SOA Watch Update

School of the Americas Watch
http://www.SOAW.org | 202-234-3440 |Click to subscribe

Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 4 PM
Fort Benning, Georgia

Visit the SOA Watch webpage for constant updates


Dear friends,

As you receive this email, tens of thousands are gathered to shut down the SOA once and for all! While record numbers are taking a stand for justice at the gates of Fort Benning, thousands more are gathered at protests and vigils throughout the Western Hemisphere. Coordinated actions in Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru and the United States are calling for the closure of the School of the Americas and for an end to U.S. militarism.

For updates from the vigils, visit http://www.SOAW.org.

Renato Areiza of the San José Peace Community is currently speaking out at the gates of Fort Benning. Renato is the brother of Deyanira Areiza. Deyanira was one of eight people, including two children, who were brutally murdered in February of 2005 by troops under the command of a graduate of the School of the Americas.

Earlier today, George Martin of United for Peace and Justice led the crowd in loudly chanting "No more war!" Al Harris, a community organizer in New Orleans, challenged the crowd to put a stop to the racism of the SOA and the racist systems that the school perpetuates.

Other speakers include Linda Chavez-Thompson, the vice-president of the AFL-CIO, Debora Barros Fince, a survivor of the Wayuu massacre in Colombia, and Patricia Roberts, the mother of Jamaal Addison, the first soldier from Georgia killed in Iraq.

Charlie King, Karen Brandow, Elise Witt and the Musicians Collective have been filling the air with sweet sounds leading the crowd in anthems for justice.

This morning the Columbus Convention Center was overflowing during the Morning Plenary that discussed the upcoming events of the weekend. This evening’s events will include teach-ins and workshops on the situation in Oaxaca, Theater of the Oppressed, film screenings, caucuses, group discussions, and more, all preparing us for the procession tomorrow.

Spirits are high today as we ready ourselves for our gathering tomorrow. We have heard inspirational music, listened to moving speeches, and reveled in the joyful spirit infusing the gathering. One person has been arrested for challenging the police barricades that have been erected to prevent protesters from entering the area except for at two entrances, which are being monitored by police. The military is continuing its surveillance of SOA Watch, monitoring the protest at the gates of the Fort Benning with a helicopter hovering above the vigil site.

Torture survivors, people who have been targeted by SOA graduates and social movement activists from across the Western Hemisphere will walk with us in the solemn funeral procession that commemorates the victims of SOA violence. Many in the gathering will negotiate a barbed-wire fence and enter the military base in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience, risking arrest and imprisonment. Since the protest began over a decade ago, thousands have engaged in nonviolent direct action. Following the funeral procession and the direct action, we will celebrate the resistance in a ritual of return to life.

For up-to-date news on the gathering, please visit our homepage at http://www.SOAW.org.

The movement is growing stronger and stronger and we are going to close the SOA!