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We Shall Not Be
Moved! Join us at the Gates of Ft. Benning
this November for the 25th Annual Vigil!
From November 21 – 23, join thousands of
activists from across the Americas -
community leaders, human rights advocates,
musicians, migrants, nuns, union workers,
torture survivors, veterans, artists, youth
and families - to converge for the 25th
Annual Vigil at the gates of Ft. Benning to
call for a closing of the School of the
Americas.
This November also
marks the 25th anniversary of the UCA
massacre in El Salvador, where Alba Ramos
and her daughter Celina Ramos, along with
six Jesuit priests were brutally murdered.
Those responsible were trained at the SOA.
Twenty-five years later, those who have
clamored for justice and have dared to affirm
their dignity and sovereignty continue to be
targeted, tortured, kidnapped and murdered at
the hands of SOA-trained military and police
throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Twenty-five
years later, we continue to say ¡No más!
No more!
You may have already heard
about the most
recent efforts by the Columbus Police
Department to limit, and thus violate our
First Amendment Right to free speech. We
want you to know that we are in the process of
negotiations, and we will proceed with our
Annual Vigil, which is one of the largest
convergences of peaceful protest in the US. Will
you stand with us in urging Columbus Police
Chief Ricky Boren to reconsider his unust
denial of our right to assemble at the gates
of Ft. Benning?
Sign
our petition here!
Additionally, we are
ask that you write
letters of concern and mail
them directly to Police Chief Boren:
City
of Columbus
510
Tenth Street
Columbus,
GA 31902 – 1866
Fax:
(706) 653-3114
This year, your presence
and energy is needed more than ever to show
the world that we will not back down until the
doors of the SOA - under any name -
are closed forever! We will not back down
until we change the US culture of militarism
for a culture of peace and justice.
Join us for a weeknd filled with
life, hope and resistance! Highlights for
this year's Vigil will include:
- Workshops, film screenings &
trainings
- A rally, march & concert featuring
amazing speakers and musicians, including youth
leaders from across the Americas who came
together for SOA Watch's historic Youth
Encuentro, who are all on the front
lines of the resistance to the current and
past legacy of military, police and
political intervention and repression in
their countries.
- A Saturday Vigil at Stewart Detention
Facility to call for an end to the
systematic practice of dehumanization,
criminalization and deportation of migrants
at one of the largest privately-owned,
for-profit immigrant detention facilities in
the US. We must continue to connect our
sturggles in order to address the direct
relationship between US foreign policy, the
root causes of migration and the
militarization of our communities and
border!
- Non-violent direct action and creative
forms of resistance to call attention to the
horrors of the School of the Americas
- A solemn funeral procession at the gates
of Ft. Benning to remember those murdered at
the hands of SOA graduates, to call for
justice and the closing of the School of
Assasins
Ignacio Martín Baró once said that
"the truth of
the Latin American people is not to be
found in its oppressed present, but in its
tomorrow of freedom; the truth of the
numerous majority is not to be found but
to be made". Baró, a Jesuit Priest, social
psychologist and philosopher, was one of
martyrs of the UCA massacre. We must
continue walk in solidarity with the
struggles of our brothers and sisters in
Latin America and the Caribbean and
continue to
uplift their voices, and we must
continue to do this at the gates of Ft.
Benning. It is a sacred and
historical space of resistance for our
movement. Let's join our
hearts and voices once again to continue to
stand on the side of truth, memory and
justice.
What an incredible time
to be part of such an equally incredible
movement.
in solidarity,
María Luisa Rosal,
SOA Watch Field Organizer
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MORE
INFORMATION FOR THE 2014 NOVEMBER VIGIL:
Click
HERE to visit our November Vigil
website!
Order
a stack of November Vigil Palm
Cards to distribute in your
community!
The Fall
2014 issue of ¡Presente! - the
newspaper of the movement to close
the SOA - is going to print later
this month! Please
join the ¡Presente! Activist
Distributer Network to spread the word about
the School of the Americas and
U.S. foreign policy towards Latin
America.
Click
here to order a box of
¡Presente! to distribute in your
community!
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