Grandmothers March Again - Close the SOA

1000 Grandmothers March Again In Georgia November 18 Calling For Closure of Controversial Training Facility for Latin Americans

St. Augustine’s grandmothers are joining grandmothers across the nation in preparation for the annual mobilization to close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation/ School of the Americas (WHINSEC/SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia on November 16-18, 2007.

The grandmothers and their supporters will join tens of thousands of people at the US Army base to bring attention to the notorious training facility and to demand closure of the school.

Last year a campaign to bring 1000 Grandmothers to the gates of Ft. Benning began in Chico, California. Thousands of white-kerchief’d grandmothers swelled the throng at the demonstration, voicing “Presente!”. Six grandparents trespassed on the base in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. Each spent time in prison, with sentences ranging from 2 to 6 months.

Despite a shocking human rights record, this school continues to operate with US taxpayer money. America’s grandparents are neither afraid, nor hesitant to speak forcefully to what they clearly see: our own nation divided, militaristic and subsidizing other nations’ militarism. As shepherds of the next generations we have a stake in how our country relates to the rest of the world.”

Inspired by the Holly Near song “1000 Grandmothers” that calls on the strength, wisdom and courage of the elders to end violence, grandmother Cathy Webster of Chico, California relayed the call to the grandmas of America . Webster served two months in jail for her actions with fifteen others at the military base during the demonstration in 2006.

The School of the Americas, now called Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. Despite this admission and hundreds of documented human rights abuses connected to soldiers trained at the school, no independent investigation into the facility has ever taken place. New research confirms that the school continues to support know human rights abusers.

More information about the School of the Americas can be found on the SOAWatch website at www.soaw.org.

I spoke at the demonstration at the gates of Fort Benning last year and will be going again this year. I hope you might consider joining me. It’s an important and inspiring event.

Thanks.
Peg.