Protesting the School of the Americas
Posted on November 30, 2003
Filed Under /dev/null/ | 51 views |
I just got word that a friend of mine spent much of the last while down in Georgia protesting the School of the Americas as part of his vacation:
Over ten thousand people gathered this weekend outside the gates of Ft. Benning, Georgia in the most diverse demonstration yet of opposition to the School of the Americas, renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHISC), a combat-training school for Latin American soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared”, massacred, and forced into refuge by SOA graduates.
The gathering culminated today with a solemn “funeral” procession. As of 5PM at least 30 people had been arrested after entering the base in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. They took this action despite knowing they likely face 3-6 months in federal prison. They are being held at the Muscogee County Jail in Columbus. Since protests against SOA/WHISC began over ten years ago, 170 people have served or are now serving prison sentences for civil disobedience. - Over 10,000 Converge at Fort Benning
170 people have been arrested for protesting the SOA! Why hasn’t that made it into the news at all?
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