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01/14/05
Today,
I got up in the predawn fog and felt just like John Walton on
the farm. I picked up some friends in Atlanta and made the trek
down to Columbus Georgia to attend the School
of Americas’ Watch protest and vigil at Fort Benning.
The School of The Americas has been training Latin American military
personnel since 1946 when it opened its first school in Panama.
It moved to Fort Benning in 1984. The SOA Watch website says this
about the school:
“ Over its 56 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin
American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training,
commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and
interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used
their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those
targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious
workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of
the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured,
raped, assassinated, ‘disappeared,’ massacred, and
forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins.”
The United States thought it was a great idea to use our tax dollars
in a mission to protect Democracy in Latin American countries.
Under the guise of fighting cold war communism, dictatorships,
and now the drug wars, we protect our special corporate interest
by propping up corrupt governments and tyrannical leaders. All
of this blood on our hands just to insure we have access to the
resources we need.
When so many of the graduates were connected with massacres, assassinations,
dirty war techniques, and the disappearing of thousands of people,
it became apparent that the SOA needed to be taken to task. The
training manuals were discovered to have actual torture techniques
and inhumane killing methods printed in black and white as legitimate
military training. When the controversy serviced, the schools
name was changed to The Western Hemisphere Institute For Security
Cooperation, but it was just a face-lift.
Latin America is a complex place and in this situation the trainees
become victims too. The U.S government portrays the mission of
democracy as so black and white. We jump from supporting one leader
to another, fighting corruption with corruption, siding with whoever
is currently willing to make deals with us. The SOA trains these
students to be killers and torturers, and teaches them that they
are protecting their country and freeing their communities from
tyranny. But this supposed noble cause is doing nothing to further
the cause of self -sustaining democracy in Latin American countries.
Father Roy Bourgeois started standing in front of the gates at
Fort Benning in protest against the SOA in the 1980’s. School
Of America’s Watch was born in 1990 and ever since the crowds
have been gathering and growing to put an end to our involvement
in the bloody wars of Latin America. The protesters come from
all over the United States and make up an incredibly diverse force.
All these people come to speak up for the sanctity of human life.
The punks, the queers, the preachers, the priests, the nuns, the
high school kids, the college kids, parents and children, and
career military folks, policemen and women, and the list goes
on.
But it’s never as long as the list of people that have been
massacred or disappeared by graduates of the SOA. In the vigil
we carry a cross with a name on it for each victim and we read
the names for hours, but we never get through the list and there
aren’t enough of us to carry all the crosses. And the number
of victims is still growing. I read the names of 6 family members,
ranging from 9 months to 65 years old, who had been killed in
one massacre. It is quite mind blowing when you really stop and
think about the people whose names you are speaking. The suffering
is too much for any one person to comprehend and that’s
why we come together, to take it all in as a group, as a family.
This protest / vigil is as much about healing as it is about closing
down the School Of the Americas. Hopefully some in the Ft. Benning
community can feel our intentions; maybe over time, love and compassion
will win out. Maybe one day the SOA will be shut down and we will
come to Ft. Benning only to heal old wounds, to honor the dead
and to celebrate the living. Maybe the whole community will join
us. Maybe the loudspeakers that used to squawk on and on in an
attempt to interrupt our past protest, will be playing a joyful
noise, one of redemption and lessons learned. Until then I will
see you at the gates and here’s to the ones that crossed
the line this year.
Amy Ray
November 21st, 2004
P.S.
Current great read- Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John
Perkins
Past
"Notes from Amy"
November
2004 |
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