FREE BURMA SUPPORTERS PLEAD FOR UNITED NATIONS HELP ON UN DAY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
October 18, 2007 Nyunt Than (510) 220-1323
nyuntthan@gmail.com
Gregg Butensky (415) 867-0377 gregg@madnomad.com
MEDIA ADVISORY
FREE BURMA SUPPORTERS PLEAD FOR UNITED NATIONS HELP ON UN DAY
Bay Area recognizes United Nations Day with a Freedom March & Candlelight Vigil
WHEN: Wednesday, October 24th - 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
WHERE: San Francisco, CA
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm Protest at Chinese Consulate, 1450 Laguna Street, San Francisco
5:00 pm - 5:40 pm March to United Nations Plaza, Market Street between 7th & 8th Streets
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Multi-faith prayer vigil at the UN Plaza with religious and political presenters
WHAT: The Burmese American Democratic Alliance (BADA) and its supporters will march through the streets of San Francisco to plead for immediate United Nations intervention in Burma. The event will begin at 4:00 pm with a protest at the Chinese Consulate urging the Chinese Government to allow the United Nations to fulfill its responsibility to protect the Burmese people from crimes against humanity committed by the Burmese military. Led by local monks, clergy from different religions, and a coalition of BADA’s allies, the group will march to the United Nations Plaza for a prayer vigil in honor of all the peaceful protesters in Burma.
“We recognize that the United Nations has many accomplishments, but it has consistently failed the people of Burma. The UN Security Council issued a presidential statement deploring the use of violence against protesters, urging the early release of prisoners, and calling for genuine dialogue. In response, the junta raided residences in an all-out hunt for protest leaders. People are still being arrested, tortured, and killed everyday.” said Nyunt Than, president of BADA.
U.S. Secretary of State has called for international presence in Burma. Three prominent protest leaders, who are now in hiding in Burma, recently sent a letter to the United Nations pleading for help. But alas, no help will come. The UN special envoy to Burma is not expected to return to Burma any time soon, and there are no plans by the UN to compel the junta to fulfill demands made in the UN Security Council’s presidential statement.
“The world must intensify pressure on China and Russia to not block stronger actions by the UN,” says Than. We need swift, immediate, concrete actions now; we need collective sanctions; we need a multilateral arms embargo; we need intervention by the UN peacekeeping force before it is too late.”
More than ten thousand people were killed as a result of the 1988 protests. The numbers are even higher in the years that follow. Satellite pictures confirm the destruction of over 300 villages.
As the world celebrates United Nations Day, let us also remember that the torture and killings in Burma have been going on for almost a month. Many monks in Burma were arrested for their leadership in the peaceful August/September protests against the junta’s inhumane treatment of the people of Burma; many more monks are still on the run or in hiding. The world is now wondering, “Where are all the monks?” Perhaps next month the world will wonder, “Where are the people of Burma?”
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BADA is a San Francisco Bay Area based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has been advocating democracy and freedom for the people of Burma.
Lights Out San Francisco!
Fight Climate Change with the Flip of a Switch!
Lights Out San Francisco is a citywide energy conservation event on Oct. 20, 2007. On this night, San Francisco is inviting the entire city of San Francisco to install one compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) and turn off all non-essential lighting for one hour. Visit their office at 2548 Mission St. or give them a call at 1-415-643-LOSF for more information.
Background:
Lights Out San Francisco is a citywide energy conservation event on October 20, 2007. On this night, we invite the entire city of San Francisco to turn off all non-essential lighting for one hour. To promote long-lasting energy saving, we plan to distribute free compact fluorescent light bulbs throughout the city.
You may ask: what good does one hour and one light bulb do? What do we hope to accomplish?
Our city’s growing appetite for energy must be controlled to protect our planet from the effects of the climate crisis. We estimate that turning lights out in San Francisco for even one hour could save as much as 15 percent of the energy consumed on an average Saturday night. The ongoing benefits of installing CFLs in your house are also significant.
This savings will reduce carbon emissions into our air, preserve the natural resources used to produce this energy, set a positive precedent for the rest of the nation (as San Francisco so often does!), and result in ongoing reduced costs for the city, taxpayers, and businesses.
We’re asking San Franciscans to join together that night throughout the city to watch the lights go out. We’ll publish the energy-saving results on this website. We plan to make Lights Out San Francisco a recurring event and part of a wider effort to promote energy-saving consciousness for our wonderful city.
We were inspired by a similar event recently held in Sydney, Australia, called Earth Hour. In Sydney, 2.2 million people participated. Their one hour of lights out meant that 24.86 tons of carbon dioxide were not released into the air - the equivalent of taking 48,613 cars off the road for one hour.
Of course, we’d hope for the same or better here.
Thus far, LOSF has received a tremendous amount of support and very positive responses to our efforts. Currently our growing list of supporters includes Esruance, Gap Inc., Integrated Archive Systems, PG&E, Safeway, Tides Center, and Yahoo!. People in cities across the country, and even around the world, have contacted us in hopes of organizing Lights Out events in their own towns. Our hope is that the October 20th event will lay the groundwork necessary to implement an annual national lights out effort beginning in March of 2008. Lights Out America is a countrywide energy conservation event proposed for Saturday, March 29, 2008. If you’re interested in facilitating participation in your city, please email info@lightsoutsf.org.
How can you get involved? We’re glad you asked. Your support is critical to making Lights Out San Francisco a success.
