¡No Más! No More!
Union Students Call the U.S. to Close the SOA! Participate in the Witness! Members of the Union Community (including alums) may log in with their My Union account to participate in the 2008 SOA Community Blog, which includes photos and reflections by those who attended, as well as reflections by other members of the Union Community. |
On the weekend of November 21-23, six Union students traveled to Fort Benning in Columbus, GA to join thousands from around the nation to demand closure of the School of the Americas (SOA), a controversial military training facility now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). The SOA/WHINSEC is a U.S. Army facility which trains soldiers from Latin American countries. Graduates and instructors of this school have gone on to commit the worst atrocities in their own countries, including torture, rape and murder. The Union students attended the protest/vigil to bear witness to the victims of SOA-related atrocities and also to shine a light on the gross abuses of human rights as this school continues to operate with U.S. taxpayer money. Closing the SOA would send a strong human rights message to Latin America and the world. Union students Nate Crimmins, Anna DeWeese, Peter Herman, Anne Hillman, Ammon Ripple, and Laura Yurs attended the nonviolent action as representatives of the larger Union community who commissioned them at a chapel service on Thursday, November 20. At the vigil, they were greeted by Union alums and friends of Union, as well as seminarians from other institutions.
The SOA made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. Despite this admission and hundreds of documented human rights abuses connected to soldiers trained at the school, no independent investigation into the facility has ever taken place. Support for the School of the Americas continues to erode. In 2007, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that his government would cease to send troops to be trained at the School. The Latin American nation is the fifth country after Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela to announce withdrawals from the school, citing its history of human rights abuses.
Last November, 25,000 people (including 10 representing Union) gathered at the gates of Fort Benning to call for the closure of the school. This was the largest demonstration yet in an 18 year history of opposition to the school. One student who attended the vigil last year said, "It was powerful because of the prayerful energy of solidarity and justice that came together in that space with so many different people. It helped to give me hope and encouraged me to do more to work for justice. I felt threatened by the police and military presence around us and in the watchtowers and aircraft above, but that sense of danger made it all the more meaningful to put my body in that place. We were in solidarity with those threatened by extreme violence every day as a result of people trained by our country, which is supposed to be a beacon of freedom and justice for all." View the School of the Americas Watch Web Site for much more information. View a blog entry from a Union alum who attended last year. View a video of Union students participating in last year's vigil (the group in the light blue shirts). Members of the Union Community (including alums) may log in with their My Union account to participate in the 2008 SOA Community Blog. 
2008 SOA Witnesses With Peace Activist John Dear Who Recently Spoke at Union
Pictured (l-r): Nate Crimmins, Anne Hillman, John Dear, Laura Yurs, Anna DeWeese, Ammon Ripple, Peter Herman
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