Daishowa Fights Back in Court Again
1/28/97
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
"Daishowa Fights Back In Court Again"
Jan. 28 1997
Dear Reader,
The following article appeared in the Fall 1996 issue of 'On Indian Land'
and is reproduced with permission of its publisher (Marsha Shaiman in
Seattle at 206-525-5086 both phone and fax). She also granted permission
for people to repost the article on the net.
Noteworthy here is
1. the concrete action people are encouraged to take in opposition to
Daishowa's plans to level unceded Lubicon territory under a cloak of
judicial silence.
2. contact info for a person in the States working on the issue.
Contact information in the article below has been updated from the original
article.
I think it's safe to say that the more people know about the spread of
the Daishowa Boycott to the USA, the more likely this sort of legal
gagging of citizens won't be attempted by other corporations.
Regards..........Stephen Kenda
P.S. If you are interested in being kept updated on the Lubicon Cree and
the Daishowa boycott, respond to k.thomas@utoronto.ca.
Friends of the Lubicon (Toronto)
485 Ridelle Ave Toronto, ON M6B 1K6
T: (416)763-7500 F:(416)603-2715
email: k.thomas@utoronto.ca
SISIS web site : http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Lubicon/main.html
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Support the Lubicon Cree Indian Nation - Stop Daishowa
If you have been reading On Indian Land for at least the last year, you
should be acquainted with the intense struggle of the Lubicon Lake Cree
Nation of northern Alberta, Canada and the boycott against Daishowa.
Although the Lubicon Cree have no treaty with the Canadian government
and have never ceded their land, the Alberta provincial government has
sold logging rights to their unceded territory to Daishowa.
The paper products company was asked to wait for a land claim
settlement agreement to be completed between the Lubicon and the
Canadian government before logging. Daishowa began logging anyway, but
halted their operation shortly after the initiation of the boycott in 1991.
While a number of people across Canada and around the world responded to
the Lubicon call for a boycott of Daishowa paper products, the main
organized effort was undertaken by a Toronto, Ontario-based Lubicon
support group, Toronto Friends of the Lubicon. Because Daishowa doesn't
market its paper products directly to the public, but rather to other
corporations, the Toronto Friends of the Lubicon targeted companies using
Daishowa products.
Primarily as a result of their efforts 47 companies representing over
4300 retail outlets have joined the boycott in Canada and Daishowa
reports a $5 million loss due to the boycott. So far pressure generated by
the boycott has kept Daishowa at bay and no further logging of Lubicon
land has taken place..yet.
Instead of making a clear, public and unequivocal commitment not to cut
or buy wood cut on Lubicon land until the land rights dispute is resolved,
Daishowa challenged the boycott in the provincial courts of Ontario and
eventually won an injunction against the boycott. According to Friends
attorney Karen Wristen of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, "The court has
said essentially that the intention to cause economic harm made this
boycott illegal." Daishowa is engaging in a multi-million dollar lawsuit
against the Friends of the Lubicon for their losses.
Daishowa Boycott Picks Up In Washington
With the Friends of the Lubicon's hands tied and democratic consumer
rights squashed by the (courts of the Ontario) provincial government,
Daishowa is free to take Lubicon trees without objection from their
Canadian critics. Instead of containing the boycott within Canadian
borders, this decision has forced the boycott into the international
consumer market.
Since consumer pressure in the form of a boycott is the only tactic that
has kept Daishowa out of Lubicon territory, escalating the boycott is the
only way to save Lubicon trees. As a consumer public, we need to educate
ourselves about the products we use and understand that our conveniences
are often at the expense of indigenous exploitation.
Daishowa has a mill at Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula of
Washington State, and a corporate office in Seattle, Washington. Products
of the Port Angeles mill include pulp and ground wood specialty papers.
The Washington Post is printed on Daishowa paper, the New York Post was
cited as being printed on Daishowa paper and probably continues to be.
Gannett Publishing was also cited as a Daishowa buyer and is most likely
still a Daishowa customer. They publish 83 newspapers including U.S.A.
Today.
Most recently, GTE and U.S. West telephone directories have confirmed as
being printed on Daishowa paper. These directories claim to be at least
25% to 40% recycled paper. The Port Angeles Daishowa mill in Washington
recycles old directories and sells back the paper to GTE and U.S. West.
This might not seem so bad, but the fact remains that this is still
Daishowa, a forest industry conglomerate. There are plenty of alternatives
for 100% recycled paper and non-wood paper. (sic)
Pressure on these companies and help identifying other Daishowa
customers is greatly needed. Write to these companies and voice your
objection to their use of Daishowa paper:
Jamie Loa, GTE Directories, 1115 S. Boyal Ave., Los Angeles CA 90023.
Phone: (213) 265-6809.
Jim Pierce, Director of Printing, distribution, Recycling, U.S. West
direct,
198 Inverness Dr. W., Inglewood, CO 80112. Phone: (303) 784-2584.
Write Daishowa and let them know you are supporting the international
boycott of Daishowa.
Daishowa America, 7200 Columbia Center, 701 5th Ave., Seattle WA
98104 Phone: (206) 623-1772 or (800) 331-6314, Fax: (206)452-6576.
Shogo Nakano, President, Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Tokyo
Head Office, 6-1 Asahi Tokai Building, Otemachi 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo, Japan
Tom Hamaoka, Executive V. Pres., Daishowa-Marubeni International, Suite
1700, 1095 West Pender St., Vancouver, B.C., V6E 2M6 Canada.
Phone:(604) 681-6659
Always send copies of correspondence that you send and receive to the
Lubicon Lake Indian Nation, P.O. Box 6731 Peace River, AB, T8S 1S5
Canada.
For more information, a Daishowa boycott packet, or to help with the
Daishowa boycott, contact Dan Clarke, 5317-46th Ave S., Seattle WA
98118. Phone: (206) 723-4703. Fax (206) 525-5086
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For immediate release
January 27 1997
Canadian actions earn Daishowa place in ten worst list
Ralph Nader's Multinational Monitor has named Daishowa one of the Ten Worst
Corporations of 1996, calling it "rotten to the core" for its attempts to
silence Canadians who are critical of its activities.
The multinational paper company Daishowa is suing the Toronto group Friends
of the Lubicon for its successful boycott campaign in support of the
Lubicon Lake Cree Nation of Alberta. Since the boycott began in 1991,
Daishowa has been forced to hold off clear-cut logging operations on
disputed Native lands. But last year the company convinced an Ontario
appellate Court to outlaw the boycott and is now seeking damages it claims
have topped $10 million.
Multinational Monitor, founded by consumer advocate Ralph Nader in 1980, is
a monthly magazine that focuses on issues of multinational corporate power.
Its ten worst list, now in its ninth year, is designed to highlight the
most egregious acts of corporate crime, violence and other wrongdoing.
"The culture of a corporation is reflected by how the company reacts to
wrongdoing after the wrongdoing is exposed," the Monitor explains. "Does
the company cover up, attack the messengers and fire whistleblowers? Or
does it seek out the root of the problem, listen to its critics and reward
those instrumental in correcting the wrongdoing and ensuring it will not
happen again? By this standard, Daishowa ... appears rotten to the core."
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Caterpillar, Daiwa, Disney, Freeport, Gerber,
Mitsubishi, Seagram's, and Texaco are the other nine Worst Corporations of
1996, according to the magazine's December 1996 issue
* ADM, for committing price-fixing crimes that cost consumers $500 million.
* Caterpillar, for anti-union practices.
* Daiwa Bank Ltd., for committing financial crimes that resulted in
hundreds of millions of dollars in customer losses.
* Disney, for hiring sweatshop contractors in the Third World, including
Burma and Haiti, to sew Disney garments. )
* Freeport McMoRan, for polluting areas near one of its copper mining sites
in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. )
* Gerber for pressuring Guatemala to exempt baby food products from the
country's tough infant formula law. )
* Mitsubishi, for destroying tropical rainforests around the world and for
tolerating widespread sexual harassment at Mitsubishi Motor's Illinois
facility.
* Seagram's, for lifting a 48-year old voluntary ban on broadcast
advertising of distilled spirits.
* Texaco, for mistreating minority employees, and then seeking to destroy
documents to cover up the episode.
For more information contact
for Multinational Monitor
Robert Weissman at (202) 387-8030
or Russell Mokhiber at (202) 737-1680
for Friends of the Lubicon
Kevin Thomas at (416) 631-4048
email k.thomas@utoronto.ca
485 Ridelle Ave Toronto ON, M6S 3Y6 Canada
F: 603-2715