SOA Watch.
SOA Watch Updates and Actions
Converge on Ft. Benning, GA: November 19-21!
Together We Will Shut Down the School of Assassins!
For over a decade, students, religious, labor, veterans, human rights, and social/global justice groups have been converging every November at the gates of Fort Benning, GA to speak out in solidarity with the people of the Americas and to engage in nonviolent direct action. We will gather again this year on November 20 and 21 to continue together in the struggle until the School of the Americas is closed and the policies it represents are changed forever!
The Saturday and Sunday events this year will be preceded by teach-ins, trainings, and caucuses on Friday, November 19. Continue to check the website as plans unfold and various events are announced in more detail.
What is the SOAW?
About SOA Watch
SOA Watch is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, under whatever name it is called, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work.
On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests, their co-worker and her teenage daughter were massacred in El Salvador. A U.S. Congressional Task Force reported that those responsible were trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
In 1990 SOA Watch began in a tiny apartment outside the main gate of Ft. Benning. While starting with a small group, SOA Watch quickly drew upon the knowledge and experience of many in the U.S. who had worked with the people of Latin America in the 1970's and 80's.
Today, the SOA Watch movement is a large, diverse, grassroots movement rooted in solidarity with the people of Latin America. The goal of SOA Watch is to close the SOA and to change U.S. foreign policy in Latin America by educating the public, lobbying Congress and participating in creative, nonviolent resistance. The Pentagon has responded to the growing movement and Congress' near closure of the SOA with a PR campaign to give the SOA a new image. In an attempt to disassociate the school with its horrific past, the SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in January of 2001.
Read more about the history of the SOA Watch movement.
Mission Statement
SOA Watch is a nonviolent grassroots movement that works to stand in solidarity with the people of Latin America, to close the SOA/WHINSEC and to change oppressive U.S. foreign policy that the SOA represents. We are grateful to our sisters and brothers throughout Latin America for their inspiration and the invitation to join them in their struggle for economic and social justice.
Contact the SOAW:
SOA Watch
PO Box 4566
Washington, DC 20017
Phone: (202) 234 3440
Email: info@soaw.org
I am going to Fort Benning in November and would love to have others join me. For those of you in LA Los Angeles SOA Watch
Contact :Angela Perry angela.perry@soaw-la.org www.soaw-la.org
Santa Barbara- contact Prof. Ralph Armbruster in the Latino Studies department (I believe he's in that department....or find the chapter by e-mailing soawatchsb@yahoogroups.com . We started going two years ago- and people are most likely planning on attending this following year as well.
I definitely recommend going, but if you do, bring tissue and realize it is an emotional event that will open your eyes and soul.
Peace-
Lizette
Converge on Ft. Benning, GA: November 19-21!
Together We Will Shut Down the School of Assassins!
For over a decade, students, religious, labor, veterans, human rights, and social/global justice groups have been converging every November at the gates of Fort Benning, GA to speak out in solidarity with the people of the Americas and to engage in nonviolent direct action. We will gather again this year on November 20 and 21 to continue together in the struggle until the School of the Americas is closed and the policies it represents are changed forever!
The Saturday and Sunday events this year will be preceded by teach-ins, trainings, and caucuses on Friday, November 19. Continue to check the website as plans unfold and various events are announced in more detail.
What is the SOAW?
About SOA Watch
SOA Watch is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, under whatever name it is called, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work.
On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests, their co-worker and her teenage daughter were massacred in El Salvador. A U.S. Congressional Task Force reported that those responsible were trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
In 1990 SOA Watch began in a tiny apartment outside the main gate of Ft. Benning. While starting with a small group, SOA Watch quickly drew upon the knowledge and experience of many in the U.S. who had worked with the people of Latin America in the 1970's and 80's.
Today, the SOA Watch movement is a large, diverse, grassroots movement rooted in solidarity with the people of Latin America. The goal of SOA Watch is to close the SOA and to change U.S. foreign policy in Latin America by educating the public, lobbying Congress and participating in creative, nonviolent resistance. The Pentagon has responded to the growing movement and Congress' near closure of the SOA with a PR campaign to give the SOA a new image. In an attempt to disassociate the school with its horrific past, the SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in January of 2001.
Read more about the history of the SOA Watch movement.
Mission Statement
SOA Watch is a nonviolent grassroots movement that works to stand in solidarity with the people of Latin America, to close the SOA/WHINSEC and to change oppressive U.S. foreign policy that the SOA represents. We are grateful to our sisters and brothers throughout Latin America for their inspiration and the invitation to join them in their struggle for economic and social justice.
Contact the SOAW:
SOA Watch
PO Box 4566
Washington, DC 20017
Phone: (202) 234 3440
Email: info@soaw.org
I am going to Fort Benning in November and would love to have others join me. For those of you in LA Los Angeles SOA Watch
Contact :Angela Perry angela.perry@soaw-la.org www.soaw-la.org
Santa Barbara- contact Prof. Ralph Armbruster in the Latino Studies department (I believe he's in that department....or find the chapter by e-mailing soawatchsb@yahoogroups.com . We started going two years ago- and people are most likely planning on attending this following year as well.
I definitely recommend going, but if you do, bring tissue and realize it is an emotional event that will open your eyes and soul.
Peace-
Lizette