The United States Campaign for Burma is a U.S.-based membership organization dedicated to empowering grassroots activists around the world to bring about an end to the military dictatorship in Burma. Through public education, leadership development initiatives, conferences, and advocacy campaigns at local, national and international levels, USCB works to empower Americans and Burmese dissidents-in-exile to promote freedom, democracy, and human rights in Burma and raise awareness about the egregious human rights violations committed by Burma’s military regime. The leadership of USCB is comprised of seasoned human rights advocates, with experience both inside and outside the U.S. government. The board and staff, which include former Congressional staff, former Burmese political prisoners, and experienced advocates, are dedicated to increasing the profile of Burma and seeking solutions to the country’s decades-long conflict. The core strength of USCB — individual members, community chapters, student chapters, and affiliates across the United States — is Americans and Burmese dissidents-in-exile.

The mission of USCB is to build a broad based coalition of grassroots and institutional support for freedom in Burma. USCB’s objectives include:

1) To strengthen the position of the rightful leaders of Burma, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the democratically elected National League for Democracy, by cutting the political and economic lifelines of the ruling military junta;

2) To organize and advocate for international intervention in Burma; and

3) To inform grassroots citizens, international media and policymakers about Burma’s political, social and economic crisis.

Structure
U.S. Campaign for Burma is fiscally sposored by a 501(c)3, tax-exempt, organization, and all donations are tax-deductible. The organization is comprised of paying members, though fees can be waived by for those who cannot afford to pay. There are nine members of the board of directors–four are appointed and five are elected annually by the membership. To run and/or vote for the board, you must be a member of USCB.

Anyone may participate in USCB. They will receive updates, emails, and participate in campaigns simply by signing up through the web page or in person. In order to be a full voting member of USCB or run for the board of directors, one must join as an individual.

Aung Din, Executive Director, Co-Founder
Aung Din served over four years behind bars as a political prisoner in Burma after organizing and helping to lead the country’s nationwide pro-democracy uprising in 1988 as Vice Chairperson of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), a largest national student organization and outlawed by the regime. He is also country representative of the Thai-Burma border based “Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma” (AAPP). He has been quoted in hundreds of media articles, testified before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Congressional Human Rights Caucus, and traveled on speaking tours across the United States.


Jeremy Woodrum, Campaign Director, Co-Founder
Jeremy Woodrum has worked on Burma since 1999, organizing Congressional and Hollywood delegations to refugee camps on the Thailand-Burma border and organizing a nationwide boycott effort that resulted in 45 companies cutting ties to Burma’s military regime. He produced a CD of top musicans dedicating songs for Burma including R.E.M., Damien Rice, and Ani Difranco. From 2005-2006 he helped spearhead a successful effort to place Burma on the permanent agenda of the UN Security Council, where it remains. He has been nominated for the Reebok Human Rights Award and been quoted in hundreds of media articles and television interviews including the Washington Post, CNN, BBC, and Los Angeles Times. He has been invited and spoken on Burma in 25 states across the United States and testified at the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.


Jennifer Quigley, Advocacy Coordinator
Jennifer Quigley has worked on women’s rights and the movement for freedom and justice in Burma in different capacities for seven years. From 2004-2006, she worked for the Women’s League of Burma and its member organizations on international advocacy and capacity building both while living in Thailand and in the U.S. Her work included advocating for and with women from Burma at the United Nations to both ensure the U.N. Security Council and other UN bodies pressure the military regime to end violence against women and bring peace and democracy to Burma and guarantee women from Burma are full participants in all stages and decision-making levels of the peace-building process. As the Advocacy Coordinator, she works to further Burma legislation in the U.S. Congress.



Thelma Young, Campaign Coordinator
Thelma graduated from Brigham Young University in Political Science and International Development. While there she organized many Burma events, including a Hunger Banquet where Bo Kyi, a former political prisoner and Joint Secretary of the Thai-Burma border-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) spoke to over a thousand people. She spent a summer working on the Thai-Burma border, and has done years of research creating a comprehensive database on the status of women in Southeast Asia. Thelma used to be the USCB’s regional coordinator for the Mountain West area, and now works to organize USCB’s grassroots network, working with community and student chapters to further Burma awareness and activism in the U.S. She is from Houston, Texas.

Simon Billenness (appointed)
Simon founded and led the New England Burma Roundtable from 1994 to 2005. He organized the successful grassroots lobbying for the passage of the Massachusetts Burma Law and spurred groups throughout the country to enact 20 similar municipal Burma laws. He has also led efforts put shareholder pressure on corporations in Burma through shareholder resolutions and action at corporate annual shareholder meetings. Simon worked for 10 years as a Senior Analyst at Trillium Asset Management, a socially responsible investment firm, and 4 years as a Senior Policy Advisor for Corporate Engagement at Oxfam America. He currently works at the AFL-CIO Office of Investment as a Senior Advisor for Special Projects and Shareholder Advocacy.

Louisa Benson Craig (elected)
Louisa was born and raised in Rangoon, Burma, and received her education at the University of Rangoon. In 1988, Louisa helped to establish the Burma Forum, an organization that was active in pushing through selective purchasing legislature in various American cities. Louisa also participated in the United Nationís Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 1990s. Her most recent work has involved raising awareness of the plight of Burma Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and encouraging ethnic unity in Burma.

Larry Dohrs (elected)
Larry Dohrs’s first visit to Burma was in 1982. In 1985 he completed an MA in Southeast Asian Studies from University of Michigan, with a particular focus on the agricultural economies of Thailand and Burma. Throughout the 1980s he wrote economic updates on mainland Southeast Asia for the journal “Southeast Asia Business.” He travels to Southeast Asia every year, and has had the privilege of meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the democracy movement. He leads the Seattle Burma Roundtable in his hometown of Seattle, Washington State on a monthly basis for more than 10 years. He is currently an adjunct Professor for Economics at Antioch University in Seattle and Vice President of Newground Social Investment, also in Seattle.

Stephen Dun (elected)
Stephen Dun, an ethnic Karen from Burma, has many years of experiences in working with the Karen people and maintains good relations with other ethnic nationalities, such as the Karenni, Kachin, and Shan. He has helped establish better communications by setting up radio data networks for Burma. He has testified on numerous occassions before the US House International Relations Committee and Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

Sam Gregory (elected)
Sam Gregory is a video producer, trainer, and human rights advocate, and is currently the Program Director of WITNESS, the non-governmental organization that uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. He has been an activist on Burma for the past decade, and over the past five years has worked extensively with the grassroots organization, Burma Issues to support their work documenting and advocating around the situation in eastern Burma, including supporting the production and distribution of the videos “Shoot on Sight’, ‘Season of Fear’ and ‘Always on the Run’ to audiences worldwide. In 2005 he was the lead editor on Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism (Pluto Press), and he has conducted trainings on how to use video in campaigns for groups worldwide.

Veronika Martin (appointed)
Veronika Martin is a Senior Program Manager for Protection and Refugee Affairs at InterAction. During her seven years in Southeast Asia, Veronika directed Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment (WEAVE), was the Director of Southeast Asian Programs for EarthRights International and directed the EarthRights School. Back in Washington, Veronika was an advocate for Refugees International and conducted humanitarian and human rights assessment missions to such diverse countries as Afghanistan, Angola, Thailand, and Tanzania. After ending her three years there as the Director of Human Rights, she was a Policy Analyst for East Asia and the Pacific at the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and most recently, a Senior Program Officer at the Initiative for Inclusive Security.

Cristina Moon (Elected)
Cristina Moon is a consultant to the Asia-Pacific People’s Partnership for Burma (AP3B). From 2005 to 2007, she was the Campaigns Coordinator for the US Campaign for Burma , where she worked with a national network of grassroots activists to support legislative and awareness-raising actions for Burma’s democracy movement. In 2004, she taught at the Burma Lawyers Council on the Thailand-Burma border and co-founded the Thoo Mwe Nee School for children displaced by the armed conflict in Karen State, Burma. In 2005, she co-taught a class, “The Politics of Ethnicity in Burma”, at the University of Chicago. Cristina has led numerous delegations to the Thailand-Burma border to meet with refugees, former political prisoners, and ethnic organizations from Burma. Cristina is an advisor for the Thailand Border Civic Project.

Andrew Samet, Esq. (appointed)
Andrew James Samet is a Principal in Sorini, Samet & Associates, an international trade consulting firm. He served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Under Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor and as U.S. representative to the International Labor Organization. Mr Samet also worked as legislative director to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York.

U Tin Maung Thaw (appointed)
Tin Maung Thaw is a founding member and General Secretary of the Committee for Restoration of Democracy in Burma. Born in Rangoon, Burma, he graduated from Methodist High School in Rangoon and obtained his degree from the University of Rangoon, Institute of Economics after narrowly avoiding expulsion for participating in student protests against the military regime. He is a former staff member of the U.S. Congress.

Honorable U Mya Win, MP (appointed)
U Mya Win is an elected member of parliament from the National League for Democracy in Rangoon, Burma. After serving four years in prison in the 1970s as a political prisoner, he helped organize Burma’s 1988 nationwide uprising and was an early member of the Rangoon General Strike Committee. He joined the National League for Democracy (NLD) and was elected to serve as a member of parliament in Burma’s 1990 election. He was arrested again in 1990 and sentenced to life in prison for allegedly planning to form a parallel government. He was released from prison in 1999 and fled the country. He served as a minister of western region of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma until 2002.