/IPS DEVELOPMENT BULLETIN/ HUMAN RIGHTS: Socialists Press for Democracy in Burma, Africa

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 14 1996 (IPS) - The Socialist International is urging international sanctions against Burma as part of its campaign to push for democracy in the developing world.

Capping a three-day meeting at the United Nations, the Socialist International delegates called on international donors and U.N. agencies not to renew development aid to Burma until the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) agrees to political talks with Aung San Suu Kyi’s democracy movement.

The International condemned the arrests in Burma of members of Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), and also accused SLORC forces of “cynical use of rape as a tool in their campaign of subjugation and oppression.”

It also called on the United Nations and other bodies to “do their utmost to prevent the trafficking in Burmese women to Thailand.”

The call for an anti-SLORC campaign was just the most prominent stand taken by Socialist International, a coalition of 143 socialist and social democratic parties and affiliates, in its new efforts to encourage democracy worldwide.

The group also urged more transparency and democracy in elections throughout Africa, and stressed the need for democratic reforms in Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Zaire.

Burma, however, was the cornerstone of this week’s debate on Socialist contributions to the campaign for democracy. Following Socialist International’s successful involvement in recent years in free elections in South Africa, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, the organisation has set its sights on the SLORC military regime and its international supporters.

“It is unfortunate but also clear that the generals have become bold and are acting with impunity to suppress the people because they have been encouraged,” particularly by friendly moves from other governments, NLD Chairman U Win Khet told delegates here.

Khet cited Japan’s resumption of official development aid to Burma last year, the acceptance of Burma by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as an observer state this June, and friendlier relations with Malaysia, South Africa and France.

“Given these encouragements, it is little wonder that the generals are in no mood to compromise,” Khet added.

He called for wide boycotts against Burma, noting that the U.S. state of Massachusetts and several cities have passed laws banning purchases of goods and services from companies that do business with Rangoon — including U.S. firms like Pepsi and Unocal.

The calls for change in Burma fell on receptive ears here, with many of the developing world delegations echoing the complaints about the lack of progress toward democracy and human rights.

John Fru Ndi, leader of Cameroon’s opposition Social Democrats, contended that in many countries, including his own, the seeming progress toward democratic elections is in fact an illusion.

“Despite appearances to the contrary, the reality in much of Africa is that democracy is in retreat,” Fru Ndi said. “Our leaders have become quite adept in doing and saying just the right things to appease the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the international donors.”

He noted that, although Cameroon has more than 100 political parties, few have any chance of winning elections, “since these are routinely rigged to favour the ruling party.”

The Socialist International’s focus on democratisation has widened in recent years as the organisation has shifted from one primarily composed of European social democrats to one recognising a diverse array of parties worldwide.

Many beneficiaries of the International’s support in election- monitoring in recent years — from South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) to several social democratic groups from Haiti — are among the most recent members.

Ironically, so are some former Communist groups that previously would have shunned this International, including the ruling Social Democratic groups in Poland and Hungary and Nicaragua’s former ruling Sandinista Front.

Mexico’s Institutional Ruling Party (PRI) was voted in as a consultative member of the International Wednesday, despite some complaints about that party’s poor human rights record and neo- liberal policies.

Yet Socialist International President Pierre Mauroy defended the coalition’s right to expand, arguing, “We had to get the people of the left from somewhere. We have the task of converting these people.”

Mauroy denied that acceptance of former Communist parties implied the inclusion of groups that do not share the broad, pro- democratic and economically reformist orientation of the International. “Even in the worst regimes, there are children, luckily,” he said. “The children grow up…and don’t necessarily follow the ideas of their fathers and mothers.”

But as the International grows, it comprises different attitudes on democracy and rights. Lim Kit Siang, head of Malaysia’s Democratic Action Party, warned delegates not to become entrapped by arguments about the “cultural relativism” of democracy and human rights now being put forth in Asia and Africa.

“The countries where ‘Asian values’ are talked about most are those countries where governments seek to perpetuate themselves in power by restricting political and civil liberties…and to give legitimacy to this denial of basic rights and civil liberties by calling such practise Asian values,” he said.

Fru Ndi deplored similar double standards in his continent. “We have been told that our socieites lacked not only the practise of human rights but also the very concept,” he noted. “Should there be one set of standards for judging human rights violations in Western Europe and the Americas and a different set for Africa?”