July 1-8, 1997

EarthCulture kicked off Rainforest Relief's Teak Week of Action with a direct action in Wilmington, NC at the Dean Hardwoods headquarters. Programs Director, Rick Spencer chained himself to the handcarved teak sign and we ended up meeting with Dean's president. We were also involved in a major action in Bethesa, MD in which we seized illegal teak imports and Rainforest Relief's Tim Keating locked the doors of Scan Furniture which a bike lock and then locked himself to the doors by the neck. Other demonstrations took place throughout the US and the week was a great success!

BURMA'S REIGN OF TERROR

"TEAK IS TORTURE"

A military coup in Burma in 1962 began a reign of terror and oppression thatcontinues to this day. In 1988, after tens of thousands of Burmese rallied fordemocracy, the military junta formed the SLORC (State Law and Order RestorationCouncil) to "keep order", composed of numerous high-level generals, and thengunned down thousands of demonstrators. In the following years continuedprotests brought about general elections. The democratic party won over 80% ofthe Parliamentary seats. However, the military declared the elections null andvoid and refused to yield power. The SLORC generals use forced labor, rape,torture, forced relocation and intimidation to control the people of Burma. Until recently, large areas of southern and eastern Burma had remainedrelatively free from military rule due to resistance of numerous indigenousethnic groups such as the Mon, Karen and Karenni. However, with massive inputsof new capital, largely from selling natural gas concessions offshore, a"cleansing" operation has ensued. Much of this capital has come from theAmerican energy giants, Unocal and Texaco; the French energy giant, Total and aThai company, PTT. The "cleansing" involves burning villages, raping andtorturing villagers, forced labor and forced relocation. Another prize: theintact hardwood forests of the south. Cases of forced labor have been documented by the SLORC in logging operations. LIQUIDATING FORESTS Burma is home to the world's last primary teak forests and some of the largestvirgin rainforests remaining in mainland Asia -- which are now being liquidatedto fund the SLORC's rule. Many of these forests are home to rare species such asthe Asian Rhino, Asian Elephant and others. The SLORC is now once again increasing hardwood logging. Teak and hardwoodharvest increased dramatically in the early 1990, then fell when the borderswith Thailand were closed and is now again on the rise. State-run total hardwoodextraction in 1991-92 was over one million cubic tons. The SLORC-controlledMinister for Forestry, Lieutenant General Chit Shwe, recently stated that teakforests will be logged to increase economic development, calling for fullsupport of the private sector in the development of "forestry". The SLORC isproviding assistance to private companies for expansion and investment, havingexempted forestry products exports from commercial tax since May, 1996. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy, callsthis kind of economic "development" "crony capitalism". The generals and theirfriends get rich, while the Burmese populace starves. Taking advantage of the tax holiday, Sunwood Industries Plc's holding company,the Sunti Forestry group, is building high-tech teak processing factories inBurma which will provide a steady flow of teak furniture parts for Sun,Thailand's largest exporter of teak furniture. Sunti Forestry Group is one of the world's largest exporters of teak furniture,mostly to markets in the United States, Europe and Japan. THE IMPORTER'S ROLE IN the US, teak is used for indoor and outdoor furniture, interior trim, boattrim & decking and small consumer items like spice racks, salad bowls and napkinholders. Some of the largest buyers in Europe are the Scandinavian furnituremanufacturers which supply Scandinavian furniture stores in the US and Europesuch as Scandinavian Design, Happy Viking, Scan Design, Dania, etc. Most ofthese individually operated stores carry similar inventories, buying from thesame suppliers. They claim, of course, that selling teak helps the people of"Myanmar" achieve economic "development" and gives them jobs but fail tomention that the SLORC is using the money from the sale of teak to buy moreweapons to use against the very people the companies say they are benefitting. With the full support of the Burmese democratic government-in-exile, RainforestRelief has called for an international boycott of teak from Burma. Since mostof the teak exported from Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan is Burmese in origin,this includes teak from those countries until they can prove it is not fromBurma. Rainforest Relief is against the logging, export. import or purchase of tropicalrainforest woods unless they originate from an operation that has beencertified by an idependent organization accredited by the Forest StewardshipCouncil. What You Can Do: We can pressure Burmese teak logging by pressuring consumers in the US,Europe and Japan to stop buying teak furniture and other teak products fromBurmese teak. Organize a demonstration at the Scandinavian furniture retailer nearest you(you can find them in the phone book under Furniture -- Retail. Look for"Scandinavian designs" or "teak" in the ads). Go in and ask them where the wood comes from (they will probably have somepropaganda to hand you about sustainable production and plantations). Write to the heads of these stores asking them to cease selling teak (andmahogany) unless it is independently certified. Let them know you are planningto demonstrate in July, and give them a reasonable date by which to respond toyour letter. They will either not respond, or they'll tell you to take a hike(which you should do anyway, in a forest near you). Organize rallies in front of these stores between July 1st and 7th. Signs canread: "Leave Burma's Teak Forests Alone", "[Store Name] Out of the Rainforests","Stop Funding Human Rights Abuses in Burma", "When You Buy Teak,You Pay For Rape and Torture of the Burmese People", "No Teak For Guns","This Furniture is Stained With the Blood of Innocent Burmese", etc. Contact Rainforest Relief for flyer originals and further information. Get your town to pass a tropical timber resolution barring the use of tropicalhardwoods unless they are independently certified (call, write or email us forsample ordinances). Get your school or workplace to pass a resolution to do the same.Let's leave Burma's forests for the Burmese, the Rhinos and the Elephants.