International

A majority in Parliament's main legislative chamber has given its support to a motion from the SP and the Labour Party (PvdA) calling for economic sanctions against the Burmese military regime. The motion calls on the Dutch government to take the initiative at the European level in favour of putting the regime under pressure through economic sanctions.

“I'm delighted that parliament has supported this," said Krista van Velzen, who moved the resolution on behalf of the SP. "I await with interest and a certain impatience to see what measures the government will take. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs promised to take the initiative last week, but to date we have heard absolutely nothing more about this.”

In the meantime, Van Velzen is calling on motorists to boycott Total, the French oil company which does most business with Burma, while earlier in the week she joined local SP members at a demonstration at a Total filling station in Papendrecht, South Holland.

Members of the SP from the nearby Alblasserwaard branch picketed the filling station for twelve hours, holding up placards and distributing flyers to motorists explaining that they were there because of Total's close economic links with Burma and its recent declaration that it has no intention of changing these, despite the widespread resistance of the Burmese people to the dictatorship and the military regime's brutal response.

At one point the police arrived, but satisfied that the demonstration was peaceful, said that they were happy for it to proceed.
The demonstrators found sympathy from a number of motorists who, after reading the flyer, decided to fill their tanks elsewhere, and others who pipped their horns or gave the thumbs up in support as they drove by.