DC Brunei Action Joins Global Protest
Friday, June 27, 2014(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Chanting “We’re gonna beat beat back the Sultan!” dozens of labor and
LGBT activists took to the quiet street in front of the Brunei embassy at noon
on Friday as part of a global day of action in dozens of cities around the
world. The protests targeted Brunei’s union-busting and human rights
violations, including the 2009 firing of unionized workers at the Hotel Bel-Air
in Los Angeles, owned by the Sultan of Brunei’s investment agency. “The
Sultan is trying to take us back to the third century,” said one demonstrator
Friday, noting that Brunei has adopted a new penal code that punishes and
targets women, LGBT people, and religious minorities. Rainbow pride flags
fluttered in the warm midday breeze amid the Unite Here Local 25 placards and
chants of “What do we want? Justice? When do we want it? Now!” Amnesty
International says the new code “makes a mockery of the country’s
international human rights commitments and must be revoked immediately.”
Earlier this month, Pride at Work and several other prominent national lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality organizations released a joint
letter to President Obama demanding that the US cease further negotiations of
the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement with Brunei.
- report/photos by Chris Garlock/Union City