James Boyce: On Blogger's Day For Burma, A Hearty F*k You To Chevron And The Same For Condi.
Today is International Blogger Day For Burma, organized by a worldwide coalition of bloggers, there is more information here.
This past Monday, I launched the Burma NewsLadder and I greatly appreciate everyone who has visited, signed up and posted links on the site. However, of all the links posted, some hopeful, many tragic, here's the one that absolutely chaps my ass.
Chevron, an American company, owns the pipeline that was built by slave labor that provides the Burmese junta with their cash.
But wait, there's more.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said, "The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the travesty that is taking place." Keeping an international focus is essential, but should not distract from one of the most powerful supporters of the junta, one that is much closer to home. Rice knows it well: Chevron.
That would be the same Condoleezza Rice that was on the Board of Chevron and has a friggin' oil tanker named after here.
WTF.
You know what? My friends Wood Turner and Gary Hirshberg at Climate Counts are on the right track - we need to support the companies that do well, and punish the ones that don't with what is obviously the only language they understand: money.
It will be a cold day in Burma before I ever buy Chevron gas again. There are plenty of gas stations out there, drive on by Chevron for me.
You know the reports of monks being burned alive? At least know I know where they are getting the gas.
