Address to 22000 at SOA - 2006

Peg McIntire's Address at the SOA/WHINSEC


Address to demonstrators at the School of the Americas
Peg McIntire, St. Augustine, FL
November 19, 2006

We are gathered here today, united in a direct non-violent action to say NO to the School of the Americans, No to torture and assassination, YES to justice for all.
Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, killed, disappeared, or to save their lives, obliged to become soldiers and even train in this school. Graduates of the SOA have persecuted teachers and students, union organizers, religious leaders, and oppressed campesinos who are only fighting for their rights.

The school must be closed.
The school must be closed.

Among the thousands here today, demanding that the school be closed are 1,000 Grannies wearing white kerchiefs on our heads. Just like the Mothers and Grandmothers of Argentina. Why kerchiefs? Because they are the same color and shape as the diapers of their babies. Our babies also wore white diapers.
The Mothers and Grandmothers of Argentina do not know where their babies are. They are the “disappeared”. Some were stolen at birth. Some were killed outright. Some were given to other families. And the children do not know who or where their biological parents are.

We Mothers and Grandmothers in the USA know only too well where our babies are. They did not “disappear”. They were killed in Vietnam, in Afghanistan, in Iraq. And some are buried in Central and South America, killed by soldiers and officers who were trained here in this infamous SOA. This school must be closed.

The school must be closed.
The school must be closed.

Every Thursday afternoon at 4 o’clock in Buenos Aires, ever since the Dirty War of 1977, Mothers and Grandmothers cast off their kitchen aprons, tie on their white kerchiefs, and go to the Plaza de Mayo demanding that the government help them find their loved ones. We, in the USA, two weeks ago sent a clear message to our government to end the violence in Afghanistan and Iraq, and to bring the troops home. Today we demand that they close the SOA.

Close the SOA.
Close the SOA.

Many of the grannies marching here today belong to the Grandmothers for Peace International, based in Elk Grove, California. This organization has always supported this protest, because we know that the SOA is teaching counter-insurgency techniques, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics constitute a crime against humanity, especially against indigenous communities and children.

Close the SOA.
Close the SOA.

Many of our members have been arrested and spent up to six months in jail for civil disobedience. Many grandmothers, and members of other peace organizations, have risked arrest and bravely endured imprisonment. Some have even tried to enlist in the military, asking that they be taken rather than their grandchildren.

More than anything, we grandmothers, like grandmothers all over the world, are living for our children and grandchildren. We want them to grow up in a peaceful world, where each one’s race, color, class and religion is respected. We want them to live in a safe place, where everyone has enough food, a descent home, health care, and a realizable dream. This cannot happen as long as military institutions like the SOA exist. We must…

Close the SOA.
Close the SOA.