I attended the 2004 SOA protest at Fort Benning, GA, this past weekend. It was one of the most energizing experiences I have had in years. I attended with a delegation from the Chicago Religious Leadership Network. (CRLN)
Begun in 1990 after an incident in which six priests and two women were murdered by SOA graduates, the SOA protests are a varied mix of grief, remembrance, affirmation, and solidarity. This year, 16,000 people gathered together. Some 20 people crossed over onto the grounds of the
fort and were arrested in a display of civil disobedience. The 14-year unbroken history of nonviolence at the event is commendable.
Renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation by
an act of Congress, the SOA continues to train Latin American dictators
(Rios-Montt is a graduate), soldiers and paramilitary members.
On Friday evening, I attended a collective action organizing workshop.
We discussed various strategies for dealing with corporations and
legislators on a variety of issues -- labor organizing, environmental
resolutions, and foreign policy.
Saturday morning was the plenary session where new participants were
brought together to discuss the ground rules and history of the event and
hear some prominent people in the movement speak. After that we went to
the gates of the fort, where a long series of speakers discussed various
events involving torture, killings, and other acts of violence by school
graduates, as well as democratic social justice movements meant to preclude
them in the future. Musicians led a variety of songs on themes of protest,
grieving, solidarity, and others. Police had placed chain link fences
along a half-mile section of the 4-lane road leading to the fort, and stood
watch over the protestors in the "permitted area".
Saturday evening I attended a presentation of the video "Prisoners of
Conscience" which chronicles some of SOA watch's past, and especially the
detainees from previous years.
Sunday morning was a reading of a litany of damage wrought by school
graduates, and a long processional in which thousands of white crosses
bearing the names of victims were placed at the gates to the fort. Amy Ray
and Martin Sheen both addressed the crowd as well as Fr. Ray Bourgeois, one
of the founders. A message from Sr. Diana Ortiz, herself raped and beaten
by SOA graduates, was also read. Sunday evening I went to a retrospective
where CRLN members spoke about what the event meant to them. My particular
choice was to simply affirm that "we are not alone". After the
retrospective, we walked over to the jail and held a vigil for the detainees.
Monday morning, we attended the hearings for the detainees. These
mostly went uneventfully, until the judge refused to accept the competence
of a blind participant. After registering their incredulity, the audience
was removed from the court by the bailiff.
The AP story written about the event can be found here.
Indymedia coverage is here.
I recommend that everyone contact their U.S. Representative and
suggest that they co-sponsor
H. R. 1258.