Protesters oppose SOA weapons training
by Chrissy Sollenberger
Three carloads of Earlham students snapped in their seatbelts and headed to Fort Benning military base in Columbus, Ga. to attend the School of the Americas (SOA) protest.
The SOA is a military combat training base for Latin American soldiers. Soldiers trained at SOA have been involved with the muders, tortures and disappearences of hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans, according to the advocacy group SOA Watch.
Since 1990, advocates for closing the school have met in November, accompanied by legislative work done year-round by the SOA Watch.
Organized as a class project for non-violent movements with history professor Carol Hunter, planning for the trip began two months before the actual departure.
“We split into groups and ours chose the School of the Americas,” said freshman Chris Perbix, one of the main organizers of the trip.
Three students in the class were in charge of planning the trip: Perbix, freshman Eva Marengo Sanchez and junior Rachel Dana.
The other members of their group were in charge of the history, current events and a case study pertaining to the School of the Americas.
The funding from the trip came from various sources through the fundraising efforts of the class group. Amnesty International, SEL, AASV and SOC allocations ,as well as individuals, contributed to the fund.
Planning information sessions and sending emails got other students on campus involved.
“My roommates from last year had gone a few times and told me about what the school was about,” said sophomore Sophie Wood-Brinker. “I wanted to see all the people who are passionate about stopping the school”
The SOA Watch’s main objectives are to stand in solidarity with the victims of the school, to close the school and to change the U.S. foreign policy that the SOA represents, according to its website.
Saturday’s events included speakers, musicians and information booths.
“It felt at times more like an event than a protest,” said Perbix. “Killer Coke, The Beehive Collective and anti-death penalty groups were there to raise awareness — I don’t think there’s another protest like that.”
The Beehive Collective, a group that visited Earlham this fall, shared Saturday evening about their efforts to bring change through art and storytelling. Another group familiar to Earlham was rap group Rebel Diaz, who presented at a collaborative concert Saturday evening.
Sessions were held in a nearby conference center on a variety of topics related to Latin American violence and social justice issues. Earlham alumna Maia Rodriguez Sullivan shared her experience of growing up in Venezuela and the positive changes since Cesar Chavez took office. Her mother, Lisa Sullivan, is the SOA Watch’s Latin America coordinator.
Sunday began the annual “Presente” vigil and march. SOA Watch organizers read the names of victims who had been killed by SOA graduates.
“People had crosses with the names, dates and places of the victims and held them up to say, ‘presente,’ meaning present, here — that they hadn’t been forgotten,” said Perbix.
Junior Carmen Black agreed that the vigil was the most powerful aspect of the weekend.
“The best part of the experience was the idea behind the vigil — how everyone was still remembering,” said Black.
Following the vigil, protesters hung crosses on the fence bordering the street from Fort Benning. Others took to the streets for chanting and dancing, sending a political message to the residents of Columbus and the police officers lining the street. When police pushed the protesters back, the crowd responded with, “Whose streets? Our streets!”
Perbix filmed about two hours of footage to compile into a class presentation. The assignment challenged the students to try to raise awareness on campus.
“I think it’s really great that they’re having a movie screening about the SOA,” said Wood-Brinker, referring to another component of the class project.
Earlham students have attended the SOA protest for the majority of the 19 years it has taken place.
“I think more publicity, and taking Earlham vans, would get more people to go,” said Wood-Brinker.
Perbix hopes that the planning for next year’s trip starts sooner, and that the organizational resources will be available for next year.
A bill to suspend operations at the SOA is currently in the House of Representatives. Representative Jim McGovern (of Massachusetts) reintroduced Bill HR 2567, which was co-sponsored by 88 representatives.
SOAW.org offers resources to take political action toward the bill and other related issues.
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