School of the Americas Watch
School of the Americas Watch is an independent organization
that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas (SOA) through vigils and
fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative
work. Grassroots opposition to the SOA continues to mount. Across
the U.S. and beyond its borders, people have lobbied Congress and worked
tirelessly to educate their communities. Fifty people have collectively
served 30 years of prison time, cumulatively serving sentences ranging from two
to 18 months for nonviolent acts of civil disobedience to expose SOA violence.
Since its beginning, SOA Watch activists have been using
peaceful, nonviolent resistance to expose the horrors of the SOA and to express
solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Latin America. Their sacrifice
and steadfastness in the struggle for peace and justice provide an extraordinary
example of love in action and have given tremendous momentum to the effort to
close the SOA.
Ten prisoners of conscience are currently serving sentences
ranging from one-year probation to one year in federal prison for "crossing
the line" in November 1999. They join an extraordinary group of those
who have spoken truth to power with their lives and sacrifice. Our
thoughts, love and deepest respect are with them all.
Last Year's Action
On November 21, 1999, 4,400 people risked arrest by
crossing the line onto the Fort Benning military base to protest of the SOA's
long and bloody association with human rights atrocities and massacres
throughout Latin America. The demonstration honored the Jesuit priests,
their housekeeper and her daughter on the 10th anniversary of their murder in El
Salvador at the hands of SOA graduates.
The line crossing was led by a solemn procession of
protesters in black mourning shrouds and white "death masks." They
carried full-sized and child-sized coffins to symbolize the thousands of men,
women and children killed and "disappeared" by SOA graduates. As
the names of the victims of SOA violence were called aloud, actor Martin Sheen
and longtime peace activist and Catholic priest Daniel Berrigan led a wave of
protesters across the line drawn on the pavement marking the entrance to the
army post. Thousands carried wooden crosses bearing the names of SOA
victims. Sixty-five were arrested and 23 who had also crossed the line in
previous years will face prosecution for trespassing on federal property.
The weekend of protest drew more than 12,000 from around the
country, as well as from Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Canada.
During the previous year's protest, 7,000 attended and 2,319 people crossed the
line. The Pentagon has been forced to take this resistance seriously, resulting
in a smoke and mirrors PR campaign to give the school a new image. We are
the threat of a good example - we are winning.
For more information, contact: SOAW, P.O. Box 4566, Washington DC 20017, USA.
Tel.: 202-234-3440;
Email: soawatch@knight-hub.com
Web site: www.soaw.org