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UAW
Region 8 Joins SOA Vigil
By Region 8 Webmaster John Davis
On November 19-10, 2005 the annual vigil against the School of the Americas
was held outside the gates of Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. The School
of the Americas is a training facility for South American mercenaries
run inside the military base. The facility has a 60-year history and was
run out of the U.S. military base in Panama until 1984, when the government
there demanded the school be closed. It was then moved to vigil was held
in 1990, as a small group gathered to protest the killing of six Jesuits
priest and their housekeeper in El Salvador by graduates of the school.
Over the years the event has grown, with 16,000 showing up on Saturday
and another 19,000-member crowd on Sunday.
UAW Region 8 sent a delegation to the protest this year, with over 60
members from around the region being in attendance at the rally. UAW International
Vice-President Bob King addressed the crowd urging them to stand together
in solidarity to end the reign of terror that has been symbolic by the
School of the Americas graduates. Over the years thousands have died at
the hands of these trained killers, with human rights, labor organizers
and relief workers being targeted for execution.
Rebecca Kanner of Vice-President King’s staff spent six months in
prison in 2001 for being arrested at the 2000 protest. At the time, Rebecca
was environmental educator for a non-profit environmental organization,
going into classrooms, teaching children how they can make the earth a
cleaner. “When I made the serious decision each time to participate
in a direct action to close the School of the Americas (SOA)/now the Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC), I was inspired
by the Jewish concept of tikkun olam - translated from the Hebrew, this
means the just ordering of human society and the world - or more literally,
the repair of the world” Rebecca states “I was also inspired
by the Jewish prophetic tradition of social justice. As a Jew, I am moved
to work to repair the tragic consequences of the SOA/WHISC.”
Rebecca’s involvement brought the attention of the issue to the
UAW, who has participated along with other labor and religious groups
at the protest for the past few years.
The event began at 11:00AM and continued until late in the day as singers
and speakers rotated on and off the stage to educate the crowd of 16,000.
Rev. Roy Bourgeois, founder of the School of Americas Watch organization
who host the protest each year, welcomed the crowd and thanked everyone
who had traveled so far to help end the reign of terror inflicted by the
graduates of the school.
The list of speakers and singers included those who had witnessed first
hand the slaughter and pain caused by graduates of the School of Americas.
One of the speakers included Adriana Portillo Bartow of Guatemala whose
family was captured by militants trained at the School of the Americas
20 years ago. Her brother, father, stepmother, 18-month-old sister and
two daughters were all killed by School of the Americas alumni.
On Sunday November 20, 2005 the annual funeral march was held to remember
those who died at the hands of those trained inside the base. A list of
names was read, including 50-75 children killed in Colombia. Following
the funeral procession a group of the protestors climbed over and under
the gates preventing protestors from entering the base. Early accounts
have about 36 people
being arrested for trespassing. Those arrested were arraigned in court
on Monday, November 21, 2005 and had a court date set of January 20, 2006.
In most cases, those arrested are sentenced to six months in a federal
prison.
The UAW ran a booth at the rally on Saturday and sold a number of t-shirts
supporting peace and solidarity. At the close of the day on Saturday the
UAW delegation gathered for parting words from Vice-President King and
Region 8 Assistant Director Donny Bevis who headed the Region 8 group.
In 1994, the Mexican Government began increasing the number of their participants
who attended the SOA. This jump in participation was needed to look out
for the interest of multinational corporations
with the installation of NAFTA. Labor leaders at Mexican manufacturing
facilities found themselves the target of many of the SOA alumni.
Coke-Cola workers in Columbia organized and won their right to bargain.
However, in 1996 SOA alumni executed local union leaders at the Coke-Cola
Bottling facility in Carepa, Columbia. There were almost 300 additional
murders of union activist in 2000-2001 in Columbia, with 3,800 being killed
since 1986. The bulk of these executions can be traced back to former
students of the SOA. In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training
manuals from the SOA. Included within those manuals was encouragement
to carry out the terror tactics on those who “support union organizing
or recruiting”, “distribute propaganda in favor of workers
interest” and those who “sympathize with demonstrations or
strikes.”
There currently is another push in Washington to close the School of the
Americas, which was renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for
Security Cooperation” a few years ago. The current bill to close
the SOA is HR. 1217. Please contact your elected official and ask them
to please support this bill so we can close this school of assassins and
allow the people of South America to live without fear of being executed
by a militant trained with U.S. tax dollars.
To learn more about the School of the Americas visit the School of Americas
Watch website at http://www.soaw.org.
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