Alice In SOA Land

Alice goes to Ecuador!

2011-09-24T06:13:00.003-07:00

Exploring Ecuador!

This winter and early spring, I spent nine weeks in Ecuador, learning Spanish and doing volunteer work at an organic agriforestry project. Here are some of my impressions of my experience:

Week one: It took me much of the week to adjust to the altitude in Quito (9895 feet above sea level). I also became acquainted with my house parents Alicia and Galo and my teacher Consuelo at the Banana Spanish School (where we did indeed eat a lot of bananas). I got an introduction to Ecuadorian culture when Consuelo took me to a colorful, lively market, filled with all sorts of fruits, vegetables, baked goods, flowers, and other assorted products. There are no English translations for the names of any of the fruits that I purchased. I also got to explore the countryside when Alicia took me out of the city to visit her father, who lives with several of his sons and their families on a small farm, where they grow vegetables and fruits. The fruit trees include lemon, orange, and avocado. I enjoyed climbing a tree to pick some of those delicious avocados. It was truly a culinary adventure.

Week two: After a long week of mind-bending language exercises, I went back with Alicia to visit her father. I drew in my sketchbook and picked avocados and lemons. Alicia made lunch, which consisted of soup and chicken and rice and vegetables. There was popcorn to go into the soup, instead of the crackers that I am accustomed to adding. I truly enjoyed all of my meals but learned, after a bout of indigestion, that I have to be a little more careful when on my culinary adventures.

Week three: Because Consuelo needed to spend more time with her children, I had a change in teachers. I enjoyed getting acquainted with Carlita. We took walks through Quito, and I learned grammar and vocabulary while dodging cars (street crossing in Quito is exciting, to say the least, because there seems to be no concept of pedestrians having the right of way). During the week, I also celebrated Valentine’s Day with my family and with the language school. This holiday is a big deal in Ecuador. It is called "El Dia de la amistad y amor" (day of friendship and love). Quito has the title "la ciudad de los geranios" (city of geraniums). Much of the city was decorated with geraniums on Valentine´s Day. Alicia and her husband Galo went out for a romantic evening. Irene (a doctor who lives with the family) and I took Ody (the family’s French poodle) out for a walk, much to his great glee. Many people and dogs were outside, celebrating the day (it seems that nearly everyone in Ecuador has a dog!). Later, we saw a band marching out of the nearby church, followed by people dancing to the lively rhythms.

Week four: On Tuesday, Carlita and I went to “La Mitad del Mundo” (literally translated, that’s “the middle of the world”). We started with a walk through Quito. I had fun exploring architecture and trees and gardens. After a bus ride, which featured people boarding the bus to sell all sorts of stuff, including chocolates, ice cream, DVDs (all pirated), and loads of other stuff, we arrived at our destination. I was offered a tour with either a Spanish- or an English-speaking guide. I chose the Spanish-speaking guide so that I would get more practice with my listening comprehension. I saw all sorts of interesting things relating to life in the Amazon rain forest, including a giant tarantula, an enormous snake, and a hammock that’s large enough to accommodate an entire family. As an added bonus, I was able to stand directly on the equator, with one foot in the northern hemisphere and the other in the southern hemisphere!

Week five: This was my first week at Bosque de Paz, an organic agriforestry project in the northern part of Ecuador, about 30 miles from the border with Colombia. The family that owns the land consists of Piet Sabbe, originally from Belgium, his wife Olda Peralta, from Las Esmeraldas, on Ecuador’s Pacific coast, and their two daughters, Naomi and Maikin. There were five volunteers: Kevin and Aurelie from La Reunion (near Madagascar), Rolf and Natascha from Germany, and yours truly from... Gringolandia!!! (That’s the name that Mexican painter Frida Kahlo gave to the United States!) I learned that there are 20 different species of bamboo grown at Bosque de Paz. In addition, there are the banana, coconut, and grapefruit trees and groves of lemon trees and papaya and yucca. If you´re lucky, as I was when I was planting turnips one day, sweet fruit will fall from a tree and split open at your feet and you can have a taste test. If you’re even luckier, you’ll be invited, as I was late one afternoon, to do “social work”: Piet and his children and the volunteers sat at the table on the porch and shelled cocoa beans. That evening, we enjoyed a delectable chocolate spread on our bread! Another day, when I was super lucky, we drank coconut milk. There is no word in any language that can adequately describe how luscious that was!

Weeks six and seven: I interviewed Piet, who told me his story. A mechanical engineer, he came to Ecuador in the early 1990s to work on an engineering project. He got married and never left Ecuador! He also became interested in the concept of habitat restoration. With his savings, he purchased a small parcel of land in northern Ecuador in 1995. That is how Bosque de Paz (“Peace Forest”) got its start. When Piet and Olda took possession of the property, they observed that the lower part of the main valley had been deforested and replaced by pastureland for cattle to graze. Because the trees, which act as sponges for the precipitation during the rainy season, were gone, the water washed the top soil from the valleys and the steep slopes. What was left was arid grassland in the valleys and just the remnants of forest on the slopes. In the past, the entire area was a humid cloud forest, filled with many species of plants, birds, monkeys, and other animals. Piet’s first step to restoring the land was to plant bamboo, which grows rapidly and is a good building material. He also planted vetiver grass, which is stiff and can be used to prevent runoff. After more than 15 years, Piet describes the land as a “young forest.” Piet walks to the forest remnants and collects plants and seedlings in hopes of restoring the forest to its original condition.

Week eight: I spent a few days at Pikyu Pamba, a Quichua community near Ibarra. I was there for a ceremony, which occurred on Monday, March 21st (the vernal equinox). The ceremony was begun with the lighting of the fire, which is considered to be the male spirit.

Next, a deep hole was dug in the earth. Our Quichua hosts described the earth as our mother, the Pacha Mama. Then food, including potatoes, yams, yucca, beans, chicken, pork, corn, plantains, and pineapples, was prepared. All of this was placed in the hole, along with rocks that had been heated in the fire. Once all of the food was in the ground, hot water was poured over the food. Immediately, steam rose from the hole, which was then covered by a thick cloth and by dirt. A group of musicians began playing their instruments. We took off our shoes and socks, and we danced joyfully to the lively, energetic music. We let our feet sink into the soft, gentle earth, and it felt good. Later, volcanic ash was spread over the stomped-on, squashed earth.

Half an hour later, the dirt and ash was lifted and carefully removed. The food, which had been steamed under the ground, was removed and put into baskets, which were carried into a large building.

Before we could begin to eat, a plate of food was prepared and was taken outside for Pacha Mama. She is our mother so she is honored by being fed first. Then we all enjoyed a meal, which was a celebration of love for our beautiful earth.

Week Nine: During my last week in Ecuador, I reflected on my time there. Carlita and I also managed to visit “el centro historico” (the historic center) and the Botanical Gardens (los jardines botánicos).

In the Botanical Gardens, I saw a display of orchids. They are determined plants that will grow just about anywhere. They will grow on rocks and on the tops of tall trees, as well as from the ground. They come in many colors and sizes. I saw examples of plants from a variety of ecosystems in Ecuador, from rain forest to sierra. Unfortunately, as explained in at the Botanical Gardens, the beautiful ecosystems are endangered by poorly planned, out of control development.

And a final thought of my experience: Despite all of the ecological problems that I observed in Ecuador, many of which we have experienced here in the United States (the destruction of much of the great northeastern forests, among others), I truly enjoyed my time in Ecuador. Shortly before I left, I wrote on Facebook and in a group email: “I never imagined that I would become so attached to people here in Ecuador. And I never imagined, when I first arrived, that I would come to love Ecuador as much as I do right now.”

The trial that wasn't

2011-09-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Off I went to Washington, D.C., on an overnight bus ride, ready to put the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas) on trial. I left shortly before midnight on Saturday and arrived on Sunday morning at the Megabus station, not too far from Union Station.
Sunday was a day for preparation for the Big Event. With the assistance of our attorney advisers Mark Goldstone and Ann Wilcox, we held a mock trial. Mark played the role of the judge and Ann played the role of the prosecutor. I must say that they did a fine job. We also had a visiting attorney from Cleveland who played the role of the police lieutenant who read us the warnings while we were simulating dead people (victims of SOA graduates) on the White House in front of the White House on April 10th. I must say that he was thoroughly annoying. Hence, he did an excellent acting job.
The real police lieutenant's name is Lt. LaChance.
After the mock trial was over, both Mark and Ann said that we were ready to win our trial.
I never had any doubt about the outcome of the trial I was sure that we would be acquitted. So I never wrote a sentencing statement.
On Monday morning, the group of fifteen defendants, lawyer advisers, and support people gathered in front of the courthouse. Before we entered the courthouse, we had a press conference. Most of the media seemed to have come from Russia! In fact, all of the media came from Russia! No U.S. media showed up.
After the press conference, we filed into the building one by one to clear security.
Inside the building, we were ready to find our courtroom. We walked down a long corridor. People were everywhere, waiting outside of every courtroom. Some were standing, while others sat on the floor. All were waiting for their turn to experience justice. Seeing that horde of people sitting around all of those doors that were supposed to open up to justice made me wonder how the system functioned at all.
It wasn't long before we got our answer.
We went into the courtroom and, before long, we were called before the bench. Judge Frederick Sullivan of the D.C. Superior Court had all of us sit in the jury box. He informed us that he was swamped with cases and really couldn't devote the time that it would take for us to have a proper trial. He said that he would try to find a judge for us who was not swamped with cases. He suggested that we go to the cafeteria or the the witness room and wait for about an hour or so.
We went to the witness room and filed in. It was a small room with three chairs and sufficient floor space for most of us. We didn't have long to wait, however. Someone knocked on the door and said something about the prosecutor needing to speak with us.
The prosecutor, Brian Kim, stated that he was not prepared to try the case. He said that he had no witnesses. Apparently, the Tar Sands protests, that resulted in the arrests of more than 1,200 persons between August 20th through September 3rd, wore out the police to the point at which they were not ready to appear in court as witnesses.
Hmmmm.
It really does seem as if the system crashed.
Our case was abruptly dismissed. It was, however, dismissed without prejudice, which means that the government can refile the charges if it so chooses.
That probably won't happen.
We left the courtroom and walked past hordes of people who were still waiting for their day, or their brief moment, in court.
It is a sad commentary on the state of justice in Washington, D.C.
And the situation in Washington, D.C., is undoubtedly the same in other cities and states throughout the United States.

Alice goes on the road: a reflection

2010-07-16T19:11:00.001-07:00

Walk for a Nuclear Free Future: As a child, I believed that the world would be destroyed in a nuclear holocaust before I could grow up. As a result, the "what do you want to be when you grow up, dear" questions took on an abstract quality for me.

Well, I am happy to report that, all of these years later, I'm still alive and trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up! I am much less happy to report that the world, which was not destroyed when I was a child, is still in peril. As long as nuclear weapons exist, the possibility that they could be used also exists. Despite my lifelong dread of a nuclear holocaust, I have never protested against nuclear weapons. Until I went to the federal prison camp in Danbury, Connecticut, in April of 2004, for crossing the Fort Benning fence while protesting against the School of the Americas (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation), I had never met anyone who had been involved in protesting against nuclear weapons. There, I had the good fortune to meet Sister Ardeth Platte, who was serving a 41-month sentence for a Plowshares action at a nuclear weapons silo in Colorado. Ardeth quickly became a mentor and an inspiration for me. She explained to me that her action was an expression of love and of faith. That faith is also expressed by the World Council of Churches in its statement: "The production and deployment of nuclear weapons, as well as their use, constitute a crime against humanity."

Since becoming friends with Sister Ardeth, I had wanted to do something to express my hope for a nuclear-free world as a way of honoring her determination and her sacrifice. So, when the opportunity presented itself for me to join a Walk for a Nuclear Free Future this year, I was happy to participate. I couldn't do the entire 700-mile walk, but I was able to join this group for a little more than half of the walk. In March, I walked from Buffalo to Rochester, a distance of 100 miles, in one week. From April 11th until the first of May, I walked from Utica to New York City. This was a distance of approximately 265 miles. It took me through the Mohawk Valley and the Hudson River Valley into New Jersey and, finally, over the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan. Part of the mission of this journey was to visit all six nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy). I visited half of the nations: the Tuscaroras in Lewiston, the Senecas in their Tonawanda territory near Akron, and the Mohawks in their Kanatsiohareke community near Fonda.

Also, many of my fellow walkers were from Japan. I learned from them that people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still suffering the effects of the nuclear attacks. These people, called Hibakusha, survived the initial bomb blast but suffered from illnesses due to radiation exposure. Among them, there is a high rate of leukemia and other cancers, as well as thyroid problems. Their children have suffered, too, with birth defects and other health issues.

Similar health problems also plague people in places where nuclear weapons were developed and tested, both during World War II and later, during the "cold war," which was called "cold" only because it didn't involve direct conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. The cold war claimed many victims throughout the world.

I heard terrible stories of birth defects in the Tuscarora territory, where leakage of waste materials from the Manhattan project was found. One of the walkers, Al White, a Cayuga who lives in the Seneca Nation's Cattaraugus territory, talked of a baby who was born in the Tuscarora territory with two rectums. He said that people in the Cattaraugus territory are exposed to toxic materials that have leaked from the West Valley plant. "The biological and chemical warfare done to our people continues today and our people are suffering."

When I arrived in New York City on May 1st, I went to the Riverside Church, where a conference was being held on the topic of a nuclear-free world prior to the start of talks on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty at the United Nations. These talks are held once every five years. I heard a presentation called "Global Hibakusha."

Claudia Peterson, a medical social worker, said that people in her community in Utah drank contaminated water and they ate contaminated meat and vegetables. The contamination, which affected parts of Nevada and Utah, was caused by nuclear weapons tests that had been conducted at the Nevada test site, located in the Nevada desert. Between 1951 and 1962, more than 100 nuclear bombs were detonated at this site.

"The U.S. government assured us that everything was safe. People were living downwind from the tests. We watched loved ones suffer and die." Claudia's father-in-law, a uranium miner, died of cancer at age 63. Claudia talked about the many family members who died of cancer. She said that she remembered holding her six-year-old daughter in her arms when the child died of cancer. She said that her sister died of melanoma at age 36.

"I wished that I could die," Claudia said. "You are changed by loss and suffering. The heartache never goes away. The wound never heals. I never dreamed that I would have to do this. My story never changes."

Abbacca Anjain Madison is a former senator of the Marshall Islands from Rongelap Atoll. She talked about the disastrous results of above-ground testing done by the United States in the Marshall Islands. She said that 67 atomic and hydrogen bombs were tested there. One of the most devastating tests was done over the Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. "At the crack of dawn, we saw a bright light in the west," the former senator related. The light was accompanied by a loud noise. Small children cried. A strong wind blew. A bitter rain fell on everything. People washed in the rain, thinking that it was soap. Their skin became itchy, and they suffered pain in their eyes. The water was poisoned but the people didn't know. No warnings had been given to them. Their bodies were covered in painful wounds. Their hair fell out. People suffered from lung, thyroid, stomach, and brain cancer.

A few days after the nuclear test, a research study, called Project 4.1 (Study of Response of Human Beings exposed to Significant Beta and Gamma Radiation due to Fall-out from High-Yield Weapons), was organized. It was done so without the consent or knowledge of the "human guinea pigs." According to the final report of Project 4.1, people in the Ailinginae, Utirik, and Rongelap atolls experienced "significant" exposure to radiation, from 14 rads in the Utirik atoll to 175 rads in the Rongelap atoll. After the nuclear testing, "women gave birth to 'jellyfish' and to deformed and dead babies," Abbacca siad.

"People are dying of radiation and cancer," Abbacca explained. "The future is so bleak."

She shared the story of the Marshall Islands as a cautionary tale. "Learn from our experience. Let us help each other."

The United States ended its above-ground nuclear tests in 1962 and its above-ground nuclear tests 30 years later. The nuclear threat, however, still exists. An aging stock of nuclear weapons is maintained by several countries throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Depleted uranium, which is made from nuclear waste products, has been implicated in increased numbers of leukemia cases in Iraqi children.

Grand Island walk: It has now been two months since the Walk for a Nuclear Free Future ended. Since then, I have been walking around my own community. On Friday, July 2nd, I walked along the Niagara River. I picked wild raspberries and I watched boats in the river. After several hours, I reached Beaver Island State Park, where I met a group of archaeology students and their professor, Dr. Lisa Marie Anselmi. They were busily digging for artifacts of the early- to mid woodlands period. I got a tour of the site and an explanation of the project by a student named Jess. She showed me the "test pits" that were dug to determine if there was anything there of interest. If there was, then larger holes, called "units," were dug. Jess showed me how the students sifted the dirt for artifacts. It was a lot like panning for gold! After I left the archaeology site, I walked to the beach, where I saw many people having fun in the sand and in the water.

It was a peaceful and educational walk. But I couldn't forget that even this close to home, I was still affected by the dark legacy of the cold war. The fact that nuclear waste, as well as other waste products from the heavy industry on the Niagara Falls side of the river, has been identified in the Niagara River means that any fish caught there probably is not safe to eat. And, yes, people do go fishing in the river.

My experiences this spring and early summer have taught me that it's long past time to get rid of the nuclear weapons.

Bertrand Russell once said: "War doesn't determine who is right -- only who is left." Nuclear war changes that reality, too. In a nuclear war, it doesn't really matter who is right because, when it's over, no one will be left.

Scattering to the Winds

2010-02-01T18:46:00.001-08:00

Today, my Buffalo group (Vicki Ross, Jim Anderson, and Tom Casey) left Washington, D.C. It was great to have them with me over the weekend. I look forward to seeing them soon, as I am heading home on Wednesday morning.
The Washington, D.C., portion of the Peaceable Assembly Campaign ends early tomorrow afternoon. After that, as the saying goes, we all scatter to the winds. We've already started scattering. We will have a small group for our last vigil in front of the White House tomorrow. The police (both Park police and Secret Service uniformed police) will have other groups to babysit.
One of the interesting things about vigiling in front of the White House is all of the different people who meet us and want to take pictures with us. Today, a large curious group of tourists descended upon us. They had already taken out their digital cameras and were ready to click away. It wasn't hard to persuade them to get into the picture.
"Where are you from?" we wanted to know.
"Russia!" said one of the women.
The Russians smiled gleefully as they held up signs calling for an end to war, an end to military aid to Israel, and the immediate closure of Guantanamo and Bagram.
After the photo session, the Russians walked away, chattering with great animation.
Another interesting thing about vigiling in front of the White House is watching all of the various characters who seem to come there on a regular basis. There is a man who dresses in a black suit and a top hat. He actually looks as if he belongs in the nineteenth century. He has a stick and uses it for some sort of elaborate display that looks as if he is saluting a king, instead of a president. He never speaks. There is another man who goes to the other extreme. He dresses us as some sort of superhero (but none that I would recognize) and he carries a big sign critical of President Barack Obama. Then he shouts about the government wasting money and collecting taxes. The man in the black suit came to the White House. The superhero has been missing for a few days. Either he ate some kryptonite or he's off fighting the good fight against all comic book villains.
Well, those are just two of the characters who frequent the street and sidewalk in front of the sidewalk.
I'll add some more stories and photographs after I return home.
Bye for now.

Judge Faircloth's last hurrah

2010-01-26T20:03:00.000-08:00

U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Mallon Faircloth in Columbus, Georgia, presided over his last trial of SOA Watch fence crossers. He is set to retire this June. Three fence crossers showed up in court. One of them didn't come for his court appointment. Judge Faircloth issued an arrest warrent for the missing protester and promptly sentenced the other three to six months in federal prison each (no, not collectively as in two months each). I still think that six months in prison for crossing a fence is a tad excessive. One of the fence crossers went straight to jail. That was Father Louie Vitale. The other two will self surrender at a later date to some federal prison.
Maybe by next year, no one will cross the fence because SOA/WHINSEC will be closed by executive order.
That will be change that I can believe in.

The not so secret service and other musings

2010-01-26T19:58:00.000-08:00

Today, I was in front of the White House with the Voices for Creative Nonviolence folks. A group had come from Minnesota to join us and to engage in a civil resistance action in front of the White House. The group had come well-prepared for the action. They brought decorated shoes and t-shirts. I was given one of the shirts. On the back, it said "Minnesotans for Peace." On the front were red handprints. They looked like bloody handprints. They could have been Lady MacBeth's handprints. She had lots of blood on her hands.
We also have lots of blood on our hands as a result of the actions of the U.S. government.
I can no longer keep track of all of the wars that the United States has fought since the end of World War II. I've never understood the point of all of those wars, probably because no one has given me an explanation that I can accept. I've heard:

We have to protect our way of life.
We are protecting our freedom.
They have weapons of mass destruction and will attack us.
They want to kill us so we'd better kill them first.

The first one doesn't make any sense whatsoever because I don't know what this way of life is supposed to be. We have homeless people but I don't think that we're fighting to protect the right of homeless people to live on the street. We have millions of people who don't have health insurance but I don't think that we're fighting to protect the right of people to go to emergency rooms because they can't find a doctor who will provide them with preventive health care. We have inadequate mass transit in much of the country but I don't think that we're fighting to protect the right of people to sit in traffic jams and not go anywhere because there are too many cars with one person in them. We have people who graduate from high school unable to read but I don't think that we're fighting to preserve illiteracy.
I could go on and on but I think that you get the idea.
All right, I'll go on to the second one. This one really annoys the heck out of me. We are fighting in (enemy country du jour) to protect our freedom. I am not sure of which freedom needs to be protected with remote control bombing (drone attack), depleted uranium, and other weapons. Oh, wait. Isn't depleted uranium a weapon of mass destruction (see excuse number three for attacking the enemy du jour)? Never mind. I'll get to that later. At any rate, this is the one that seems to be the juiciest propaganda of all of the excuses. I actually hear this nonsense in the mainstream media. This is what passes for news reporting: (Someone far too young) made the ultimate sacrifice in (name the foreign country) to protect our freedom. All too often, that can be translated to (Someone far too young) was killed when the truck that he was riding in came into contact with an roadside bomb. That someone far too young probably joined the military because he was promised money to attend college after he left the service. Or perhaps he was an illegal immigrant and he was promised citizenship, instead of deportation.
That has nothing to do with my freedom. My freedom is not protected by guns and bombs; it is protected by the U.S. Constitution. And it is not threatened by some foreign power. It is threatened by my own government. I am told where I can stand or sit when I want to criticize the government's policies. Most of those places ("free speech zones") are places where the governmental officials who need to change policies never frequent. How can I petition governmental officials for a redress of grievances if the governmental officials can't see me? So I break a few rules. I have no desire to protest just for the satisfaction of having protested. If I wanted to protest for my benefit alone, I could make a picket sign and march around my house, all by myself. But that's not what I want. I want governmental officials to know that I am waiting for the change I can believe in. I am waiting for an end to war and to torture and to secret CIA prisons.
I speak out and I write my viewpoints, as I am doing now, and I don't give the military permission to kill in the name of my "freedom." I'll protect my own freedom, thank you.
How about the third excuse: They have weapons of mass destruction and will attack us. Has anyone noticed that we have more weapons of mass destruction than any of our "enemies"? We have nuclear weapons and depleted uranium and who knows what other types of weapons of mass destruction. We could kill every man, woman, and child on the earth several times over. We have so much weaponry that I can remember thinking, as a little girl, I will not live to be an adult. We will have a nuclear war and everything will be taken away by a huge mushroom cloud of death.
Of course, Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were fictitious so we don't hear that one any more about Iraq.
Ahh, but Iran has a nuclear program.
Darn! We can't put out the fires fast enough. Of course, when you're trying to put out fire with fire, you might get a few flames.
So. The last excuse that I can think of. We've got to kill them before they kill us. That seems to be applied to "terrorists." Terrorists are people who target civilian populations. I could mention the drone attacks that killed civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan, except that it was "us" that did that act of terrorism. Ooops. Did I just call the U.S. government a terrorist?
Never mind.
So, back to the original topic. The protest against the war that's supposed to protect our freedom to do something or not do something but I don't know what. Yes, we wore shirts with bloody handprints. We symbolically threw shoes at the occupation. Then we sang and marched around in circles on the sidewalk in front of the White House. People started lying down for the die in. They lay on the cold hard cement to represent the war dead, both military and civilian. But that was a problem for the police. They have deemed that an illegal protest. We can protest in that "picture postcard zone" all we want, as long as we keep moving. We just can't have any stationary protests. The government is probably trying to ensure that we get our exercise when we protest. Um. Maybe. If we stand still or lie down, we get arrested for having a stationary protest. I guess that it's not freedom of speech or assembly that we're fighting these wars to protect because I've been arrested twelve times for trying to exercise these rights where someone can see me, not in a "free speech zone" for the benefit of other protesters or for no one at all.
As I was marching, I noticed that the cops had started putting crime scene tape up. Uh oh. Was I going to be arrested by accident. The cops then gave a warning and I skedaddled. Fast. Apparently, that was the cops' second warning. They give three warnings before they start telling us that we're in violation of some ordinance prohibiting free speech and that we are about to be arrested for unlawfully exercising our first amendment rights, which apparently are only symbolic and not real but seem to be worthy of sending our young men and women to be killed.
Once I got to the non-arrest side of the yellow crime scene tape, I resumed singing but not marching in circles. I waved to the White House but doubt that President Obama was looking out the window. He's too busy increasing the defense budget and sending more troops to Afghanistan. I wish that he wouldn't do that. Would he listen to me? I'd like to think that he would. He used to be a community organizer. Well, now he is the community organizer in chief and I am part of his community so I'd appreciate having a minute with him to express my concerns.
But, instead of talking to the president, I talked to police. I noticed this one cop was a member of the uniformed secret service. He had the word secret printed really big on his shoulder patch. The word secret was also printed really big on the police car. I had to ask so I did. If I can't ask the president about the war, at least, I could get some of my questions answered. And one of them was if the word secret is printed all over the place and the secret service police officer is in uniform, how is it a secret? The officer just started giggling. Another police officer laughed when I told him that I had been arrested three times in front of the White House.
These exchanges make me happy and give me home. The experience is never a protester vs. police sort of thing. I have never once protested against police. They don't set policy. They are put there to keep me separated from the people who do set policy.
It's the government that creates the us vs. them policy, who tells us that we have to kill the "enemy" so that "the enemy" doesn't kill us.
I was thinking about all of this outside on Pennsylvania Avenue, in front of the White House. I was thinking about the oil that we lust after and all of the other natural resources that we lust after. Of course, we don't fight wars for oil. Do we?
We sang "courage brother, you do not walk alone, we will walk with you and sing your spirit home..." and then we sang "courage sister, you do not walk alone, we will walk with you and sing your spirit home" to the thirteen folks participating in the die in as they were tied up with plastic handcuffs and taken to be patted down before being put in the police wagon.
At this moment, the group of them is in Washington, D.C.'s Central Cell Block. It is a holding facility... two to a little cage... um, cell... the walls are metal, the bed is metal, the toilet and sink are metal... the only food and beverages that are offered are one bologna sandwich and one plastic cheese sandwich (both with mayonnaise) and bug juice. No water. Just bug juice. It's very hot. You feel like a rotisserie chicken when you're in there. Yes, I was in there last week for a different protest. I'll write about that protest later. Central Cell Block is an experience that's not exactly on the official Washington, D.C., tour. It's not so terrible. We survive.
But those wars are a different story. Many people don't survive.
Maybe, if we protest enough, we'll get the attention of someone in government and we can tell that someone that too many people are being killed for... um... I don't know. People I know keep telling me to stop protesting, that no one will listen to my criticisms.
I don't think that I can do that. I can't stop protesting because no one is listening but I could stop protesting because someone is listening and is implementing changes. That's all I want: to be heard, to feel as if I really do live in the democracy that the media keeps claiming I live in.
I've learned a lot lately. I've learned about the mystery of the secret service not being very secret and I've learned about pretending to be on a great adventure in a submarine when you're spending the night in Central Cell Block because it really does look like a submarine but I still can't figure out why we are having these wars and letting our talented young people and the talented people of Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan get killed for nothing at all. I don't understand that and I don't accept that.
So that's it for today. My musings about the not-so-secret service and war and lies and free speech that isn't all that free after all...

Day Two in the nation's capital

2010-01-20T19:48:00.001-08:00

When I was in college, I was a political science major. I truly felt that I could work within the system and help to effect long-lasting change. I spent a semester here in a Washington semester program. I was a part-time intern in the office of Rep. Dan Marriott of Utah. He was a conservative Republican. I was not. I had to write letters to constituents on his behalf. I simply wrote the opposite of my own position. I startled myself by how persuasive I could be at disagreeing with myself.
Unfortunately, after I graduated, I could not find a job on Capitol Hill.
Despite being shut out of the system, I still believed that the system could work.
Over the years, however, I have learned otherwise.
I met torture survivors and found out that my government had been responsible for training the military personnel who carried out the torture. I learned that my government had given these military personnel training on the most advanced weaponry that they then used on their own people.
I started becoming very disillusioned with my government.
How could this happen?
We have a constitution. We have laws. Americans helped to write all sorts of human rights legislation.
How could our government get so much out of control?
In 2002, the government that I had once believed in opened a prison for "enemy combatants" in Guantanamo. Everything about it was secret. I wondered what was going on.
In 2003, President George W. Bush got us into a war after telling us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. And, for the most part, Americans believed him. Even members of Congress believed him.
I was absolutely sure that President Bush was lying.
I wanted to emigrate.
I didn't want to live in a country with a president who lied. I didn't want to live under a government that was accused of torturing "enemy combatants" who didn't even get the same privileges as "prisoners of war."
I didn't understand how our country, supposedly the best and most civilized in the world, could stoop to torture. After all, we have computers. We are technologically advanced. Therefore, we must be civilized.
Well, no.
Today, when I was standing in an orange jumpsuit and a black hood in front of the Hart Senate Office Building, I thought about these things. We have technology but it does not make us civilized. In fact, it makes us even less civilized. As an example, we can bomb people by remote control (drone bombing). Is that the action of a civilized people?
Today, I learned that three detainees at Guantanamo, who were said to have committed suicide while in detention, were placed in a secret CIA prison within Guantanamo and were allegedly tortured to death. They died, said Joe Hickman, who had been a sergeant of the guard at Guantanamo in 2006 because they were tortured to death. Rags were stuffed down their throat and they died.
I would like to think that the system would work and that these horrendous deaths will be investigated and the culprits punished appropriately.
But I am not sure that I have enough faith left in the system to believe that it will do the right thing.
So, tomorrow, I will be outside with people from Witness Against Torture and Voices for Creative Nonviolence's Peaceable Assembly Campaign to dramatize to the government that it is time for it and for all of us to be accountable for our actions.
I hope that someone will listen and that the names of those three men -- Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi, and Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani -- are not forgotten.
That is why I will be outside tomorrow, to remind those in government who still believe that the system can work to please, please... make that system work.

Day One in Washington, D.C.

2010-01-19T19:25:00.001-08:00

I arrived in Washington, D.C., today after traveling by plane, bus, and train. I settled in at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker house, which will be my home for the next two weeks. At about 4:30 p.m., I hopped on the Metro and headed to the White House. As I walked to the White House from the Metro station, the sun started to set. At the White House, I joined the Witness Against Torture group, who were holding vigil. Most of them were dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods. Some of them held up signs demanding that Guantanamo and Bagram be closed immediately. Others carried a huge banner that called for the closing of Guantanamo. Unfortunately, Guantanamo is still open, despite President Barack Obama's promise to close it within a year. That promise was made last year.
I stood with Sister Ichikawa, a Buddhist nun, who comes to many of these events. She has a drum, which she beats rhythmically. I joined in the chanting of "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" with her and with the others standing in front of the White House. I also stood with Buddy Bell, who was part of the Walk for Peace last summer in Wisconsin. That was the 22-mile walk from Camp Douglas to Fort McCoy from August 7th through the 9th. It was a wet walk. That was the one where nine of us were arrested for "crossing the line" at Fort McCoy. Four of us "repeat crossers" were taken ninety miles away to the Dane County Jail in Madison. Strangely enough, Fort McCoy issued a federal hold, despite the fact that all four of us were civilians. I was told that the military cannot issue a hold against civilians. We were held overnight and released the next day, without ever seeing the inside of a courtroom. To this day, there are no pending charges against any of the nine of us who "crossed the line."
But that was five months ago.
So today, I am in Washington, D.C., with the orange jumpsuit crew.
News media people came to photograph and interview people in orange jumpsuits.
At about 6:15 p.m., Sister Ichikawa and I followed the group in jumpsuits as they marched down the street in single file. It was a silent procession. The only person who spoke was Carmen Trotta, a Catholic Worker from New York City, who played the role of the guard. He issued the command to the "detainees" to march or to stop and stand still. He also handed out the signs for them to hold up.
The orange jumpsuit vigil and parade was a very striking display under the street lights. The plethora of lights that make the White House glow in the dark also added to the dramatic effect of the group in orange jumpsuits.
I'll write more tomorrow.

Update on October White House protest

2009-12-27T11:55:00.000-08:00

My appointment with the court for arraignment was October 27th. I did not go to court because I had signed a letter authorizing an attorney to enter a not-guilty plea on my behalf. As it turned out, charges against all participants in the October 5th action were dismissed by a judge in the D.C. Superior Court.
So, unlike the war in Afghanistan, which seems to go on and on forever, my legal case ended swiftly.

Orange Jumpsuit Brigade

2009-10-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

On October 5th, I was dressed fashionably in an orange jumpsuit and a black hood. OK, fashionably for Halloween maybe. The jumpsuit, which I put on over all of my clothes and jacket, made me look like a rather large pumpkin with a stem.
Well, my pumpkinlike appearance was one of the few amusing parts of my experience, which took me from the Supreme Court to McPherson Square to the White House to the U.S. Park Police station at Anacostia (southeast Washington, D.C.). The other amusing part of the experience was Team Torture. This was made up of several people dressed in striped prison uniforms and large heads. The large heads included George W. Bush, Condoleeza Rice, and Dick Cheney. All of them were wearing baseball caps, but don't think that any of them are ready to play in the World's Series! But they were ready to meet and greet their fans, with Team Torture trading cards, including a rookie card for Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld!
These cards make great collector's items and stocking stuffers for the person on your Christmas list who already has everything.
Once Team Torture had finished meeting and greeting fans outside of the Supreme Court, where Sonia Sotomayor was waiting to complete her first first day in her new Big Government Job, the Orange Jumpsuit Brigade marched away. As we were led away, Dick Cheney gave us two thumbs up! I wonder if he gave two thumbs up to the real detainees.
We marched in pairs from the Supreme Court to McPherson Square. We must have been a very odd sight... a long line of people, all dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods. Perhaps people in Washington, D.C., are used to that odd sight. It was kind of a long walk to accomplish when your vision is obscured. Fortunately, there were people to warn us when to step onto a curb and when to step down from a curb.
At McPherson Square, the orange jumpsuit brigade could relax a little and remove the black hoods. We heard speeches and poetry and music from a variety of people, including Emma's Revolution. Emma's Revolution sang "Peace Salaam Shalom" and "One" (about the School of the Americas) and another song (I forgot the title). It helped that the sun was shining and that it was a pretty autumn day. I also enjoyed seeing some of my friends from this past August's Walk for Peace from Camp Douglas to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, including Joy First, Jennifer First, Kathy Kelly, Gerald Paoli, and Joshua Brollier.
At about noon, we had to put our black hoods back on for the march to the White House. We marched right up to the sidewalk. This time, we were lined up with four persons to each row. Before long, we were at the fence. Some of us were able to chain ourselves to the White House fence while others were thwarted by cops, who seemed to be ready for us.
Names of the dead were read out loud. These included U.S. servicemembers, Afghans, Iraqis, and Pakistanis. We called for the dead to be mourned, the wounded to be healed, and the wars to end. Some people tried to deliver a letter to the president at the press gate but, I was told later, the Not-Very-Secret Service forcefully removed the protesters. So much for the first amendment... you know, that part that says that all citizens have a right to seek a redress of grievances from their elected officials...
Well, those of us in the "picture postcard zone" didn't really get much of a chance to seek a redress of grievances, either. Sixty-one of us were arrested and handcuffed with those truly uncomfortable plastic straps. We were thoroughly and less than gently patted down and were driven (in an air conditioned bus!) to the Anacostia police station, where we were ticketed and released.
We actually had to return to the police station the next day to finish our processing and to be given our court dates.
More later.

October lobby day

2009-10-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

At eight o'clock in the morning, on October 7th, I joined a group from SOA Watch to stand vigil outside of the Capitol South metro station. The picture here was actually taken during a similar vigil in 2008. I posted this photograph because, during this vigil, I was at one end of the banner that is pictured here, and I didn't have hands for photography.
We stayed at the metro station for a little more than an hour. Some of the people who were heading to work or to lobby at Congressional offices took our brochures and postcards; others did not. I very much appreciate the time that those who stopped to speak with us so early in the day. I know that some of them probably haven't had their morning coffee yet. Not everyone is a cheerful morning person!
After standing vigil at the metro station and watching the hordes of people walk toward their destination, I went to the Rayburn House Office Building to do a little lobbying. In the course of about two hours, I visited fourteen offices, including the office of my own representative in Congress, Louise Slaughter. I talked mainly to receptionists as most of the foreign policy aides were either in meetings or on conference calls. I left information with the receptionists for the foreign policy aides on HR 2567, Rep. Jim McGovern's legislation to suspend operations of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly called the School of the Americas) and to investigate that military training school. You can find more information about the legislation at http://www.soaw.org.
Visiting Congressional offices is always a good experience. I got two copies of the U.S. Constitution, candies, peanuts, and lots of chances to use hand sanitizer. In fact, in the Rayburn House Office Building, there are hand sanitizer stations conveniently located in the hallways. The hand sanitizer stations work automatically, just by sensing that hands are ready for the fluid. When I left the Rayburn House Office Building, my hands felt very clean.
OK, well, it's good to clean hands to avoid those nasty flu viruses.
At the same time, let's clean up U.S. foreign policy. Call your Congressional representative's office today and ask him or her to co-sponsor HR 2567.

two-year anniversary

2009-09-19T12:22:00.001-07:00

On September 19, 2007, I was released from the federal prison camp in Danbury, Connecticut, after completing a six-month sentence. Since that date, the world has spun around the sun two times. In these two years, I have walked hundreds of miles. I have continued to say yes to life and to human rights and no to torture and assassination and war. I have crossed the line twice at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, to say enough is enough. It's time to bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. The National Guard members, who have been deployed over and over again, are needed at home, not overseas. Their families and their communities need them.
In a few weeks, I am going to Washington, D.C., to participate in a civil resistance action at the White House. It is scheduled by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance for October 5th, the eighth anniversary of the start of the Afghanistan war. Please join me there. You can sign up for that action by going to http://vcnv.org/ncnr.
Enjoy the sunlight and the late summer colors and I'll write more later.

Speaking out against torture

2009-08-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

(photographs: The one with the man in the orange jumpsuit and the black hood is a depiction of a Guantanamo inmate. The people in the photograph (with the exception of the child) are all torture survivors. They include Sister Dianna Ortiz, a Ursuline who was brutally tortured while serving as a missionary teacher in Guatemala, and Mirna Anaya, a torture survivor who is now a member of the Supreme Court of El Salvador)

At the end of June, the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) held its annual Survivors week in Washington, D.C. Events that occurred during the week included a conference, held at Catholic University, titled "Torture Never Again," and a 24-hour vigil, held in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House.
I attended a morning session of the conference at Catholic University and heard from several speakers, including Jennifer Harbury (the widow of Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, a Mayan resistance leader, who was captured by Guatemalan military, tortured, and then killed extra-judicially in the early 1990s), Father Roy Bourgeois, and Catherine Grosso, assistant professor of law at Michigan State University College of Law. Also we had one speaker named Colleen. (I don't know her last name or anything more about her.)
Here is some information that was offered at the conference:
According to Colleen, on the issues of torture and extraordinary rendition, Human Rights USA, TASSC, and other organizations have been working on putting together a criminal complaint to hold former officials, chiefly in the Bush administration, accountable for their actions. There is a Spanish court that may try to charge U.S. officials. This can only occur if the United States does not object. The alleged culprits must travel to Spain on their own. They will not be extradited to Spain to face justice.
Catherine defined torture as ill treatment. Examples of torture include holding a person in isolation or solitary confinement for long periods of time. She talked about Supreme Court cases concerning torture. She described a 1936 case involving a man named Ed Brown and a few others. These individuals were stripped and beaten by police. They were forced to confess to crimes. The state of Mississippi said that the federal constitution had no place in a state court. The Supreme Court said otherwise. It said that the interrogation of Mr. Brown and the other men violated basic basic principles and that evidence obtained by torture cannot be used in court. "It (torture) violates who we are as a nation." In an earlier case (1897), a man named Mr. Ram was forced to strip. He was never touched. He was told that he committed a crime. Mr. Ram ended up by confessing to the crimes because he was humiliated. The Supreme Court ruled that the confession was not voluntary, that the man was the victim of coercion.
These days, Catherine said, we have the issue of different standards being applied to Americans and people whom are termed to be "terrorists" and "enemy combatants." During the Bush administration, we had policy and practice that "chipped away at the ban on torture." This ban includes federal law against torture and an international convention against torture that was signed by President Ronald Reagan.
Although the Bush administration is now history, the current Obama administration has done little to investigate alleged abuses. Catherine said that President Obama "articulated that the Bush policy violated standards. He has not investigated. His silence speaks volumes." Catherine does not exempt Congress from criticism. She said "Congress has done nothing."
Jennifer said that we will not be "cured" of the scourge of torture with a few trials of former administration officials. "It is naive to think that it started with 9/11 and George W. Bush." She said that Americans have been involved in torture for years, either in the role of advisors or even supervisors. "We can't fix this problem unless we deal with the crimes."
The crimes of torture, Jennifer charges, include crimes against civilian populations. These civilian populations include people who have been termed "insurgents." This is a very loose term. In Latin America, for example, during the "dirty wars" and the various civil wars, the term "insurgents" frequently included priests, nuns, labor union organizers, teachers, journalists, and anyone who criticized their governments.
Jennifer talked about a common excuse that torturers use for abusing their victims, the "ticking bomb." She explained that torture doesn't work in that situation. "When people are tortured, they say anything. There was one guy who claimed to be Osama bin Laden's driver." (Apparently, Osama bin Laden never rode in this guy's car and, who knows... maybe the guy didn't even have a car...) According to Jennifer, in basic training, military types are taught to compartmentalize information. "You don't have the information unless you need to know it." So the information about where the ticking bomb would be located would not be shared with hordes of people. If the wrong person is grabbed and then tortured, well guess what happens? That person will say anything to get the pain to stop. He'll say where the ticking bomb is. Then, the bomb disposal squad will go to the wrong place because, of course, that person doesn't actually know where the bomb is. While the bomb disposal squad is looking for the nonexistent incendiary, the real bomb will go Ka-boom!
Jennifer said that the U.S. government resorted to torture because it was afraid. "Fear is deeply ingrained in the United States," she said, adding "Torture does not gain us security."
Father Roy talked about his experiences of having been in Vietnam as a Naval officer and in Bolivia as a Maryknoll missionary priest. He said that in Vietnam, "it was common knowledge that torture was policy." He said that pilots bragged about how easy it was to get information.
In Bolivia, under the dictator Hugo Banzar, torture was common. Father Roy said that he visited prisoners and documented the torture. He brought the information to Washington to try to get the U.S. government to put an end to it. Shortly afterwards, he was forced out of Bolivia. He then went to El Salvador. In November 1989, six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter were massacred by military. Those Jesuit priests had been friends of Father Roy's. Father Roy discovered that the United States trained the assassins at a school called the School of the Americas.
Shortly after the massacre, Father Roy formed an organization called "School of the Americas Watch." In November 1990, nine persons fasted at the gates of Fort Benning. By November 2008, more than 20,000 persons gathered at the gates of Fort Benning.
"We want the school of torture closed down," Father Roy stated.
Father Roy said that training manuals were discovered in 1996. These training manuals give detailed instruction to the military on how to torture people. These manuals got the attention of Congress.
Currently, the School of the Americas Watch continues to work for accountability. Father Roy said that SOA Watch uses several approaches to achieving this goal. One is the Latin American initiative. Representatives of SOA Watch have gone to 15 Latin American countries and have spoken to leaders, including six presidents, to ask them to withdraw troops from the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (the new name for the School of the Americas). Father Roy stated that there is a "sea change taking place in Latin America and that there is great hope."
Unfortunately, a few days after this conference, there was a coup d'etat in Honduras and the democratically elected president was forced out of the country in his pajamas.
The School of the Americas Watch is also working to get legislation passed. The current legislation, proposed by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) is HR 2567, the Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2009.
"There will never be healing and reconciliation unless there is acknowledgement of crimes and torture."
During the question and answer session that followed, torture survivors from all over the world talked about change that they wanted to see and their feelings about the current realities throughout the world.
Grace from Uganda talked about her cry. She said that many opposition leaders are rotting in cells. Government leaders in the UN Security Council do not talk about that, she said. "I am going through hell," she said. "No one is on the ground watching. This is my cry!"
A man from West Africa said that the United States is trying to found an SOA-type school in Africa.
An Iranian woman said that young people are tortured in the streets in Iran. "They want democracy. They are not terrorists."
And one person said, "Bush encouraged torture. Thousands were in prison. Many died. No one talks about them. They just want freedom. (President Barack) Obama is our last chance."

Father Roy Bourgeois

2009-06-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

"You don't teach democracy out of the barrel of a gun."
The Buffalo Common Council declared March 14th to be Father Roy Bourgeois Day in Buffalo. The Erie County Legislature also issued a proclamation in Father Roy's honor.
Father Roy Bourgeois was presented with those proclamations on March 14th, when he came to Daemen College to speak about SOA/WHINSEC and about other issues of war, peace, and justice.
Father Roy talked about his own life experiences, first as a young man in Louisiana, who studied geology and had hopes of becoming rich in the oil fields of Latin America. His sense of patriotism then caused him to go into the U.S. Navy as an officer. He volunteered for shore duty in Vietnam, where he witnessed the devastation of war. In an interview that I had with Father Roy back in 2001, he told me that volunteering to help at an orphanage in Vietnam changed his life. He came to the conclusion that God was calling him to be a missionary. After Father Roy left the military, he enrolled in the Maryknoll seminary near Ossining, New York. He was ordained as a Maryknoll priest in 1972 and was then sent to serve in Bolivia.
Father Roy said that he was shocked by what he saw in Bolivia:
"The men with the guns ran the country." Those gunmen were under the command of dictator Hugo Banzar Suarez, who had support from the U.S. government.
He said, however, that the poor people, with whom he worked, did not give up hope in the face of these seemingly insurmountable obstacles. "The poor became our teachers," he said.
His missionary work did not win him any points with the Powers that Be in Bolivia. Because of his work with Bolivia's human rights commission, he was arrested and was later forced out of Bolivia.
His next mission was in El Salvador. This Vietnam veteran could not believe the conditions in El Salvador in the late 1970s. "I've never seen anything like El Salvador. It was the slaughter of the innocents," Father Roy said.
When Father Roy came back to the United States, he learned that the Salvadoran troops, many of whom had been involved in such incidents as the El Mozote massacre, in which 900 men, women, and children in one village were massacred, were coming to the United States to be trained in military tactics. In fact, Father Roy said, 500 troops had come to Fort Benning, Georgia, for training in the early 1980s. When Father Roy realized what was happening, he organized a protest right in front of the Salvadoran barracks at Fort Benning. With two others, he walked onto the grounds of Fort Benning, dressed as high ranking officers. They were saluted! At night, they climbed a tree just outside of the Salvadoran barracks. When the lights in the barracks went out, Father Roy turned on a boom box, set to top volume to play Archbishop Oscar Romero's last homily. The lights in the barracks went on again and military police were called.
When military police arrived, the three intrepid protesters were ordered to get out of the tree or get shot.
The protesters got out of the tree and were taken to the Muscogee County Jail. Eventually, they were tried and sentenced to federal prison.
That protest, however, apparently had nothing to do with the School of the Americas.
At the time, very few people knew about the existence of the School of the Americas. Those few people were mostly Panamanians.
The School of the Americas had been established as a cold war school to train Latin American troops to fight against the "Communist menace" back in 1946. It was placed in the Panama Canal Zone. Eventually, Panamanians referred to the school as "la escuela de los golpes" (the school of coups) and "la escuela de los assessinos." Some of the coups that the Panamanians were referring to occurred in the Dominican Republic and Guatemala in the early 1950s and in Chile on September 11th, 1973. When President Jimmy Carter renegotiated the Panama Canal treaties back in the late 1980s, one of the issues that could not be resolved was the continuation of the SOA in Panama.
The SOA was kicked out of Panama and was reopened at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1984.
In 1989, an event occurred in El Salvador that resulted in shock and horror and Congressional attention to U.S. military policy in Latin America. This event was the massacre of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter. Many members of Congress had attended Jesuit schools, so they were shocked and horrified to find out that six Jesuits, who had worked at the University of Central America, were killed by Salvadoran military, funded by the U.S. government.
It didn't take long before the existence of the SOA became known. The connection was made for many, including Father Roy, between military training and massacres when a Congressional panel reported that, of the 27 killers involved in the massacre of the Jesuits and their co-workers, 19 of them were SOA graduates. In 1990, Father Roy Bourgeois founded the School of the Americas Watch and moved into an apartment across the street from Fort Benning's main gates.
Over the years, SOA Watch grew from a small group of people who protested and fasted at Fort Benning's main gate to a large movement that holds annual protests at Fort Benning and lobbies Congress to close the school, which has since been renamed "the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation." Father Roy has referred to these protests as "poking the beehive."
The bees don't like that, and they tend to sting. Over the years, many people have been arrested on the grounds of Fort Benning, have been charged with trespass, and have been sentenced to federal prison, probation, or house arrest.
The movement to close the school has been working hard over the years to encourage Congress to close the school through legislative action. A number of bills have been introduced to Congress to close the school, first by Rep. Moakley of Massachusetts and later by Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts.
The current bill, introduced last month, is HR 2567 and is titled the Latin America Military Training Review Act.
Father Roy also talked about work that SOA Watch is doing to encourage governmental leaders in Latin America to stop sending troops to the school in hopes that, if there is no demand for the school, it will have to close down, due to lack of interest. So far, the following countries have stopped sending troops to the school: Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, and El Salvador.
"There is a sea change taking place in Latin America," Father Roy said. "A lot of the fear that was alive in those countries has been replaced by hope."
When Father Roy is not speaking on behalf of SOA Watch or working on closing the School of the Americas (in his copious free time), he travels. He has been to Iran and Iraq.
"War destroys hope," said Father Roy, who has been involved in the movement to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan said.

Alice's court statement

2009-01-29T11:44:00.000-08:00

On August 10, as a part of the Witness Against War walk, thirteen of us attempted to walk onto the grounds of Fort McCoy, located near Sparta, Wisconsin. We were hoping to speak to the National Guard troops who are trained at Fort McCoy. We were also hoping to give them a letter to let them know that the government's authorization to deploy the National Guard (the war powers resolution of 2002) has expired and was not renewed.
During the walk, I had met many people whose loved ones, members of the Wisconsin National Guard, had been deployed over and over again. This is very hard on the members of the National Guard and on their family, friends, co-workers, and employers. Those encounters spurred me to choose to go onto the grounds of Fort McCoy and speak with the soldiers, as someone who wanted the best for them.
I feel that the National Guard is needed at home. During times of natural disaster, it is the National Guard that we call on to take care of our needs.
When the thirteen of us arrived at the main gate of Fort McCoy, we were met by police, who told us not to pass a barrier that they had established. We did pass the barrier and we were arrested and charged with trespass. Shortly after we were processed, we were issued tickets and were released.
On January 12th, we had our trial before Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker in Madison, Wisconsin. We each had a chance to speak our piece... peace... and were found guilty and fined $75 each.

Below is a copy of my court statement:

Since I returned to Western New York in September after completing the 500-mile Witness Against War walk from Chicago to Saint Paul, Minnesota, I have continued to walk nearly every day. I have walked along the Niagara River and through the City of Buffalo. I walk through two state parks in Grand Island, the town where I live.

I walk for exercise and to find interesting things to photograph for the Grand Island Dispatch. I work as a freelance photographer and reporter for that newspaper.

Sometimes on my walks, I see parents walking or riding on bicycles with their kids. I see people catching fish, or at least trying to. I see people walking dogs. I see people jogging in all kinds of weather, even in snow and wind. During my weekday walks, I see kids returning home from school. I see kids playing on the slides and climbing equipment at the nearby playground.

In other words, I experience normal every day life on my walks.

Last summer, I had similar experiences. I saw bicyclists and joggers and kids going to summer school.

But a few incidents served to remind me that the lives of many of our friends and neighbors are far from normal. One of those incidents occurred in Jefferson, early in the morning, as we were starting our day’s walk. We could see the kids heading off to summer school. We crossed a street near the school. A crossing guard spotted us and our banner. She went to the middle of the street to help us. As I passed her, she turned to me and said, “I support what you do. My son is in Iraq for the fifth time. I just want him to come home.”

In another town, we were at a church for a potluck dinner. A woman there looked at me, wanting to talk. I could see sadness in her eyes and feel heartbreak in her voice as she told me that her son had been killed in Iraq.

I heard about police departments that were short staffed because so many of the officers were also members of the National Guard, who had been deployed overseas.

The normal every day life that I saw as I walked was nowhere near as normal as it appeared.

When I heard the sadness and longing that people had for their absent family members, friends, and co-workers, I had to wonder why the normal every day lives of these communities was being disrupted and destroyed. Why have National Guard troops been deployed over and over again, far away from home and from the families and communities that need them? Why are National Guard troops continuing to be deployed to Iraq, even though the War Powers resolution of 2002, which gave the Bush administration the authority to deploy the National Guard, has expired and was not renewed.

On August 10, 2008, I went with a group to the gates of Fort McCoy to talk to the troops, to tell them that they were needed at home to do the work that the National Guard is meant to do, especially disaster relief. I had a letter to give them that offered details of alternatives to deployment for them. I never spoke to a single soldier. We were arrested before we could speak to the soldiers or to give them our letters.

I felt that my presence that day at Fort McCoy was necessary. I did not feel that I did anything that could be described as illegal. I felt that I was simply exercising my first-amendment right of free speech. On the other hand, I did perceive the government as violating the law, by continuing to deploy National Guard troops after the authorization to deploy them has expired.

It is time for National Guard troops to come home. They are needed here. I hope that my presence at Fort McCoy on August 10^th helped to serve as a reminder that our National Guard troops are needed at home, even though I never had a chance to speak to the soldiers.

When the deployments finally end, the National Guard troops and their families and communities will be able to start healing and, eventually, will be able to return to their normal, every day lives.

One-year anniversary

2008-09-19T15:21:00.000-07:00

Last year, on September 19, 2007, I was released from the federal prison camp in Danbury, Connecticut, after completing my six-month sentence. As happy as I was to get turned loose onto an unsuspecting world, it was a sad experience, too. I had to leave behind friends, who had far longer sentences than I had.
Spending time in prison, especially when that time is measured in years, not in months that can be counted on one or two hands, is very hard on women. Many of them are mothers, and they must endure long separations from their children. The children grow up without their mothers, which is hard on them, too.
I believe that too many people are in prison. Keeping people in prison is expensive and nonproductive. I would very much like to see more people sentenced to probation and community service and restitution (if necessary) than to prison sentences. I would also like to see more use of restorative justice. It is important for people to take responsibility for their actions, to apologize, and make right what they have made wrong. Occupying space in prison does not accomplish any of that. So these are a few things that I have learned from my time in prison.
I have also learned that being in prison is challenging but it is an experience that the overwhelming majority survives. They then go on to other things and other adventures. I have also learned that going to prison for something that you believe in is somewhat difficult but far from impossible. I believe that change can occur when ordinary people, such as me, are willing to make sacrifices for the things that they believe in.
In two months, there will be another vigil at Fort Benning. Undoubtedly, some people will choose to cross the Fort Benning fence. Might you be one of them? Would you be one of those who chooses to take that step (literally) to say yes to life and human rights and no to torture and assassination? Or, if you prefer to travel to Arizona, rather than Georgia, might you take that step, instead, at Fort Huachuca? I would encourage you to think about it. I have no regrets about having crossed that fence and, I believe, that, if you crossed the fence, too, you would not regret it.
And, speaking about steps, I have finished my 500-mile walk from Chicago to Saint Paul, Minnesota, with Witness Against War (see http://www.vcnv.org). It was a good experience, and I will write more extensively about it in later posts. Above is a photograph of me on the top of Brady's Bluff at Perrot State Park, in Trempealeau, Wisconsin. The upper Mississippi River is in the background.

Witness Against War

2008-08-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

Hi all!
I am part of the Witness Against War walk from Chicago to St. Paul, Minnesota. We started the walk on July 12 and will finish on August 30.
For more information and to see the blogs that I have posted, take a look at the Voices for Creative Nonviolence website at http://www.vcnv.org
Bye bye for now, and I will post on this blog when I return home!

Sharing the message in Washington, D.C.

2008-05-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

Our colorful message in favor of human rights certainly attracted a lot of attention on Monday morning, near the Capital South metro station. Plenty of people who work in Congressional offices take the metro to that stop. They couldn't miss us with our signs and big banners.
OK, I know that the name of the school at Fort Benning, Georgia, is no longer "School of the Americas" or "SOA." It's the "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation" (a real mouthful). But the message is the same... close the school and get an independent commission to investigate the instructions.
A bunch of us spent much of the day on Monday on Capitol Hill. We visited the offices of House Members and Senators and we talked to foreign policy and military policy aides in those offices. It was a very interesting and educational experience. I learned about the difference between an "authorization" bill and an "appropriations" bill. All government programs have to be reauthorized each year. Hence the "authorization" bill. But that bill doesn't pay for the programs. That is done with an "appropriations" bill.
I also learned that, in each Congressional session (two years), many bills are proposed and then are sent to committee. A good number of these bills tend to languish in committee because they lack support. Support for a bill is measured in the number of co-sponsors who sign on to that particular bill. So it is necessary for people who want a bill to be passed to contact the offices of their members of Congress to ask them to co-sponsor the bill.
In the case of Rep. McGovern's bill, HR 1707, the Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2007, we are doing well with co-sponsors, but we could be doing better. If your House member is not yet a co-sponsor of HR 1707, please ask him or her to become a co-sponsor. The best ways to do that are by calling, sending a fax, or visiting the office. If your House member is a co-sponsor, please contact the office to express your thanks. Members of Congress feel much better about taking a position on an issue when they know that they have support from their constituents.

A request from a friend

2008-05-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I'm headed to Washington, D.C., and will be there for a week. I'm going to spend several days focused on WHINSEC and lobbying and stuff like that.
Today, Tina Busch-Nema, my friend and fellow member of the SOA 16, asked me to share something with you. It's about the terrible effects on people of countries using nuclear weapons. I can't really add much to this, so here it is...
Dear Friends,
Fatemeh Keshavarz or known my most as Fati, is a woman who teaches at Wash U here in St. Louis. Fati is from Iran and is working tirelessly to prevent an attack on her homeland.
She wrote this poem and asked it be circulated far and wide. She wants to circulate it to let make a point...the dust of these bombs infects our souls...as well as our bodies.
Tina
Meet Keiko!
Twenty years ago, when we first moved to St. Louis, I met this lively graduate student named Keiko. After twenty odd years, it is hard to recall details beyond her round face framed by short shiny black hair.
But I remember the way she moved through the building with a combination of agility and grace, in bursts of short successive moves - much the way robins would explore a tree (without making noise or knocking anything down) .
A year after we had met, Keiko died – suddenly – of lung cancer. “I didn’t know Keiko smoked!” I said to the teary-eyed friend who brought the news of her death. “She didn’t,” he said rather hurriedly, and added after a silence, “She was born in Hiroshima.” Neither of us said much after that.
Keiko’s round face and shiny black hair have come back, often, these past few days. And every time, I have caught myself drafting a letter in my head, a letter I know I will not put in the
mail:
“Dear Senator Clinton!
I write with a personal request.
If we were careless enough to hand you the key that
opens the Oval Office
And with it as many war fronts across the globe as you
wish
Please do yourself a favor, throw it away and do not
look for it!
You may want to find out first
Why the idea of “obliterating” seventy million people
does not make you shudder
And if you have the time to pass through St. Louis,
Missouri,
Please stop by and meet Keiko Yamakawa
Her round face smiling from a hand-made picture frame
Ashes of Hiroshima in her lungs”
Fatemeh Keshavarz
Asheville, North Carolina
April 29, 2008

Post-fast reflection

2008-04-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

This morning, I broke my fast with breakfast and a good cup of tea. It felt good to enjoy the texture, tastes, and smells of food again. One of the results of my fast is that I've learned, once again, not to take food for granted. Food is a delight and a joy, a pleasure for the senses. It's also a necessity, to maintain physical strength and, indeed, to maintain life.
But, lately, the news has been about the constantly increasing price of food and how that is affecting the world. There have been images on the news of the crisis in Haiti, where people don't have enough money to buy sufficient food to provide necessary nutrition for themselves and their families. In Asia, the cost of rice is increasing astronomically.
So, I think about food... about how good it is... and about how necessary it is...
I also think about conflict in the world. The Sierra Leone story gave me hope. The war was very terrible and many people were killed. Children were given drugs and weapons and were forced to fight. They fought fiercely because the images that they had in their heads were of loved ones, who were killed in front of their eyes.
After the war, Sierra Leone started working on reunifying the country. They established a truth and reconciliation commission as a part of the healing process. That is a process that worked well in South Africa.
So... I have to relate all of this to WHINSEC/SOA... might establishing a truth and reconciliation commission help all involved to heal, to accept responsibility for wrongs done, for anger and grudges to be put aside? In my mind and in my heart, I have no doubt that this would be the right direction to go.
And so... I stop here... for now... more to come...

Fast approaching the finish line

2008-04-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

It's 8:40 p.m. on the last day of my fast. My tummy is actually saying very little to me right now. It seems to have adapted.
Doing the fast has been a good experience for me. I hope that everyone participating in this fast has found it to be a positive experience. Although the cause that motivated me to fast centers on Latin America, I did spend much time thinking about and reading about other parts of the world that are in conflict and where people are victims of human rights violations. These include situations that, most likely, had very little to do with U.S. military training of foreign troops.
I do not believe that the United States is responsible for every bad situation in the world. It is not that powerful, after all.
My sister lent me a book to read, called A Long Way Gone:Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah. He was a child soldier in Sierra Leone during the civil war. He tells his shocking story in a very matter of fact way. That makes the story seem even more shocking and even more horrifying.
In the course of reading the story, I found out that I had met the American woman who eventually adopted Ishmael Beah. Her name is Laura Simms, and she is a professional story teller. I met her a few years ago at a story telling retreat, called "Keeper of the the Flame," at the Chautauqua Institution. She and I bonded and, although it has been a few years since I've seen her, I feel that we would connect instantly when we next meet. I said "when" and not "if" because I have no doubt that we will meet again at some point.
Sierra Leone went through a terrible civil war that lasted eleven years. For someone who was a child at the time, it must have seemed as if the war would never end. But, fortunately, the war did come to an end and a truth and reconciliation commission was established to find out what exactly went wrong and to try to make sure that this horrible history would never be repeated. You can find out more at http://www.trcsierraleone.org/drwebsite/publish/index.shtml
I also think about the story told by Dominic Ding at the Lenten Luncheon last month here in Grand Island. Dominic Ding is a young man from the southern part of Sudan. He and his brothers ran away from their home in 1986. They were running for their lives. Just a year later, the Sudanese government ordered all boys in southern Sudan to be killed. So many boys fled. These boys were called the "lost boys of Sudan." They walked for many miles and, along the way, quite a few of them died. Dominic Ding was one of the survivors who found their way to a refugee camp in Kenya. A number of the lost boys, including Dominic and one of his brothers, came to the United States in 2001.
Some of the Lost Boys traveled to the United States on September 11. When they saw the news of the terrorist attacks, they were horrified and thought that they had brought their war with them to the United States. The Lost Boys who came to the United States have been very focused on their education, and many of them have graduated from college. Dominic Ding is now a graduate student. He wants to be a teacher and he has teaching experience. He did some teaching at the refugee camp in Kenya and he works with refugee children in Buffalo, New York, helping them get adjusted to a different culture. His photograph is above.
Dominic Ding and Ishmael Beah are two amazing young men who have endured things as children that are beyond the comprehension of most of us.
I have the deepest admiration for them.
So... it's getting late and soon, my fast will be just a memory.
This will be my last "fast report."
I'm headed to Washington, D.C., on Friday, and will update this blog after I return from that adventure.
Ciao for now.

day three, 1:00 p.m.

2008-04-25T09:51:00.001-07:00

This morning, I noticed that my tummy had stopped complaining. That's a good thing. Tomorrow, I'll break my fast and give it some well-deserved attention.
I decided to go to a drug store where a free blood glucose and cholesterol screening were being offered. The nurse gave me a form to fill out, which I did, and then, I waited for my turn to have my little pin prick. That didn't take long, as there was only one person in front of me. Once I was seated in front of the nurse's table, I informed her that I was on a three-day fast. I told her that because that does affect the results of the blood tests.
"Why are you fasting?" the nurse asked me.
I told her that I was fasting to close the Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas.
"What's that?" she asked.
I told her about the school and that it had been in business for sixty years and that it is in Fort Benning, Georgia. I told her that it used to be in Panama until a few years after the renegotiated Panama Canal treaties went into effect. The Panama Canal treaties were renegotiated in the late 1970s and went into effect in the early 1980s. I told the nurse that the Panamanians renamed the school, "the school of the assassins."
The nurse said that was not a good thing.
Five minutes after the test was done, I got my results, which were not particularly good for cholesterol. I arranged with my doctor to have a follow-up test.
Could I be consuming a little too much chocolate???
Hmmm. Maybe a fast is a good thing for me.
I'll write another update later.
Ciao for now.

Day two, 9:00 p.m.

2008-04-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. I finished my work for my Big Media Job, and I got to go to Stella Niagara in Lewiston for my friend Jinni's watercolor painting class. Lewiston is a beautiful village, with lots of interesting shops and a state park dedicated to visual and performing arts (Artpark). It's also right on the Niagara gorge, and that is always a stunning sight, winter or summer. Springtime is best for me. I was well distracted from the yelps of my tummy by the beauty of the hyacinths, forsythia, jonquils, and daffodils. Also, I've noticed some azalea bushes starting to blossom. The trees are turning green again.
Hmm, well, I learned a lot about horticulture when I was in prison and working in the greenhouse (which has since fallen over in a windstorm).
But I digress. The painting class was great fun. We all made paintings with people in them, which was good because last week, we found drawing people to be a bit nightmarish, and we started to rebel. This week, we learned a new technique, which made drawing and painting the people to be a whole lot easier. My painting featured a couple dancing on water's edge beneath a full moon. In the background, there was a lighthouse on a hill.
Sister Celia looked at my painting and said, "Love is in the air."
I'm not entirely sure of what motivated me to choose this romantic theme but I did...
... and I'm glad that I did...
I'm thinking that my choice of themes to paint may have been a reminder to myself that my protest isn't just about getting rid of the negative... the violence of wars that leads to torture and assassination... it's about saying that all people deserve to have positive, life-affirming experiences... which they can't really have if there are military trained to commit human rights violations running around their countries!
My tummy wasn't really growling while I was painting... I was probably well distracted... so all is good... I'm feeling strong and happy that I chose to make this statement for human rights.
I hope that you are feeling well and, if you're fasting, too, I hope that you're feeling strong...
I'll post again tomorrow.

turning into a pumpkin

2008-04-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

It's midnight, and I'm turning into a pumpkin. Day one of my fast is complete. I'm thinking about a world in which torture doesn't exist, where no one would even think that torture is the way to "get information" or, even more shocking, "to protect our freedom."
I'm thinking about a world in which governments admit that they made mistakes and where truth and reconciliation commissions dig deep into past injustices so that they don't become present injustices or future injustices.
I'm thinking about a world in which diplomacy is used to settle international disputes and war is not seen as a first-choice in exercising foreign policy.
It's late... and my tummy is still growling... but I really don't think that I'm asking for too much... when I ask for governmental leaders to act in a mature way... to practice diplomacy and nonviolence... to work for peace... and to say torture and assassination and massacres are never acceptable...
... on the other hand, when I listen to the presidential candidates bash each other and avoid discussing the issues...
Enough said. I'll write more tomorrow...

wow

2008-04-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

I'm working on my articles for Friday's edition of the Island Dispatch.
I'm being good and keeping hydrated by drinking my water, not just keeping a bottle of water next to me as a visual aid.
My tummy is demanding attention.
My head and heart understand what this fast is all about...
... and my head and heart ask readers of this blog to please call their congressional representatives and ask them to co-sponsor HR 1707, the Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2007. This legislation would call for the suspension of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation at Fort Benning. It would also call for an independent commission to investigate the instruction at that school. It is very similar to the recommendation made by Amnesty International in its 2002 report, Unmet Principles, Unmatched Power.
It is a very good idea.
My tummy is still complaining.
Time to drink some water.
I'll be back later.

Day one, 2:00 p.m.

2008-04-23T11:00:00.001-07:00

I was watching television earlier this afternoon. I couldn't help but notice how many commercials there are for food. Even the food that I don't like looked so tasty. It was bright and colorful, surrounded by happy people. I'm probably noticing it because of my fast. Come to think of it, even when I don't fast, which is most of the time, I notice food.
So... when I'm not fantasizing about food, I'm thinking about the ten folks who are currently in prison for crossing the Fort Benning fence on November 18, 2007. At least some of them are fasting. I am grateful for their witness and their determination.
So... it's afternoon on the first day. I've done three-day fasts in the past, and the first day is always the most challenging.
I'll drink some more water... and juice... and go back to work on my Big Media Job. More later.
Ciao.

Upcoming fast!

2008-04-22T19:00:00.001-07:00

I start my fast tomorrow. For someone who is as food oriented as I am, fasting is a big challenge. But, when I think about the massacres and the torture and all of the human rights violations that occur in this world, either directly or indirectly because of military aid and training provided by my government, my sacrifice seems very small indeed.
Although I have been part of a movement that has focused on one military training school for foreign troops in the United States, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas), I am well aware that the United States runs many of these schools. They train troops from around the world. Troops are trained in the United States and in the home countries of those troops. The U.S. government tends to provide military aid and training to the dictator or thug who is serving U.S. interests best at any particular time. The example that is usually cited is the aid provided to the Taliban when the former Soviet Union was bogged down in its war with Afghanistan. When the dictator or thug stops serving U.S. interests... well... gosh, it's hard to untrain those bad guys...
So... I'm fasting to send a message to the government... stop repeating the same mistakes over and over again... stop training foreign troops to do things that U.S. troops would get court martialed for doing (although, sometimes, they do it, and only the lower level troops get punished).
Gotta get some chocolate while I still can... I'll write again tomorrow!!!!

Fasting for human rights and life

2008-04-15T11:13:00.001-07:00

I invite anyone reading this blog to join me in fasting from April 23rd through the 25th to say yes to human rights and to life and no to torture and assassination!
My fast is in conjunction with a nationwide effort by the School of the Americas Watch to focus attention on the Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas. My hope is that Congress will implement Amnesty International's recommendation of suspending operations of the school, pending an investigation by an independent commission. It is only by learning the truth, whatever it may turn out to be, that healing can begin.
The upcoming fast will be my second fast with SOA Watch. I participated in my first fast last April, while serving a six-month sentence for crossing the Fort Benning fence in November 2006. Fasting in prison was not a very difficult chore nor did it seem like a huge sacrifice, as the food served in federal prison is... well... OK... but not too awesome! Fasting at home... well, that's a different story... because the food is awesome!
So... please join me; I'll be posting regular updates on what it's like to fast when surrounded by delicious foods and wonderful aromas! And, if you do join me, make sure to consume plenty of liquids! Getting dehydrated is not part of the plan!

Anniversaries

2008-03-24T09:48:00.001-07:00

March 19th was the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war. People had their say on the streets of Washington, D.C., Syracuse, N.Y., and other places. And March 21st was the anniversary of the day last year that I self-surrendered to the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, to begin my six-month sentence for crossing the fence at Fort Benning, to say no to torture and assassination and yes to human rights and to life. I marked these anniversaries quietly and sadly, but with a little bit of hope for the first time in a long time.
After so many years of feeling horror when listening to and watching news of war, torture, and violence, I am looking forward to a future in which human rights may once again be respected. Although I did not support Barack Obama when he announced his candidacy, I now feel that he may be the best hope that this country has of ending that disastrous and pointless Iraq war. I have hopes that he will use the presidency to say no to torture, assassination, and war and yes to human rights and to life.
Of the three candidates who are left in the race, I see Barack Obama as the best choice. The candidate whom I had supported at the start of the campaign, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, has also thrown his support behind Barack Obama.
I am hoping that a president Barack Obama will work hard for human rights throughout the world... in Iraq and Afghanistan, in Darfur and Tibet, in Burma and Colombia, and right here in the United States. Implementing Amnesty International's 2002 recommendation for Congress to suspend operations of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation and appoint an independent commission to investigate the school and its alleged connections to human rights abuses in Latin America. These human rights abuses include massacres, assassinations, and torture.
These things have no place in a civilized society. Yet they seem to be the topic of today's discourse. We have a president who gave the message that torture may be necessary to protect us against terrorists and rogue governments that harbor weapons of mass destruction. Ugh! Might that have been something that Vlad Dracula would have said? There is a story that, back in the 1400s, Vlad Dracula invited all of the beggars into his castle for a meal. After the beggars had enjoyed their food, Dracula then burned down the castle so there would be no more poor people in his realm. We're supposed to be more civilized than that. We're supposed to leave that sort of barbarity in the past.
But have we?
Our government has vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons, stashed all over the country. Yet we have a president who started a war against Iraq because it supposedly had "weapons of mass destruction," despite the fact that the weapons inspectors couldn't locate them. Our government refuses to have normal diplomatic relations with Cuba because it says that Cuba does not honor human rights. Ironically enough, the chief symbol of the U.S. government's lack of regard for human rights, Guantanamo Bay, is located on the island of Cuba.
Will an Obama administration do better?
I believe that it will.

Lobby Days in May

2008-01-23T18:07:00.000-08:00

The School of the Americas Watch will hold Lobby Days in Washington, D.C., from May 4th through the 6th. I intend to be there, to visit Congressional offices, to encourage Congressional staff members to ask their bosses to use their votes to say no to torture and assassination and yes to human rights and to life!
There is no place for either torture or assassination in a civilized society. I'd like to encourage everyone who reads this blog to write or call your Congressional representatives and ask them to co-sponsor HR 1707, the bill to suspend operations of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation and to put in place an independent investigation of the instruction that has been offered at both that school and the school that it claims to replace, the School of the Americas.
The public relations staff at WHINSEC continues to claim that their school has no connection with the former School of the Americas. They claim that they are a new school for a new century and that they don't teach any of the bad stuff that was taught at the School of the Americas. On the other hand, they are spending an awful lot of time and money to prevent HR 1707 from being passed. So... why are they working so hard to prevent an independent investigation?
The PR staff of WHINSEC has all sorts of tricks at their disposal to influence Congress and the media...
... but we have our passion... some of us have first-hand experience of the brutality of some of the SOA graduates... many of us know someone who was a torture victim, who was related to a torture victim, who witnessed a massacre...
... and we need to share that with our Congressional representatives.
I am looking forward to going to Washington, D.C.
I could not go to Georgia in November. I chose not to take such a long trip or to be with a lot of people just two months after being released from prison. And, as it turned out, I was not healthy enough to travel. A sinus infection somehow developed into pneumonia, and I was a very sick Alice for more than a month.
I am feeling much stronger and much better now, and I am looking forward to going to Washington, D.C., in May.
No, I don't have any extravagant gifts for the Congressional offices. No bouquets, no paintings, no musical compositions commissioned especially for them. But I do have my passion and my determination to continue to say yes to human rights and to life and no to torture and assassination.
Please visit the School of the Americas website (there's a link on this page) to read about the SOA 11, the folks who are on trial next week for crossing the Fort Benning fence to say no to torture and assassination and yes to human rights and to life!

snow, wind, and a glimmer of light...

2007-03-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

note: This is my March 2007 newsletter
In mid-January, winter finally arrived here in Western New York, with ice, wind, snow, and breath-defying temperatures.
The ice made the bare tree branches glow with the prism of fractured colors on a sunny day. During that time, I returned to Columbus, Georgia, for trial for stepping through a hole in the Fort Benning fence.
I visited the Riverwalk along the Chattahoochee River for a few peaceful walks. The air was not frigid, as it was in Western New York, but it was cold.
I looked deep into the water, and saw that it flowed gently and seemingly endlessly. Ducks floated by on the surface of the water. I walked past patches of violas, those hardy plants that bloom brightly in temperatures that would kill other flowers. I bent down and photographed the plants.
It was during those quiet moments that I looked inward for the words that I would say in court to answer the question: why did I cross that fence for a third time? Why did I risk another six-month sentence in federal prison?
The ducks and violas had reminded me of the quiet joy of being alive. I was free to enjoy a peaceful walk along a river. Despite the cold and the bare trees, the experience was life-affirming. And affirming life is what led me to the Fort Benning fence. I was not there just to say no to torture and to assassination but to say yes to human rights and to life.
Originally, I chose to cross the Fort Benning fence as a means to express my horror that my language school classmate, Sister Dianna Ortiz, had been tortured by military who had been trained in their violent acts right here in the United States. I was horrified by what had happened to her. But she survived and is now the executive director of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC International).
Many others who were tortured by U.S. trained military did not survive. Many of them disappeared without a trace. They had friends, too who can never have closure. I think of the mothers and the grandmothers (abuelas) of the disappeared who continue to stand with photographs of their loved ones in Plaza de Mayo in Argentina.
When I learned about the 1,000 Grandmothers group that Cathy Webster started for the Fort Benning protest, I thought about the ladies of the Plaza de Mayo. And so, I chose to cross again, to affirm life and to remember those who had died as a result of my government's policies. When I stepped through that hole in the Fort Benning fence, I carried with me a cross inscribed with a man's name. The Salvadoran man had been 105 years old when he was killed. I remember being shocked that someone who was old suffered such a violent death.
I was able to carry only one cross through that hole in the fence but, in my heart, I carried many others. I remembered the judicial anti-drug squad who had been massacred by the Farallones High Mountain Battalion of the Colombian Army's Third Brigade in May 2006. I remembered the eight members of the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community of Colombia who had been killed by members of the 17th brigade, led by SOA graduate Brigadier General Hector Jaime Rincon, in 2005.
I chose to make a stand for the human rights that had been denied to these individuals. I wanted to say that these folks' lives had meaning and that the world had not been made safer by their violent deaths. By crossing the fence, I used my body to say that I valued life and human rights more than my personal freedom. I talked about my motivations in court.
"I came to petition my government for a redress of grievances. I was welcomed by fences, barbed wire, no trespassing signs, and hordes of police. I was welcomed by the sight of no governmental official willing to listen to my concerns or to accept my petitions. I felt lost in a security state that I could not understand..."
I also read in Spanish and English part of Archbishop Oscar Romero's final homily before he was assassinated by an SOA-trained death squad. He talked directly to the soldiers, begging them to end the violence that was consuming his country. I chose to speak those words because I felt that Archbishop Romero's words came from the perspective of someone who had the strength to speak truth to power, even though he knew that he was placing his own life in danger.
"Hermanos, vienen de neustra gente estan matando a sus propios hermanos. cualquier orden a matar, ha de ser coforme a la ley de Dios, el caul dice, no maten!
Nadie tiene que obedecer ninguna orden que sea inmoral.
Es tiemo que obedezca a su conciencia y no las ordenes inmorales.
La Iglesia no pueda mantenerse en silenci antes dicha abominacion...
En el nobre de Dios, en el nombre del pueblo sufrido cuys gritos leegan cada dia mas fuerte al cielo, les pido, les ruego, les ordeno, para la represion!
"Brothers, you come from your own people. You are killing your own brothers. Any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God, which says, 'Thou shat not kill.' No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. It is high time you obeyed your consciences rather than sinful orders. The church cannot remain silent before such an abomination... in the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cry rises to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you: stop the repression."
After I finished, the prosecutor, Stuart Alcorn, asked Judge G. Mallon Faircloth to sentence me to six months in federal prison because this was "the third time that she's crossed in five years." Judge Faircloth agreed with the prosecution and he sentenced me to six months in prison.
At the end of my six month sentence, I will regain my freedom and will go home. I see it as a small sacrifice when I think of the friends and families of the disappeared, who may never know what happened to their loved ones and who have to live with that pain for the rest of their lives.
I will begin my six-month sentence on Wednesday, March 21, at the federal prison camp in Danbury, Connecticut.
Thank you for all of your support and for the work that you do to say yes to human rights and to life!

SOA 16

2007-02-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

Julienne Oldfield sent me this picture of the SOA 16, all together as a group in a circle.
We are still together in spirit, although we are separated by miles now and will be in separate prison facilities to serve our sentences.
Some of us have been notified as to where we are to serve our sentences and when we are expected at our new "homes." My notice came first, sooner than I anticipated. I will serve my six-month sentence at the federal prison camp in Danbury, Connecticut. I have to deliver myself there on March 21, the first day of spring. I am looking to come back home somewhere around the 19th of September.
Even though I've been in prison in the past, the prospect of spending six months in federal prison is still a bit daunting and even scary. But, even so, I am fortunate. I am going to prison for something that I truly believe in. I am going to prison because I chose to carry a message that said yes to life and human rights and no to torture and assassination onto the grounds of Fort Benning, home of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas). I chose to leave a cross on the grounds of Fort Benning, bearing the name of an old man who had been killed by people trained by my government. I left that cross in a spirit of hope, not despair, however. The hope is that no more old men, young women, babies, children, or any other people will be killed or tortured by troops trained by my government. The hope is also that my government will establish a truth and reconciliation commission so that some redress can be afforded to the victims of U.S.-sponsored violence against civilians.

The Trial of the Century

2007-02-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

At the end of January, it was time to return to Columbus, Georgia, for me and for fourteen of my co-defendants. One of my co-defendants, Margaret, never left Columbus. On November 19th, which we found out was her birthday, she made the decision to go to jail, instead of posting bond so that she could be released from custody pending her trial.
On Monday, January 29, the fifteen of us and our supporters lined up at the Howard Johnson's to march to court. We carried crosses bearing the name of people who had been killed by graduates of the School of the Americas. Virginia Ward, mom of our co-defendant Grayman Ward, chanted the names of the dead, and we responded "presente," just as we had on November 19.
It was a cold morning but the sky was bright and clear.
At the steps of the courthouse/post office, we held a press conference. Five of us shared brief statements about what brought us to the other side of the Fort Benning fences.
Then it was time to enter the court for our trials.
The trials lasted just one day. All of us had a chance to say what we felt that we needed to say about WHINSEC/SOA. Grayman chose to sing his commentary about the judge. Judge Faircloth then commented on the singing... but, well, newspapers and magazines probably won't be calling or mailing him offers to take on the job of music critic. He also tried on the role of stand-up comedian. When he told us that we would have to pay a $10 assessment fee, he commented, "I don't know what that's for. Maybe it's for the entertainment of being here today." OK, that was a little bit funny. The debate between the the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the judge about sentences for a few of the defendants, who had expired ban and bar letters, was somewhat entertaining, too, but I think that we might have been overcharged with that $10 admission fee. I would suggest to Judge Faircloth that he isn't ready to quit his day job. I chose not to offer that recommendation in court, however... or my fee for the entertainment might have been increased to $20!!!
Popcorn, anyone???
Not all of the time in the court involved light entertainment, musical performances, and bad jokes, however. The court statements were serious and moving. Some of my co-defendants talked about personal experiences. Margaret Bryant-Ganer discussed the hardships of life in West Virginia, where mining companies have run amuck, and compared it to life in Latin America, where U.S.-trained military have run amuck. Tina Busch-Nema described an incident in Honduras, where she had been a missionary. She had come face to face with a death squad, quite accidentally. The death squads had guns and did not seem hesitant to use them. They did not use them that day. Tina talked about the fear that she experienced, both during the incident and after it. Val Fillenwarth talked about her grandson, Ben, who died in a car accident. She related the grief of a grandmother and the feelings of helplessness that her family experienced when Ben died. But, she said, that was an accident. In Latin America, U.S.-trained military kill people's children and grandchildren, and that is no accident.
My own court statement focused on the issues of freedom vs. security. I talked about losing my freedom to petition my government for a redress of grievances. Instead of speaking directly to governmental officials, in this case, the people who run the Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation, I was faced with barbed-wire-topped fences and police. When I tried to exercise my freedom of religion by placing a cross with the name of a 105-year-old Salvadoran man who had been killed on the grounds of Fort Benning, I was arrested. I concluded by reading a portion of the late Archbishop Oscar Romero's final homily in both Spanish and English.
Take a look at the SOA Watch website for information about the SOA 16, which includes biographical stuff, court statements, and sentences.
Margaret was released from jail following her trial. She related that her fellow inmates in the Muscogee County Jail told her that they enjoyed having her there with them but now it was time for her to go home. I was especially happy to see her in the courtroom for my trial.
I would like to express my thanks to my supporters, the attorneys, the SOA Watch staff, everyone who helped prepare us for the trial, for the food preparation crew, and to my co-defendants. In addition to the ones named above, I would like to mention Cathy Webster, Don Coleman, Phil Gates, Nathan Slater, Martina LeForce, Mike Vosburg-Casey, Melissa Helman, Julienne Oldfield, Whitney Ray, Josh Harris, and Sister Sheila Salmon. I am very grateful to all of my co-defendants for their witness.
The pictures and stories below are of trial preparation activities and are posted in no particular order. The red rose pictured above represents life. We all hope for a life in Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere that is free of war, violence, and repression.
For more pictures and stories about my Georgia trip, please take a look at my Alice's Grand Adventures blog by clicking onto the link on the left-hand side of this page.

taking a break

2007-02-02T17:27:00.000-08:00

Julienne, Betsy, and I went for a short walk along the Chattahoochee River between the many marathon sessions that we enjoyed as we prepared for the Trial of the Century (not quite the Scopes Monkey Trial, but that was the last century!).

partygoers

2007-02-02T17:22:00.000-08:00

Here are Juliana Illari and Julienne Oldfield enjoying the fun and frolic of the Festival of Hope. Their names sound alike, sort of, and their color coordination is quite incredible. This is the Festival Fashion Statement, without a doubt!

Judge Faircloth???

2007-02-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

Here is... ummm... "Judge Faircloth," not to be mistaken with "Judge Judy" or Night Court's Judge Harry Stone. Come to think of it, where is Night Court when we need it?? So anyway, we held "court," with Judge Faircloth, who was mad and was offering three months here and six months there... here a month, there a month, everywhere a month, a month...
We also had the winner of the one millionth... billionth, trillionth... oh who can remember when the numbers get to be that big... inmate to enter into BOP-land... with prizes galore... mostly booby prizes, however!
It was all great fun for everyone concerned... and those of us who are headed on a government-sponsored vacation in BOP-land are looking forward to collecting a few of those prizes.
(BOP= federal bureau of prisons)

Introducing the acts

2007-02-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

Eric LeCompte, operations coordinator for SOA Watch, had a great deal of fun introducing the wide variety of "talent or non-talent" at the gala festival of hope on Sunday, January 28. We had a great time reciting or reading poetry, singing, telling stories, and juggling, among other activities.

Father Roy Bourgeois and Gail Phares

2007-02-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

Father Roy Bourgeois chats with Gail Phares of Witness for Peace shortly after his return from a whirlwind trip to Colombia, Panama, and Nicaragua.
At the Sunday evening Festival of Hope, he talked his journey.
"I experienced fear of the empire in Colombia. I talked about our movement in solidarity with them (the Colombians). They are hearing about people confronting nonviolently el empirio (the empire). They send love and el abrazos (hugs) to the SOA 16 and to all. They know that we're here, walking in solidarity with them.
"We don't need guns and commandos. We need health care, schools, and hospitals," Father Roy said. He also talked about creating symbols of hope... Project Mariposa... to put butterflies on buildings and in parks...

Joao, our media guy

2007-02-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

Joao da Silva is SOA Watch's media coordinator. He is originally from Chile. After the 1973 U.S.-sponsored coup d'etat, his mother was illegally held in detention for several weeks.
He said, about WHINSEC/SOA, "You can change the name, but it doesn't change the history. The school should be closed and investigated... There is no logical justification for the school, other than pushing U.S. foreign policy in Latin America."

Peaceful moments

2007-02-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

On Sunday afternoon, we shared prayers, reflections, and music from a variety of spiritual traditions. Martina LeForce's gentle flute playing helped to establish a peaceful mood. It was a time to be free from the busy-ness of trial preparations. It gave us a chance to center ourselves and set aside, at least briefly, fears of what might lie ahead for us.

My fearless attorney

2007-02-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

This is Dan Gregor, who served as my attorney for my trial. He lives in Salt Lake City, the home of that great anti-war mayor, Rocky Anderson!

Peace rally at the gates of Fort Benning

2007-02-02T11:03:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, January 27th, everyone who had come to Columbus for the trial, including defendants, supporters, the legal team, and the SOA Watch staff, wanted to participate in a small demonstration to coincide with the larger one in Washington, D.C.
Our fun activity for Friday night had been sign making. We were given posterboard and markers. Our messages were as varied as we were, as can be seen by the above picture.
The military police were not thrilled with us, but they could do very little since we were not on Fort Benning property, and they did not have jurisdiction over us. They did, however, send for the Columbus police, who sent two officers. They spoke with members of our legal team and left, which made the military police even less happy. A number of people who drove into Fort Benning showed their support of our calls for the troops to be removed from Iraq with horn honks and waves.
In addition to the signs calling for the Iraq war to end, we also carried a large banner reading, "Close the SOA," to remind people of why we had come to Columbus, Georgia, two months after the November vigil.

2007-01-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

Farewell Party for Alice!

Last evening, the Buffalo War Resisters League and other supporters threw a "good bye party" for me. It was held at El Buen Amigo, a store in downtown Buffalo.
El Buen Amigo is a store that was started by Santiago, who is originally from Chile. He and his family had to leave Chile after the U.S.-sponsored coup d'etat in 1973 that overthrew that country's elected president, Salvador Allende, and replaced him with a terrible dictator, Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet was associated with some very terrible human rights abuses and had been indicted for them. Before he could go to trial, however, he died. But, anyway, Santiago found his way to Western New York and he bacame a teacher here. He also founded El Buen Amigo as a place where clothing and a variety of crafts made by people in Latin America could be sold and where the profits would go directly to the craftspeople. Now, there are goods from all over the world. The store is always colorful and cheerful, with clothing, jewelry, crafts, and artwork. It is a delight to behold.
Santiago, always a gentleman, was very happy to offer his store as a place to hold the party.
And the party was a great delight, with plenty of food to eat, people to chat with, and lively Latin American music to listen to.
Toward the beginning of the party, I had a chance to talk to the group, to tell them what led me to cross the Fort Benning fence... um... more than once(!) I told them my story, about my trip to the Texas-Mexico border, about my time at language school in Guatemala, about the things that I had learned about SOA/WHINSEC, about my legislative work. I was also happy to answer questions. In addition, I brought the looseleaf binder that I had put together for my trip to the midwest, with articles that I had written, articles written about me, my prison journal, my newsletters, drawings of the Fort Benning fence from my sketchbook, drawings from my prison sketchbook, information about legislative stuff concerning closing the school, and photographs.
After the talk, I had the chance to chat with a variety of people and to dance and to enjoy some delicious food! It was a great party and we all had a good time.
The party was so good for me, and for everyone else, I think. I am headed back to Georgia on Thursday, January 25, for my upcoming trial. I am very grateful for this display of support from my friends here in Western New York!
(below are pictures from the party)

2007-01-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

Here is a view of the party in full swing, with people all excited about the camera! I don't know why the taller people ended up in front and the shorter ones in the back!!!

2007-01-20T09:49:00.000-08:00

"Bitsy's Dad," on the right, has been to Palestine to share his computer knowledge with the people there. He plans on returning to Palestine again soon to spend four weeks there, doing, I suppose, computer stuff.

2007-01-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

Here are Barbara and Jinni. Barbara is the one with the cup. She is a retired teacher who has a very wacky sense of humor and a great gift for water color painting. Jinni is an artist. Her favorite medium is water color painting. She teaches art classes in various places in Niagara County. Every other week, Barbara and I go to Jinni's art class at Stella Niagara. We enjoy the peacefulness of Stella Niagara and the kindness of the Franciscan sisters. Barbara and Jinni brought me to the party in Buffalo, where we discovered that everyone in the city must have gone out for a night on the town!!! There were very few parking spots to be found!!!

2007-01-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

Here is Joe, who formerly published Alt Press in Buffalo. I was the assistant managing editor of that publication for a long time. It ceased publication about a year ago, and Joe went into radio work. I've spoken about the School of the Americas (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) a few times on the radio show that he and Grady Hawkins hosted until fairly recently, called "The Voice of Reason." The show is now off the air because the radio station abruptly changed format. Everyone was canned!
Marie is Joe's wife. She has been a special education teacher in the Buffalo school system for a number of years, and she currently works in a high school. She has been active in the movement to close SOC/WHINSEC far longer than I have. She arranged for Father Roy Bourgeois to come to Buffalo in 2001 and 2002. She and Joe arranged for me to interview Father Roy at some length for a few articles for Alt Press.
Marie and Joe have three sons and one daughter and are now the proud grandparents of a happy baby girl, named Hannah.

2007-01-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

Santiago, Barbara, and me in Santiago's store, El Buen Amigo, where clothing and other crafts from all over the world are sold. The profits go directly to the crafts people. In back of us is the banner that I made for the War Resisters League of Buffalo. The broken rifle symbolizes their hope for a world free from war.

2006-12-25T04:54:00.000-08:00

Fort Benning Vigil 2006: Part Three
Sunday, November 19

I arrived at the vigil site somewhere around eight o'clock in the morning. Ed and Ann and a few other Syracuse folks went to set up their table with the things from the Syracuse Cultural Workers that they planned to sell... t-shirts, bandanas, calendars were among the bigger sellers. I went close to the stage to listen to and watch the pre-vigil speakers and singers. We had Buddhists drumming and chanting, a Mayan blessing, and musicians sharing songs. We saw the Veterans for Peace march as a group, singing/reciting a cadence to close WHINSEC/SOA. We heard President Charles Steele, Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who gave a stirring speech about civil rights back in the days when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was giving stirring speeches, and now... in Latin America and here. He was joined by the Living the Dream marchers, who walked from Selma, Alabama, to Fort Benning. We heard from Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, co-founder of the Muslim-Jewish Peace Walk, and from Frankie Flores, who spoke on behalf of the Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition International (TASSC International). We heard welcomes and words of hope from our three representatives who traveled to Latin America to speak with their governments about not sending any more troops to WHINSEC: SOA Watch founder Father Roy Bourgeois, Lisa Sullivan Rodriguez (head of SOA Watch's Latin America office), and Carolos Mauricio, a Salvadoran torture survivor who founded the Stop Impunity Project.
During this time, a huge banner was brought near the stage. On it were a multitude of pictures and a message of hope that this "school" would soon be closed. For a short time, I held this banner so that the thousands of people, who were just arriving, could see the message. Other people were going to carry the banner in the procession so I relinquished my little piece of it.
At approximately ten o'clock, we started singing the no mas, no more litany that we sing every year in memory of those in Latin America who had been killed or disappeared or tortured by military personnel who had been trained at WHINSEC/SOA. We called out for the truth from a government that offers denials and public relations coverups, instead of the facts.
This year, our message was of hope that the next Congress will pass a bill that will call for operations of the school to be suspended and for a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the instruction offered at that school. It would be a step forward and would offer survivors and families of those who are gone a chance to heal. It would be part of a process that I have just recently learned about, called "restorative justice." For more information about restorative justice, take a look at http://www.restorativejustice.org and for information about Latin America and restorative justice, just click on the map of Latin America on the right side of the page.
Restorative justice is positive because it emphasizes "repairing the harm that is done by criminal behaviour." It can be used on a local level or on an international level.
But... we don't yet have that Truth and Reconciliation Commission that Amnesty International recommended in its 2002 report, "Unmet Principles, Unmatched Power." What we have instead is pain and heartache because people whom we care about have been victims of torture or have been killed or have been disappeared... and so many of us in the United States have friends or relatives who have been victims of these crimes... which leaves us feeling that our government has betrayed our trust and has broken our hearts...
In our vigil procession, we called for a redress of our grievances... we remembered the babies, children, women, men, and elderly, who had been killed throughout Latin America... in El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, Chile, Argentina, and elsewhere. Their names and ages were chanted, one at a time, and we remembered them. We remembered them in other ways at the vigil, too... The 900 El Mozote, El Salvador, massacre victims had a special memorial, with clothing on hangers representing people at different ages...
We had other visual reminders... people dressed in shrouds, their faces painted white to look like death, carry coffins and lie down to simulate the results of a massacre. They were covered in fake blood to look like death...
And we had puppets... a colorful mourning woman and a statue of liberty, among others. The big puppetista pageant came early in the afternoon but I can't report on that because I didn't see it.
Every year, some of the people who come to the vigil attempt to bring their message onto the grounds of Fort Benning. Every year, that becomes more difficult as the military tries to hide from the truth by building more and more fences. The military claims that it must be "apolitical" and it must be completely separate from the civil government. Hence, it says that political protests are not permitted on the grounds of a military base. If this were so, why does WHINSEC have a public relations budget that includes line items for influencing the media and Congress? Is this "apolitical"?
But the military uses this claim of being "apolitical" as an excuse for building fences and for creating a "free speech zone." For a really well written article criticizing "free speech zones," take a look at James Bovard's article titled "'Free Speech Zone' The administration quarantines dissent," published in the December 15, 2003, issue of The American Conservative (http://www.amconmag.com/12_15_03/feature.html)
So we challenge these fences. We are seeking redress of grievances from our government. This is a right that is guaranteed by the first amendment of the U.S. consitution.
So I chose to challenge the fence, to take a cross with the name of an elderly Salvadoran man onto the grounds of Fort Benning, which is quite possibly the place where his killer had been trained. I planted the cross with the name of that 105-year-old man in the red clay earth. Silently, I asked for his forgiveness... for me and for my nation.

2006-12-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

Fort Benning 2006: Part Two
Colombia's Struggles
Colombia received $590.9 million in military and police aid this year. The administration has requested that Colombia be given $623.6 million in military and police aid in fiscal year 2007. Much of this aid is directed at stopping the flow of drugs from Colombia to the United States. One of the ways in which this is accomplished is with a fumigation program that is designed to kill the coca plants before they can be harvested and refined into the cocaine that is shipped to the United States by smugglers. The United States also provides training to Colombian troops, in Colombia and in the United States. SOA/WHINSEC, the Interamerican Air Forces Training Academy at Lackland Air Force Base, and the Spanish Helicopter Battalion school at Fort Rucker, Alabama, are among the facilities that offer military training to Colombian troops. The Washington Office on Latin America has estimated, based on U.S. government data, that, in 2006, Colombians make up 42 percent of all students at WHINSEC.

People in Colombia tell a story that is different from the above "official story."
Here are stories, as told by Renato Areiza, coordinator of the Council of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado, Colombia, and Debora-Barros-Fince, survivor of the Wayuu massacre in the Bahia region of Colombia and founder of Wayuu Munsurat. They spoke at two different workshops that I attended on Friday, November 17: the Colombia Teach-In, sponsored by Witness for Peace, and Human Rights Accompaniment in Colombia, sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Renato Areiza talked about the three million people who have been internally displaced in Colombia because of the violence. He identified the armed actors there as being the Army, the guerrillas (both the PLN and the more powerful FARC), the paramilitries, and the United States. He said that the peace community was founded in March 27, 1997, and that it is dedicated to staying neutral in the conflict in the region and to saying no to all armed actors, including the military. One thousand five hundred people live in this community.
People in the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado are afraid of being assassinated or dominated by the participants in the armed struggle.
But it is hard for the people in this community to avoid the violence that seems to be a daily part of Colombia life. In 2005, military and paramilitary personnel massacred eight campesinos. They included three children, a leader of the community, and Renato Areiza's sister, Deyanira. The group responsible for the massacre was led by a School of the Americas graduate.
People in this community looked to the outside for help, but found none.
"We turned to all parts of the Colombian state. We believed that the state would protect us. We looked for justice. We lobbied and met with vice presidents. The Colombian government denied all of our requests. They didn't do justice for us. We were given no protection."
Renato Areiza said about the political situation: "President Uribe talks only of drug trafficking and terrorism... if Pablo Escobar were the only problem, it would be easy... people are displaced... they are dying of hunger... human rights are violated... all of Colombia is being fumigated with a strong herbicide (including areas where there are no coca plants)... bullets are being shot from airplanes... it's not just guerrillas and drug trafficking... we want social investment, not military aid..."
All armed actors consider the people of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado to be enemies.
"We're not with any of them. We look to the international community for support... we don't want to leave our land... we don't want to pick up a weapon... we need internationals as shields and as protection."

Debora Barros-Fince said, "I am a common citizen, an indigenous person who has lived war." She spoke passionately about what the war has done to Wayuu land at the Colombia-Venezuela border. She described horrific things that had happened in her community... members of the paramilitary "cutting people to bits to sow terror."
She talked about mining and how it hurts indigenous communities. She said that her community has been offered money to leave their homeland, but that the community would never accept the money. She talked about multinational corporations looking to take advantage of the natural resources beneath the ground. "We don't care about the money. We are a community... we want dignity... we want the paramilitaries off of our land... we want the multinational corporations to go back to their own countries..."
More than 300 members of the Wayuu community have fled to Venezuela, where they are hungry and are longing to "be at home in their own community."
She, too, asked for help from the international community... "Stop the flow of money to Columbia... money that is used to buy arms to kill Afro-Colombians, indigenous people, and others... come to our community and accompany us... this works... it helps to deter attacks by any armed actor."
For more information on accompaniment, check the Fellowship of Reconciliation website at http://www.forusa.org

2006-12-12T05:46:00.000-08:00

Fort Benning 2006

Part one: The trip to Georgia and an evening in Alabama
My trip to Columbus, Georgia, for the SOA Watch protest at the gates of Fort Benning was a great adventure this year.
I traveled down to Georgia with a group from Syracuse, New York. We started on November 15 and arrived in Georgia on November 16. On our way down, we experienced a large traffic tie-up in Pennsylvania and an even larger traffic tie-up in Virginia. The Virginia traffic jam was accompanied by sheets of rain and the overwhelming darkness of a stormy night. As the five of us sat in our unmoving car, we played a geography game and sang and recited nursery rhymes. It felt almost surreal or, as Rae pointed out, it was much like being stuck in the Twilight Zone.
After about two and a half hours, we emerged from the traffic jam. We were then able to see the cause of the traffic jam: an accident that resulted in a crushed tractor trailer. Many police cars, fire trucks, and an ambulance or two were parked at the scene of the disaster. I sincerely hoped that no one was injured too severely.
We spent the night at a church in a church in Statesville, North Carolina.
Rae and Ann reported to us the next day that they had awakened during the night to hear a huge storm. They said that it sounded like a hurricane.
We found out later that tornadoes had hit various parts of the southeast that night, including Fort Benning.
We arrived in Columbus, Georgia, early on Thursday afternoon and settled in our hotel rooms.
Before long, however, we were back in the car, on our way to Opelika, Alabama, to meet up with the "Living the Dream" marchers. They had spent the week walking from Selma, on their way to Columbus. I had considered joining them but never followed through. This didn't seem like the right time for me to do that, for a variety of reasons. Perhaps, if they do it again, I will take the whole walk with them.
We were looking forward to hearing Kathy Kelly speak at St. James Baptist Church in Opelika. The talk was scheduled for seven o'clock in the evening. We were very concerned about getting to the church on time. We ate a dinner at a pizza parlor in Opelika, surrounded by a youthful soccer team that seemed to be enjoying an awards dinner. There were loads of kids and even more trophies.
The pizza parlor was quite a place. It was filled with all sorts of memorabilia of Auburn University and its famous football team, as well as loads of other stuff, all for sale. Near the ceiling, a little train chugged around a track. It was quite a delightful restaurant, and the prices were very low. The people who worked there were quite pleasant, and we were made to feel right at home.
After dinner, we went straight to St. James Baptist Church and saw that... no one was there! We were confused. It was exactly seven o'clock in the evening. That's when we realized that seven o'clock in Georgia was only six o'clock in Alabama. As soon as we crossed the bridge over the Chattahoochee River into Alabama, we had changed time zones, from eastern to central. We got to relax for an hour before the talk. Also we were welcomed by the pastor of the church, the Rev. George Bandy, who made us feel very welcome.
We heard from a variety of people, including the Rev. George Bandy, who talked about the civil rights movement here in this country and the School of the Americas. We were introduced to Mrs. Amelia Boynton Robinson, who has been a civil rights activist since the 1930s and is still going strong at 95. We also were entertained by the Living the Dream choir, who led us in rousing sing-alongs. They even invited members of the audience to join them in front. Kathy Kelly gave an energetic and heartfelt talk about human rights... including civil rights in the United States, her experiences in Iraq, and issues involving the SOA/WHINSEC.
It was a good evening. Ed, Rae, Nancy, Ann, and I agreed that, when we left, we felt energized by the experience. We took Kathy back to the hotel to spend the night with us. She left early the next morning.

2006-11-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

Alice's Continuing Adventures

During the hottest part of July, I went to the Washington, D.C., area to attend to some legal matters. I had been arrested near the Pentagon in March, along with approximately fifty other individuals. We were attempting to deliver a coffin to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld when we encountered a hastily built fence and hordes of police. The fence was placed near a parking lot, out of sight of the Pentagon. It became obvious to me that, if we were to stay in this fenced in area, we would be protesting for our benefit only. Although I had not intended to risk arrest that day, I was so shocked by this blatant violation of my first amendment right to seek redress of grievances of governmental officials that I impulsively made the decision to cross that fence.

The charge against me was “violation of a lawful order.” It is a class B misdemeanor. The court in which the case was to be heard was the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.

I arrived in Washington, D.C., on July 18. I was greeted by a wall of heat and by the sight of lollipops melting on the pavement. Almost before I knew it, I was near the White House, protesting the Israel-Hezbollah war. It was the hottest, sweatiest protest that I had ever experienced! I saw the Code Pink group, which was fasting and vigiling at Lafayette Park. I met several people from the Middle East, who just wanted to see the violence stop. One was Mohammed, who is from Morocco, where, he told me, people of all faiths live together in peace. Another was an artist, Mona. Originally from Egypt, she lives in the Washington, D.C., area. Her paintings, which can be found at monaart.com, reflect her North African roots.

During the few days that I was in Washington, D.C., I spent much time in the Palestine Center., 2425 Virginia Ave., NW. The first time, I saw a documentary film titled Improvisation, directed by Raed Andoni, about a musical family, the Joubran brothers. These brothers play traditional Arab music. The movie depicted their relationships with one another and the rest of their family, their practices, the playing and construction of the ‘oud (a traditional Arab instrument), and their performances. It also gave viewers an impression of life in Ramallah, under the Israeli occupation. It was a beautiful movie about music, life, love, and perseverance in spite of man-made obstacles.

Also, at the Palestine Center, I heard an informative talk about Hamas and how it came to win the election in the Palestinian territories. The speaker, Nadia Hijab, offered an historical perspective of the region, the series of negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and the Palestinian resistance movements. It was an interesting, yet disturbing talk. She asked, “Where do we go from here? The region is doomed without a comprehensive solution. How many people will die before this reality is recognized?”

On Friday, July 21, I was in court. I found out that the judge assigned to the case was Theresa Buchanan, who was well-known for sending protesters to jail. I was horrified. I had not anticipated the possibility of being sent to jail, even though I was aware that the maximum sentence for this charge was six months in prison plus a big fine. I had intended to plead “no contest” and to ask the judge to sentence me to “community service” and “probation” (the prosecutor said that “probation” had to go along with “community service” so that there would be someone to “supervise” me).

As it turned out, Judge Buchanan would not accept a no-contest plea. So I chose, along with 13 co-defendants who were in court that day, to plead not guilty. We were proceeding “pro se” (defending ourselves). Some of my co-defendants did a fine job in giving an opening speech and in cross-examining the chief prosecution witness, Major William Stout of the Pentagon Police. He insisted that he had designed a “free speech zone” for us so that we could enjoy our protest in a nice, secluded spot. Under cross-examination, he acknowledged that the spot was so secluded that no one in the Pentagon could either see us or hear us. After the prosecution rested, the judge shocked everyone in the courtroom by abruptly dismissing the charges.

That abrupt dismissal ended the trial of the century, which most certainly did not live up to that title.

AMERICA’S FAIR

That is the new title of the Erie County Fair. I entered two pastel paintings, two crocheted doilies, and one small crocheted blanket into the contests at the Creative Arts Building. One of the paintings was a still life of (what else?) food… a loaf of bread, a jar of pickled vegetables, and a hunk of cheese on a plate. The other painting was a portrait of a girl dressed in an eighteenth century costume singing as she sat on the ground in front of a harp. When I went to the fair with my family, I was thrilled to find out that I had won two ribbons for my efforts. That was sort of like the frosting on the cake. Just having the stuff on exhibit is a big treat for me. But it’s always fun to win.

MY MIDWESTERN ADVENTURE

In September, I spent ten days in the Midwest. I was in Chicago, Illinois; LaCrosse, Wisconsin; and Decorah, Iowa. I went to visit people, to experience life in the Midwest, and to speak to groups about the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

In Chicago, I stayed with Voices for Creative Nonviolence, an organization founded by Kathy Kelly and Simon Harak, and dedicated to providing humanitarian aid and witness to war in Iraq. It is always good to see the Voices for Creative Nonviolence folks. They had been in Washington, D.C., from February to March to fast and to protest the war in the “Winter of Our Discontent.” A few of them had crossed the fence with me at the Pentagon on March 20.

One of the unexpected highlights of my Midwestern trip was a train ride between Chicago and LaCrosse. I was treated to a guided tour by two narrators, who were volunteers with the Trails and Rails program, sponsored by Amtrak and the National Park Service. The narrators told stories and shared facts and historical data about the areas, as we were passing them.

After getting off the train in LaCrosse, I was greeted by my friend Mary Cary, whom I hadn’t seen in more than twenty years. The two of us had been students in the University of Missouri-Columbia, when we last saw one another. We were so happy to see one another! Mary introduced me to her friend, Perry-O Sliwa. The two of them had arranged for me to spend the next several days at Perry-O and David Sliwa’s farm outside of Decorah, Iowa.

My time at the organic farm was delightful. I spoke about WHINSEC at Luther College and at the Friends meeting house in Decorah, as well as at a Friends’ meeting in Gays Mills, Wisconsin. I went to a workshop on how to build solar food dehydrators. I spent time outdoors, picking berries and walking. I experienced the beauty of the Iowa countryside, with its valleys and ridges and rivers.

After spending several days in Iowa, I returned to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, where I stayed with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. I gave a talk about WHINSEC at the Franciscan Spirituality Center. Mary gave me a tour of downtown LaCrosse. I stood with the Women in Black at their weekly vigil. I enjoyed a walk alongside the Mississippi River. I even got to see a ballet called “Dracula,” presented by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet at Viterbo College. It was dark, dramatic, foreboding, and highly entertaining.

The Sliwas, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, and Voices for Creative Nonviolence were kind and gracious hosts. It was a fantastic opportunity for me.

I enjoyed my time in Iowa and Wisconsin so much that I would consider going out there for a longer period of time, if I could find the right community.

FORT BENNING, NOVEMBER 17-19, 2006

The time is rapidly approaching. I’m going back to Fort Benning next month. I was hoping that it would be to celebrate the passage of HR 1217, but, unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Maybe we’ll have better luck with legislation with a different Congress.

I am hoping that many people decide to cross that fence this year. It is the 60^th anniversary of the founding of the School of the Americas, which has had a variety of names but has always been the same school. The issue has always been accountability. If the government really believed that no harm had been done by training offered at that school, wouldn’t it welcome an investigation?

I am asking you to consider crossing the fence this year. Having 20,000 people walk onto the grounds of Fort Benning, by a variety of entrances, would make an impression on people at the school and people in Washington, D.C. Please think about it.

I’ll see you there!

(For more detail about my adventures, take a look at my blog at alicesgrandadventures.blogspot.com.)

2006-11-28T08:36:00.000-08:00

Congress Has Its Say on WHINSEC

(June 2006 newsletter)

On June 9, I watched the debate in the House of Representatives on the future of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas), televised on C-SPAN.

Representative James McGovern’s bill, the Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2005 (HR 1217), was offered to the House as an amendment to the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. The amendment was named for two sponsors, James McGovern (D-Massachusetts) and John Lewis (D-Georgia) and was titled the McGovern-Lewis amendment.

As the individual who introduced the amendment, McGovern was the first to speak about why it needed to be approved. He talked about the “notorious legacy” of the SOA. WHINSEC, he said, is no improvement over the old school. It has welcomed several well-known human rights violators as students. Keeping the school open is “sending the wrong signal to Latin America.” Furthermore, WHINSEC and the SOA are on the same base and they offer the same curriculum. “Excuse me if I don’t get the difference,” McGovern commented.

The opposition to HR 1217 was led by Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Arizona), chairman of the Foreign Operations Committee. “WHINSEC is a Department of Defense facility, which replaces the SOA. It trains civilians, military, and law enforcement officers to support our democratic principles.” While he acknowledged that some SOA graduates were “bad,” he claimed that more of them “uphold human rights.”

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-New York) had questions about Rep. Kolbe’s assertions that the majority of SOA graduates support human rights. “The Department of Defense refuses to monitor the careers of graduates,” she said. “The vetting process is broken. WHINSEC is just another name for SOA.”

Representative Barbara Lee (D-California) pointed out that “people in Latin America are not fooled by a name change.” Representatives debating in favor of HR 1217 talked about an incident that occurred in Colombia on May 19. Members of the Farallones High Mountain Battalion of the army’s Third Brigade killed ten members of an elite judicial police anti-drug squad during a thirty-minute firefight took place near the town of Jamudi, south of Cali (source: the Center for International Policy). CIP raised questions as to whether the killing of the police, which involved unprovoked shooting and the detonation of hand grenades, was “friendly fire” or something more sinister. General Mario Montoya, commander of the national army, said, “We are not going to wait for a group to arrive before opening fire. The men were simply deployed in response to a suspicious situation that presented itself in the zone.”

Hmmm, the old “shoot first, ask questions later” tactic. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, Montoya is well-known for his scorched-earth policy and for his connections with paramilitary units. He is not well known for upholding human rights. Did he learn his techniques at the SOA? It appears that he paid attention in class and applied his newfound knowledge well.

Members of Congress who argued against the amendment said that the institution is noted for its human rights training. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Georgia) identified himself as a member of WHINSEC’s Board of Visitors. He said, “All students and instructors receive comprehensive human rights training” and that graduates are “not brutal and murderous thugs. The vast majority make positive contributions and serve with honor and distinction.”

Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Massachusetts) completely disagreed. WHINSEC, he argued, is the “breeding ground for unsavory thugs” who “repress, abuse, and kill their victims.”

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) commented that WHINSEC/SOA is notorious for “graduating human rights violators” and that people targeted by these graduates include educators, student leaders, and union leaders.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) talked about the February 21-22, 2005, massacre at San Jose de Apartado, Colombia. Shortly after eight persons, including three children, were killed in this peace community, the 17^th Brigade, directed by SOA graduate Brigadier General Hector Jaime Rincon, was seen there. Rincon had graduated from the SOA’s “small unit tactical operations” course. “This is not an isolated matter. It is a shameful policy,” Schakowsky said.

Rep. John Mica (R-Florida) started by referring to opponents of SOA/WHINSEC as the “caffe latte crowd,” an odd comment, considering that Colombia is well-known for its coffee. Returning to the topic at hand, he expounded upon the virtues of WHINSEC and declared that it trains officers who share our values and that the program should be expanded, not cut. He didn’t mention problems concerning our own government and military with massacres, extraordinary rendition (deporting someone to a country that practices torture), Guatanamo, secret prisons, etc. Are these the values that the SOA students share with us?

Meehan addressed those issues directly. “The U.S. administration has done little to hide contempt for human rights,” he stated. “Cutting funding is a small step in the right direction.”

The new WHINSEC graduates are becoming fewer in number, however, as demand for the program falls. So far, Bolivia, Venezuela, Uruguay, and Argentina have announced that that they are no longer sending students to the school, and the list could soon get longer. Enrollment has declined by 40 percent. Most of the students now come from five Andean nations, and U.S. students are filling empty seats. As enrollment declines, the budget for the school does not.

None of the opponents to HR 1217, from the cantankerous Mica to the genteel Gingrey, were able to explain why funding for WHINSEC has remained the same while the number of students has declined. They also were unable to explain the lack of accountability and the fact that no independent investigation of this school and its graduates has been performed. School supporters simply repeat public relations offerings from WHINSEC. They also do not mention Amnesty International’s November 2002 report, “Unmatched Power, Unmet Principle.”

After the allotted thirty minutes, the debate was over, and a roll call vote was held on the McGovern-Lewis amendment. It was defeated by the vote of 188 to 218.

Our work continues.

Alice E. Gerard

2006-11-28T08:34:00.000-08:00

Alice Goes to Washington: SOA Watch Lobby Days!

(May 2006 Newsletter)

1. Plan Colombia: On Sunday, April 23, I attended a workshop organized by SOA Watch at American University on Plan Colombia.

The panelists included Erik Giblin, a program officer for the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, and Berenice Celeyta Alayon, one of four Colombian recipients of the 1998 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. The panelists said that Colombia’s history is “very complex” and includes a strange set of alliances between “Mafia-type powers,” local dictators, guerrillas, drug lords, paramilitaries, corporations, and the military.

Various elements regularly target human rights activists and labor leaders for assassination. In 2005, sixty trade unionists were killed, and not a single killer was brought to justice. One of the most notorious of the plots, Operation Dragon, involved threats against Celeyta Alayon and others. After several people received a tip that they would be killed during the week of August 23, 2004, they contacted the Colombian attorney general, and a raid was conducted in the cities of Cali and Medellin. Materials found were evidence of the surveillance of 170 persons, with contact information, a power point presentation, a detailed map of the SINTRAEMACALI labor union, and the notebooks of Lt. Colonel Julian Villate Leal of Colombia’s Third Brigade. It was learned that information had been leaked from Colombia’s secret police (called DAS) to the would-be assassins. In addition, the lieutenant colonel, now retired, has been well educated. He studied military tactics in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas; the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California; and the School of the Americas, where he also served as an instructor. He was also the dean of Colombia’s Escuela Superior de Guerra (National War College) from 2002 to 2004. Despite all of the evidence, no criminal charges have been filed against any of the participants in the conspiracy known as Operation Dragon.

Why is the United States offering Colombia such massive quantities of military aid? The State Department regularly certifies Colombia as having an adequate human rights record to receive military aid while, at the same time, detailing in its annual country report numerous human rights violations that should be sufficient to deny Colombia military aid. Is drug eradication the real goal of Plan Colombia, which was designed by SOA student General Mario Montoya? Alleged to have been a former leader of right-wing paramilitaries, Montoya commanded the 24^th brigade in Putumayo and the 21^st counter-narcotics battalion. The 24^th brigade has been barred from receiving U.S. aid because of evidence of its cooperation with right-wing paramilitaries at La Hormiga. Montoya is known for his scorched-earth campaigns in Putumayo. Despite these charges, this SOA graduate has been permitted to design a big piece of U.S. military policy in Latin America. Why is that?

Could it be that Colombia is, as the panelists said, “extremely rich with resources,” with untapped gold and with potentially more oil than Venezuela? Not all are eager for the oil to be drilled. The U’Wa Indians, for example, say, “Oil is the blood of the mother earth. If mother earth has not given her permission to open her up, how can we allow this?”

2. Father Roy Bourgeois’ report: In March, Lisa Sullivan, Carlos Mauricio, and Father Roy went to South America as “citizen diplomats” to ask governmental leaders to stop sending troops to WHINSEC. Father Roy said that it was a “special joy” to go back to Bolivia, where, in the 1970s, he had been a missionary priest. He said that he had both “good memories” and “memories of fear.”

“It is incredible,” Father Roy said, “Fear is in the past…. Evo Morales is the first indigenous president after 500+ years.”

The “citizen diplomats” spoke to Evo Morales early one morning. Then, they moved on to Uruguay and Argentina and spoke to the defense ministers of those countries. Both defense ministers said, “You don’t have to tell us of this school. We know about it. No more of our troops will attend.” The defense minister of Argentina is the widow of a man who was “disappeared,” along with thousands of others, during the “dirty wars” of the 1970s and 1980s. Uruguay’s minister of defense is a lawyer who defended political prisoners when that country was a dictatorship.

Even when WHINSEC is closed, there will still be more work to accomplish. “There can be no healing until the wrongdoing is acknowledged,” said Father Roy. “People in Latin America want the truth.”

The “citizen diplomats” intend to visit governmental leaders in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Paraguay this summer to ask them to stop sending troops to WHINSEC.

3. HR 1217: On April 24, Juliana Illari, Shirley Way, and I visited the offices of Representatives Louise Slaughter (D-NY-28) and Brian Higgins (D-NY-27) and Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer to ask them to support this legislation. We now have 130 cosponsors to Rep. Jim McGovern’s bill, and we’re looking for a Senate sponsor. WHINSEC/SOA has been operating for sixty years. Enough is enough! Let’s get this school closed this year!!!!

4. Poking the Beehive: Father Roy said our actions in Fort Benning, his work in Latin America, and our work in Washington, D.C., “poke the beehive” of the government and military. Let’s continue poking the beehive at home by continuing contacts with Congress, and by holding call-in days, writing letters to the editor and op-ed pieces, and by speaking about that school to groups. Donations to defray the cost of this work can be sent to SOA Watch, P.O. Box 4566, Washington, D.C. 20017. We’re having success, and it’s time to follow that up with more success!

Alice E. Gerard, Grand Island, NY