14 or more persons arrested at School of the Americas Watch Vigil

Source: Roody

At least 14 persons were arrested today for trespassing at Fort Benning Army Base to demand the closure of the School of the Americas, now known as WHINSEC. 25,000 people attended a funeral procession at the gates and commemorated the lives of those killed by orders of graduates of the School of the Americas. Speakers included presidential candidates Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney, and Representative Jim McGovern. 3 persons were arrested because they refused to give up their crosses which exceeded the allowable length.

Read more: http://soaw.org/newswire_detail.php?id=1416

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This is a first person account.

Kucinich's personal protest Saturday, November 17th 2007

Chuck Williams, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

Presidential candidate said closing school would be doing 'God's work'

This weekend's SOA Watch protest is personal for U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

The Ohio Democrat and long-shot presidential candidate will be one of the protesters gathering at Fort Benning's main gate Sunday to demand the closing of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation -- formerly known as the School of the Americas.

One of the martyrs in the SOA cause is Dorothy Kazel, a Cleveland nun who was raped and killed Dec. 2, 1980, by El Salvador National Guardsmen.

She is very much a presence there and greatly missed. As far as I'm concerned, she was martyred, and yes, the SOA (or whatever they're calling it these days) is personal to me. I taught with sisters and laywomen who had known her and called her friend and were mad as hell that our government didn't consider her death worth anything.

Kucinich protests Fort Benning school
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COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich said Sunday the thinking that went into producing an Army school blamed for human rights abuses in Latin America was the same that led the U.S. to war in Iraq and could cause it to raid Iran.
Kucinich was speaking at the 18th annual protest of the school at Fort Benning that trains Latin American soldiers, police and government officials. One of his first acts as president if elected would be to close the school, he said.

"The type of thinking that produced this school is the same type of thinking that produced the war in Iraq and is producing a war against Iran," Kucinich said. The Ohio congressman and former Cleveland mayor was addressing a crowd estimated by local police to number roughly 10,000.

The Army's School of the Americas moved to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984 and was replaced in 2001 by the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, under the Defense Department.


more:http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-11-18-military-school-protest_N.htm?csp=34


Thousands protest army training program
Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:16pm ET

By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Thousands of people demonstrated outside a big U.S. Army base on Sunday to demand the closure of a defense department training school they say promotes torture and murder in Latin America.

Long-shot Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich joined the annual protest outside the Fort Benning Army base in Georgia to shut down the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

The institute is the defense department's main Spanish-language training facility. It says it trains civilian, military and law enforcement students and holds the promotion of democracy at the core of its mission.


Protesters say it teaches security personnel from Latin American countries to use repressive tactics and that graduates have overthrown legitimate governments, citing a coup against Chile President Salvador Allende in 1973 as an example.

more:http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-11-18T221521Z_01_N18397810_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-PROTEST-MILITARY.xml

I'm beginning to think the great paradigm shift in conciousness we've all been waiting for is going to be one that goes backward rather than forward. The fucking war is grinding on with no end in sight. The democratic frontrunners are all pro-war. Shit capitalism is dependent on war and the neo-liberals know it so how can they really be against it?

Interesting video

http://soaw.org/article.php?id=1556


COLUMBUS, GA – Three members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) were arrested on July 2nd and charged with criminal trespassing when they attempted to gain access to the base to meet with active duty soldiers there. Ft. Benning is the most recent stop of the group’s bus tour to military bases in the Southeast to outreach to active duty troops and listen to their stories.

After being told they could not wear ‘political t-shirts’ onto the base, Liam Madden and Nathan Lewis approached the gates of Ft. Benning to inquire with the guard there about gaining access. Both were wearing t-shirts that read, “Iraq Veterans Against the War.” They were immediately hand-cuffed and placed under arrest. Then, after changing out of his IVAW t-shirt into a plain shirt to avoid arrest, fellow member Adam Kokesh approached the gates, but he was also arrested. The three Iraq veterans were detained inside the Ft. Benning military police station for several hours. They were released and issued citations for court appearances on charges of criminal trespassing.

WWJD? I mean, really, WTFWJD? What if our gestapo had been on the road to Golgotha measuring crosses?



BTW: There were several DUers planning on attending this SOAW Vigil.

...it's how he uses it.

At least that's what I've been told.

This cause is extremely important to me. If only I wasn't broke and in Boston I would be there. The school of assassins must be closed. It's very existence undermines our supposed commitment to democracy. I encourage everyone if you haven't been to the SOA Watch website to check it out, they also have petitions and lists of related groups and contacts. Close the SOA now!

Keep on a marching!

hate radio personality in Kansas City refer to this place as a traditional "Army School" and bitch about wild old Dennis Kucinich's trip there, in such derogatory tones, I had to turn it off immediately. You know a man/woman is lost when he/she has no idea whatsoever what happens there, has happened there, and what that school has done to make life a living hell for the helpless people of Latin America.

Usually the loudest, most obnoxious voices we hear are also people who are the very least informed. What a shame.

The article at the website did have some great news, however:

Mr. McGovern said Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador no longer send students to the school.
(snip)

Who would have dreamed Colombia is part of the abstainers?

Hope we'll see that list increase very soon, until ALL the names are on it. If more countries leave, we won't have to think about SOA closing any longer.

It's time our country grew up and turned away from brutality, and crude aggression. It makes us all look so bad, when, at the same time, the complete asses among us pump themselves up to lofty heights of pompous self-righteousness, proud as hell about a squeaky clean image we've never really earned. You recall their defense, no matter what the hell people have done to helpless, small countries, it's O.K. because it was for "defense."

We know what baloney THAT is.

you can watch it here courtesy of the We Will Not Be Silenced guys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWPNF5KfAtY

Peace

Thank you for posting that inspirational speech at the SOA.

I was at the vigil this weekend. Yesterday was one of the most moving days of my life. It started with McKinney and Kucinich's speeches, both were great. I don't think I have ever seen Dennis so animated!

The processional was so sad. As we processed around the route, the names and ages of the vistims were being read aloud. After each name was read we all said "presente" and raised our crosses. We then stuck our crosses on the fence at the entrance. Several people were crying.

I left there with a renewed need to close that damn place.

I'll probably go to the vigil next year. Wasn't another DUer's son there, too?

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/175/story/180372.html

BHN

And you know who I'm talking about. This thread has gotten awfully long to miss the presence of concern trolls who voice their dismay over people taking direct action against egregious government misdeeds.

Is this, at long last, one government program that even the do-nothing crowd doesn't support???

remain as a symbol of America's own dark nature. It's not just Stalinist regimes and Nazi Germany that have state secret services, militaries, or other official institutions who do not hesitate in doing anything and EVERYTHING to get their way.

We Latin Americans know that about the U.S. government VERY well.

They stole that name, it is not American.

The "White Cross Three" were arrested at the SOA Watch 2007 in Fort Benning for attempting to enter the area with crosses that did not meet specified guidelines.

http://www.youtube.com/artemisthedrummer

SUPPORT THE "WHITE CROSS THREE" and their youthful enthusiasm.