Legislative Action

Burma Law backers try again

by Kristen Lombardi

If Webster's English Dictionary were to illustrate the word "persistence," it might use a photo of Massachusetts Burma Law backers.

The Burma Law, which bars the state from buying goods from companies doing business with Burma, passed in 1996. Since then, supporters have watched the law get shot down not once, but three times in federal courts -- including the US Supreme Court last June.

Despite all this, the Burma Law backers are at it again. Proponents plan to introduce another version of the state legislation next month, and are kicking off their campaign Monday at a forum sponsored by Citizens for Participation in Political Action (CPPAX).

Human-rights activists have had their eye for years on the repressive military junta ruling Burma. They say the government used forced labor to build its infrastructure, and that it censored democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Explains Simon Billenness of the New England Burma Roundtable, "Foreign investment [there] is simply bolstering the military elite."

In its June ruling, the US Supreme Court found that federal sanctions barring new American investment in Burma pre-empt the Massachusetts law. Yet the Court left room for future legislation.

The new legislation has yet to be finalized, but activists say they can get around the decision in several ways. The selective-purchasing law could be revised to avoid naming Burma. Or the state could sell off pension-fund stocks in corporations investing in Burma.

Which option makes sense for Massachusetts will be discussed at the Monday forum, where State Representative Byron Rushing (D-South End), who sponsored the old law, is expected to speak.

The forum is sure to be a pep rally too, as activists gear up for yet another battle with big business. "I'm sure companies doing business [in Burma] will lobby against us," Billenness says, chuckling. But, he adds, "If US companies help support a military junta suppressing its people, we must hold them accountable."

The Massachusetts Burma Law forum takes place Monday at 7 p.m. at the Cambridge Senior Center, 806 Mass Ave.