WORK TOWARDS A CULTURE OF JUSTICE AND PEACE AND DEFY THE SYSTEM OF TERROR AND VIOLENCE

With the drums of war beating in Washington and plans for US military action in Iraq intensify, while the fire of the Bush administration's "war on terrorism" flares with big oil and disregard for real domestic social problems, the surge of dissent against U.S. hegemony and military and economic intervention in Latin America is being met with violence and repression.

Not a month goes by in which we don't learn about civil resistance actions and massive demonstrations by campesin@s, union workers, students and others in Latin America. The people are standing up against the selling out of their natural resources to US and multinational corporations, to military repression, and to intimidation. Massive organizing has taken place in Ecuador, as the people mobilize civil resistance actions against the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA) summit that is going to take place in Quito, the capital of Ecuador from October 27 - November 3. In Colombia, masses of women organized by the Organización Femenina Popular (OFP) and others have taken to the streets in opposition to the deadly US-funded war. In Argentina hundreds of thousands bang on their 'caceroles' (pots and pans) against the neoliberal order.

It is obvious and understood that the repression of the poor in order to maintain the status quo-to keep the rich powerful and the poor silent - is unable to happen without the military muscle trained at the SOA. The School of the Americas renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation is playing a crucial part in this project. If we really are serious about eliminating terrorism around the world, it is imperative that we should begin in our own backyard and shut down our own terrorist training camp, the SOA/WHISC.

The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation/ School of the Americas is a US military training school established in Panama in 1946, ostensibly "to bring stability to Latin America." Currently located at Fort Benning, GA, the SOA, often dubbed the "School of Assassins," trains hundreds of soldiers each year, at a cost to US tax payers of millions of dollars annually. Graduates of the SOA training program have done little to promote stability in their countries. In fact, hundreds have already been cited in the rape, "disappearance," torture, and massacre of thousands of Latin Americans. Their primary targets have included educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, indigenous communities and those who speak out on behalf of the poor.

A Resistance movement to challenge and change corrupt and oppressive US foreign policy and ultimately to close the School of the Americas/WHISC formed after the truth about the SOA came to light. This movement, which began 10 years ago, is deeply rooted in the spirit of nonviolence and has been able to educate and empower broad sectors of society. As a result of uncompromising nonviolent civil resistance actions on the US Army base, Fort Benning, 70 SOA Watch human rights defenders have cumulatively spent 40 years in prison, serving sentences ranging from one to 24 months. An additional 28 prisoners of conscience are currently serving between 3 and 6 months in prison across the US.

WORK TOWARDS A CULTURE OF JUSTICE AND PEACE AND DEFY THE SYSTEM OF TERROR AND VIOLENCE

On November 15-17 2002, thousands of people of faith and conscience will converge in Georgia at the gates of the Fort Benning military base and engage in nonviolent direct action to say NO to torture, rape and murder in our names and to shut down the School of the Americas (SOA). We will walk along with the spirits of the martyred in remembrance and to demand justice.

For more information about the November 2002 vigil and nonviolence civil resistance actions, visit