so this weekend I attended the School of the Americas protest at Fort Benning. this year they estimated that 22,000 people were there which is the biggest crowd ever.
For everyone who doesn’t know, the School of the America’s is a US. Army (taxpayer-funded) training center that is a product of the cold war. In the 70’s it was moved from Panama to Georgia. It’s purpose was originally to train Latin American soldiers, thus staving off the perceived threat of Communism (Cuba etc…). After the “threat” of Communism subsided, the US kept the school open and now it trains Latin American soldiers in counter-insurgency techniques, encouraging torture, “dissappearance,” blackmail, and extortion of Latin American civilians. It’s basically one more way for the US to keep Central and South America under it’s thumb. We put these military dictators in power, train their armies to return home and commit genocide against the country’s populace, and thus reinforce the oppressor-oppressed power structure that keeps America so powerful. The SOA has trained numerous soldiers who have become some of the most notorious human-rights offenders in recent history, including Noriega.
The School of the Americas Watch has been organizing this protest for years now and every year thousands come out and some even cross through the fences (built to keep protesters out) where they are immediately arrested and usually serve between 3 to 6 months in prison. If you’re interested in direct action, non-violent, civil disobedience, the SOA pretest is a great example.
To read more about, go to soaw.org
