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School of the Americas Watch -- 2005 |
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The SOA protest: Protesters urge
closure of U.S. Army training school in Georgia
[11-22-05]
The annual vigil and protest against the School of the
Americans – now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation (or School of Torturers?) – was probably the largest ever in its
16-year history. SOA Watch estimated that 19,000 people participated in the
Nov. 19-20 protest . Of the demonstrators, 39 were arrested.
Catholic
News Service offers a report >>
SOA Watch has posted a great
slide show of the event – with music!
A suggestion: Be smarter than your WebWeaver, and
click on the little arrow under the lower left corner of the opening
screen. Or be like me, and just sit staring at it and wait for something
to happen.
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| November 19-20 -- Another rally to close School of the
Americas Here’s one way to protest US use of torture
Thousands to rally to demand
closure of US Army training school
Convergence and civil disobedience at
Fort Benning, Georgia,
November 19-20, 2005 to close the US Army’s School of the Americas
From
School of the Americas Watch
WASHINGTON - November 3 - Pictures of abuse at
the hands U.S. personnel and recent reports about secret CIA detention
facilities have catapulted the controversial School of the Americas back
into the public spotlight. Thousands around the country are preparing for a
November 19-20 demonstration calling for the closure of the Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School
of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC).
The SOA/ WHINSEC, a combat training facility
for Latin American security personnel located at Fort Benning, Georgia, made
headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the
school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. Despite this
shocking admission and hundreds of documented human rights abuses connected
to soldiers trained at the school, no independent investigation into the
training facility has ever taken place.
Graduates of the SOA/ WHINSEC, more than
60,000 over its 59-year history, continue to be implicated in human rights
violations throughout Latin America. Critics argue that the school promotes
military solutions to social and political problems.
“We will demonstrate both to remember the past
and to demand accountability for the present,” said Carlos Mauricio, a
Salvadoran torture survivor and human rights activist. “The first step
towards respect for human rights is to close this school.”
Organizers of the event call this November’s
event unique in light of an upcoming Congressional vote on the school.
Earlier this year, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) introduced HR 1217 to suspend
operations at WHINSEC and to investigate the development and use of the
“torture manuals.” The bill currently has over 122 bipartisan co-sponsors.
The campaign to close the SOA/ WHINSEC has
grown from a dozen people in November of 1990 to more than 16,000 last year.
This year’s gathering will culminate on Sunday, November 20 with a symbolic
funeral procession to the gates of Ft. Benning. Many will negotiate a
barbed-wire fence to enter the military base in an act of nonviolent civil
disobedience. Since protests against SOA/ WHINSEC began more than a decade
ago, over 180 people have served federal prison sentences.
The weekend’s program will feature music and
speakers from Latin and North America, including torture survivors and
social movement leaders from Argentina and El Salvador; labor activists from
Honduras and Peru; Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking; a
member of the Colombian peace community San José de Apartadó, attacked by
soldiers under the command of an SOA graduate earlier this year. A line-up
of diverse musicians will offer Folk, Latin Ska, Hip-Hop, Andean music and
more. |
NATIONAL CALL IN DAY - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2005 -
In Conjunction with the 2005 Spring Lobby Day in Washington, DC
From School of the Americas Watch ~
202-234-3440 ~ www.soaw.org
[2-21-05]
Do you have 15 minutes to spare for US
military accountability and justice for the people of the Americas?
SOA Watch has led a thriving legislative
campaign since 1993, a campaign that forced a "closure" of the SOA in 2000.
The opening of WHINSEC three weeks later was indeed a slick public relations
move that did cause some Members of Congress to wait and see if this "new"
institution could reform. (Visit www.SOAW.org
for more info.)
But we are gaining momentum again and we
will soon see the day when the majority of Congress will see that you can
never reform without full accountability, and you cannot teach democracy or
human rights at an institution that is synonymous with torture. There will
be a vote in the 109th Congress and a victory is possible, but not without
you!
SOA Watch calls on you to call your
Representative and Senators on Tuesday, February 22, and urge them to
support legislation that would close and investigate the SOA/WHINSEC once
and for all! These three calls can truly make a difference! Congressional
offices count how many calls they get on a specific issue, and these counts
help influence political support and policy decisions.
CONGRESSIONAL SWITCHBOARD: 202-224-3121
A GOOD PHONE CALL SHOULD:
 | Be directed towards the appropriate
person-the legislative staffer who handles the SOA/WHINSEC issue, usually
either the foreign policy or defense aide. Just ask when you call. |
| Include mention of your name and
city/area of residence so they know you are a constituent. |
| Clearly state your request: |
>> For Representatives:
Co-sponsor new, upcoming legislation that calls for the suspension and
investigation of the SOA/WHINSEC. Have them Call Rep. McGovern's office
for more information.
>> For Senators: Introduce
companion legislation in the Senate that would call for the suspension
and investigation of the SOA/WHINSEC.
| Briefly mention why that particular
Member of Congress would and should support the request.
Check out the talking
points for ideas (but feel free to think outside the box). |
School of the Americas Watch
~ 202-234-3440 ~ www.soaw.org ~
info@soaw.org
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| From School of the Americas
Watch Two weeks
until the DC Lobby Day, actions and national call-in day: tell Congress to
close the SOA/ WHINSEC!
Monday, February 21
and Tuesday, February 22
SOA Watch Update
February 7, 2005
[Posted 2-9-05]
DC Legislative Actions Days:
February 21-22
Click here for
INFORMATION, including schedules, location and housing information:
Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) will be
introducing new legislation to close the SOA/ WHINSEC early this year, and
the SOA Watch Lobby Day is a key to victory in this campaign! Join us in DC
to meet with your Representative's office, network with other SOA Watch
activists from your region, get up-to-date information on the legislative
campaign to close the SOA/ WHINSEC and participate in targeted direct
actions.
On Monday, February 21st, we'll gather at 1
pm at the George Washington University Law School at 20th and H Streets for
a legislative teach-in and lobby trainings. On Tuesday, February 22nd, there
will be an SOA Watch drop-in space at the Church of the Brethren on Capitol
Hill, where you can stop by before, in between or after your Congressional
visits to get a cup of coffee, eat lunch, pick up materials for
Congressional offices and socialize with others working to close the SOA.
ACCESSIBILITY: If you have questions about
accessibility at these events or if you need accessibility accommodations,
please email Christy Pardew at
cpardew@soaw.org or call her in the SOA Watch office at 202-234-3440.
National Call-In Day --
February 22, 2005
For more information on the call-in day,
visit
http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=96
Do you have 15 minutes to spare for US
military accountability and justice for the people of the Americas?
Even if you are not able to make it to DC
for this year's Spring Lobby Day, you can still take IMPORTANT legislative
action at home. SOA Watch calls on you to call your Representative and
Senators and urge them to support legislation that would close and
investigate the SOA/WHINSEC once and for all!
These three calls can truly make a
difference. Congressional offices count how many calls they get on a
specific issue, and these counts help influence political support and policy
decisions.
Get the details!
|
At
trials' end, eleven peacemakers are headed to federal prison
This report is based on logs prepared by
SOA Watch, from January 21st through the 26th, from
Columbus, GA
[1-27-05]
On Monday, January 24 fourteen people - including two high school students -
began federal trials for their acts of nonviolent civil disobedience calling
for closure of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
(formerly SOA). The fourteen were among the more than 16,000 people who
gathered on November 20-21 at Fort Benning to say no to the repression that
WHINSEC represents.
Fifteen people crossed onto Fort Benning
that Sunday; they were quickly arrested and charged with trespass. [One
"repeat" line crosser, Ed Lewinson, was not charged]. Many other protesters
witnessed some of these brave peacemakers negotiating a 10-foot-high
barbed-wire fence to enter the base. The fifteen took this action despite
knowing they likely face three to six months in federal prison. Since
protests against the SOA/ WHINSEC began fourteen years ago, more than 170
people have served prison sentences of up to two years for civil
disobedience.
The defendants appeared on Monday before
Judge G. Mallon Faircloth, who is known for handing down stiff sentences to
opponents of the SOA/ WHINSEC, often imposing the maximum of six months in
prison and a $5,000 fine.
In addition, two of the three people
arrested on state charges during the November vigil appeared in court on
Jan. 21st. Roger Scholl, arrested for wearing a mask, pled no
contest and was released with a fine. Another, John Redmond, arrested for
violating the barricades, entered a plea of not guilty and will soon be
notified of a trial date. The third Columbus arrestee, Patrick O'Neill, was
scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
On Monday five of the human rights
advocates -- including a chaplain, students, a Steelworker, a farmer and a
79-year-old retiree -- were sentenced to three months in federal prison and
fines of up to $500 for their acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. Another
defendant was sentenced to one year of probation with a $1,000 fine.
"It's a sad day when peace protestors go
to prison," said Liz Deligio, 28, a chaplain and student from Chicago,
Illinois sentenced to three months in prison, "and the perpetrators of human
rights violations will never see the inside of a courthouse ---- let alone a
jail."
On Tuesday and
Wednesday
Judge Faircloth sentenced six more of the "SOA 14," bringing to 11 the total
number of activists ordered to serve prison terms of three to six months and
to pay fines of up to $500. The two high school students in the group were
given deferred sentences, and another defendant was sentenced to one year of
probation with a $1,000 fine.
The fourteen people
who were on trial this week range in age from 16 to 79. The group includes a
chaplain, a farmworker, a Maryknoll nun, a Steelworker, two retirees and
several students. They were all arrested on Sunday, November 21 for
"crossing the line" onto Fort Benning, Georgia to call for the closure of
SOA/ WHINSEC,
a combat training facility for Latin American security personnel.
Each defendant
opted to self-report to prison and will now wait for a letter from the
Bureau of Prisons notifying them of the date when and prison to which they
must report. Past defendants have received notice from the BoP anywhere from
six to twelve weeks after their trials.
These defendants
will spend the next months spreading the word about the School of the
Americas by doing media outreach, speaking to churches, synagogues and peace
and justice organizations in their communities and lobbying their Members of
Congress.
Many are already
making their plans to be in DC on
February
21-22 for
the SOA
Watch Legislative Action Days. One of the most important ways that
you can support the SOA 14 is to join them in DC! Meet with your Member of
Congress, tell them about these peacemakers headed to prison and ask them to
support legislation to close the SOA/ WHINSEC.
Read more about this year's defendants and how you can support them.
THE 14 SOA/ WHINSEC DEFENDANTS:
2 sentenced to six
months in prison with fines up to $500
2 sentenced to four months in prison with a $500 fine
7 sentenced to three months in prison with fines up to $500
1 sentenced to one year of probation and a $1,000 fine
2 given six-month deferred sentences
Robert Nash
Chantal, 52, Americus, GA -- 3 months; $500 fine
Liz Deligio, 28, Chicago, IL -- 3 months in prison; $500 fine
Brian DeRouen, 27, Fairfield, CA, student in Dayton, OH -- 4 months in
prison; $500 fine
Meagan Doty, 22, St. Louis, MO, student in Dayton, OH -- 3 months in prison,
$500 fine
Ronald Durham, 24, Chicago, IL -- 3 months in prison; $500 fine
Alice Gerard, 48, Buffalo, NY -- 6 months in prison; $500 fine
Tom MacLean, 79, Ashfield, MA -- 3 months in federal medical facility
Sr. Lil Mattingly, 63, Maryknoll, NY -- 6 months in prison
Elizabeth Nadeau, 27, Minneapolis, MN -- 3 months in prison; $500 fine
Mike Ring, 65, Wall, NJ -- 1 year of probation; $1,000 fine
Dan Schwankl, 31, Siler City, NC -- 3 months in prison; $500 fine
Aaron Shuman, 32, Oakland, CA -- 4 months in prison; $500 fine
Two minors -- 6 month deferred sentences
Click here for reports and
reflections from Don Beisswenger, who served a six-month prison term last
year for the same act of conscience. |
| SOA Watch
Update, January 13, 2005 From School
of the Americas Watch
http://www.soaw.org/new/
[1-18-05]
Human rights activists on
trial this month for saying No to the SOA/ WHINSEC
Fourteen human rights activists arrested at
the Ft. Benning vigil in November of 2004, including two minors, are
preparing to appear in federal court on Monday, January 24. Next week,
defendants and their supporters will gather in Columbus, Georgia with the
members of the SOA Watch legal collective, media team, hospitality crew and
others for several days of preparation and sharing.
The defendants are facing up to six months
in prison and a $5,000 fine for their courageous witness to expose the issue
of SOA/ WHINSEC violence to the public. Our friends face prison while the
SOA/ WHINSEC and those responsible for the death and suffering of thousands
of Latin Americans continue to operate with impunity.
In addition, three people arrested by
Columbus city police are scheduled to appear in court for arraignments on
Friday, January 21. The legal team and others are working to support these
three.
You can support the defendants right now by
using their stories to reach out to your Congressional representatives and
your local media. Call your Member of Congress. Write a letter to the
editor. Make plans now to travel to DC for the annual SOA Watch Lobby Day on
February 21-22.
If you live near the Columbus, Georgia
area, please consider joining us for Festival of Hope on Sunday, January 23
at 7 pm at the Howard Johnson's. Call or email the office for more
information at 202-234-3440 or info@soaw.org.
Continue to check the website --
www.soaw.org - for regular updates on
these brave peacemakers, to read more about them and to learn other ways to
support them in their struggles for justice and freedom.
The
''Salvador option'' may put death-squad-like
kidnapping and assassination teams in Iraq
US military sources confirmed this week
that the Pentagon may put Special Forces-led kidnapping and assassination
teams in Iraq, based on the Reagan model of US foreign policy in El Salvador
in the 1980s.
Newsweek reports that the Pentagon
is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy
in the Reagan administration's battle against the leftist guerrilla
insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war
against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported
"nationalist" forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed
to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers. Eventually the
insurgency was quelled, and many U.S. conservatives consider the policy to
have been a success-despite the deaths of innocent civilians and the
subsequent Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal. (Among the current
administration officials who dealt with Central America in the 1980s is John
Negroponte, who is today the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Under Reagan, he was
ambassador to Honduras.)
Click here
to read more about the "Salvador Option"
Click here to read
the press release put out jointly by SOA Watch and five other Salvadoran
solidarity organizations.
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Some blogs worth visiting |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created this new blog
for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship and activism,
Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the voices of
feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy, students,
exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers and
devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God in
whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
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Witherspoon’s Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, Witherspoon’s
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views, or initiate
a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
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John Harris’ Summit to Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical reflections on
everything between summit to shore, including kayaking, climbing,
religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology, politics, culture,
travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New York City and the
Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive New York City
Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the Witherspoon
board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian Church in
Flushing, NY. |
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John
Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently serving as
pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton, Tenn., blogs
about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized and
disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and lightening
up. |
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Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
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Plan now for our 2010 Ghost Ranch
Seminar!
GHOST RANCH SEMINAR
July 26-August 1, 2010
WE’RE
ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
CONFRONTING THE STRUCTURES OF INJUSTICE |
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If you like what you find
here,
we hope you'll help us keep this website going ... and growing!
Please consider making a special
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