2007 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference
November 16-18
Baltimore, MD

What do you believe in? What motivates your human rights activism? It is our beliefs that drive our action, keep the flame lit, and bring us together as activists. I believe in human dignity. What do you believe in?

I believe in knowing something is wrong and actually doing something about it. - Kurt Sackerman, DC AC

As part of this exciting conference, we asked our members to tell us what they believe in. Many of your answers to this question were posted on our website, included in conference materials, and featured in a multimedia display at the conference.

I believe if we don't speak up for human rights, we are just as guilty as the violators. Every human being has the right to be treated with respect. - Lisa Ratta-Shosan

Amnesty International activist tells us what he believes in. Many answers to this question were posted on our website, included in conference materials, and featured in a multimedia display at the conference.	Activists participate in a human rights education workshop at the 2007 MARO Regional Conference.
Conference participants attend the Shut it Down Hip Hop Concert. MARO worked with the Hip Hop Caucus to put together the concert calling on the US to stop torture and restore Habeas Corpus.	Amnesty International members discuss resolutions at the 2007 MARO Regional Conference.

A record-setting 375 AIUSA members from the 6 states in our region and New Jersey attended our remarkable and highly successful Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference on November 16-18, 2007 in Baltimore. With an open-ended theme I believe in _________. the conference drew upon the core values and personal motivations of our members' social justice activism and was both powerfully emotive and inspiring. Participants heard testimonies from both Curt Goering (Senior Deputy Executive Director of AIUSA) and Amy Goodman (host and executive producer of Democracy Now!) of the personal motivations for their activism and viewed a multimedia display of similar testimonies from a broad section of AI members and staff including Executive Director Larry Cox at the Saturday Opening Plenary. Later that day, hundreds of activists boarded buses for a rally in front of the state death row prison in downtown Baltimore to demand a repeal of death penalty in Maryland. The deputy mayor and a powerful line up of speakers including murder victims' family members addressed the highly-spirited crowd. The action garnered media attention including a piece in the Baltimore Sun and the local affiliate of the Fox television station.

Over the course of the 3-day conference, attendees participated in well organized workshops, a hip hop concert, and the resolutions process. Many workshops actually had the feel of plenary sessions due the unusually large number of participants. At a well-attended closing plenary, attendees listened with rapt attention to the taped testimony of Sameh Khouzam, a member of the York local AI group, from the asylum detention center where he is currently being held. Sameh's testimony was augmented by personal testimony from Kathleen Lucas, long term AIUSA volunteer leader who has taken up Sameh's case from its inception and brought it to AI's attention. The conference was brought to a rousing conclusion on a powerful note by Ellen Dorsey, our Board Chair, who challenged participants to turn their beliefs into veritable action for our priority human rights campaigns. We have heard from our members and they had a blast and felt empowered in their social justice advocacy.

As with any successful event of this magnitude, the outcome was the result of collective efforts in the truest sense of the word. Special thanks to our planning committee members-Jonathan Pearson, Jonathan Cohen, Amanda Pollack, and Tatiana Truitt.

Now on to the next regional in beautiful and wild West Virginia in 2008!