Brethren join rally protesting School of Americas.

By Todd Flory

Despite brisk fall weather, around 60 Church of the Brethren members and friends joined a record crowd Nov. 19-20 in Fort Benning, Ga., to protest the US Army's School of Americas (SOA) or Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Some 19,000 people rallied along the street in front of the military facility that, since its foundation in Panama in 1946, has produced many human rights violators in Latin American countries.

The SOA, which moved to Fort Benning in 1984, is funded by US taxpayer money and trains soldiers and military personnel from Latin American countries in subjects such as counter-insurgency, military intelligence, and counter-narcotics operations. Documentation has revealed numerous atrocities such as torture, kidnapping, and killings involving known SOA graduates.

Brethren college students attended the rally including 12 from Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa. Many of the students were involved with the college's peace organization, Pax-O ("pax" is the Latin word for peace), and had been studying anti-torture.

Emily Eller, a senior at Juniata, said that by working with anti-torture issues, it made sense to participate in the SOA protest. Students were also able to get numerous people at the protest to write 400 anti-torture bill letters. While marching in front of the facility's fences, Eller witnessed the electronic message display explaining why people were prohibited from climbing the fence onto the military's property while simultaneously hearing the names of victims who have died at the hands of SOA graduates. "It was really surreal," she said. "Today was really, really powerful."

A group of 30 students from Manchester College in North Manchester, Ind., also attended, led by Ken Brown, peace studies and philosophy professor. Brown believes it is important for students to participate in social justice activities and to experience learning outside the classroom. "Enjoyment is at the heart of education. We don't want to postpone involvement," he said, noting this was the 10th straight year students from Manchester have come to the protest. The record number of people in attendance this year is due in part to other world events, he said. "I think it's due to national dissatisfaction of the war and government moving in the wrong direction."

Saturday, Nov. 19, served as a day of information exchange and product sales. The Brethren Witness/Washington Office joined rows of organizations handing out information and selling t-shirts, bumper stickers, and fair-trade coffee and chocolate. On stage, speakers such as an Argentinian torture survivor and an organizer with United Students Against Sweatshops told their stories. Through the weekend, nonviolence trainings, teach-ins, and workshops were held.

"While speakers and musicians are on stage, those of us behind are busy preparing the next person to go on. But this year I had a chance to hear some of the speakers," said Tracy Stoddart, resident director at McPherson (Kan.) College. In 1999, Stoddart worked at SOA Watch through Brethren Volunteer Service, and has since come back every year to work on the stage and logistics team. "I heard brave young women talk about their personal, horrific experiences being tortured and kidnapped; another young woman from the Colombian Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado spoke when only two days before troops, led by an SOA graduate, attacked her community and killed one of their leaders; and a new grandma with her two surviving daughters remembering her family members that were kidnapped and disappeared."

The Brethren Witness/Washington Office hosted a Brethren gathering including Brethren college students as well as other Brethren who made the trip to Fort Benning. The gathering provided an opportunity to share about issues with which the office is involved, and a setting for dialogue regarding national and world political issues and actions. "That was the best Brethren gathering we've had," Brown said. "It was very inspirational to remind us all what it's like to be Brethren."

A memorial service and funeral procession took place on Sunday, with many of the 19,000 people carrying banners and posters while listening to a reading of the names of victims of SOA graduates. Later, along the fence marking the border of the school, people gathered to fasten pictures and signs and to sing and pray. Forty-one people were arrested for crossing the fence.

Stoddart said, "Amidst all the fear, sadness, and hurt, an amazing spirit of forgiveness, hope, and energy flowed through the throngs of people gathered in Georgia. And that is what keeps me coming back."

--Todd Flory is a legislative associate and Brethren Volunteer Service worker at the Brethren Witness/Washington Office of the Church of the Brethren General Board.

Source: 12/14/2005 Newsline
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