[Peace] Fwd: SOA Grad Jailed, Ft. Benning white-washing Wikipedia about SOA/WHINSEC, Mobilizations for Peace, Immigrant Rights and more

[Belden Fields]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: SOA Watch <info at soaw.org>
> Date: August 30, 2007 1:51:08 PM CDT
> To: a-fields at uiuc.edu
> Subject: SOA Grad Jailed, Ft. Benning white-washing Wikipedia about  
> SOA/WHINSEC, Mobilizations for Peace, Immigrant Rights and more
> Reply-To: info at soaw.org
>
>
> School of the Americas Watch
> www.SOAW.org | 202-234-3440 | Click to subscribe
>
> SOA Watch Update
> August 29, 2007
>
> In this E-mail:
> - Chile SOA Graduate Jailed for Life, SOA Officials Still Free?
> - Fort Benning Censors Wikipedia Entry on the SOA/WHINSEC
> - Peter Jessup ¡Presente!
> - Stand Up for Immigrants Rights
> - Sept./Oct./Nov. - Mobilizations for Peace
> - SOA Watch is hiring a Development & Operations Coordinator
>
>
> Chile SOA Graduate Jailed for Life, SOA Officials Still Free?
>
> Chile's Supreme Court has upheld the life sentence handed down to a  
> former general for his part in the murder of 12 opponents of  
> Augusto Pinochet.
>
> Hugo Salas Wenzel, a graduate of the School of the Americas was the  
> head of the National Information Center, the intelligence service,  
> which carried out the killings. He is the first senior member of  
> Augusto Pinochet's military government to be given a life sentence  
> for human rights abuses committed between 1973 and 1990.
>
> The 1973 coup and its bloody aftermath were largely the work of SOA  
> graduates. The Spanish lawyers who presented the charges that  
> resulted in Pinochet's 1998 arrest also requested the indictment of  
> 30 other high-ranking officials of the Chilean dictatorship. Ten of  
> those are SOA graduates. Although Pinochet himself was not an SOA  
> graduate, his influence is clearly held in high esteem. In 1991,  
> visitors could view a note from Pinochet, and a ceremonial sword  
> donated by him, on display in the office of the SOA commandant.
>
> While countries like Argentina and Chile are coming to terms with  
> the bloody past and those responsible are being held accountable,  
> the School of the Americas where the henchmen received their  
> instructions is still in operation. No U.S. officials are being  
> held accountable for the destructive role they played. Without an  
> independent investigation into the use of the torture manuals at  
> the School of the Americas and the connection between U.S. military  
> training and human rights atrocities in Latin America, the U.S.  
> will repeat history and the people of the Americas are paying with  
> their lives (as is the case in Colombia right now, where the SOA  
> trained military is committing human rights abuses on a daily basis.)
>
>
> Fort Benning Censors Wikipedia Entry on the SOA/WHINSEC
>
> " A new scanning program has revealed that Wikipedia entries on the  
> School of the Americas, renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute  
> for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHINSEC) have been edited from an IP  
> address from Fort Benning to omit all references to human rights  
> abuses connected to the school.
>
> WikiScanner, developed by CalTech graduate student Virgil Griffith,  
> has traced the editorial changes made to the online encyclopedia to  
> Fort Benning computers. The IP address used was 150.226.95.18. Any  
> IP address that begins with 150.226 belongs to Fort Benning. That  
> IP address has the name of doim1-358.benning.army.mil, which is via  
> the Directorate of Information Management at Fort Benning.
>
> The program also revealed that an entry about Fort Benning was  
> altered to delete all mention of SOA Watch. Graduates of the School  
> of the Americas have a documented track record of using the skills  
> they were taught at the SOA/WHINSEC against union organizers,  
> social justice activists, faith leaders and everyone who speaks out  
> for social change and the rights of the poor.
>
> The School of the Americas is also active against human rights  
> groups within our borders. The school has not only monitored  
> civilian groups and individuals who are working for a just U.S.  
> foreign policy and the closure of the SOA/WHINSEC, but they are  
> also using our tax dollars to actively interfere in the political  
> process. Military officials at the SOA/WHINSEC are spreading  
> misinformation to Congress, flooding the media with letters to the  
> editor, and approaching student groups who are planning events on  
> the SOA/WHINSEC to demand access to the campus.
>
> The SOA/WHINSEC is propagating a mindset that is not in line with  
> the role of the military in a democratic society. In this light, it  
> does not come as a surprise that SOA/WHINSEC instructors who taught  
> "democratic sustainment" at the school from 2003-2004 were arrested  
> earlier this month in Colombia for their involvement in one of  
> Colombia's most notorious drug cartels (click here to read more  
> about this case).
>
> - Read more about the WikiScanner software
>
>
> Peter Jessup ¡Presente!
>
> Former SOA Watch Prisoner of Conscience Peter Jessup passed away on  
> August 11, 2007 after a fall from Maroon Bells peak in Colorado.
>
> Peter had turned 27 on the previous Thursday and decided to  
> celebrate by hiking in the Maroon Bells, a national park 12 miles  
> southwest of Aspen, Colorado. He was an experienced hiker who loved  
> the outdoors.
>
> Peter attended Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., and graduated  
> with a major in theology in 2003. During his summer vacations Peter  
> worked as a nurse's assistant at Glen Valley Care Center, providing  
> care for senior citizens. Peter also participated in a Semester  
> Abroad Program, where he traveled to the Dominican Republic. There  
> he became fluent in Spanish and assisted in medical care in the  
> rural areas of the Dominican Republic.
>
> He was arrested in 2002 during the "November Vigil to Close Down  
> the SOA" with a group of 86 human rights advocates, he served one  
> year probation for bringing his protest against the SOA/WHINSEC  
> onto the Fort Benning Military Reservation.
>
> Peter was awarded the Humanitarian of the Year on Feb. 6, 2006, by  
> the Glenwood Springs Chamber of Commerce.
>
> In addition to his half-brother, Peter Jessup is survived by a  
> sister, Jennifer Jessup of Denver, a half-sister, Morgan Jessup of  
> Newcastle, his father, Ted Jessup of Newcastle, and his mother,  
> Judy Britton of Glenwood Springs.
>
>
> Stand Up for Immigrants Rights
>
> Immigration Officials Detained Elvira Arellano in Los Angeles on  
> August 19 and Deported Her to Mexico
>
> Arellano is the president of the Chicago-based immigrant rights  
> organization Familia Latina Unida. For one year she stayed in the  
> Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago in defiance of a  
> deportation order that would have separated her from her son, a  
> U.S. citizen. She left the church on August 15 to continue her  
> activism by speaking out on immigration issues in different cities,  
> starting with Los Angeles. She had intended to end her tour with a  
> prayer vigil in front of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on  
> September 12.
>
> - Read more about this breaking news
>
> Bronx Activist Victor Toro to Face Immigration Judge on September 12
>
> Immigration authorities detained longtime Bronx activist Victor  
> Toro while he was traveling near Buffalo, NY in July. Toro is a  
> Chilean who fled his home country after being imprisoned and  
> tortured by Augusto Pinochet's military regime.
>
> Toro's next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 12 in Buffalo. His  
> supporters are urging people to write letters to Immigration Judge  
> Montante asking him to reassign the hearings to New York City. You  
> can email the letters to Attorney Carlos Moreno, MrnCrls at aol.com.
>
> SOA Watch supports the struggle for Immigrant Rights. We understand  
> that many immigrants to the United States are victims of U.S.- 
> sponsored military training and atrocities in Latin America. In our  
> fight to close the SOA, we continue to work towards a world that is  
> free of suffering and violence. We recognize the SOA as being a  
> part of the same racist system of violence and domination. We ally  
> ourselves with those most affected by SOA violence and their  
> families in our effort to create a better world.
>
> - Read more about the Bush Administration's clampdown on immigrant  
> rights
>
>
> September / October / November - Mobilizations for Peace
>
> Join the protests against the war in Iraq in Washington, DC and  
> around the country in September and October and the mobilization to  
> close the SOA and change oppressive U.S. foreign policy at the  
> gates of Fort Benning, Georgia in November.
>
> September 15 - March Against the War - Washington, DC -  
> answercoalition.org
>
> September 29 - March against the war at home and abroad -  
> Washington, DC - troopsoutnow.org
>
> October 27 and 28 - Regional antiwar protest around the country -  
> unitedforpeace.org
>
> November 15-18 - Close the SOA and change oppressive U.S. Foreign  
> Policy - soaw.org
>
>
> SOA Watch is hiring a Development & Operations Coordinator
>
> School of the Americas Watch is hiring a Development & Operations  
> Coordinator to be based in Washington, DC. The position has been  
> restructured as of August 1, 2007 and is full-time with health  
> benefits, paid vacation and holidays. Salary is based on need and  
> there are opportunities for skills development.
>
> Some of the responsibilities include - fundraising, applying for  
> grants, maintaining a donor database, providing support for diverse  
> working groups, stocking and promoting SOA Watch resources,  
> supervise bookkeeping and accounts management, etc..
>
> Bilingual candidates, people of color and women are encouraged to  
> apply.
>
> - Read the full job description and how to apply
>
> MAKE A DONATION:
> Please make a donation to support SOA Watch's work. Your support  
> just helped us win a vote in Congress to force WHINSEC to release  
> the names of graduates and our last vote to close the school failed  
> by only 6 votes! We will have more votes in this Congress and need  
> you to make a financial contribution to support this work.
>
> click here to make an online donation
>
> You may also send a check or money order payable to "SOA Watch" to:  
> P.O. Box 4566 /Washington, DC 20017/USA
>
>
> Enter your email below to receive email alerts:
>
>
>
> We appreciate your interest!
> You are subscribed to this list as a-fields at uiuc.edu. Click here to  
> unsubscribe, or reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the  
> subject line.
>
> Our postal address is PO Box 4566, Washington, DC 20017.
>
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/attachments/20070830/bf0a4016/attachment.html