solidaridad

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I took students on a trip to Fort Benning, Georgia, home of a combat training facility for Latin American soldiers called WHINSEC (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation), formerly and more commonly known as the School of the Americas, or SOA. The SOA, according to the human rights-centered SOA Watch (www.soaw.org), “has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of [the Americas].” Oscar Romero was assassinated by SOA grads while he celebrated mass in the chapel of an oncology hospital.

Each year during the same weekend, tens of thousands of concerned people descend on Fort Benning for a peaceful protest aimed at closing the SOA. There are events held in a convention center nearby, mostly seminars and sessions for people interested in various peace and social justice groups. We attended a session with Sr. Helen Prejean, known nationally for her work toward a moratorium on the death penalty, where she “interviewed” the session’s attendees as a way to spark conversation about topics of justice and non-violence. The main events of the weekend occur right outside the gates of Fort Benning, and on the street leading up to it. The street is lined with vendors selling products with messages of peace and justice, representatives from organizations around the country with similar motives, and thousands of engaged and excited people from around the country and the world. There is a rally on Saturday, which includes speakers, musicians, and people who have been affected by SOA trained soldiers giving testimony and sharing their stories.

Sunday was the most powerful day for me and, I think, for most of the 22,000 people at the protest. First there were a few speakers and musicians, the last of which led the attentive crowd in song: “No mas, no more, we must stop the dirty wars, compañeros, compañeras we cry out, no mas, no more.” Following this was the funeral procession for all of the victims who died at the hands of SOA graduates in Latin America. Most of the 22,000 people carried white crosses with the name, age, and country of one of these victims printed on them in black. Someone on stage sang the names of many victims, and after each name, the crowd raised its crosses and sang “Presente,” (present) in response. During this, the crowd processed slowly down the street and ended at the gate to the SOA, where they left their crosses and flowers. Imagine 22,000 crosses stuck in this gate, left for all to see. It was a powerful image, and a powerful experience. For me it was certainly a time of solidarity with other like-minded people working for peace and justice around the country and the world.

People have asked me what the point of the protest is if it’s been done for a number of years now and the SOA is still open. I already mentioned its symbolic and powerful feeling of solidarity (there were also many other demonstrations around Latin America on the same weekend). It also allowed many people the opportunity to connect with other people and organizations working for change. It certainly got media coverage, which helps to get the word out about our cause. There was renewed hope this year for the SOA to be closed by the U.S. Congress, as many of the Republican Congresspeople who previously voted (in a close vote) to keep it open have recently been defeated and are soon to be replaced in Washington. And finally and perhaps most importantly, 22,000 people honored those who have died at the hands of SOA graduates. If nothing else was accomplished, this certainly was.

I hope that the SOA closes before next November and that I don’t have to go back, but if it remains open I will go back, and I will look forward to the feeling of "solidaridad" with the people of Latin America and with others united in a common cause.