SOCIAL TOPICS (Archive): HUMAN RIGHTS

Published, December 1996

       by Byron Rushing

       The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a long history of assisting fledgling, democratic movements and opposing oppressive regimes throughout the world. From our leadership in the anti-apartheid campaigns we know that local governments can act effectively as parts of grassroots foreign policy initiatives.

       When Burma activists sought my support and leadership in the Massachusetts legislature, I had available strategies that we had used in campaigns related to South Africa and Northern Ireland. I suggested “selective purchase,” a modified boycott by a local government of goods and services sold by companies doing business in Burma.

       Recognizing the deterioration of human living conditions in Burma where military generals have stolen an entire country’s resources and are enslaving its population through force, we successfully argued in the state legislature that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should not provide contracts to companies that do business with this dictatorship. The Commonwealth joined the movement for the restoration of democracy in Burma when the legislation I sponsored was signed into law on June 25.

       I first became interested in Burma in February 1993 when I read a statement signed by South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and other Nobel laureates urging support for Aung San Suu Kyi. (She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.) At that time she had been detained nearly four years as leader of the National Democratic League (NDL) which won over 80% of the vote in the 1990 elections. Military rulers, calling themselves the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), refused to honor the election results and placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

       Aung San Suu Kyi has since been released, technically. However, as she puts it, “apart from my release nothing else has changed.” In fact, things are again getting worse. The junta has committed well-known human rights violations including the systematic murder, rape and torture of civilians as well as forced labor and drug trafficking. Most recently, SLORC prohibited a national meeting of the NDL and prevented Aung San Suu Kyi’s followers from gathering at the gate to her house for a weekend event that was virtually Burma’s only opportunity for free speech.

       SLORC has managed to survive through revenues generated by foreign investments and by a market for export of the nation’s natural resources. Burton Levin, the former US Ambassador to Burma, says that “foreign investment in most countries acts as a catalyst to promote change, but the Burmese regime is so single minded that whatever they might obtain from foreign sources they pour straight into the army while the rest of the country is collapsing.”

       In apartheid South Africa, international economic pressure was effective in bringing democracy to all its citizens. As Bishop Tutu says, “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. The courageous, committed witness of Burma’s democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is an inspiration. We must ensure that because she is out of sight, she is therefore not out of mind.”

       These first steps taken this year in Massachusetts and in selected US municipalities begin to assure all the people of Burma that, although they are out of sight of the US, Burma is not therefore out of mind of all of us who believe in democracy.

Byron Rushing has been a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives since 1983. He is also a member of the Advisory Council to the Calvert Social Investment Fund. He was primary sponsor of legislation restricting the State of Massachusetts from contracting with companies doing business in Burma. After the legislation went into effect in September 1996, Apple Computer announced it would terminate its relationship with its Burmese distributor in order to remain eligible for Massachusetts contracts.