Dear Father Roy

Dear Father Roy,

I am 97 years old, one of l,000 Grannies, founder and director of Grandparents for Peace, St. Augustine (which is an affiliate ofGrandmothers for Peace, Int'l, based in California).

I have been at more than a dozen SOA gatherings. (One of the first times, I even worked in your small office for 3 or 4 weeks prior to the event.)

Thank you for sending the Monday newspaper. The picture was already imprinted on my mind, because I was right next to you and Rep. Kucinich at the fence, when you were comforting Adriana Bartow. .

Last year it was at my suggestion that the l,000 Grannies adopted the white kerchief. I had just returned from Argentina and had walked with the grandmothers in the Plaza there. You may even remember that I spoke from the platform and explained the diaper significance last year.

I am back in St. Augustine but my eyes are still enjoying the reds and browns of the indigenous people at the demonstration. My ears still hear the chanting and singing and wailing. My heart beats with the cadence of the funeral procession. My brain is still struggling to absorb the information from the workshops. I was happy to see Rep. Kucinich for the first time. Being Jewish, I was especially happy to hear and see Rabbi Lerner again. And you -- you don;'t seem a day older - a day less dedicated -

Thank you for being you - and for inspiring all of us!



Peg McIntire
Grandparents for Peace
21 Village Las Palmas
St. Augustine, Fl 32080
email pegmcintire@bellsouth.net

Peg at the SOA 2007

I can't find words to describe the SOA weekend - the passion, the drama, the intensity - joy and grief, dancing or slow marching in a funeral processiomn led by Father Roy and Rabbi Lerner, with 20 black coffins, 80 black-robed, chalk white-faced coffin carriers, and 30 or more black robed mourners -- closely followed by several hundred white-kerchiefed grannies, many of whom hugged and rocked and wailed for their broken and wounded baby dolls - then thousands and thousands of celebrants, priests, sisters, students, union members, Code Pink, Women in Black, indigenous folks from every Central and South American country, many in native garb.

Their stories were all the same - torture, suffering, loss of dignity, denial of human rights, poverty - the never ending struggle - so much of this due to their own countrymen, trained at this infamous School of the Americas.

Eleven noble activists crossed the line, were arrested, and face from 6 months to a year in a federal prison.

I have been to l0 or 12 of the l9 SOA demonstrations. (The first was 19 years ago, and there were Father Roy Bourgeouis and nine others. This year there were upwards of 20,000.)

Each year the number and the scope of workshops, seminars, videos and concerts increases. Each year the creativity and talent and energy increases. Each year I am overwhelmed, and energized, my tote bag stuffed with literature, my ears with rhetoric, my eyes with the many reds and browns of indigenous people.

Each year I vow to go again and to bring with me more people to share this incredible experience of solidarity.

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.

Prison - Quigley's Poem

Dear Friends,

I asked Bill Quigley to send us his great poem about choosing prison.

Here it is:

April 05, 2004

Dear Friends:

Many of our friends are doing last minute tasks to get ready to report to prison Tuesday. If you know any of them, I encourage you to send them your love and support at this time. Last year, in the middle of the night, I was unable to sleep as some of you began your first night in prison. After beating up my pillow and bed, I got up and wrote this poem. With you, my friends, I share it. Keep our friends in your spirits.

Peace and love,
Bill Quigley

Yesterday My Friend Chose Prison
Dedicated to the SOA prisoners of conscience

Yesterday my friend walked freely into prison
Chose to violate a simple law to spotlight the evilof death squads and villages of massacred people that we cannot even namemothers and children and grandparents butchered buriedand forgotten by most, but not by my friend.

Yesterday my friend stepped away
from loves and family and friends
was systematically stripped of everything,
everythingand systematically searched everywhere,
everywherewas systematically numbered
and uniformed and advised and warned
clothes and underwear and shoes
and everything put in a cardboard box,
taped and mailed away

Yesterday my friend joined the people
we put in the concrete and steel boxes
mothers and children and fathers
that we cannot even name
in prison for using and selling drugs
in prison for trying to sneak into this country
in prison for stealing and scamming
and fighting and killing
but none were there for the massacres
no generals, no politicians,
no under-secretaries, no ambassadors

Yesterday my friend had on a brave face
avoiding too much eye contact
with the stares of hundreds of strangers
convicts, prisoners, guards, snitches
not yet knowing good from bad
staying out of people’s business
hoping to find a small pocket of safety
and kindness and trust in the weeks ahead

Last night my friend climbed into bed in prison
an arm’s length away from the other prisoner
slaying awake on the thin mattress
wondering who had slept there last
wondering how loved ones were sleeping
awake through flashlight bed checks
and never-ending noises echoing off
the concrete floors and walls
some you never ever want to hear

Yesterday my friend chose prison over silence
chose to stand with the disappeared
and those who never counted
chose to spend months inside hoping to change us outside
chose the chance to speak truth to power and power
responded with prison
Though my heart aches for my friend in prison
no one on this planet is more free.

I am alive today

Letter to the Editor:

I am alive today, thanks to nine generous men and or women, who gave me their blood, and to the wonderful care I received at Flagler Hospital and the Ponce de Leon Care Center, and the good wishes from oh, so many friends.

I am alive today and went straight off to join the enthusiastic demonstration at the Plaza de la Costituizione this morning. It was awesome, empowering.

End the War. Bring the Troops Home. Stop the Funding.

Great signs, the beautiful white peace dove, the dancing Fairy Queen, and the largest crowd we have ever had (after four long years of gathering on the 3rd Saturday of every month.) Thanks for continuous leadership from PPJ (People for Peace & Justice), Veterans of America, and Grandparents for Peace.

I am alive today and want more than ever to help change the course from violence to diplomacy, from injustice to safety, health, education, and happiness. It will only come to pass if we work together, stand tall, with a clear vision of our goals. Here are my thanks to all, and my pledge to try to make each day more meaningful.

Peg

SOA 2006

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.