DEAR CAMPAIGNERS Facturing Company in British Columbia
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RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK February 1S97 Y C O T T U I S H X t- C:r.; : • Y V ‘. A M P A X G N TURNING MITSU BISHI GREEN : i •> i ., / ;■ ,u , . DEAR CAMPAIGNERS facturing Company in British Columbia. CCMC is not only the world's largest Howdy! As the Interim Campaign Coordi disposable wooden chopstick manufactur nator, the new year has brought many ing plant, but it also wastes up to 85% of the challenges for me. It has also brought ■: wood that it cuts because it is not white opportunities to expand the boycott and enough. take it in new directions. Your constant and heartfelt work has First of all, I would like to thank all of you • ^ pushed Mitsubishi to divest from these • for your hard work. Because of that work, ,'t '■ ' ■' ' < <G ecological nightmares. Your continued ; - last year the Boycott Mitsubishi Campaign pressure will bring about the fundamental was truly successful. Forty-seven busi changes in Mitsubishi that will stop future nesses signed-on to the Corporate Responsi * f*I f projects like these from becoming realities. * - ■: i V x. ~ ^-xxX; H bility Campaign which is working to stop the ecological and culturally destructive In 1997, much of our work will focus on practices of Mitsubishi, MacMillan Bloedel expanding the public awareness of the and Georgia-Pacific. Fourteen more colleges Mitsubishi boycott. The Fourth Annual and universities passed resolutions banning Haiku Project will once again enlist thou Mitsubishi products and recruiters from sands of children and adults around the their campuses until Mitsubishi changes its „ ,W,VJj -; world to flood Mitsubishi Corporation's ;v' • forestry practices. This brings the total president Makihara's desk with poems and number of campuses boycotting Mitsubishi artwork celebrating rainforests. The to thirty-two. The campaign also saw two Campus Campaign will continue to spread international days of action that brought the the Mitsubishi boycott at colleges and message of Mitsubishi's corporate forest universities with our second annual road destruction to folks from Portland, Oregon show. We hope to see the road show pro to Newcastle, Australia. duce resolutions from universities at the Regent and Trustee level. The Corporate During the last year, Mitsubishi continued Responsibility Campaign will continue its it's trend of selling off destructive opera ground-breaking work in organizing the tions in response to extreme public pressure. progressive business community to bring p i ’ 4 In 1995, we saw Mitsubishi sell it's 40% < Mitsubishi to task for its destructive prac share of the notorious Daiya Malaysia. This tices. Of course, we will continue to do operation is known for its twenty-four hour hard-hitting direct actions. One of our main logging of Sarawak's rainforests and the targets will be a $137 million "people endangering of native communities. In mover" project by Mitsubishi for the city of >■;; :'M 1996, Mitsubishi announced it will with San Francisco's SFO airport. This contract draw from the Canadian Chopstick Manu : 450 Sansome Street #700 • San Francisco, CA 94111 • (415) 398.4404 • FAX (415) 398.2732 • E-mail [email protected] org RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK was awarded to Mitsubishi Hea\ y I idus- tries despite San Francisco's Burin . Ordi THE BOYCOTT IS ON! nance and objections by the city's h man Do not be confu >ed - Jesse Jackson lias Rights Commission. Despite a c » rt rul i .g called off the P iinbow Coalition's boycott of that overturned Mitsubishi’s bid, I ie pro; ?ct Mitsubishi bf cause he is satisfied with is still not settled. We will contim 3 to Mitsubishi's improvements regarding pressure San Francisco to deny thi > contr. .ct sexual ha assment. The global environmen throughout the appeal process. G ir dire< t tal cor nr j- jty, howevt r, has not seen the actions bring Mitsubishi's forest d istruction impr j'74'.nents we demand. Mitsubishi and human rights abuses to the li; ;ht of C or/r, j'ion is still one of the world's worst public scrutiny and Mitsubishi ex ‘cutives to cor porate destroyers of rainforests. It still the table. r ops up the illegitimate Burmese military regime, the SLORC. It still participates in Again, I would like to thank all of the cultural genocide the world over. The grassroots activists who have brought tb ^ boycott is on! Full force ahead! movement so far. We couldn't do it w’ , hout your constant hard work and ded;c-' ;1on to protect the forests of the world ar j their inhabitants. You rock! For the Forests, J.C. RAINFOREST HAIKU Trees are treasured friends M itsubishi sucks Why do you cut the trees down? Digging up the earth zoith trucks You have no friends left! Just to make big bucks -Kota Mio (Age 7, Kyoto, Japan) -Maura Hurley, Kyoto Please write Haiku for our 4th annual Haiku and art project. Last year over 10,000 haiku were sent to the president of Mitsubishi urging him to work towards a more sustainable future. We would especially like to invite students, teachers, and professors to get in volved in the project. All you need is a pen and paper, (recycled or tree-free please) and your creativity. A Haiku poem consists of one 5 syllable line, one 7 syllable line, and ending in another 5 syllable line. We are also asking people to make origami cranes or any other artistic cre ation to get our message across. You can use the enclosed postcard or send your Haiku by March 1 to: Mr. Minoru Makihara Mitsubishi Corporation or Mitsubishi International 6-3, Marunouchi 2-Chome 520 Madison Avenue Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 100 Japan New York, NY 10022 ($.60) ($.32) Please send or fax all other artwork and copies of your Haiku to the Rainforest Action Network office. Please call Joshua at 415-398-4404 with any questions. 450 Sansome Street #700 • San Francisco, CA 94111 • (415) 398 4404 • FAX (415) 398 2732 • E mail boycottmcfigc apc.org Printed on 100% tree-free paper made from Kenaf fiber RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK MITSUBISHI/BURMA concrete work and discovered only an empty office with two desks in a ware CONNECTION house occupied by an ice cream company." Despite the fact that San Francisco, like eight other cities, one county and one state, This is a victory for human rights and the has passed an ordinance which prevents the environment. Decisions like this show city from contracting with corporations that Mitsubishi that it will be held responsible do business in Burma because of their for its actions. Please send in the enclosed human rights abuses, the San Francisco postcard telling Willie Brown that you Airport Commission voted to accept support taking a tough stance with compa Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' low-ball bid nies doing business in Burma and the to build a people-mover at the airport. agreement San Francisco has made to stop Mitsubishi does business in Burma in many supporting a tyrannical military regime. different capacities including buying teak You can also email him at taken from Burma's rainforests and supply [email protected] . ing the pipeline that is being built using forced labor. Airport commission members The following localities have passed selec voted to award the contract in a 3-2 vote tive purchasing laws regarding Burma: (interestingly, the three men who sup Massachusetts; Alameda County, CA; ported it had little interest in the evidence Berkeley, CA; Madison, WI; Santa Monica, presented as to Mitsubishi's social prac CA; Ann Arbor, MI; San Francisco, CA; tices). Oakland, CA; Carrboro, NC; Takoma Park, MD; Boulder, CO. New York City is cur We were ready to release this story to you rently pending a decision on this. and ask you to send a postcard to San Francisco's mayor Willie Brown urging him The following companies have withdrawn to respect that democracy and human rights from Burma due to consumer and share are at stake in this decision. After our first holder pressure: Pepsi, Levi Strauss, round of printing the postcards we had to PetroCanada, Amoco, Liz Claiborne, Eddie rewrite the story because of a court decision Bauer, Macy's (Macy's stopped direct sourc to reject the bid. The airport commission ing from Burma, but its store still stock and the city attorney decided to ignore the apparel made in Burma), Columbia Sports city's Human Rights Commission (HRC) wear, Oshkosh B'Gosh, Heinekeri, Carlsberg, recommendation to reject Mitsubishi be London Fog/Pacific Trails, Apple Computer, cause of specific problems meeting affirma Interbrew (Labatt's), Wente Vineyards, tive action goals and also the broader Motorola, Philips Electronics, Hewlett- question of its involvement in Burma Packard, and Eastman Kodak. Let's get because of legal loopholes in the wording of Mitsubishi added to this list! the ordinance. The deal was thrown out, however, because of Mitsubishi's inability to comply in minority hiring practices (and Aung San possibly because it attempted to deceive the Suu Kyi, city about its minority contracts), which Burma's violates San Francisco's charter to promote democracy leader & minority- and women-owned businesses. Nobel Peace So bad was Mitsubishi's attempt to falsify Prize winner, compliance with the hiring requirements calls for the that the San Francisco Chronicle reports withdrawal that when an HRC representative went to of foreign check up on one minority subcontractor investment which was "slated to do $4.2 million in from Burma 450 Sansome Street #700 • San Francisco, CA 94111 • (415) 398.4404 • FAX (415) 398.2732 * E-mail [email protected] Printed or. 100% tree-free paper made from Kenaf fiber | RAINFORES1 }ACTION NETWORK February 1997 j a SUPER RUBIN 7 A U T O S H O W S Many of you have been keeping up on the Tis the season to storm the auto shows.