Protestors Target Local Total Oil Stations
Day of action against company's links with Burmese military regime
Saturday 24th November saw Burma solidarity campaigners demonstrating at at Raven Total station, Goldhawk Road and West Four Total station, Chiswick High Road, as part of a national day of action calling on Total Oil to pull out of Burma and stop financing the Burmese military regime.
Eight protestors were at Chiswick for two hours. Some passers-by wanted to give donations to the protestors, but although grateful protestors did not accept donations. They were just asking for support in signing a petition or sending a card to Total to tell them to stop fuelling oppression in Burma with hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the military junta.
Six protestors were at Hammersmith for three hours. Many passing cars saw the protest and beeped and waved their support. Several cars turned around and decided to get petrol elsewhere.
According to the campaigners, over 40% of Burma's GDP is spent on the army. The junta spends just 19p per person per year on health and has more child soldiers than any other country in the world.
The Nobel Peace Laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi now in her 12th year of detention, has said that “Total has become the main supporter of the Burmese military regime.”
She told the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur that "TOTAL knew what it was doing when it invested massively in Burma while others withdrew from the market for ethical reasons”.
She added, “the company must accept the consequences. The country will not always be governed by dictators.”
The day of action was part of a growing global campaign calling on French oil company Total to stop funding the Burmese junta.
November 27, 2007