STAFF - ICJB coordinators/board

Email385135 ID Date 2010-12-23 19:49:45 From morson@stratfor.com To mongoven@stratfor.com, morson@stratfor.com, defeo@stratfor.com, pubpolblog.post@blogger.com Shana Ortman and Claire Rosenfeld are the US coordinators for ICJB. http://www.studentsforbhopal.org/node/57 Advisory Board The Students for Bhopal Advisory Board is the national leadership body for SfB, representing the North American grassroots supporters of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal. Composed of approximately 7 volunteer members as well as the US staff member of ICJB, the Advisory Board coordinates the actions, projects, and initiatives undertaken by ICJB/SfB in North America. Who is on the Advisory Board? Shana Blustein Ortman U.S. Coordinator, International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal; SfB Advisory Board Member Shana has worked on social and environmental justice for the past 10 years, and she is extremely moved and inspired by the struggle for Justice in Bhopal. Before becoming the U.S. Coordinator for ICJB in April 2008, she spent nearly four years at ForestEthics, where she was the Lead Organizer on the Paper Campaign. Her work focused on leadership development and creating grassroots organizing for a campaign that is transforming the catalog industry and protecting Endangered Forests. Most notably, in 2006, they won the Victoria's Dirty Secret campaign, a three year campaign that included over 750 grassroots actions across North America. Shana got her B.A. in Humanities, with a focus on Children's Literature and Social Change from New College of California in 2005. She also spent two years studying Anthropology at Grinnell College, where she was very involved with student activism for environmental justice and human rights. Claire Rosenfeld U.S. Coordinator, International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal; SfB Advisory Board Member Claire got involved with ICJB when she spent a week in July/2008 at the Sambhavna Trust Clinic in Bhopal. She interned over summer with Shana at ICJB in San Francisco and organized the hugely successful curry cook-off fundraiser. Claire earned her B.A. in Cultural Studies and Foreign Languages (Spanish, Hindi) at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. As part of the advisory board, she hopes to collaborate with groups committed to resolving the ongoing tragedy and provide her own insight about the direction of the campaign in North America. She brings her strong belief that corporate prot should never come at the price of human lives.

Tony Millard SfB Advisory Board Member Tony graduated from the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism in 2006, and he is currently working as a producer, writer and editor for an XM satellite medical radio station called ReachMD. In his rst year on the AB, he helped to coordinate our extensive media campaign throughout the entire 2008 Padyatra, which included frequent press releases and outreach to news and information outlets across a variety of mediums throughout the United States. Having volunteered at the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal for most of a year spanning parts of 2006 and 2007, he hasa rm, rst-hand perspective of the situation on the ground in Bhopal. From Sambhavna to the dilapidated factory, to Oriya Basti and Hamidia Hospital, to the oft-protested home of the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in Shamla Hills, his knowledge of Bhopal is a benet to our strategizing and planning actions here in the United States. This applies particularly from the standpoint of communicating to others the extent of the devastation across Bhopal, but more importantly, the spirit of the Bhopalis who continue to ght for Justice. Diana Katgara SfB Advisory Board Member Diana had the chance to spend some time in Bhopal and get to know a number of people there. These people who are strong, brillliant, loving, creative, inspirational, funny, musical, articulate, insightful, caring, full of hope and who will never ever give up ghting for justice for themselves and ghting to ensure that what has happened to Bhopalis doesn't happen to others have become an important part of her life. The grave injustices that have happened and continue to happen in Bhopal are unacceptable. From December 3rd, 1984 onwards Bhopalies have witnessed the horrors of losing their loved ones and continue to be lied to and cheated out of effective health care, clean water, safety against deadly poisons, the ability to earn, the right not to have to feed babies contaminated breast milk, just to name a few things. And yet, they continue to have hope and love and show care to eachother and those of us who ask if we can stand alongside them. They continue to have hope and trust that the world will not let this injustice continue. Over the last year and a half she hasseen the creative and meaningful ways that the SfB has supported the Bhopal Campaign in the US and she thinks it would be great to bring some of that over to Canada. Yogesh Simmhan SfB Advisory Board Member Yogesh brings his passion for justice to the Advisory Board--he hopes to improve the lives of Bhopalis, and ght corporate greed and government apathy. Co-founder of AID at the Indiana University, Bloomington, Yogesh organized all Bhopal-related events at his university from 2003-2007 including vigils, protests, panel discussions with Ryan Bodyani and Rajan

Sharma, and a Bhopal photo exhibit. Additionally, he has worked with Amnesty International in picketing a talk by Dow CEO Andrew Liveris in Indianapolis. In 2006 he helped host the Students for Bhopal conference in Bloomington. Yogesh has experience in letter writing, media management, and event organizing. He sees the approaching 25th anniversary of the gas tragedy as an important opportunity: "The looming 25th anniversary is a crucial juncture for our campaign and SfB needs all the support possible to mobilize across the US. This is the time for everyone associated with the campaign to stand up and be counted, and I'm answering this call." Ellen Shifrin SFB Advisory Board Member A former professor and administer, Ellen has strong communication and organizational skills. Her involvement with the campaign for justice in Bhopal began in 2008, but she was involved with Amnesty International for many years. She has been invited to table at the UN Association of Canada, Toronto event on Water and the AI Business&Human Rights conference, The Case for Water as a Human Right. Having traveled to the subcontinent eight times, Ellen is looking forward to combining her deep-rooted passions for human rights and India. Why do you believe in justice for Bhopal? "Bhopal serves not only as a situation in itself, but also as a model for people in other places ghting the same type of violations. There are so many levels on which to work for justice in Bhopal - human and environmental rights, politics, economics, and the human spirit. So because Bhopal will always be with us in one way or another, because the ght of the gas and water-affected people is wholly non-violent, because the spirit of the survivors is so strong--all these are reasons why I want to be part of the Advisory Board, why I want to be more involved, and why I feel it's such an important cause to be whole-heartedly committed to."

Leonid Chindelevitch SFB Advisory Board Member After being involved with the Bhopal campaign for 3 years at the local level and gained experience in activities ranging from making banners and folding my body in the shape of various letters to preparing budget requests and coordinating the chapter's activities, Leonid has taken the next step of joining the campaign's Advisory Board. He expects to make signicant contribution to SfB by organizing fundraising events, recruiting new members to the campaign and contacting the media. In addition, he hopes to bring new insights into campaign strategies on the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster.

Interested in joining the Advisory Board? In the fall there are Advisory Board nominations for positions that last

for one year. Occasionally there are openings during other parts of the year. Email shana@panna.org to learn more.

Past Members of the Advisory Board Pragya Bhagat (2007-09) Association for India's Development, Austin Aqueue Freechild (2004-2009) US Strategy Coordinator, ICJB Daniel Yeow (2007-08) Amnesty International, Columbia University Raghav Kaushik (2006-2007) Ryan Bodyani (2004-2007) Student Coordinator, ICJB