SOA Updates
National Catholic Reporter SOA blog
http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=blog/11
School of the Americas Watch
http://www.soaw.org
http://www.soaw.org/presente
SOA Petition to President Barack Obama
http://www.soaw.org/petition
HR 2567 will close the SOA/WHINSEC;
For up to date information, see posts under
IFCLA headlines such as We won the vote but it's not over and http://thomas.loc.gov
What is the SOA/WHINSEC?
SOA 2010
Flyer - click for full page printable PDF
Release Form - click for printable PDF
Application Form - click for printable PDF
Video from Fr. Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch
http://www.pbs.org/itvs/globalvoices/fatherroy.html
House of Representatives Votes to Force the Pentagon to Release Information to SOA Watch and HR 2567
Click HERE for the campaign (Word doc)
New Legislative Resource
http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=1593
Report from 2009
Protest at the School of the Americas teaches lessons in human rights Nov 17, 2008 article in St Louis Beacon
Report from 2008
November Vigil to Close the SOA
The spirit at the annual November Vigil to Close the SOA was tremendously high. The movement is fired up to finally make the School of the Americas history. The November 4 election saw at least 35 supporters of the notorious institution lose their seats in the House of Representatives. Times are changing and we will put an end to oppressive U.S. foreign policy!
We know that the United States government won't shut down the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC) on its own. It will take people power and grassroots organizing to create a climate and culture that will make the existence of institutions like the SOA/WHINSEC impossible.
We have the power to hold the Obama administration to its promises of a new direction in U.S.-Latin America relations and we are calling for the closing of the SOA/WHINSEC as a first step in the right direction.
Photos from Saturday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/opticalrealities/show
Photos from Sunday:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/soaw/show
Report from 2007
Close the SOA 2007
School
of the Americas Watch
www.SOAW.org
|
202-234-3440 |
Click
to subscribe
Sunday,
November 18, 2007
25,000
Strong!
Eleven
Arrested for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience
 |
The
18th annual Vigil to Close the SOA was one of the largest
and most vibrant yet. As early as 7 am, Veterans for Peace
and supporters began marching along Victory Drive to the gates
of Fort Benning where Gennaro Jacinto Calel from the International
Mayan League offered a Mayan Blessing. |
In
1999, Rufina traveled from El Salvador to the gates of Fort Benning,
Georgia, where 19 of the 26 people found responsible for the massacre
had been trained at the School of the Americas. She told the story
of the massacre and worked for justice until her death of a heart
illness earlier this year. Rufina
Amaya Presente!
-
Linda Panetta of SOA Watch NE has created this beautiful
18x26 poster (image on left) in memory of Rufina which is
available for $10 plus s/h through Optical Realities, to
order please contact Linda at Linda(at)opticalrealities(dot)org |
|
While
thousands commemorated the martyrs in a solemn funeral procession
at the main gate, 10 SOA Watch
activists entered the Fort Benning military base through
a side entrance in an attempt to carry the protest to the site
of the SOA/WHINSEC: Le Ann
Clausen, Diane
Lopez Hughes, Stephen
Schweitzer, Gus
Roddy, Ozone Bhaguan,
Arthur Landis,
Chris Lieberman,
Michelle Yipe,
Ed Lewinson, and
Joan Anderson were
arrested by military police.
Teil
Rainelli, climbed the barbed wire fence at the main
gate of Fort Benning during the funeral procession, raising the
number of arrested to 11. Three
more SOA Watch activists face charges from the city
for refusing to relinquish crosses at the vigil site whose size
exceeded Columbus police regulations.
Simultaneous
actions took place throughout the weekend in Santiago,
Chile; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Monterey, California; San Francisco,
California; and Toronto, Canada. More than three hundred
people rallied against torture outside the gates of Ft. Huachuca,
Arizona, home of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and school
for interrogation. Three people were arrested during the rally
as they tried to bring their witness against torture onto the
base. Betsy Lamb,
Mary Burton Riseley,
and Franciscan Fr. Jerry Zawada
were taken into custody and charged with criminal trespass on
a military installation and failure to comply with a police officer.
This
has been a very exciting and energizing weekend of celebration
and we invite you to continue to check the SOA
Watch website for updates regarding this year's vigil, We
also ask that you make a contribution
to SOA Watch so that we can continue the organizing work to close
down the SOA/WHINSEC, to end the racist system of violence and
domination that the school represents and to create a culture
of justice and peace.
MEDIA
OUTREACH: Once you return home and take some time to
decompress, we ask that you use some of the same energy that you
brought to the vigil to take a few minutes of your time to reach
out to your local media and tell them about what you saw, what
you heard, what you shared and learned. Tell them about this School
of Shame that will soon be closed down and those who have suffered
under the violence of its graduates.
Click
here to find contact information for your local media. visit
our Media
Outreach page to see samples of press releases, letters to
the editor and more!
