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UAW Region 8 Joins SOA Vigil
By Region 8 Webmaster John Davis

On November 19-10, 2005 the annual vigil against the School of the Americas was held outside the gates of Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. The School of the Americas is a training facility for South American mercenaries run inside the military base. The facility has a 60-year history and was run out of the U.S. military base in Panama until 1984, when the government there demanded the school be closed. It was then moved to vigil was held in 1990, as a small group gathered to protest the killing of six Jesuits priest and their housekeeper in El Salvador by graduates of the school. Over the years the event has grown, with 16,000 showing up on Saturday and another 19,000-member crowd on Sunday.

UAW Region 8 sent a delegation to the protest this year, with over 60 members from around the region being in attendance at the rally. UAW International Vice-President Bob King addressed the crowd urging them to stand together in solidarity to end the reign of terror that has been symbolic by the School of the Americas graduates. Over the years thousands have died at the hands of these trained killers, with human rights, labor organizers and relief workers being targeted for execution.

Rebecca Kanner of Vice-President King’s staff spent six months in prison in 2001 for being arrested at the 2000 protest. At the time, Rebecca was environmental educator for a non-profit environmental organization, going into classrooms, teaching children how they can make the earth a cleaner. “When I made the serious decision each time to participate in a direct action to close the School of the Americas (SOA)/now the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC), I was inspired by the Jewish concept of tikkun olam - translated from the Hebrew, this means the just ordering of human society and the world - or more literally, the repair of the world” Rebecca states “I was also inspired by the Jewish prophetic tradition of social justice. As a Jew, I am moved to work to repair the tragic consequences of the SOA/WHISC.”
Rebecca’s involvement brought the attention of the issue to the UAW, who has participated along with other labor and religious groups at the protest for the past few years.

The event began at 11:00AM and continued until late in the day as singers and speakers rotated on and off the stage to educate the crowd of 16,000. Rev. Roy Bourgeois, founder of the School of Americas Watch organization who host the protest each year, welcomed the crowd and thanked everyone who had traveled so far to help end the reign of terror inflicted by the graduates of the school.

The list of speakers and singers included those who had witnessed first hand the slaughter and pain caused by graduates of the School of Americas. One of the speakers included Adriana Portillo Bartow of Guatemala whose family was captured by militants trained at the School of the Americas 20 years ago. Her brother, father, stepmother, 18-month-old sister and two daughters were all killed by School of the Americas alumni.

On Sunday November 20, 2005 the annual funeral march was held to remember those who died at the hands of those trained inside the base. A list of names was read, including 50-75 children killed in Colombia. Following the funeral procession a group of the protestors climbed over and under the gates preventing protestors from entering the base. Early accounts have about 36 people being arrested for trespassing. Those arrested were arraigned in court on Monday, November 21, 2005 and had a court date set of January 20, 2006. In most cases, those arrested are sentenced to six months in a federal prison.

The UAW ran a booth at the rally on Saturday and sold a number of t-shirts supporting peace and solidarity. At the close of the day on Saturday the UAW delegation gathered for parting words from Vice-President King and Region 8 Assistant Director Donny Bevis who headed the Region 8 group.

In 1994, the Mexican Government began increasing the number of their participants who attended the SOA. This jump in participation was needed to look out for the interest of multinational corporations with the installation of NAFTA. Labor leaders at Mexican manufacturing facilities found themselves the target of many of the SOA alumni.

Coke-Cola workers in Columbia organized and won their right to bargain. However, in 1996 SOA alumni executed local union leaders at the Coke-Cola Bottling facility in Carepa, Columbia. There were almost 300 additional murders of union activist in 2000-2001 in Columbia, with 3,800 being killed since 1986. The bulk of these executions can be traced back to former students of the SOA. In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals from the SOA. Included within those manuals was encouragement to carry out the terror tactics on those who “support union organizing or recruiting”, “distribute propaganda in favor of workers interest” and those who “sympathize with demonstrations or strikes.”

There currently is another push in Washington to close the School of the Americas, which was renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation” a few years ago. The current bill to close the SOA is HR. 1217. Please contact your elected official and ask them to please support this bill so we can close this school of assassins and allow the people of South America to live without fear of being executed by a militant trained with U.S. tax dollars.

To learn more about the School of the Americas visit the School of Americas Watch website at http://www.soaw.org.