Free Burma
Many students are working to bring freedom and democracy to Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar). In 1962 the military overthrew a democratic government and they have remained in power since. Throughout their brutal rule there have been many popular resistance movements to overthrow them. In 1988 there was a democratic uprising that was brutally squashed. Burmese students in the US started a student movement, passing resolutions against the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), educating people and challenging corporations who had subsidiaries or investments in Burma (and were making money off of the repression). This is very similar to the anti-Apartheid movement of the 1980s.

SLORC has strong ties to the drug trade, using the money to finance its repression. Burma has exported as much as 50% of the world’s heroin supply. Also SLORC is selling off the Burmese forests, minerals, and oil to multi-national corporations resulting in massive environmental destruction.

SEACers have been very active in working with the Free Burma Coalition and have successfully pressured Pepsico to stop doing business in Burma.

Students at University of Wisconsin - Madison divested $239,000 of Texaco stock in the spring of 1997, and that year Texaco withdrew from Burma. Ultimately we should work to support the overthrow of SLORC, and restore the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.