BURMA SOLIDARITY AND CONSUMER ACTION

JustChurch in Bradford are urging a consumer boycott of Total, the largest investor in the dictatorship - which was blockaded yesterday. There will be more on Ekklesia this evening. In the meantime here is some information from the Burma Campaign - the 'dirty list' of companies backing the regime.

Many people are also wearing red clothing today, in solidarity with the monks and other civil society protesters risking their lives on the streets of Ragoon.

My friend Nigel Rogers writes: "West Country friends may care to note the entry for Britannic Garden Furniture Limited Costers Close Quarry Road Alveston Bristol BS35 3HZ. Britannic Garden Furniture is the West Country’s leading British manufacturer of “genuine” (Burmese) teak garden furniture. Their furniture can be found in such prestigious places as Hyde Park and the Tower of London. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.

The company has said (check your glasses here): "As for Aung San Suu Kyi, admitted her party had won the election on a very small turnout. We note that she seems to be very comfortable and well looked after in her bungalow and seems easily to communicate with the outside world. Burma's human rights, admitted, are not very good and probably fifty percent of the rest of the world are not either."