Shwe Gas Campaign Training Activities

Strategy and Planning Workshop for Arakan Gas Movement May 2004, Mae Sot, Thailand

In May 2004, ERI began protesting a destructive and environmentally insensitive gas pipeline through Arakan and Chin states in western Burma. Responding to the Arakanese community’s requests to get involved in the campaign, ERI staff members Naing Htoo and Tyler Giannini held a 5-day training workshop titled “Strategy and Planning workshop for Arakan Gas Movement” in Mae Sot, Thailand, with fifteen members of the local Arakanese community. This was our first such session as well as one of the first session where different Arakanese activists base in Thai side came together to talk about Shwe gas development issue among themselves.

We helped facilitate in order to identify what resources that the group already had and which areas where different people best fit in to this campaign. We shared our experiences from past campaigns, including lessons learned from our successful legal campaign against Unocal’s Yadana gas pipeline project in Burma. We also shared ideas with the attendees on how we can best devote our resources to the movement.

This session helped develop a broad understanding of our organization and the Shwe Gas campaign among the members of the affected communities. We built further strong ties between ERI and the Arakanese community through follow-up workshops, and many of the original participants remain involved in the campaign to this day.

Workshop on Fact-Finding and Sharing Yadana/Yetagun Experiences with the Shwe Gas Movement - May 2005, Mae Sot, Thailand

Building on our successes with the Shwe Strategy and Planning Workshop, ERI's Burma Project gave a 3-day fact-finding training session in May 2005, taught by Naing Htoo. Eight dedicated volunteers from the All Arakan Student and Youth Congress learned how to collect vital information about the Shwe Gas project from within Arakan state.

In this workshop we gave training on why data gathering is important in to our campaign, how to conduct fact finding, and techniques of documentation. ERI’s Burma Project also specifically shared fact finding experience and methods which where used in the Yadana case. We looked into lessons that could be learned from the differences between the situation in Yadana pipeline project area in Southern Burma and the possible pipeline route area in Arakan state.

 After the training several participants from the training went into Burma on a fact-finding mission to gather ground information on human rights violation and environmental abuses that are happening around the proposed pipeline area.

Following from this training, in 2006 AASYC released a report titled “Supply and Command.” The report sheds light on one of the most pressing issues in Burma today - how natural gas extraction in Western Burma strengthens the military regime and amplifies human rights abuses and environmental destruction.

Fact Finding and Advocacy Training, August 2005 Dhaka, Bangladesh

Our ongoing campaign against the Shwe Gas pipeline in Arakan state demands that we work not only in Thailand, but in also Burma, neighboring Bangladesh, and India as well. As Arakan state lies on Burma’s border with Bangladesh and India, many Arakanese refugees and exiles now live in both countries. In August 2005, ERI held an 8-day fact-finding workshop in Dhaka with ten Arakanese activists, half of whom live in Bangladesh.

Several different community-based organizations from inside Burma were represented, including the Arakan Women’s Organization, the All Arakan Student and Youth Congress, and the Arakan Youth Network Group. Our participants included 7 men and 3 women. Similar to the training that we gave to Arakan groups Thailand, the participants in this workshop learned detailed interview techniques, field research skills, the importance of fact-finding to the success of the Shwe Gas campaign, and other knowledge essential to protecting human and environmental rights in Burma. By sharing with the participants our successes in the Yadana campaign in the Southern part Burma, we helped to show a larger picture of earth rights issues in Burma and illustrated the great potential of field research. Security conditions forced us to work in a small space, with limited resources and almost no freedom of movement, yet the participants were enthusiastic and said they learned a great deal.

Following from this, six of the participants immediately began their fact-finding missions inside Burma, collecting and disseminating important information about the impact of the Shwe pipeline. These missions continue to this day, providing invaluable insight into human rights and environmental issues in western Burma.

Shwe Gas Capacity Building Training, September 2006 New Delhi, India

In September 2006, ERI’s Burma Project traveled to New Delhi to train fifteen Burmese activists concerned with the earth rights impacts of the Shwe gas project, a natural gas development project controlled by private and state-owned firms from India and South Korea. Facilitated by the Indian activist Nityanand Jayamaran, this training focused on India-based advocacy and was organized with ERI’s partners The Shwe Campaign Committee India and The Other Media, an NGO in New Delhi. ERI contributed a training segment on fact finding and a presentation on ERI’s groundbreaking lawsuit against Unocal Corporation for human rights abuses committed in Burma.

Other topics included India’s energy demands, parliamentary lobbying in India, Indian environmental law, the Right to Information act (RTI), and the rights of Burmese refugees living in India, as well as relevant campaign examples from ERI and Bhopal activists. The training also covered other practical areas such as writing effective press releases, using the media, and strategy planning. The training was intended to build the capacity of local activists to advocate on their own behalf, and to provide a structure for future advocacy. It resulted in a detailed six-month plan of action that was drafted by and for campaigners in India.

The Shwe Gas Strategy Workshop and Planning Meeting, December 2-6, 2006, Chiang Mai, Thailand

In December 2006, ERI’s Burma Project planned, organized, and hosted 5-day workshop and strategy planning meeting for the core members of the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM). Located in Thailand, it brought together for the first time the core members of the SGM from Bangladesh, India, Thailand, and Korea. The objectives of the workshop, agreed upon by the coalition, were threefold: 1) Clarify the identity of the core coalition, 2) Determine new campaign strategies, and 3) Realize the potential of the existing core members of the SGM. The latter included developing advocacy skills through specific trainings in media messaging, media interviews, press releases and press conferences, and speaking on film. A professional television crew assisted with mock interviews and press conferences, giving participants the invaluable opportunity to be on camera, followed by a critical peer review of their performance. This also included a brief training on video camera technology by a professional news video technician. The meeting built the strength and capacity of the core coalition, and resulted in a comprehensive 17-page strategy plan of action for the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM), which maps future advocacy efforts.