on School of Americas
Actor Martin Sheen,
ABC expired that picture so I embedded one of
my own. It's got Martin Sheen walking instead of
kneeling, but it's still an SOA pic, eh?
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Thousands March on School of Americas | |
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Claim Army School Grads Commit Violence
Actor Martin Sheen, ABC expired that picture so I embedded one of my own. It's got Martin Sheen walking instead of kneeling, but it's still an SOA pic, eh? |
White Masks and Black
Robes
Police escorted most of the protesters, including Sheen, to
buses that took them off the post, where they were released.
But 65 of the most disruptive protesters were detained and taken
to a processing center to be photographed and fingerprinted. They
were released after being given a letter banning them from the post
for three years, said post spokesman Rich McDowell.
Twenty-three of the protesters already were barred from the
post. They will be cited for trespassing, which carries a maximum
penalty of six months in prison, McDowell said.
At the head of the solemn procession were protesters wearing
white death masks and black robes. As they were about to be removed
from the post, they spattered themselves with red dye and fell down
in the street, pretending to be dead.
Many protesters carried coffins and some held small wooden
crosses bearing the names of victims allegedly killed by soldiers
and death squads in Latin America. Others waved banners demanding
the school’s closing.
School Defends Itself
Col. Glenn Weidner, the school’s commandant, said he was
thankful the protest was peaceful. He said students were hurt by
the protesters’ accusations.
“When you look at the curriculum of the School of Americas, we
teach more human rights courses than any other school in the U.S.
Army,” he said. “Lining people up and shooting them from three or
four meters is not a problem of military training. It’s a lack of
training.”
The annual demonstration commemorates the Nov. 16, 1989,
killings in El Salvador of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper
and her young daughter. A United Nations panel found that 19 of the
26 Salvadoran officers involved had been trained at the school.
The Rev. Roy Bourgeois, who has spearheaded a decadelong
protest against the school, said he will continue to speak out as
long as there are combat courses taught at the School of the
Americas.
“It gives me such joy to see so many people here,” he said.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Army plans namechange
from SOA to CIA
And now marco tells the rest of the story... 12,000 people from all over the world converged on Fort Benning's Columbus, GA gate last weekend to protest School of The Americas because the tax-supported SOA allegedly trains central american death squads using techniques that tax-payers do not approve of. Over 4,400 people risked arrest crossing onto the base marching to the school where latin american "students" were barricaded in lockdown by authorities hoping to inhibit their awareness. More than 40 people were arrested, including actor Martin Sheen who's been following this issue actively for more than a year. When the press tried to connect with detained prisoner Sheen, the MPs seperated him from the others he was in solidarity with and whisked him away in a different bus. Marchers withstood more than 5 hours of psychological warfare techniques conducted in concert between army MPs and Columbus city police officers. One peace marcher put it eloquently poetic when he said they used "everything but the hoses, mace and dogs." When told the military was refusing to arrest anyone (which was never made completely clear except through body language and verbal innuendo) some marched angrily but peacefully off the base, some got on the busses non-violently demanding to be arrested, some sat down wishing to just stay there until the moon came up, some read poetry, walked around on stilts, and some groups sang just about every song that's ever been written over the duration of what people like George Bush would love to call a "kinder gentler civil rights war." Those that were not arrested were nicely bussed off the base to a park where they were given a second annual parade by the local townspeople so they could walk safely back to the outside gate for closing cheers, folk music, Food Not Bombs food and general orderly mayhem before going home to wherever each person really lives. Three detractors were seen overtly protesting the protest, and other covert detractions were implied through hints and propaganda on the army's part. This was a shift from last year when there was one umbrella and at least 5 known and allegedly paid agitators. A first detractor marched up and down both sides of the march with an 8x10 homemade sign saying "I SUPPORT THE SOA." When asked if that sign isn't redundant since all taxes have us each supporting the SOA he said, "Wharl I just don' know." Another had a commercially made T-Shirt with WANTED up top, $1,000,000 REWARD on the bottom and Father Roy Bourgeois' picture in the middle. He was generally ignored by most people as he wandered around with his chest puffed out like a fat old drill sergent or recruiter, because he simply looked like an angry old man. One more drove up a side street and wanted to drive through the crowd demanding that the 4650 people be moved immediately so he could get on base. After the 20th time asked politely to use one of the other side streets by one of the yellow armbanded peacekeepers he turned around and popped the clutch leaving the scene. Both sides left declaring victory in what is to be considered a public relations war that the SOA Watch says it certainly did not start. The army admits waging a war from their public affairs department for at least two years. Two PAD journalists at the scene who asked that their names not be used said yes to the question whether they implemented the traditional US Military 2/3-3/2 rule in disseminating a slanted truth to the press with their "official" figure of 3,100 line crossers and 8,000 total protesters present. A uniformed lieutenant colonel at the scene smiled and laughingly said "no comment," when asked if these two women were accurate. This guage has been used by the US military to record death counts on each side of a war, injuries, damaged and ruined vehicles and protests for more than 200 years. The numbers, no matter who counts or announces them, have been growing exponentially since this cause began about a decade ago. "We will keep coming back and back," Bourgeois said over a loudspeaker both days, "every year until this school of the assassins is shut down." The Associated Press DID NOT contribute to this story, in the author's effort to avoid propaganda and further psychological warfare. Sincerely, Marco "Orwell" Frucht Chicago Tribune on SOA demonstrations. Marco's Stories N19 November 18. 12-5pm Vigil at Fort Benning's Main Gate November 19. 9am-5pm Vigil and Nonviolent Civil Disobediance.
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SOA's Top 10 Google Pages:
USARSA, United States Army School of the Americas, Whinsec, WHISC, Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
That all sounds so official and warm and fuzzy, huh?
http://www.soaw.org |