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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
International
Protests Against Mitsubishi's Forest Conduct
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
10/22/96
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE by EE
Rainforest
Action Network and affiliated groups keep up the pressure in their
long
running boycott of Mitsubishi corporation of Japan. Mitsubishi is one of
the
largest markets for industrially harvested rainforest and other timbers, as
well as
being otherwise socially irresponsible.
Boycott Mitsubishi.
g.b.
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/**
rainfor.genera: 150.0 **/
**
Topic: International protests against Mitsubishi **
** Written 8:41 AM
Oct 16, 1996 by ranmedia@ran.org in cdp:rainfor.genera **
RAINFOREST
ACTION NETWORK
For
Immediate Release, October 16, 1996
Press
Contact:
Mark
Westlund<ranmedia@ran.org
Donna
Parker<boycottmc@ran.org
ACTIVISTS
AROUND THE WORLD VIE TO STOP
MITSUBISHI'S
DESTRUCTION OF RAINFORESTS
CIVIL-DISOBEDIENCE,
DEMONSTRATIONS IN FIVE U.S. CITIES
ARE
PART OF INTERNATIONAL DAY-OF-PROTEST
In an
internationally coordinated show of force, activists from Rainforest
Action
Network and like-minded groups around the world conducted
demonstrations
and civil-disobedience at Mitsubishi-owned businesses in
five
major U.S. cities, as well as in Japan and Australia. Whether it's
supporting
forced labor and the military junta in Burma, destroying vast
regions
of the world's rainforest, or practicing institutional sexual
harrassment,
Mitsubishi's the one! Mitsubishi
Corporation's activities
lay
waste to thousands of square miles of forest, and contribute to the
destruction
of native rainforest cultures.
"Today's
international protest against Mitsubishi shows beyond a doubt
that
there is no safe harbor for companies that plunder the environment
and
promote human rights abuses," said Donna Parker, Mitsubishi Boycott
acting
director: "Mitsubishi is the world's largest company and could lead
the
world towards a sustainable future.
Instead, Mitsubishi continues to
profit
from death and destruction. Until
Mitsubishi makes a U-turn, we
will
keep the pressure on full force."
In San
Francisco, two activists climbed the Mitsubishi-owned Union Bank of
California
building facade, and hung a 900-square-foot banner across the
colonnade. On the ground, a demonstration featuring a
giant inflatable
chain
saw attracted hundreds of office-worker spectators. Police SWAT
team-members
removed the climbers after nearly five hours.
Mitsubishi
Bank
and its domestic holdings fund environmentally destructive projects
around
the world.
In
Portland, Oregon, two activists rappelled from the 25th floor of Key
Bank
Tower, which houses Mitsubishi International and Bank of
Tokyo-Mitsubishi
offices, and unfurled a huge banner, reading:
Stop
corporate
forest destruction-boycott Mitsubishi.
Another three activists
blockaded
the lobby by locking themselves to concrete-filled steel drums.
As of
12:30 PM, six activits had been arrested.
Mitsubishi Corporation is
the
largest purchaser of whole logs from the Pacific Northwest, causing
the
loss of thousands of U.S. jobs.
In
Tokyo, activists from Burma Relief-Japan gathered in front of
Mitsubishi
Corporation headquarters, handing out fliers documenting the
company's
activities in Burma to employees, passers-by, and to the Foreign
Correspondents
Club.
Demonstrations
also took place in Tasmania and New Castle West, Australia,
and in
Tucson, Boulder, and Los Angeles.
Rainforests
are being destroyed at an accelerating pace around the world,
eliminating
vast numbers of plant and animal species, and devastating the
traditional
lands and cultures of the people who live there. Every year,
an area
of rainforest the size of Italy is destroyed, and much of that
destruction
derives from exploitation by multinational corporations.
Worldwide,
Mitsubishi Corporation has timber and mining operations
stretching
from the U.S. to Malaysia and Brazil.
Mitsubishi Corporation's
Alberta
Pacific Chlorine Bleach Kraft mill is the largest wood pulp
processor
in the world, running around the clock to process 300 truckloads
of
trees a day. The Mitsubishi-owned Canadian Chopsticks Manufacturing
Company
throws away 85% of the trees it cuts down to produce disposable
utensils
because the wood is not white enough.
Rainforest
Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and
support
the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots
organizing
and non-violent, direct action.
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