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Action Alert #79      Rainforest Action Network       December 1992


               Don't Buy Mitsubishi This Holiday Season

We're Turning up the Heat

        Watch the media this month as RAN turns up the heat on Mitsubishi!
Thanks to a substantial contribution, we are increasing the intensity and
visibility of our Mitsubishi campaign with a series of actions which will
focus world attention on the devastating results of Mitsubishi's logging and
timber trading activities.  These Actions will include a series of
simultaneous press conferences around the world, full-page ads in national
newspapers, high-visibility banner hangings near major commuter routes,
demonstrations against Mitsubishi distributors, gathering petitions, and
writing letters.

        Yoichi Kuroda, head of Japanese  Tropical Rainforest Action Network
(JATAN) believes that a 1% reduction in Mitsubishi product sales in the US 
will be sufficient to bring significant concessions.  If Mitsubishi does not 
respond to RAN's requests, our goal for 1993 is to increase consumer
awareness enough to decrease sales of Mitsubishi products in the United
States by 10%, and to block $100 million in Mitsubishi constructions project
bids or contracts.  Member and RAG involvement will be critical to our
success.


Why Mitsubishi?

        According to JATAN, Mitsubishi Corporation along with its affiliated
company Meiwa Trading imported 1,253,752 cubic meters of tropical timber in 
1990, making it Japan's second largest trader in tropical timbers.  If
timber import figures included imports in other countries besides Japan,
Mitsubishi is the world's number one importer of tropical timber.
Mitsubishi's tentacles reach into dozens of countries throughout Asia,
South America, and North America.

        Ran's previous Action Alerts and World Rainforest Reports documented
Mitsubishi's environmental and cultural devastation of forests and forest
peoples.  Mitsubishi has responded to international calls for change with an
extensive--but insubstantial--public relations campaign.

        Typical of Mitsubishi's public relations tactics, the company touts a
100-hectare [10000 acre] reforestation research project in Sarawak,
Malaysia.  Yet eyewitness reports from environmental groups in Malaysia say
that only two hectares have been planted with 25 tree species.  This pales
in comparison to the tens of thousands of hectares that have been logged by
Mitsubishi.  Furthermore, Mitsubishi has not proposed reforesting Sarawak,
only researching the possibility.


[box begins]
                        Around the World with Mitsubishi

Brazil          Extensive logging of Peruvian-Columbian border.  Also
                paper mills

Bolivia         Possibly largest logging operation in Bolivia with Howan
                Wood Ind.

Chile           Extensive wood chipping of old growth forests for export
                to Japan

Ecuador         Early reports of mining exploration in the Andean
                tropical forest

Indonesia       Number one exporter of plywood from Indonesia to Japan

Malaysia        Extensive logging in Sarawak opposed by all native groups

Philippines     Large investment in Agusan Wood Ind. producing plywood

Papua New       Found guilty by Barnett Commission of millions in hidden
Guinea          profits.

Alberta,        Concession of over 7 million hectares of virgin boreal
Canada          forest

BC, Canada      Cutting native forests for "largest chopstick plant
                in the world"
[box ends]


WHAT YOU CAN DO

        There are several things that you can do to stop Mitsubishi.

1)  Do not buy any products that are made by companies in the Mitsubishi 
family or partnerships.  These include all Mitsubishi autos, televisions, 
VCRs, Nikon cameras, and Kirin beer.  Do not buy Mitsubishi autos under the 
Chrysler name.  These include the Dodge Stealth, Intrepid, Ram 50, and Colt; 
Plymouth Laser and Colt Vista; Eagle Talon and Summit Wagon.  Hyundai autos 
should also be avoided because of their connection to Mitsubishi [and also 
Hyundai's abusive clearcut logging deals in Siberia -cs].

2)  Contact RAN and request a copy of the Organizer's Manual for the
Mitsubishi campaign.

3)  Write or fax your message to both of the following Mitsubishi executives:
Mr. Kazue Naganuma, CEO
Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America
6400 West Katella Avenue
Cypress, CA 90630-0064
Fax: (714)373-1019

Mr. Takashi Kiuchi, CEO
Mitsubishi Electric Sales of America
5757 Plaza Drive
P.O. Box 6007
Cypress, CA 90630-0007
Fax: (714)289-3866

Dear Mr. --------:
While I am fully aware that your company is not directly involved in the
destruction of rainforests, you are a member of the Mitsubishi family of
corporations and partially owned by or doing business with Mitsubishi
Corporation, the trading company.  As such I fee you have a responsibility to
demand that the Mitsubishi Corporation's Timber Department cease all logging
in natural forests around the world.  Until this occurs, I will not purchase
any Mitsubishi products and I will strongly urge my friends and associates to
do likewise.


4)  Call the Corporate Communications Department for Mitsubishi Electric Sales
and Mitsubishi Motor Sales (714)372-6000 and give the above message to the
operator.

Rainforest Action Network, 450 Sansome, Suite 700, San Francisco CA 94111 USA
(415)398-4404 Printed on [and non-rebleached] Recycled Paper


---and here's another installment in the ongoing saga of the Huaorani---


Huaorani Warriors Go to Quito: Say "No" to Maxus

        On Monday, October 26th, 100 Huaorani travelled to Quito, Ecuador's
capital city, to urge the Ecuadoran government and Maxus Corporation
officials to halt the company's inroads into their traditional rainforest
territories.

        The Huaorani met with the Ecuadoran President (Sixto Duran Ballen), the
President of the Ecuadoran Congress, and with officials of Petroecuador, the 
state oil company.

        At first, Maxus officials in Quito refused to meet with the
delegation, but when the Huaorani threatened to remain until they had a
chance to talk, Maxus reluctantly received them.

        The indigenous delegation returned to the rainforest after a week of
meetings, insistent that Maxus and the government meet their demands for a 
moratorium on oil development on their lands and a halt to Maxus' oil road.  
The Indians have conceived a commission which includes the participation of 
ecologists, human rights workers and international observers, and say they 
will hold further meetings with government ministers on November 12th.

        The Indians ask that we keep up our pressure on Maxus.  Please write,
call, or fax their chairman in Dallas:

Charles Blackburn, Chairman, President, and CEO
Maxus Energy Corporation
717 North Hollywood Street
Dallas, Texas 75201-6594
(214)953-2000
Fax: (214)953-1977

        In response, Maxus will most likely send you their brochure which
describes their operation in Yasuni National Park and Huaorani territory as
a "carefully planned model environmental oil operation," a brochure they
adopted from Conoco's environmental packet.  [Conoco was a partner in this
project until RAN activists persuaded them to pull out.  -cs]

        Don't let Maxus off the hook!  The project will have irreversible
impacts on the rainforest and the tribal people who live in the forest.

--
Transcribed by Cameron Spitzer in "The Capital of Silicon Valley"
cls@truffula.sj.ca.us


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