DigiActive.org

Digitally Active Org: The U.S. Campaign for Burma

Web site: www.uscampaignforburma.org

What is it?: The U.S. Campaign for Burma (USCB) 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.” With a small staff and smaller budget, USCB has grown its membership from a few hundred people to over 60,000 in the past three years. New media outreach was a key component in this growth, used to organize activists and raise awareness about the cause of Burma.

Tools: instant messaging, e-newsletters, blog, digital video, online social networks (Facebook, Myspace, Change.org, etc.), Ustream live video conferences, teleconferences, listservs, user-created media (photos, videos, t-shirt designs).

USCB has managed to dramatically increase their outreach by combining online with offline organizing. A coordinated YouTube campaign to launch 30 produced videos in 30 days helped increase exposure to the general public, since the spots starred Hollywood celebrities. But public reaction to the spots was mixed. Also, traditional media played a role in the successes and challenges of USCB’s outreach: with Burma often in the news this year (monks’ protest, Cyclone Nargis), more people became aware of the cause and eager to connect with USCB, but media of these events also somewhat overshadowed the organizational work of USCB. The full slideshow goes into more detail, with quotes from people at USCB.

Campaign: Global Burma Day has a Facebook presence

Description: This Friday marks the 20th anniversary of the Burmese Uprising, when university students began gathering in the capital city of Rangoon to protest the military junta’s suppression of democracy in the country. The uprising ended tragically on September 18 when 3,000 civilians were killed by the junta’s armed forces. These events brought world attention to the Southeast Asian country and made Aung San Suu Kyi an international icon for peace and reconciliation. This weekend protesters will be marking the anniversary with peaceful demonstrations around the world. They are using Facebook to organize their efforts.

Tools Being Used: Facebook

What Are They Doing: The Burma Global Action Network has set up a Facebook group to educate Internet users about the events around the 8.8.88 Uprising and what they see are problems that continue to plague Burma today. Many of the grievances include the Chinese government continuing to block a United Nations arms embargo on Burma while it sells weapons to Burma’s regime and the ongoing problem of getting aid to survivors of Cyclone Nargis. Users can learn about locations of demonstrations this weekend worldwide as well as view campaign videos from organizations like the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

DigiActive News: Interview (in German)

On Tuesday, DigiActive writer Simon Columbus was interviewed by Frédéric Valin of Spreeblick, which is one of Germany’s top three blogs, about digital activism.

If you understand German, you can read the whole interview on Spreeblick.

Topics included a review of last September’s “Free Burma” action lead by German bloggers and a look at the power of digital activism.

DigiActive News: Radio Interview (in Australia!)

Last week, DigiActive Co-Founder Mary Joyce was interviewed for the Australian community radio program The Fourth Estate with Daz Chandler. You can take a listen below by clicking the green arrow:

Topics discussed include the motivation for founding DigiActive, examples of how activists are using Facebook to organize international protests, whether digital activism is elitist, and why it’s a good idea to use online commercial tools for activism.

Campaign: Blog4Burma

Description of Campaign: After the junta’s crackdown on the protesters of the saffron revolution, Burma faded from the public eye within a few days. Even the bloggers, who widely campaigned in support of the demonstrators, don’t write about the country any longer. An international group of bloggers has united as the Blog4Burma coalition to keep the topic in the focus of the blogosphere.

Digital Activism Tools: Blogs, Feed

How These Tools Are Being Used: The Blog4Burma coalition’s goal is to provide a wide range of information about the situation in Burma. A group of bloggers from currently four countries (Austria, France, Germany, Spain), writing in as many languages, the coalition does not have a common website. The members write articles about Burma-related topics on their own blogs, which are then collected in a common feed.

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Tool: GTalk

Tool Description: GTalk is Googles version of Internet telephony. I allows you to talk online for free with other people that use GTalk.
Activist Application: Burmese democracy activists used GTalk to tell people around the world what was happening in their country. According to Maung Maung, a Burmese activist and trade unionist, “There are about 50 Internet cafes all over Burma, and young people were able to log into GTalk and say to the rest of the world, ‘Here’s what is happening on this corner; here’s what is happening on that corner.’ Quite a lot of young activists have been trained in how to use Gmail. It is extremely helpful to the movement.” GTalk is available in Burmese (see below) and many other world languages.
Ease of Use: Easy. You can download it here or use it without downloading it by clicking here. You do need a Gmail account and a microphone to use GTalk.