Category: Solidarity Actions
FGWM statement: 2 years after the military coup in Myanmar
Statement released by the Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM) to commemorate two years of military dictatorship following the coup in February 2021:
A Statement by the worker mass regarding the 2nd anniversary of 2021 Anti-junta Movements
Date : 5th February 2023
The Military junta forcibly seized power on 1st February 2021. In such miserable times, the public also experienced misleading information such as no public-protesting within 72 hours of the attempted coup. On 5th February, conscious workers of FGWM rose up against the Military Dictatorship. Over 12,000 workers and union leaders from 10 factories began the “Red Ribbon” campaign. On the next day, February 6th, workers and labour unions leaders marched through Insein Road and Parami Sein Gayhar Shopping Mall amidst all the risks and threats, protesting the coup and the military dictatorship. Students, People and Monks who joined the protesting workers will be remembered by our FGWM.
On this 6th February, it has been two years since the worker mass courageously rose up against the coup. As FGWM, we would like to declare to the public that we will vigorously continue our struggle until the fall of the dictatorship along with the workers.
With ultimate faith to the revolution,
Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM)
#BloodMoneyMyanmar: Open letter submitted to French Governmet – NO exemptions for TotalEnergies!
TotalEnergies already announced to move out of Myanmar this year. But still revenues keep flowing from TotalEnergies to the military junta. Therefore 459 civil society organisations submitted an open letter to the French government urging them to stick to EU sanctions and not provide any exemptions for TotalEnergies! For more details check out the page on the Blood Money Campaign.
Open Letter to President Macron:
Do not authorize TotalEnergies’ use of exemptions to EU sanctions!
Worldwide call: Do not authorize TotalEnergies’ use of exemptions to EU Sanctions on the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE)
We urge President Macron and the French Government to:
1. Prevent millions of dollars of gas revenues reaching the junta by refusing to authorize TotalEnergies’ use of exemptions to EU sanctions – instead enforce EU sanctions and ensure that TotalEnergies does not hand over its share and interests to MOGE, and continue making and facilitating payments to MOGE before it exits or bring in a new operator that will collude with the junta.
2. Continue to support the Myanmar people’s efforts to defeat the brutal military junta and build a federal democracy and stop TotalEnergies from funding genocidaires, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Please stand with justice and humanity!
459 Myanmar, regional & international organizations including Civil Society Organizations, Community Based Organizations, Human Rights Organizations, Humanitarian & charity organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, strike committees and labour unions from 20 countries.
#BloodMoneyMyanmar: Days of protest to pressure French government! (June 16 – 20th)
Announcement by
Blood Money Campaign:
Call on President Macron and the French Government to refuse to allow TotalEnergies to use exemptions to EU Sanctions!
Targets: President Macron, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, French Embassy in Myanmar, French Ambassador
16-20 June 2022
#NoExemption #FreezePaymentsToJunta
#BloodMoneyMyanmar
We urge local and international Strike Committees, Revolution Organizations, CSOs, Unions and INGOs to be involved in the Blood Money Campaign: Preventing millions of dollars in gas revenues to reach the genocidal junta and to stop its brutality and disincentivizes it from the coup.
UPDATE (June 20th, 2022)
Joint Statement
Myanmar and International: Call on President Macron and the French Government to refuse to allow TotalEnergies to use exemptions to EU Sanctions, 459 Organizations from 20 countries.
We urge President Macron and the French Government
1. To prevent millions of dollars of gas revenues reaching the Myanmar military criminal junta by refusing to authorize TotalEnergies’ use of exemptions to EU sanctions.
2. It is imperative that the French government continues to support the Myanmar people’s efforts to end the brutal military dictatorship and build a federal democracy and stop TotalEnergies from funding genocidaires.
President Macron must listen to his own lawmakers and officials and stop capitulating to a corporation that has demonstrated a willingness to disregard the Myanmar people and fund a military junta that is actively engaging in genocide and crimes against humanity.
Online activities and ground movement
- Photo Campaign (to post on Facebook + Twitter)
- Comment Campaign
- Twitter Trending
- Ground Protest!
1. Photo Campaign
Call on President Macron and the French Government to refuse to allow TotalEnergies to use exemptions to EU Sanctions!
Write the requested text on a paper and upload the photo to your social media accounts with the bloody three-finger salute sign.
You can wear a red shirt, a blood-stained shirt, and a red armband.
Requested text on paper:
President Macron & French Government – Don’t Allow Exemptions
President Macron – Stop TotalEnergies funding genocide
French Government – #NoExemption
#NoExemption #FreezePaymentsToJunta
#NoExemptions #FreezePaymentsToJunta #သံဃသမဂ္ဂ-မန္တလေး #Samghasamaggamdy #samghasamagga
Hashtags to use:
#NoExemption #FreezePaymentsToJunta #BloodMoneyMyanmar #Total_StopSponsoringJunta
Please send your photos to the BMC page: fb.com/BloodMoneyCampaignMM and email to bloodmoneycampaign21@gmail.com and asia@icl-cit.org.
2. Comment Campaign (Facebook and Twitter)
Please comment with photos that the genocidal junta commits atrocities in Myanmar!
Facebook:
French President: fb.com/EmmanuelMacron
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: fb.com/france.diplomacy
French Embassy in Myanmar: fb.com/France.Birmanie
French Ambassador: fb.com/christian.lechervy.3
#FreezePaymentsToJunta #NoExemption
For the comments, you can use these sample texts (.doc).
3. Twitter mass trending
#FreezePaymentsToJunta #NoExemption
Accounts to mention:
French President: @EmmanuelMacron
French Diplomacy: @francediplo_EN
French Ambassador: @CLechervy
On the Twitter Team For Revolution Facebook page, you can see the dates and times to join Twitter mass trending. To support the mass trending, the below pictures and these sample tweets (.doc) were created!
4. Ground Protest
President Macron and French Government – Don’t Allow Exemptions
ပြင်သစ် အစိုးရအနေနဲ့ ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်တွေ အသုံးပြုခွင့် မပေးပါနဲ့။
President Macron – Stop TotalEnergies funding genocide
ပြင်သစ် သမ္မတ – တိုတယ် က ရာဇဝတ်မှုတွေ ထောက်ပံ့နေတာကို ရပ်တန့်ပေးပါ။
French Government – #NoExemption
ပြင်သစ်အစိုးရ #ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်တွေကိုအသုံးပြုခွင့်မပေးနဲ့။
#NoExemptions #FreezePaymentsToJunta #Total_StopSponsoringJunta #BloodMoneyMyanmar
18th June, 2022
Location: Ayadaw Township, war-torn Sagaing Region
Photo courtesy: Ayadaw Strike Committee (ASC)
Despite of simultaneous oppressions from the junta and instablities in the region, anti-junta mass movement of Phaung Kar Village, Letpadaung area demanding ‘President Macron’ & French Government not to allow exemptions for TotalEnergies!
#NoExemption #FreezePaymentsToJunta #Total_StopSponsoringJunta
#BloodMoneyMyanmar
source: fb.com
5. Massive Calling and Mailing
Only AFTER June 20th!
Let’s call and speak to the French Government not to allow TotalEnergies to use exemptions and to stop the funding of atrocities in Myanmar. No business with complicity in crimes against humanity, other mass atrocities and genocidal junta!
French Embassy’s phone number: +95 1 212 520
Email Address: ambafrance.rangoun@diplomatie.gouv.fr
#BloodMoneyMyanmar: Pressure Chevron/TotalEnergies Shareholders (May 21 – 25th, 2022)
Target – TotalEnergies, Chevron’s shareholders Meeting on May 25th, 2022
#FreezePaymentsToJunta #KeepInEscrowAccount
Global Week of Action (May 21 – 25th, 2022)
[Mya version – မြန်မာ | pictures]
Please join Blood Money Campaign: Not to reach more hundreds of millions of dollars gas revenues to the genocidal junta!
Online activities and ground movement
- Photo Campaign (to post Facebook + Twitter)
- Comment Campaign
- Twitter Trending
- Massive Calling!
- Ground Protest!
1. Photo Campaign
(a) Write the requested text on a paper and upload the photo to your social media accounts with the three-finger salute sign.
You can wear a red shirt, a blood-stained shirt, and a red armband.
Requested text on paper:
Chevron, TotalEnergies – STOP bankrolling the junta!
Chevron, TotalEnergies – The junta kills with your money!
Chevron, TotalEnergies – Keep gas payments in escrow accounts!
*** Pls join Anti-Chevron Day on May 21st, 2022 to pressure Chevron! ***
TotalEnergies – Don’t ask for sanctions exemptions!
TotalEnergies – Don’t bankroll the junta with another $250 Million!
Hashtags to use:
#FreezePaymentsToJunta #KeepInEscrowAccount
#Chevron_StopSponsoringJunta #Total_StopSponsoringJunta #BloodMoneyMyanmar
Please send your photos to BMC page and email to bloodmoneycampaign21@gmail.com.
2. Comment Campaign (facebook and twitter)
Please comment with photos that the junta commits activity crimes in Myanmar!
Chevron Shareholder – @TIAA
TotalEnergies – @TotalEnergies
Chevron Shareholder // TotalEnergies
#FreezePaymentsToJunta #KeepInEscrowAccount
For the comments you can use these sample texts (.doc).
3. Twitter mass trending
#FreezePaymentsToJunta #KeepInEscrowAccount #BloodMoneyMyanmar
Accounts to mention: @Chevron @TotalEnergies @TIAA @CalPERS @PPouyanne
On the Twitter Team For Revolution facebook page, you can see the dates and times to join Twitter mass trending. To support the mass trending, the below pictures and these sample tweets (.doc) were created!
4. Massive calling
Let’s call and speak to TotalEnergies and Chevron company to stop funding to atrocity crimes and not doing business with complicit in crimes against humanity, other mass atrocites and genocidal junta.
Total Energies Phone: +33 (0)1 47 44 45 46
Chevron Phone: +1-925-842-1000
Myanmar Time: 1:30 P.M. – 8:30 P.M.
Central European Time: 8:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.
USA, Washington DC: 3:00 A.M. – 10:00 A.M.
USA, Los Angeles: 12:00 A.M. – 7:00 A.M.
Time check with for your region: globaltimeconverter.com
Sample Text for phone calling:
Hello, I am from Myanmar. I want to ask to your company CEO and shareholders. Why is your company still bankrolling gas payments to the genocidal junta to kill the Myanmar people every day?
Your governement does not recognize the genocidal junta so why are you funding the criminal junta?
Your company announced to all apply business and human rights principles so why are you funding the killing fields in Myanmar?
Do you know that the junta uses your company’s gas payments to purchase arms and ammunition to kill civilians? Every day the junta finances airstikes and jet aviation fuel with your bankrolls.
So please stop bankrolling to the junta and keep all gas revenues in an escrow account to save many lives. Please behave humanely and stand on the side of human rights and justice.
Our children, youth, women and elder people are being killed and burnt alive every day with your money. Please stop being accessory to murder.
We urge your shareholders to adopt a policy of not doing business which is complicit in crimes against humanity, other mass atrocites and genocidal junta.
For Total company:
We urge your shareholders please don’t ask for exemptions! And Keep decommission fees in escrow accounts for the Myanmar People!
Please don’t bankroll 250 million USD, shares and interest to MOGE!
We urge Chevron/ Total to divert into escrow any upcoming payments intended for the Myanmar government instead of giving the money to the genocidal military junta.
5. Ground protest
Slogans:
TotalEnergies, Chevron– The junta kills with your money!
Chevron, TotalEnergies – STOP bankrolling the junta!
Chevron, TotalEnergies – Keep gas payments in escrow accounts!
TotalEnergies – Don’t ask for sanctions exemptions!
TotalEnergies – Don’t bankroll the junta with another $250 Million!
Mya version – မြန်မာ
Pictures during action days
The days of action (May 21 – 24th, 2022) saw activities to pressure TotalEnergies and Chevron in several cities across Myanmar as well as other countries and online:
#BloodMoneyMyanmar: Global Week of Action to #SanctionMOGE! (May 7 – 15th)
#US_SanctionMOGE – Global Action Week
May 7 – 15th, 2022
☆ photo campaign ☆ twitter mass trending ☆ comment campaign ☆ profile frame ☆ public letter ☆ gallery ☆
Online activities and ground movement
1. Photo Campaign
(a) Write the requested text on a paper and upload the photo to your social media accounts with the three-finger salute sign.
You can wear a red shirt, a blood-stained shirt, and a red armband.
Requested text on paper:
- Biden – the more you delay, the more we suffer. Sanction Gas Revenues!
- Save lives by cutting off the genocidal Junta’s financial pillars, gas revenues.
- Mr. President – Stop atrocities in Myanmar, Sanction MOGE right now!
- USA – please sanction MOGE
- No gas? No lights? We don’t care as long as we stay alive!
- No oil? No jobs? It’s OK, if the killing stops!
Hashtags to use:
#US_SanctionMOGE #TakeAction_NoMoreWords #BloodMoneyMyanmar
2. Twitter mass trending
#US_SanctionMOGE
#TakeAction_NoMoreWord
#BloodMoneyMyanmar
Accounts to mention:
@POTUS (President Joe Biden)
@USTreasury (Department of Treasury)
On the Twitter Team For Revolution facebook page, you can see the dates and times to join Twitter mass trending. To support the mass trending, the below pictures and these sample tweets (.doc) were created!
3. Comment Campaign (Facebook and Twitter)
#US_SanctionMOGE #SanctionGasRevenues
Twitter:
• President Joe Biden
• US Department of Treasury
Facebook:
• President Joe Biden
• US Department of Treasury
For the comments you can use these sample texts (.doc).
4. Profile Frame Campaign
- To change the profile frame, access this link.
- Click on choose photo
- Pick the photo you want to choose as a profile picture.
- If a check mark appears on the image, click done in the upper right corner.
- Then click next and download the image.
- Now you can see the picture in your phone gallery.
- You can create a profile on your social accounts.
5. Public Letter Campaign to President Biden
Send the following text to the white house:
On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military seized power in a coup d’etat, imprisoning civilian leaders as well as pro-democracy and human rights advocates.
In response to this coup, young people in Myanmar have taken to the streets in a new #CivilDisobedienceMovement (CDM) demanding an end to military rule. They are calling on the international community to impose tough and targeted sanctions, including stopping oil and gas companies from bankrolling the military through their partnerships with Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).
The military is now brutally cracking down, imprisoning, injuring, and killing thousands of peaceful pro-democracy protesters. The United States has already imposed sanctions on top military leaders and some military-owned companies. But it is vital that the United States honor CDM’s call for tougher targeted sanctions that stop the flow of money from foreign corporations to the Myanmar military.
It is long past time for the United States to impose sanctions on Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) as part of stopping oil and gas companies – such as Chevron, Total, Petronas, and Posco – from continuing to bankroll the Burmese military.
Please take all appropriate actions to end the flow of money from foreign corporations to Myanmar’s military.
Gallery of additional social media pictures
#BloodMoneyMyanmar: Sanction MOGE (petitions)
The military junta stays in power also with the help of the money generated by Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise. Therefore the Blood Money Campaign is calling to sanction MOGE!
More background info on this topic can be found on the page dedicated to reports on #SanctionMOGE.
An easy way to support the movement against the fascist military junta is to sign and share the petitions below!
Feminists united – Report by FAU Hamburg on IWD 2022
Below is a report by the Free Workers’ Union (FAU) Hamburg on their activities on March 8th – a day to commemorate feminist struggles worldwide. The original in German is online here.
With the activities around the day of feminist struggles, we set our own substantive accents and focused on the resistance movement against the military junta in Myanmar (or Burma).
The highlight was our rally in front of the Adidas store on Mönckebergstraße. Over 20 comrades, consisting of activists from the FAU, IWW and people who originally came from Myanmar and now live in Hamburg, gathered in front of the store. There was good music, a speech by a feminist in Myanmar, conversations with passers-by and some pyro-light.
To listen to the input recorded by a comrade of the Women League of Burma:
Why Adidas? Because the company says it continues to source clothes from six factories in the country. Many unions – including our friends at the Federation of General Workers Myanmar – are calling for comprehensive economic sanctions and the withdrawal of all international companies in the hope of weakening the military junta. After all, all taxes and duties flow into their pockets and also finance their repressive apparatus.
More background information can be found in this leaflet, several hundred copies of which were distributed (unfortunately only available in German):
Before the rally, we also participated in the demo of the 8M Strike Alliance, which started on the Reeperbahn. Many thousands of people were with us on the streets of Hamburg that day to make a statement against patriarchy.
We highly recommend the following video. It is an appeal by feminists from various groups in Myanmar, which was coordinated together with us. It also explains why we had a sarong at the rally:
We are also happy to announce that the fundraising campaign in solidarity with the comrades of the Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM) ended successfully on March 8th. A total of 14,285 € was collected! 🥳
Thank you to everyone who helped to bring this to a successful conclusion!
The money will be handed over in full to FGWM soon.
#BloodMoneyMyanmar: EU sanctions MOGE – international community must follow!
On February 21st the EU announced to impose further sanctions on the military junta, this time including the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). This is an important step forward in the struggle against the military dictatorship and also the result of efforts of the Blood Money Campaign.
Now it’s time for the rest of the international community to follow suit! This way the flow of revenues for the junta will be cut off.
EXPLAINER published by Global Myanmar Spring Revolution (GMSR) and Blood Money Campaign (BMC) on March 17th, 2022:
PRESS RELEASE by Global Myanmar Spring Revolution (GMSR) and Blood Money Campaign (BMC) as part of Global Actions Against The Myanmar Junta (GAAMJ):
Support the movement – Join the twitter storm!
#sanctionMOGE #US_SanctionMOGE #2022Feb23Coup #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar
@RepGregoryMeeks @BenCardinforMD @marcorubio @SenMarkey @SecBlinken @POTUS
Sample tweets:
@POTUS @SecBlinken US government must sanction MOGE, the state-owned entity firmly under the general’s control for the last two decades and its revenues clearly used in slaughtering innocent civilians.
@SecBlinken @POTUS @marcorubio @BenCardinforMD @SenMarkey @RepGregoryMeeks We calls on the international community to apply immediate sanction against genocidal Junta and its entity Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise.
@SecBlinken @POTUS @marcorubio @BenCardinforMD @SenMarkey @RepGregoryMeeks The Myanmar military are using income from Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise to genocide religious and ethnic minorities. The more you dealy, The more we suffer!
@SecBlinken @POTUS @marcorubio @BenCardinforMD @SenMarkey @RepGregoryMeeks Stop yourself from becoming an accomplice in war crimes and genocide in Myanmar. Sanction Gas Revenues!
@SecBlinken @POTUS @marcorubio @BenCardinforMD @SenMarkey @RepGregoryMeeks Urgent action needed to sanction MOGE which is bankrolling the Myanmar military regime for decades and still slaughtering Myanmar civilians.
@SecBlinken @POTUS @marcorubio @BenCardinforMD @SenMarkey @RepGregoryMeeks Please Sanction Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise to end American complicity in violations of international law in Burma.
@SecBlinken @POTUS @marcorubio @BenCardinforMD @SenMarkey @RepGregoryMeeks Foreign income from oil and gas sector is also one of the main reasons why military dictatorship sustains in Myanmar according to the ‘88 uprising’. Must #SanctionMOGE Now!
@SecBlinken @POTUS @marcorubio @BenCardinforMD @SenMarkey @RepGregoryMeeks If Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterpise is allowed to access oil and gas revenues, they can sustain and entrench their regime. We call for immediate sanction on MOGE.
1 year of resistance against military junta in Myanmar – Statement by FGWM
To mark one year of resistance against the military junta in Myanmar, the grassroot unions of the Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM) submitted the statement below. A statement that is also being supported by the International Confederation of Labour (ICL), Industrial Workers of the World Wales, Ireland Scotland, England Regional Administration (IWW WISE-RA), SAC-Syndikalisterna as well as the International Committee of the Free Workers Union (FAU).
In this context it is worth pointing out the fundraising efforts currently being coordinated together with comrades of FGWM in support of the resistance movement.
Continue reading
#BloodMoneyMyanmar: Poster Competition
Invitation to the Blood Money Poster Competition
Purpose
Sanctions on MOGE (Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise), the military’s largest source of capital, are an important act for Burma’s spring revolution. Sanctions on MOGE are a way to put an end to the dictatorship in Myanmar, and the poster competition aims to mobilize the international community and the people of Myanmar and intensify the Blood Money Campaign.
The Blood Money Campaign invites you to take part in a poster design competition to counter the military junta that oppresses the people with money from oil and gas.
You can create amazing art by using the following related context:
1) Cutting off the financial sources of the current military junta.
2) The survival of the junta with money from oil and gas and the importance of cutting off their income sources.
3) Illustrating oil and gas revenues as the source of funding for crimes against humanity, human rights violations and war crimes.
4) The need of imposing sanctions on the oil and gas industry (gas revenues).
Keywords
Sanction MOGE; Sanctions against MOGE; Blood Money Campaign
Recognition and Rewards
Winners will receive a cash prize and social development training.
The selected poster will be auctioned off as a document of the Spring Revolution, and proceeds will be donated to war-torn areas.
All participants will be receiving a Spring Revolution honorable certificate.
Preferred size is A2 with a resolution of 300 ppi in photoshop or illustrator format. Please submit your art to bloodmoneycampaign21@gmail.com.
The deadline for submissions is February 5th, nominees will be reviewed by a panel of judges and announced on the Blood Money Campaign page. The judge committee consists of experts from the relevant field.
Submission Rules
1) Must be your own creative art.
2) Do not copy.
3) Even if your poster is not selected, you must be able to use it for the revolution if needed.
For more information, please contact: Blood Money Campaign facebook page messenger or drop a line at bloodmoneycampaign21@gmail.com.