School of the Americas Vigil
 

Has anyone on GC attended the annual School of the Americas vigil held each November in Georgia? The SOA, now known as WHINSEC, is a combat training center in the US for Latin American soldiers. The problem is that the graduates have an appalling human rights record. They've been linked to massacres, torture, and "disappearing" people.
So every year, there's a demonstration calling for the closing of SOA. Some activists, including nuns and priests, have "crossed the line" onto government property and ended up in prison, but most don't get arrested. Last year, over 16000 showed up. The organization's website is at http://www.soaw.org .

This gets less and less media coverage in Atlanta every year, but the "nuns and priests" are getting more excited trying to get media attention.

I predict Cindy Sheehan will show up, say something anti-American, and be applauded by the same bunch of "vegans" who protest here at Honey Baked Ham.

Hmmm... I have no idea whether Cindy Sheehan plans to attend or not. But last year, Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, and Sr. Helen Prejean showed up. Sr. Helen was really cool - she's the author of the "Dead Man Walking" book that the movie was based on. Her website is at http://www.prejean.org/

I won't be making the trip to the protest, but I am going to aprayer/information meeting this Wednesday in Brook Park,OH. A nun who's very involved with our Newman Campus Ministry here (she makes us brownies, serves as a spiritual director at some retreats, sometimes makes our weekly dinners, etc.) invited any of the students to attend to learn more about the School of the Americas and what they will be doing down there. It should be really interesting, I'm looking forward to learning something, especially since I hadn't heard of the School of the Americas previously.

I know of a couple people that are going. I look forward to hearing their stories. I guess it's something that personally hit my priest hard during a trip to El Salvador. He did a homily on it.

I don't know much about it... I'll just pray for the safe return of my fellow cohorts.

What does the Schools of America have to do with Sheehan? hoosier, do you even know who the school of america are training?

I'm sure they will also pass out tshirts to free Mumia and protest the WTO if they can squeeze that in as well.

-Rudey

I suppose the leftist groups that fund this "protest" will give Cindy a travel grant to insure her attendance - all of the professional protestors and vegan radicals will be there, seeking face time on the news. Unfortunately everyone is so bored with them, that they are now forced to step up their radicalism to get coverage.

I wish them well, and hope that it rains hard on them all day.

The School of the Americas (now renamed, incidently) trains military and civilian law enforcement people from our allies. A few of the trainees - years ago - did some bad stuff - years ago - after returning home - years ago - and I'm sorry their actions reflect poorly on the good stuff the SOA did - years ago - and continues to do.

Do you think those protestors did a little protesting against a guy like Castro or maybe Che? Those 2 sure like(d) violence.

-Rudey

Some famous SOA graduates:

Manuel Noriega
Omar Torrijos
Leopoldo Galtieri
Roberto Viola
Juan Velasco Alvarado
Guillermo Rodriguez
Hugo Banzer Suarez

Should we shut down schools and military units all over the world that are tied to people who killed others?

-Rudey

My least favorite Congress-person, the lovely Cynthia McKinney, went to Cuba to help Fidel with the sugar cane harvest. She's also got "proof" that Bush and his buddies were responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and 3,000 deaths. She's also my Congress-person.

She'll also be at the SOA confrontation if they give her a "travel grant" and speakers fee.

Just informing people who the school trained. Accepted it or not will be up to the people who read it.

Still trying to figure out what Sheehan and vegans have to do with School of America.

1 - Sheehan: wacko likely to be seen at SOA event

2 - vegans: wackos likely to be seen at SOA event

So, in another word, there is no connection right now and you're just making shit up.

That's a curse word. You moderators need to start following the rules of Greekchat.

Now there is a connection given that many protestors of the SOA also protest other things - like the Iraq war (Sheehan).

-Rudey

Request denied

OK Stalin.

-Rudey

Request to consider denied.

Again, http://www.soaw.org has a lot of information about the vigil and why the organizers are putting on the event. Here's a link to a report from last year's event:
http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=1013
I was there last year, and it was a very powerful experience. There were a few signs related to other issues (Iraq, Palestine, etc), but the focus was really on SOA/WHINSEC/Latin America.
Saturday has the rally with a number of speakers, and Susan Sarandon, Sr. Helen Prejean, Amy Ray, and a number of others were there. In late afternoon, there's the puppetista parade, which was impressive. Sunday morning was really moving. They had the "Presente" ceremony where the leaders chant the names of those killed by SOA grads and their ages. The crowd responds to each by lifting their crosses and saying, "Presente" ("I am here.") It lasted a long time because of the sheer number of victims, and it was especially wrenching when they were just babies.
The people there are generally a little more subdued than the stereotypical protester. There are a number of nuns, priests, and other religious leaders there, and there's a wide variety of ages.
Except for the people who decide to "cross", there aren't many arrests, since it's quite peaceful.
There are a couple of videos of speakers up at http://www.archive.org (just search for SOA). Sr. Dianna Ortiz is an Ursuline nun who survived torture (which SOA grads were linked to). Her speech is at http://www.archive.org/details/ortiz . Peg Morton is an activist who went to prison for "crossing the line" at an SOA vigil. http://www.archive.org/details/soa-qt-sorenson-40-perc

You are an embarrassment to the moderation profession.

Did you find the job in a Cracker Jack box?

The Prince Myshkins have a song about the SOA vigil called "Mimi LaValley and 100 Nuns." (Mimi LaValley is the name of a protester who went to prison along with numerous nuns for civil disobedience.)
http://www.princemyshkins.com/mimi&nuns.html

I swear some people in this country are what I like to call "professional protesters". Any protest, anywhere, they'll be there because, well, it beats work or class.

Isn't your alma mater full of these sorts, Rudey? I picture you dropping water balloons on the masses from your dorm room or something :D

Yes.

One freak literally camped out in the middle of our quads to protest one thing after another. I found out he didn't actually have a home so he wasn't paying rent and flipped. Seriously him and his buddies protested against coffee, against taco bell, against Citibank for giving loans to some company that ruins the environment, and something about war too. Some kids in a fraternity tried to steal his tent and that made him some sort of cause celeb in the papers.

And the only bad thing I ever did to one of those kids was changing his email signature to say "PS I give good head".

-Rudey

Personally I just want to understand how you can get worked up about "systemic" problems with UN troops - but not get worked up by "systemic" problems with SOA grads...

Or can I just peg that down to simple partianship?

Yeah, I think I've seen the folks you're talking about. Some people seem to spend a lot of time protesting a variety of issues, and I wondered if they enjoyed demonstrations. But the only ones who really bother me are the bozos - the ones who make a point of being needlessly obnoxious. There was a rally before one of the presidential debates last year, and one guy made a point of dragging the flag through the mud. He waited until he was right in front of the Bush supporters and then threw it on the ground and started stomping on it. It was almost like he was daring anybody to do anything about it, and I was disgusted. Another woman who appeared to be about 40 mooned some of the Bush supporters. (FWIW, these two didn't seem to be Democrats either - they may have been either Socialists or Libertarians. Fortunately, the Kerry supporters were a lot more dignified.)
That said, there are a few "professional protester" types at SOA, but most of those there aren't. A lot of nuns, priests, and other religious leaders attend, and there's a general expectation that people will be serious and respectful.

(Good source for SOA protestors, if the vegans haven't already hired them all)


Homeless paid $10 to attend immigration rally

By NANCY BADERTSCHER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/20/05

For some people, it pays to oppose illegal immigration.

Fourteen homeless people made $10 each Monday to hold signs in a crowd of several dozen people who gathered for an anti-illegal immigrant rally at the state Capitol.

D.A. King, an anti-illegal immigration activist from Marietta who spoke at the protest, acknowledged Wednesday that he paid "14 willing American workers to let their voices be heard about illegal immigration."

"I consider it very good use of the day labor laws," King said.

Don't spend your time pegging anything down.

-Rudey