BY RUTH RATCLIFFE
Canberra — The Burmese embassy will be the site of a demonstration on November 30, the deadline set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for forced labour to end in Burma.
The ACT Trades and Labour Council (TLC) will place a goods and services picket on the embassy on November 30 and 31, and potentially beyond. The TLC will also assist building a public protest rally, scheduled for 1pm on November 30.
A Green Left Weekly forum on November 14, attended by 25 people, heard these plans from the ACT TLC secretary Jeremy Pyner. The forum was also addressed by ACT Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker, Dave Gosling from the Democratic Socialist Party and Maung Maung Than from the Free Burma Action Committee.
All speakers strongly criticised the military regime in Burma and the Australian government's policy of engagement with that regime, particularly the provision of a "human rights training program". Tucker pointed out that Greens Senator Bob Brown had been successful in passing a motion in the Senate to retract funding for this program, however she was not hopeful that the decision would be implemented.
The horror of forced labour in Burma was conveyed by Than who told of an incident in which the Burmese military rounded up civilians as they left a cinema. Those who could not pay large sums of money or who didn't have connections in the military were put to work for no pay in terrible conditions. It is estimated that each day over 800,000 people are forcibly put to work for the military in Burma.
Despite the extent of the repression in Burma, Than was confident that "the people will win against a handful of generals". Gosling called for the implementation of economic sanctions against Burma and the withdrawal of all Australian businesses. Everyone was urged to attend the protest on November 30 and build it through the unions, universities and the general community.