British campaign adds fuel to When The campaign and the high profile support it has won within
Question: Yvette, how effective do you think this initiative by Burma Campaign-UK will be? Answer: I think it will have a tremendous effect. It’s not just that it’s Prime Minister Tony Blair (who is supporting the campaign), but we have cross-party support here from the Conservative leader Michael Howard and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy. The media has picked up on it, it has gone out internationally and appeared in newspapers across the world. It sends a huge message to the regime in particular: the British public are not going to be holidaying in Q: But won’t the boycott hurt the people who stand to suffer most, those who depend on tourism for their livelihood? A: I’ve never been black and white about this. The Burma Campaign has never said it’s a clear-cut black and white, comfortable issue. Of course some ordinary Burmese live from tourism. We don’t deny that. We’re not suggesting for a moment that those people aren’t as important as everybody else. But this is a political struggle, and you have to look at the big picture. You also have to look at the fact that it’s a tiny percentage of ordinary Burmese who make their living from tourism. Around 80 percent of Burmese people make their living from agriculture and they never even see a tourist. It’s not a comfortable issue, however. I hate the fact that some ordinary people will be affected by the tourism boycott. It’s not something I feel happy about. But I think the responsibility for that has to rest with the regime. It’s our responsibility to see that there’s some transition to democracy as quickly as possible, so that all of Q: Can’t tourists act as a kind of channel to the outside world for Burmese living in isolation? A: We’re emphasizing how difficult it is for Burmese people to speak freely with foreigners. One of the arguments that is often used is that tourists can spread the word about democracy and encourage democracy. I’ve heard that argument used often. It actually makes me a little angry, because I think Burmese people know their own problems better than anyone else, and they’ve shown their commitment to democracy by going out on the streets in the thousands in 1988. To suggest that there’s anything new that tourists who are there to look at the temples and lie on the beach can really teach them about the situation in their own country is very patronizing. Q: Do you see any sign that the tourism industry has contributed to a reduction in human rights abuses? A: No, I don’t think the tourism industry can claim to have reduced the incidents of abuse in Question: Joe, can the leaders of Answer: I think so. I think they are wrong. I don’t see why they don’t understand that. For me, boycotts, economic sanctions and embargos target civilians as well as the government. They’re the moral equivalent of carpet bombing, where you destroy the whole economy in order to get at the few people at the top. In fact, the resistance to what they are doing is weakening the resistance against the regime. In all cases where you see democracy growing and resistance growing you have to have some kind of economic base to work from. It’s so much easier to oppress a people that are poverty stricken. Economic sanctions never work. There’s no evidence to suggest that the military regime in Q: How does tourism then help ordinary Burmese people? A: There are two main areas here. One is the obvious one of earning some income, because the money that is spent goes every way, up and down: street vendors, coffee shops, drivers, souvenir shops, handicraft, tour guides. All these people are earning income from tourism. I know a lot of people who work in tourism and they all say their lives would be considerably impoverished without tourism. I’ve yet to meet a single person in Q: You say every Burmese you have met in A: I think we have a moral duty to agree with policies that are reasonable. I voted for Bill Clinton, I was served well by him as a president but I didn’t agree with all of his policies. I don’t think the Burmese or foreigners are morally bound to agree with every policy that the NLD (National League for Democracy) come up with. I think it should be taken on a case by case basis. Otherwise it’s not democratic, is it? It’s not much of a democracy movement if you have to follow their every leader. That’s like a dictatorship. Q: You say you’ve been banned by the regime from entering |
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