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central in using electronic communication to keep the issue alive in the legislature,
repelling obstacles to passage and maintaining an electronic community behind the bill.
The Internet, he said, “is very good at getting one message sent to a lot of people, with
minimal cost and minimal time.” 35 It was vital in keeping subscribers up-to-date on the
status of the Burma bill and eliciting their support. 36
The Internet, and the electronic network that stretched from Burma’s borders around the
world and back again, also meant that timely information was a key ally for activists in
the campaign. Culling the news from BurmaNet and many other sources, the
cybercampaigners were able to get accurate information on the conditions endured by
the Burmese people. Without the Internet, “it’s hard to imagine that we would have had
as much information,” Rushing said. “The thing that makes these things work is that you
can go up to a rep[resentative] and say, ‘Look, this is what’s happening there.’” The
information flow allowed proponents to meet and counter the objections of opponents
or skeptics. And, vitally, it allowed them to be confident that they were in tune with the
positions of Aung San Suu Kyi herself. A campaign “can blow up” if it does not have the
support of the pro-democracy groups within the affected country, Rushing said. With the
Internet, “we always knew how Suu Kyi was on this issue.” The Massachusetts lawmaker
acknowledges the problem of misinformation on the Internet. But he believes there are
enough “voices” out there that the communication network quickly self-corrects
inaccurate information. 37
Weld had old-fashioned political reasons for signing the Burma bill. His opponent in the
1996 race for the U.S. Senate, incumbent Democratic Senator John Kerry, had wavered
on the issue of federal sanctions against Burma and had supported continued U.S.
antinarcotics aid to the SLORC regime. Weld saw an opening that would embarrass
Kerry and help him pick up support among the state’s progressive voters. 38
But the Internet campaign helped bring the otherwise-arcane issue of Burma to Weld’s
attention and kept the pressure on. “CONTINUE TO FAX AND CALL GOVERNOR WELD
… CALL DAILY!” Billenness urged in an update sent to supporters on June 12, the day
before the bill landed on the governor’s desk. For good measure, Weld’s newest fax
number was included. During mid-June, Weld received a flood of letters imploring him
to sign the bill. They came not just from Massachusetts, but from around the United
States, as well as Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada. One came from
within Burma’s western border, sent via a supporter in India. Sam Bernstein of
Braintree, Massachusetts, was not alone when he told Weld: “If you do sign, your action
will go a long way in helping me make up my mind about the upcoming U.S. senate
race.” 39 According to Juves, Weld received roughly 100 letters and 40 electronic mail
messages regarding the legislation, which he described as a huge number for an issue
that had nothing to do with bread-and-butter issues like street repairs, crime, or taxes.
Weld saw samples of the letters. “I don’t think it had an impact on his decision to sign
the bill…. [But] it made him think about it more than he otherwise would have,” said