A group of Cal State Long Beach students is urging the university to "invest responsibly." Leaders from the United Methodist Student Movement are expected to meet with representatives of Associated Students Inc. today to propose a selective purchasing resolution known as the Free Burma Resolution.
Similar to divestment strategies of anti-apartheid activists in the Õ80s, the resolution would prohibit A.S.I. from doing business with United States corporations that have major investments in Burma.
Burma, which has a record of human-rights violations, has been denounced by major human-rights groups worldwide, including the Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
Desmond Tutu has called the country the "South Africa of the '90s," and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has charged that 60 percent of heroin in the United States comes from Burma.
Although the Free Burma Coalition -- the grass roots movement behind the international action -- lists hundreds of companies on its boycott list, the CSULB leaders have chosen to limit its list to 10 companies. Two major corporations on that list are Arco and Unocal.
Sixteen campuses in the United States and Canada have passed selective purchasing ordinances, including Stanford, UCLA, UC Berkeley and Santa Monica College. The resolution is meant to influence Burma's State Law and Order Restoration Council, or SLORC, which has been blamed for the killings of more than 6,000 Burmese citizens and other abuses.
Patrick Zaw has been active in the Free Burma Coalition for two years. The CSULB student, born in Burma and raised in the United States, said the action will have a profound effect on the SLORCÕs governing.
"Basically this small movement is part of a worldwide action. I am dead sure that officials in Burma will hear about it," Zaw said. "It really threatens them."
Zaw said that the boycott may stop billion-dollar ventures with United States businesses.
Last week, the Methodist group and the Free Burma Coalition, led a campaign to inform students and garner support for the resolution. The groups showed films, passed out leaflets and held a campuswide silent demonstration.
Justin Long, president of the United Methodist Student Movement, said that the general reaction from the campus was supportive. Many students were uninformed about the labor and civil rights abuses that take place in Burma, he said.
"A lot of people are surprised when a religious group is doing something like this," Long said, "but it makes sense.
"We're very socially conscious. These abuses should not be acceptable anywhere."
A vote at Wednesday's Senate Meeting could pass the resolution. AS Vice President Davian Freeman has [pledged his support for the resolution, Zaw said.