Regarding the #WeAreAllRohingyaNow Campaign…
We are not taking the traditional adversarial approach with corporations invested in Myanmar. We are trying to appeal to them almost on a consultancy type basis; convincing them that taking a public stand in support of the Rohingya and UN recommendations will improve the value of their brands in the regional market. We are telling them that their investments in Myanmar have put them in a Catch-22 situation: on the one hand, they are investing in Myanmar to better position themselves to penetrate the market of Southeast Asia, but on the other hand, BECAUSE of their investment in Myanmar, they stand to lose customers in the region.
The argument is that the actions of the regime are hurting their business interests, and that they are themselves perceived as accomplices to the regime’s atrocities…unless they articulate a public stand against genocide. The only way consumers in Southeast Asia can support investment in Myanmar is if it comes hand-in-hand with support for the Rohingya.
We are not calling for divestment. First of all, it is not realistic…companies are NOT going to leave Myanmar, just to leave the market opportunities to China. Secondly, we WANT them to be there because they only have influence if they ARE there. I have spoken at length about our long term, broader goal of democratization of corporate power, and I see the Rohingya issue as an excellent launching pad for this movement. We want companies to begin to be viewed, and to view themselves, as the political entities they in fact are, and that AS political entities, they should view their customers as a political constituency which they have an obligation to represent via their influence over policy.
In order for this to succeed, of course, we are going to need to educate, organize, and mobilize grassroots consumers; and that is what we are undertaking at present.