????????(Your Name)

Bay Area Burma Activist

1411 Shoreline Drive, #1408

Alameda, CA 94501

 

18th September 2000

 

Gil Whelan

General Manager

Aeroground Corporate Headquarters

270 Lawrence Avenue,

South San Francisco, CA 94080

Phone: (650) 266 6965

Facsimile: (+612) 6261-3111

Email: Aerogrndsfo@aol.com

 

Dear Mr. Whelan:

   Re: Protest at Aeroground World Headquarters on September 16, 2000

 

I am writing this letter to inform you that We the Burma Activists held a protest on Saturday, September 16 in front of your office against your company’s involvement in promoting tourism in Burma.

 

I understand that the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism of Burma has officially appointed an agent, North American group Aeroground Group Services, to promote Myanmar as a tourist destination. We acknowledge your right to pursue a business opportunity, but we wish you to reconsider this decision. The international community has broadly recognized that Burma’s military dictatorship is among the most repressive and brutal in the world. This regime enforces its power through rape, torture, forced labor and gross violations of the human rights of its people. The government is also widely known to be involved in the heroin trade, helping to provide the United States with 60% of its heroin. The governments of the United States, the European Union and Japan have imposed sanctions on the Burmese Government because of these practices.

 

The democratically elected leader of Burma and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been denied her role as leader and has been denied her freedom for over 10 years.  Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has called for a international economic sanctions against Burma to paralyze the military regime and bring them to the discussion table with democratic opposition leaders. That is the only way to bring about the true and lasting democracy in Burma.

 

Your promotion of tourism in Burma will prolong the military regime by providing resources and cash flow, and will serve to increase the terror that the 47 million Burmese people face every day. Since it is widely recognized that conducting business in Burma provides money and resources to the oppressive military dictatorship, many companies have pulled out of Burma. Pepsi, Texaco, Arco, IBM, Macy’s, Nortel Networks and Apple are only a few examples.

 

Levi-Strauss & Co., upon withdrawing from Burma, made the statement,

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

 

According to Doug Cahn, a spokesman for Reebok, “We do not feel that we can adequately apply our human rights standards and do business in Burma."

We are determined to pressure Aeroground to follow the path of

many other responsible companies, i.e., to stop conducting business in  Burma immediately. Please do the right thing and cancel your contract with the Burmese military junta to promote tourism there. An alliance of organizations supporting freedom in Burma has successfully worked to pressure other corporations to pull out of Burma. We would like to meet with you to discuss your promotion of tourism in Burma. We are prepared to take the necessary steps to pressure Aeroground and its customers to stop this destructive business plan.

 

In closing, thank you for your attention to this matter and we would appreciate if you could contact us to set up a meeting to discuss this issue.

 

Yours sincerely

(Your Name)