Rev. Danny Fisher

Here are today’s headlines about Burma:

The U.S. Campaign for Burma is asking for your help this Valentine’s Day:

Recently, Congress decided to ban the import of Burmese “Blood Rubies” in response to Burma’s military regime’s atrocities against ethnic minorities and the violent suppression of peaceful Monks and democracy activists. “This bill hits the Burmese leaders where it hurts – in the wallet. It’s our hope that these sanctions will push other countries to examine their own financial dealings with Burma,” said Representative Berman, a Democrat from California.

Regardless of their aesthetic value, buying rubies that fuel oppression in Burma is immoral. The recently enacted “Block Burmese JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act” now makes it illegal for jewelers and their suppliers to import rubies from Burma. This was a huge victory in the movement for a free and democratic Burma. However, it is possible that in anticipation of this new law, jewelers and their suppliers may have stockpiled rubies from Burma because it is not illegal to sell rubies that were imported prior to the JADE Act.

Our goal is now twofold: 1) Identify jewelers who continue to sell Burmese rubies 2) discourage jewelers from selling and consumers from buying any Burmese rubies, regardless of their legality, because it is a symbol of the oppression of the people of Burma. It has been public knowledge for a long time that the ruby trade contributes to oppression in Burma, yet a loophole in US law has allowed Burmese rubies into the US while most other Burmese products were banned. Jewelers who have continued to stock Burmese rubies should not be rewarded with our hard earned dollars.

HERE IS WHERE YOU COME IN: We will need “secret shoppers” to go into jewelry stores across America to find out which jewelers still carry Burmese Rubies. While we are using the term “secret” shopper, in reality there is nothing “secret” about this effort. We simply want you to inquire at jewelry stores in your area if they continue to sell Burmese rubies.

Once you identify a jeweler selling Burmese rubies, you should inform us. We will write to the jewelers to inform them of the situation in Burma, the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act, and why it is important not to sell Burmese Rubies. We will ask them to do the ethical thing and stop selling all Burmese rubies. If the jewelers are not interested in ceasing to sell Burmese rubies, we will take further action, including a possible consumer boycott of that company.

We hope that you do this to help the Burmese people in their long struggle for an end to despotic military dictatorship.

Get involved here.

[Photo by John Goodman for The Santa Barbara Independent.]

Here’s the latest on Burma:

Reuters examines Tibetan Buddhist life in Lhasa almost one year after the riots in Lhasa, as the Chinese preemptively crackdown before the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising. As they note:

Religion is at the heart of both Tibetan life and the Chinese government’s political problems in the restive region, 50 years after Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled into exile in India following an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.

Controls on religion and resentment over the condemnation of the Dalai Lama have made monasteries a breeding ground for anti-China sentiment. Discontent broke into protests in 1989 and again last year.