Commentary: Pepsi, the choice of a new genocide
By Matt Berres

Rape, murder, military dictatorships... and Pepsi. The last seems out of place, right? Wrong.

In the southeast Asian country of Burma, military dictators and multi-national corporations have close ties. The military regime sells off the country's national resources to corporate interests, in order to bankroll its continued control over the country.

Since 1962, Burma and its 45 million citizens have been under the thumb of the violent and totalitarian control of the State Law and Order Restoration Council. The irony of SLORC's name is sickening. To maintain "law and order," SLORC has slaughtered thousands of civilians and subjected thousands more to slave labor.

In 1988, for example, SLORC generals ordered the army to gun down peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators. More than 2,000 were killed. SLORC has no legitimate claim to control, yet it continues to dominate Burma.

In 1990, the U.S.-sponsored free elections and the pro-democracy movement, National League for Democracy, won 82 percent of the seats in the national assembly. But SLORC refused to cede control to the government, and arrested many NLD representatives. NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, just recently released, was held under house arrest for nearly six years. The abuses don't stop there.

Democracy activists, politicians, student leaders and other "dissidents" suspected of defying SLORC rule are routinely tortured and interrogated before being imprisoned. The International Red Cross has even withdrawn because political prisoners in Burmese jails don't have visitation rights. How does Pepsi fit into this awful mess?

Pepsico, Inc., Texaco and UNOCAL are the only U.S. companies still doing business there. Investing and doing business in Burma is not about helping a developing nation grow... it is about bankrolling a murderous destructive dictatorship.

Since 1991, Pepsi has operated a cola bottling plant in Ragoon, Burma's capital. It bribes army officers and pays half of its profits to SLORC to stay in business. SLORC uses the revenue to buy weapons and build up "Security Forces" to secure their ruling position.

Since 1988, SLORC has nearly tripled the size of its army... from 180,000 to over 500,000. SLORC's only claim to control in Burma is through force. SLORC can only maintain this force through the foreign investments it receives... without this income the regime would crumble. What can we do?

Economic sanctions are our power. We need to send a strong message to the CEO of Pepsico saying that we will not finance SLORC's slaughter of human beings and devastation of the environment. We need to boycott Pepsi until it pulls out of Burma.

Show your support for a free Burma... join the Free Burma Coalition today in the protest of Pepsi's backing of SLORC.