[Dryerase] AGR SOA protest

[Shawn G]

Asheville Global Report
WWW.AGRNews.org

Reprinting permitted for non-profit use and to the members of the Dryerase 
news wire.

Police checkpoints fail to stop SOA protest

By Willy Rosencrans

Nov. 19 (AGR)— Over 10,000 people showed up at the gates of Ft. Benning in 
Columbus, GA on Nov. 16 and 17 to demand the closure of the US Army 
counterinsurgency training center once known as the School of the Americas, 
now popularly called the School of Assassins (SOA). Organizers said that, 
despite unprecedented efforts by authorities to prohibit access to the 
gathering, it was one of the largest yet in the annual demonstration’s 
thirteen-year history.
The day before the demonstration, Judge Clay Land ruled that the city of 
Columbus could erect police checkpoints, complete with metal detectors, at 
the entrances to the protest site. SOA Watch, the organizing group committed 
to shutting the school down, responded by issuing thousands of forms 
declaring that the bearer did “not consent to this search.”
“We have monitored protests for decades,” said Gerry Weber of the American 
Civil LIberties Union (ACLU), “and this is the first time we’ve ever heard 
of a plan to conduct mass searches of all demonstrators.”
“It’s totally inappropriate for people to be searched in order to exercise 
their right to freedom of assembly,” added Solstice, a member of SOA Watch’s 
staff. “The court’s ruling was a very bad precedent; we’re appealing it.”
At checkpoints erected between curbside greenery freshly mowed by prison 
convicts, police armed with metal detector wands confiscated an arbitrary 
assortment of metal objects. No weapons were found.
“They took some staples and a paint can opener from me,” fumed David 
Christian, a puppetista from Atlanta who came to work on the event’s puppet 
pageant. “Apparently a paint can opener is a deadly weapon these days.”
Karl Meyer of Nashville, TN refused to submit to the search; he made it 
through the checkpoint without stopping and was arrested. The 65-year-old 
activist served 6 months in prison last year for trespassing onto Ft. 
Benning.
Local businesswoman Miriam Tidwell staged a first-time counterprotest at 
Express Automotive Service, near the checkpoint. A nearby marquee read “God 
Bless Ft. Benning Day – Oil Change $15.99;” the sign was changed to read 
“Godless Ft. Benning Day” at some point during the night.
Participants at the SOA Watch vigil heard music ranging from folksingers to 
hip hop and Mayan bands, and testimony from a diverse group of speakers 
including torture survivor advocates, student groups, drug policy 
researchers and a representative of displaced Afro-Colombians.
A puppet pageant including almost 400 performers reenacted Argentina’s 
struggle through the violent military repression of the 70s and 80s, through 
its recent spate of successful popular uprisings, to the growing number of 
bakeries, clinics, and other enterprises run by and for the people.
The pageant’s second run followed the traditional funeral procession, during 
which thousands of mourners walked to the fence erected across the entrance 
to Ft. Benning after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, 
DC,  to decorate it with crosses bearing the names of SOA victims, along 
with offerings such as banners, baby-sized coffins, and paper cranes. Many 
wept as the names of victims, ranging in age from the unborn to the elderly, 
were recited from the stage.
No complete record exists of deaths orchestrated by SOA graduates; they 
number in the uncounted thousands and include atrocities like the El Mozote 
massacre of 1981, in which about 900 Salvadorans were killed. The date of 
the vigil commemorates the assassination of six Jesuit priests, their 
housekeeper, and her daughter, also in El Salvador, in 1989. Graduates have 
been implicated in virtually every major human rights violation in Latin 
America.
In 1996 the Pentagon admitted that the SOA had used manuals advocating 
torture for years. Current manuals encourage the use of counterinsurgency 
techniques against labor organizers, student groups, and people critical of 
their government. In January, 2001, the school was renamed the  Western 
Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation in an attempt to deflect 
criticism. These days its opponents often refer to it as a “terrorist 
training camp.”
“Our foreign policy has been hijacked by corporations,” says Solstice. 
“Institutions like the SOA reflect neither the values nor the interests of 
the American people. And we believe that these policies are making us a lot 
of enemies…
“There are two possible paths we can take after September 11. We can teach 
our children to fear and avoid people who criticize what our government is 
doing, people who engage the democratic process through street protests and 
other means of nonviolent engagement. Or we can choose a direction where we 
say ‘Now, more than ever, we need to take responsibility for the policies of 
our government.’”
Civil disobedience has been a major part of the vigil since its earliest 
days, typically consisting of trespassing onto the base to demand the SOA’s 
closure. This year, police arrested 92 people. Five were released without 
being charged, including four juveniles, one of whom was abandoned by 
military police (MPs) at a gas station by herself, at night, and had to find 
her own way back to SOA Watch’s Legal Collective office.
Of the rest, the majority were charged with a Class B federal trespassing 
misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of six months and a $5,000 
fine. Four were charged with Class A misdemeanors, including “running a 
police checkpoint” (the woman in question had taken a wrong turn onto Ft. 
Benning) and property damage (the cutting of a lock on Ft. Benning’s gates); 
Class A carries a maximum sentence of one year and a $100,000 fine.
Judge G. Mallon Faircloth set bail at $5,000, releasing one on personal 
recognizance because his position as a tenured professor, according to 
Faircloth, made him less of a bail-jumping risk. Bail was briefly revoked 
for some because they refused to give personal information required by 
incorrectly used Federal Marshal forms; the forms are meant to be used after 
conviction, for people being transported to federal prison.
“There’s obviously no ‘innocent until proven guilty’ in Faircloth’s court,” 
said Becky Johnson, a member of the Legal Collective. “And exacting punitive 
damages before a trial has even occurred for them – it’s appalling.” Over 
$40,000 was required to satisfy the excessive bond.
As of this writing, two remain in jail – one for refusing to post bond until 
the judge releases her on personal recognizance, and the other for insisting 
on calling himself Peace; without his real name, federal prosecutors have 
had to refer to his case as “The United States of America vs. Peace.”
Peter Jessup, 22, a student from Omaha, NB, and one of those arrested, 
described his experiences Monday evening shortly after his release. He had 
not planned to get arrested, but was moved to climb the fence after the 
funeral procession.
“Even if only one person had to face the horrors perpetrated by SOA grads, 
it would be a good enough cause,” said Jessup. “We need to do more than just 
say we’re opposed… The feeling of support as we were cheered on was 
incredible. And the people I was incarcerated with were wonderful. We were 
all really scared; but that we all had the same fears, and the same 
optimism, really lifted us up. It was very powerful.
“[But] people were denied water and food; people were cold. Elderly people 
especially. There was no access to warm clothing… A diabetic who hadn’t 
eaten for 12 hours was denied appropriate food.”
Earlier this year, 43 people were convicted year for trespassing at last 
year’s action. 26 remain in prison.
Adrian Tate, 19, a resident of Southgate housing complex which lies just 
outside Ft. Benning, sympathized with those who committed civil 
disobedience. “I’m glad they’re doing it,” he said. “I don’t want to see all 
those people going over there and getting locked up. But it ain’t nothing 
but the truth – they ought to close that motherfucking school.”
Eight-year-old Holly Rose Black of Asheville, NC was one of the last to 
cross the line, at sunset, long after the vigil was over. Oblivious MPs 
crunched their way up and down a growing garbage pile of crosses nearby as 
she took the last paper crane from the fence.
“I was really happy that so many people were brave enough to cross the line 
and go to prison,” she said afterward. “I’m glad there were so many people 
there to help close the SOA.”



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