All we want for Christmas...

An A3 size Christmas Card with over 100 signatures has been posted to Total Holdings UK at 33 Cavendish Square. Sporting a picture of the Nov 24th Baker Street protest and surrounded with "holly", the message inside reads: "Dear Total All we want for Christmas is Total out of Burma. See you in 2008."

A lot of Burmese signed it on Monday at Parliament Square, including the leader of the 88 Student movement just arrived from Thailand and also Ben Rogers of Christian Solidarity Worldwide who has made many visits across the border to "displaced" Burmese and ethnic minorities (see interview here).

33 Cavendish Square refused to accept the card at the front door at Wednesday's protest and their post delivery room at the back of the building was closed for a "book fair" just after they received a phone call from the front desk when we asked them. So yesterday, the card was posted from Redhill, where Total coincidentally have their offices for gas supplies in the UK.

Chiswick latest protest target

From Indymedia:
For the second week running, the Total garage on Chiswick High Road was targeted on Thursday as eight protesters campaigned against Total's funding of the repressive regime in Burma.

Motorists were turned away from the station, pedestrians accepted leaflets and helped sign a petition. Some pedestrians also joined protesters in signing a "Christmas Card" to Total to tell them to get out of Burma. Full story

No Fuel for the Burmese Junta

Far from the headlines, the crisis in Burma continues--fueled, in part, by international oil corporations like Total Oil and Chevron/Texaco. These corporations don't just fund the junta; they lobby on its behalf in capital cities around the world. These are the same companies many of us fuel up with. That means our pressure as consumers has the power to force change—and it's our responsibility to act.

Will you pledge to join the global boycott of Chevron and Total? The boycott will last until the companies withdraw from Burma, or until the Burmese junta begins a genuine democratic transition and frees all political prisoners--including Aung San Suu Kyi. We'll deliver all the pledges and comments straight to the top management of Chevron and Total. You can see what brands to avoid in your country and take the pledge, at:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_corporate

Total Denial trailer

See: http://www.totaldenialfilm.com

Total to enhance Yadana production

From Irrawaddy:

The French oil and gas company Total has enlisted the help of the Burmese military to guard its drilling installations in the Gulf of Martaban while it carries out improvement work.

[...] Now the company is about to install new equipment in Yadana to enhance production and has secured the help of the regime in establishing an exclusion zone around the field as a “precautionary measure and a temporary decision,” a Total spokesperson told the French news agency AFP. The work is said to involve installation of a compression platform.

Industry insiders suggest the company may have sought the exclusion zone—barring other ships from entering the area of the platform site—out of concern those anti-regime activists may try to disrupt the work. Full story

Brighton demo, 24 November

From Indymedia:

As part of the November 24th day of action against Total Oil's involvement in the Burmese Junta, 15 Brighton based students and residents descended on the Total Oil garage in Kemp Town. Full story