violence which has been ongoing since at least 1984. The army, known as the Tatmadaw, continue to torture, ill-treat and extrajudicially execute members of ethnic minorities, including the Karen, Mon, Shan, and Kayah groups." (AI, 1993)

Forced Portering:

"Over the last six years, those forced to porter for the Burmese military nearly always endured physical abuse. ..... Only one of the fifty-five porters interviewed was not beaten during his servitude." (HRW/A, March 1995)

"The porters witnessed the brutal beating of nine men who were left at the side of the path or pushed over the edge of the mountain and were presumed to have died. One porter died from tripping over and falling down the mountain. Others saw two men who died from stepping on mines, and seven killed at the front line." (HRW/A, March 1995)

Forced Labor:

"As the SLORC has moved to attract international investment, at least two million people have been forced to work for no pay under brutal conditions to rebuild Burma's long neglected infrastructure." (HRW/A, July 1995)

"From the testimony of people who have worked on such projects, it is abundantly clear that coercion and force have been used to make them work." (HRW/A, July 1995)

In order to continue large-scale repression, the SLORC has needed to purchase weapons on the international arms market, primarily from China. Unfortunately for them, their currency, the Burmese Kyat, isn't worth anything outside of Burma. This has lead the SLORC to search out sources of "hard" currencies, such as the US dollar, the British pound, the Japanese yen, etc. Such funding can be found in international investors like Unocal, Texaco and PepsiCo and in money brought to Burma through the tourism trade.

Deforestation:

The SLORC is in the process of selling off major logging and oil concessions for the above stated purpose. Burma has roughly 80% of the world's remaining teak forests and is loosing them to Thai loggers at an unprecedented rate of up to 2.5 million acres per year. In many cases this forest is home to the various insurgent ethnic minorities. Therefor this endeavor has a double purpose: to earn the SLORC money to finance its arms while depriving the rebels of the environment that has historically sustained them. The sale of logging concessions has earned the SLORC a reported $112 million. (Rainforest Action Network, 1993)

In its paper "The Chain Saw Gang Debacle in Burma", Greenpeace outlines the connection between environmental destruction, forced labor, and human rights abuses in regards to a proposed natural gas pipeline which is to be built from the Martaban Gulf and into Thailand via the Mon state. (Greenpeace, 1994)

Forced Labor:

As noted above, literally millions of Burmese people have been forcibly conscripted into working on tourism-related projects such as building hotels and renovating historic sites. This is being done in preparation for "1996-Visit Myanmar Year", an attempt to attract tourists, and their currency, to the country. According to the US State Department, "From April to July [1994], almost the entire adult population of Mandalay city was forced, along with thousands from outlying areas, to contribute labor or money to rehabilitate the moat around the Mandalay palace compound in preparation for the "Visit Myanmar Year." (U.S. State Dept., 1995)

Other projects include infrastructure development such as building roads, railways, airports and energy plants. One example is the Ye-Tavoy railroad being constructed with the labor of primarily Mon and Karen conscripts. According to Greenpeace, this railway is a necessary component to the construction of the Martaban Natural Gas Pipeline. (Greenpeace, 1994)

In addition, the Burma Action Group has estimated that "approximately 500,000 people have been forcibly relocated from their homes in most of the major cities to the outskirts. These relocations have occurred to 'develop' Burma. Much of this development is related directly to tourism development." (Tourism Concern, 1995)

Taxes:

According to the Burmese National Movement Committee, PepsiCo had paid the SLORC over $400,000 in the forms of taxes and duties by mid-1994. This number is increasing as Pepsi's operations expand in Burma.

Trade Show:

PepsiCo helped to co-sponsored a trade fair for the SLORC in April of 1994. This fair was held with the intention of attracting more international investment to Burma. (Bangkok Post, 1994)

Such sponsorship demonstrates PepsiCo's direct support for the SLORC, especially given that all new investment will be regulated by and to the advantage of the military.

Counter Trade:

When PepsiCo brings money into Burma, they exchange Dollars for Kyats at a rate of one to seven. However, in order to repatriate profits via direct money exchange, they would have to use the black market rate of between 100 and 140 Kyats per Dollar. Therefor PepsiCo engages in what is known as "counter trade". This is the practice of using Kyats to purchase commercial farm products which are then sold on the international market for "hard" currencies.

The issue is that the commercial farms are run by the military and often use the forced labor commonly found in Burma. According to Canadian human rights monitor Kevin Heppner,

"As SLORC expands its army...[m]any battalions then confiscate much of the best farmland in their area, evict the farmers, then force these same farmers to come back several days a week to do slave labor growing cash crops such as corn, butter beans, cashews or fruit trees. After the harvest, the produce is sold with all proceeds going to the local military command except for a percentage which must be sent to a SLORC front company in Rangoon."

To date, PepsiCo has not been willing to certify that the farms it buys from in order to conduct this "counter trade" do not use forced labor or do not use confiscated land.

Implicit in this argument is some un-mentioned altruism on the part of PepsiCo. This is to say that PepsiCo will actually use its influence to pressure the government on issues of human rights and democracy in some meaningful manner. We feel that this argument is specious given PepsiCo's need to make profits, which are increasing under the SLORC.

As illustrated by the following quotations, the individuals and groups most directly concerned with improving the human rights situation in Burma are strongly against "constructively engaging" the current Burmese regime.

Aung San Suu Kyi: Nobel Peace Laureate, 1991. Her party, the National League for Democracy, won the 1990 elections in Burma with 82% of the National Assembly seats. In comparison, the SLORC's party received a little over 2% of the seats.

"Of course, in the long run I think we would need international investment, but I don't think we should rush into this...I want to study the situation carefully before I can say whether I truly believe that this is the right time for investment." (HRW/A, July 1995)

Desmond Tutu: Nobel Peace Laureate, 1984.

"Five years of constructive engagement has only given the SLORC the confidence to maintain its repressive rule...International pressure can change the situation in Burma. Tough sanctions, not constructive engagement, finally brought the release of Nelson Mandela and the dawn of a new era in my country. This is the language that must be spoken with tyrants - for, sadly, it is the only language they understand." (Far Eastern Economic Review, September 16, 1993)

Mairead Maguire: Nobel Peace Laureate, 1976.

"I want to tell the oil companies 'Please have a responsibility to the ordinary Burmese people - please divest. It is your money that is keeping the SLORC in power.' " (New York Times, August 28, 1994)

National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma:

"We, the representatives of the people of Burma, elected in the 27 May 1990 general elections, meeting at the First Convention of Elected Representatives from the liberated areas of Burma, hereby - Fully support Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's position...that foreign firms should not invest in Burma for the time being."

Burton Levin: Former US Ambassador to Burma.

"Foreign investment in most countries acts as a catalyst to promote change, but the [Burmese] regime is so single-minded that whatever money they obtain from foreign sources, they pour straight into the army while the rest of the country is collapsing."

Levi-Strauss & Co.: Worlds largest textile manufacturer. Withdrew from Burma in 1992.

"Under current circumstances, it is not possible to do business in [Burma] without directly supporting the military government and its pervasive violations of human rights."

Wall Street Journal:

"We have argued for commerce and investment where it strengthens civil societies vis-a-vis dictators. But these deals, by putting money directly into SLORC's pocket, only make a richer prize out of political power. The prospects of vast petrodollars gives the generals yet another reason to cling to office no matter how many bodies of their fellow citizens pile up." (WSJ, February 10, 1995)

As members of an institution that is doing millions of dollars of business with one of these corporations, we must not remain silent since such silence is what allows these atrocities to continue. We, the Students for a Democratic Burma, feel very strongly that Penn State should sever all such connections to oppression and tyranny.