Total Burma

It was a very fine early autumn afternoon, I mooched along (having had to borrow a car because of the catastrophic, but that’s another story) with camera and met with some fellow concerned souls (Hello all you peeps!) at the Total garage in seaside-tastic Llandudno. We figured to go into the kiosk, lay out our reasoning to the (2) bemused staff then get on with protesting Total’s totally criminal attitude to Burma. First we learned- the staff said they knew nothing about Burma and even less about Total’s role in supporting the regime, not even the recent mass resistance that made the big shiny news programs had impressed upon their awareness. Still being a solidarity action, peaceful and in support of the monks & people of Burma we were awfully nice and set out to tie red cloth bands onto the pumps and accost incoming cars with leaflets and persuasive arguments that they should choose to get their fuel somewhere else and maybe think some on helping the democracy movement in Burma.

I thought tying the cloth to the pumps made quite a nice visual statement and meant people using the pumps would at least be wondering what it was there for, a question we were happy to answer. But we were doing our best to stop them from getting that far by flagging down the incoming cars with much waving of hands and leaflets. There were several reactions, some were open and curious, some were a bit wary and a few of them did the- if I pretend I can’t see them they will go away- thing. Some even decided to change their plans and not fill-up at Total, excellent. Because of local conditions this garage was the only one that took cash for a few miles, the nearby ASDA (spit) was credit/debit cards only, so for those we made allowances and often they were engaged enough to listen to our position. Some people didn’t want to know, some wanted to defend their ignorance with great enthusiasm. Overall it was a productive exercise, some knowledge was shone into some new corners.

Meanwhile, being British and probably not knowing much else to do the staff figured we had sort of ignored their request to stay off their forecourt so it was time for the rozzers. Enter the Fuzz, two constables (male & female) in a van. He was bit shy I think because he didn’t want to be filmed, so I relegated him to just out of the edge of frame, tape kept rolling. It was a fairly usual back and forth, they explained how they are there to keep the public safe and private land sacrosanct and we explained how that was big load of poo given the situation in Burma. But it was a nice afternoon, they were not after any big ‘to do’ and broadly agreed with our ethical position (although I seem to recall the male copper wondering if we got there by car and so as we use fuel our position was fatally flawed, yes by jingo, if you use motorised transport you clearly cannot have any objections to what oil corporations do to get that product to the consumer. I think it’s the same genre of non argument as- if you like it so much why don’t you go and live there- I suspect the Police perhaps train in this rhetorical art or… it may just be the shitty media they consume and a revenue starved educational system).

Anyways, a compromise was negotiated and we continued although the girl from the kiosk desultorily removed the cloth strips from the pumps (and gave them back) and we made only fleeting raids onto the forecourt made up for by stopping more cars before they got on it. The ‘ringleaders’ of the protest stood their ground with passion and knowledge and I think it showed in the way the cops responded, we were reasonable but not about to meekly do what we were told and they wanted to go and have their tea. So some knowledge was loosed upon the general population, the protesters in Burma were shown not to be alone and some inspiration for further action was unleashed.

Specifically there some things that apply to the locale, if Asda could be persuaded to take cash Total would lose that edge and with some awareness of a boycott it would reduce their revenue. The bigger picture I think is this- Total are the single most visible corporate backer of the Generals, Chevron are also involved bu they are US based and many Bush scumbags have strong ties to them. However Total is a European based concern and the EU should in theory be more open to pressure. So as a large target for a boycott Total make a good one. Taxi drivers and hauliers are the biggest users of fuel if they would be moved to boycott Total it would really hurt the company in the wallet, so I am going to do some research on that. Certainly both industries might find a chance for some good publicity welcome.

PS. The other story relates to my car dying and the subsequent expense and transport problems this has caused, as such I have no chance of making the anti-war demo in the smoke. It’s an important one because formally it has not gained official permission but it is going ahead anyway, that is a really important step and I do think the climate camp’s success against official condemnation paved the way for that. So my best wishes to anyone who makes it. If Gordon wants democracy in Burma he should at least enjoy its fruits at home!