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SOA Watch West News ~ SOAWW News ~  October 3, 2001 www.PeaceHost.net/soaw-w/ ~ www.soaw.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- Next SOA Watch West Meeting: Thursday, October 4, 2001, 7:00-8:30 pm First Unitarian Universalist Church (Franklin at Geary, San Francisco) AGENDA 1) Introductions: Silent Prayer 2) Update and Discussion:  November 17-18 gathering at Fort Benning. Has September 11 changed anything regarding the November 16-19  demonstration? Concerns, clarifications, and updates on what we do  know so far. 3) Update: Travel Arrangements to Fort Benning: Faye Ta and Judy Liteky 4) Update: Nonviolence Training:  This Saturday, October 6.  Fr. Roy  Bourgeois, MM will be present for the Saturday afternoon.  Unitarian  Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin Street, San Francisco, corner of  Franklin and Geary. Update by Ted Sexauer. 5) November 2.  Dinner of Thanksgiving with Charlie Liteky at the  Unitarian Universalist Church.  If you would like to attend, the cost  is $25.  You can e-mail your reservation to  Dolores Priem at  doloresmp@aol.com   UPCOMING EVENTS: (1) NONVIOLENCE WORKSHOPS Unitarian Universalist Church, Franklin at Geary, San Francisco Information:  David Mezzera at DaMezz@aol.com Sat. Oct. 6, 10 am - 2 pm: Dynamics of Nonviolence Sat. Oct. 20, 10 am - 2 pm: Nonviolent Social Movements Sat. Nov. 3, 8:30 am - 3 pm: Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Training (important for anyone considering attending the demonstration at the School of the Americas on Nov. 17-18 at Ft. Benning, GA (2) NOBEL PRIZE WINNER TO SPEAK AT USF Tuesday, October 9 4:00 p.m. McLaren Complex. Adolfo Perez Esquivel, 1980 Nobel Peace Prize winner from Argentina, will present "A Global View of Human Rights." The lecture will be presented in Spanish with English translation. This  event is open to the public. (3) SPEAKING EVENT:  CHARLIE LITEKY Charlie Liteky, "U.S. Complicity in Third World Oppression" Tues. Nov. 6, 2001 At the Commonwealth Club 595 Market St. (Mezzanine Level), San Francisco Reception 4:45 pm; Program 5:15 - 6:15 pm $3 for students; $6 for members; $9 for nonmembers Reservations advisable: 415-597-6705 (4) UCA MEMORIAL VIGIL Thursday, November 15 at USF, 5:30-9:00 pm Dinner, Prayer Vigil and Dramatic Reading to mark the 12th  Anniversary of the Assassination of the 6 Jesuits and 2 Coworkers in  San Salvador.  Details to follow in future e-mails. (5) BAY AREA DELEGATION to the Nov. 17-18 SOAW Vigil in GA If you are planning to participate, please contact: Faye Ta at tato2222@yahoo.com Note:  General LeMoyne, the commander of Ft. Benning, asked SOA Watch to cancel the November Vigil.  SOA Watch has decided to proceed with the vigil.

SOA Watch West News ~ SOAWW News ~ Sept. 26, 2001
www.soaw.org ~ www.PeaceHost.net/soaw-w/

Subject:  Upcoming Events

In the aftermath of the 911 events, here are some upcoming events to consider:

(1) NONVIOLENCE WORKSHOPS
Sat. Sept. 29, 10 am - 2 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church, Franklin at Geary, San Francisco
Topic: History and Analysis of Violence
Information:  David Mezzera at DaMezz@aol.com

Future Topics
Sat. Oct. 6, 10 am - 2 pm: Dynamics of Nonviolence
Sat. Oct. 20, 10 am - 2 pm: Nonviolent Social Movements
Sat. Nov. 3, 8:30 am - 3 pm: Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Training
(important for anyone considering attending the demonstration at the School
of the Americas on Nov. 17-18 at Ft. Benning, GA

(2) RALLY to mourn the victims, defend the civil rights of Arab and Muslim
communities, and speak for Peace not War
Sat. Sept. 29, 11 am, Dolores Park
Information: ANSWER@actionsf.org

(3) SOA WATCH IN SAN FRANCISCO
Next Meeting: Thurs, Oct. 4 from 7 - 8:30 pm, Unitarian Universalist Church
Information: Dolores Priem at doloresmp@aol.com

(4) SOA WATCH EVENT AT SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY
"No MasŠ No More U.S. Sponsored Terror in Latin America"
Fri. Oct. 5, 7 pm, Student Union, Loma Prieta Room
Speakers: Charlie Liteky, Laura Slattery, Fr. Roy Bourgeois

(5) BAY AREA DELEGATION to the Nov. 17-18 SOAW Vigil in GA
If you are planning to participate, please contact: Faye Ta at
tato2222@yahoo.com
Note:  General LeMoyne, the commander of Ft. Benning, asked SOA Watch to
cancel the November Vigil.  SOA Watch has decided to proceed with the vigil.

(6) JOHN NEGROPONTE was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as US
Ambassador to the United Nations on Fri. Sept. 14.  California voices must
have influenced Senator Barbara Boxer to vote against Negroponte's nomination
at the time of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Thurs Sept.
13.  Please thank her (U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510).  Senators
Wellstone (MN) and Feingold (WI) were the other NO votes at the Committee
hearing.

PRESS ALERT

SOAWW
SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS WATCH WEST
1187 FRANKLIN STREET SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 16–July 27, 2001

PEACE ACTIVIST CHARLIE LITEKY TO BE RELEASED
FROM LOMPOC FEDERAL PRISON ON JULY 27
VOWS TO CONTINUE PROTESTING US MILITARY SCHOOL

LOMPOC, CALIFORNIA – Charlie Liteky, Vietnam war hero and recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, will be released from Lompoc Federal Prison on July 27, 2001 from his one year sentence for continuing peaceful protests at the US Army School of the Americas (now renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation”) located at Fort Benning, Georgia. This military training school has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in commando tactics, military intelligence, psychological operations and other civilian-targeted warfare. UN Truth Commission reports on El Salvador and Guatemala have confirmed SOA trained officers were involved in massive human rights abuses against civilians over the past twenty years. More recently, graduates of the SOA have been implicated in numerous human rights violations in connection with the US “Plan Colombia.”

Mr. Liteky calls himself a “Prisoner of Conscience” because his conscience has compelled him to speak out about this military training school and what he calls the war against the poor in Latin America. Mr. Liteky has dedicated his life to nonviolent activism specifically directed at the SOA and to exposing the increasing role the military plays in our country's interactions with other countries, particularly in this hemisphere.

His principled leadership and personal stand on human rights issues have made him a role model for the growing SOA Watch movement. Thousands now join in the annual demonstrations at Fort Benning with the next protest scheduled for Sunday, November 18, 2001 in Columbus, Georgia.

His release date coincides with his return of this nation’s highest military award fifteen years ago (on July 29, 1986) in opposition to US policies in Central America. The medal and his letter to President Reagan now reside in the Smithsonian Institution. Mr. Liteky’s release will come just days after the July 17th incarceration of 19 other SOA activists from around the country who will serve sentences of up to 1 year in Federal Prison for trespassing at Fort Benning during a peaceful protest of the SOA (now known as WHISC) last November.

Mr. Liteky will make a statement upon his release from prison. Many of his supporters will greet him in Lompoc at the La Purisima Mission State Park on July 27 at 11 AM. (Phone 805-733-3713 for park information.) He will be available for interviews at his San Francisco home in August.

To interview Mr. Liteky at Lompoc before his release, please contact the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Henderson at 805-735-2771 (ext 415).

WWW.SOAW.ORG
# # #
 

1)  E-mail news/action alerts directly from SOA Watch in Washington, DC Add you name by contacting info@soaw.org

2)  Snail mail, quarterly newsletters from SOA Watch in Washington, DC The Summer 2001 issue just came out. It provides information formatted for duplication and distributing. Add your name by contacting info@soaw.org
 
 

www.circlevision.org/mnsoaw/pages/soa26/soa26trial.html
 

1)  Charlie is scheduled for release from Federal Prison on Friday, July 27. A picnic is planned for that day in Lompoc at La Purisima Mission State Park.

2)  Charlie plans to be at St. John of God Church (5th Ave. at Irving) in San Francisco for the 9:30 AM Mass on Sun. Aug. 12 and at the Coffee Hour in the Hall at 11 AM

3)  For more information, contact, info@soaw.orgJudy Liteky (jliteky@aol.com)
 
 

1)  Contra Costa County
Monday, July 9
Contact: Natalie Russell

2)  San Jose
Monday, July 16, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Hedding Building @ Bellarmine Prep.
960 Hedding Blvd.
Contact: Larry Lauro
408-294-9224 ex. 288

3)  San Francisco
Thursday, Aug. 2, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Unitarian Center, Franklin at Geary
Contact: Dolores

4)  Sacramento
Contact: Janice Freeman
 
 

HR 1810 has 64 cosponsors (including Woolsey, Pelosi, Eshoo, Farr, Stark, Lee, Miller)
Action: letters and calls to Lantos, Honda, Lofgren, Tauscher, Matsui, Ose, Thompson   U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515
 
 

1)  Ft. Benning Vigil and Nonviolent Witness: November 17-18, 2001

2)  "From Violence to Wholeness" Non-violence Training for those preparing for Ft. Benning:
    Sat. Sept. 29, 10 AM to 2 PM
    Sat. Oct. 6, 10 AM to 2 PM
    Sat. Oct. 20, 10 AM to 2 PM
    Sat. Nov. 3, 8:30 AM to 3 PM
Unitarian Universalist Center, Franklin at Geary, San Francisco

Synopsis: Learn about the philosophy of non-violence and explore ways to live and act non-violently in our daily lives. Learn about non-violence cognitively and experientially. Understand what is involved in participating in a non-violent civil disobedience experience such as at Ft. Benning, GA. Sessions: Topics will include a study of violence, the dynamics of non-violence, non-violent social movements, and non-violent civil disobedience training.

Cost: $5 per person per session. No one turned away for lack of funds. Contact: David Mezzera

(1)   The New York Times, 06/24/01 "Sibling Nuns Will Go to Prison for Protesting at U.S. Military School"

(2)   Press Release, 06/22/01 Six Students Found Guilty of Telling the Truth

HR 1810 has 56 cosponsors (including Woolsey, Pelosi, Eshoo, Farr, Miller, Lee)
ACTION: letters and calls to Lantos, Stark, Honda, Lofgren, Tauscher, Matsui, Ose, Thompson U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515

1)   Ft. Benning Vigil and Nonviolent Witness: November 17-18, 2001
2)   Nonviolence Training for those going to Ft. Benning:
      Saturday, Nov. 3, 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM
      Unitarian Universalist Center, Franklin at Geary, San Francisco

www.circlevision.org/mnsoaw/pages/soa26/soa26trial.html

DUBUQUE, Iowa, June 20 - In all their years as Franciscan nuns, the Hennessey sisters have led lives of intentional simplicity: simple food, simple dress, simple quarters.

Now they are about to abandon the simple life in a convent for the austere life in a prison. Sister Dorothy Marie Hennessey, who is 88, and Sister Gwen L. Hennessey, who is 68, have been sentenced to six months each in a federal prison - the maximum penalty - for trespassing at a United States military school that trains Latin American soldiers.

The judge, federal Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth, offered Sister Dorothy Marie six months' house arrest in the convent instead of a prison term, but she refused. "I'm not an invalid," she said. "I'd like to have the same sentence as the rest."

Tiny and stooped as Mother Teresa, Sister Dorothy Marie sports a button saying, "Stand Up for Peace in Central America." The button is a keepsake from the 1980's, when devastating wars stoked by United States money and weapons embroiled El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras.

The 15 Hennessey siblings - Sister Dorothy Marie is the oldest - grew up on an Iowa farm. Sister Gwen said she did not know where Central America was until their brother Ron, a Maryknoll priest, was assigned to Guatemala as a missionary in the 1960's. Father Ron Hennessey wrote letters to his family. In the 1980's his letters described Mayan Indians in his parish being terrorized and killed by Guatemalan military squads. "Help stop this madness," he wrote. By then, Father Ron had befriended Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador, and when the Archbishop was assassinated, Father Ron was at the funeral in the cathedral when the Salvadoran military fired into the mourners.

The Central American wars smoldered to an end by 1990, just about the time that another Maryknoll priest, the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, started leading small groups of protesters to the gates of the School of the Americas at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga. They demanded that the Army close the school. The protesters point to trials and investigations that concluded that the school's graduates participated in atrocities, including the assassination of Archbishop Romero and the massacre of an estimated 800 Salvadorans in and around the village of El Mozote, El Salvador. Among the school's graduates are Gen. Manuel Noriega of Panama, Raoul Cedras of Haiti and the late Roberto d'Aubuisson of El Salvador, all connected to human rights abuses in their countries.

Maj. Milton F. Mariani, an Army public affairs officer at the school, said: "Over the 54 years that the School of the Americas was open, 61,000 students came through its classrooms. There are some unfortunately that came through here for what could have been a two-week or yearlong course, that went on years later to commit crimes against the societies of their countries. "That is a fact," Major Mariani said. "But it is not because of the training they received at the School of the Americas, but in spite of the training they received here."

The protests grew until last Nov. 19, when more than 8,000 people massed in a cold rain outside Fort Benning. The Hennessey sisters were among about 3,500 people who trespassed onto the base in a mock funeral procession, carrying crosses. Sister Gwen's cross bore the name of a 4-year-old said to have been killed in El Mozote. They recited the names of the dead, planted the crosses in the grass and were herded into buses to be fingerprinted and processed. They expected to be released, as in previous years, with a "ban and bar" letter warning them to stay off the base. But the protesters were surprised when 26 among them who already had "ban and bar" letters were charged and prosecuted, most for "illegal re-entry onto a United States military reservation."

In December, a month after the protest, the Army did close the school. In January, the Department of Defense reopened it under another name: the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. A bipartisan group of members of Congress has proposed House Resolution 1810, which calls for closing the school for good.

Together, the Hennessey sisters have logged decades as peace campaigners. Sister Dorothy Marie walked across the United States to protest against the cold war with Russia. Sister Gwen carried picket signs against nuclear weapons. But the only time they have been incarcerated was when Sister Gwen did a few hours in a county jail for a sit-in at Senator Charles E. Grassley's office to protest American aid to the Nicaraguan contras. The sisters have not been told where or when to report, but they expect it to be soon, in Pekin, Ill., the closest federal penitentiary to their convent in Iowa. Of the 26 other protesters - including two other nuns, both in their 70's, a Baptist, a Mormon and two Jews - three are serving sentences in Georgia.

As the Hennesseys walk through their convent now, other nuns in their order, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Family of Dubuque, offer prayers and blessings.

"Aren't you a little bit worried?" said 103-year-old Sister DeVota Rensch, reclining in her room, her knotted fingers entwined in a rosary. "We have to take it all in stride," Sister Gwen said. "Pray for us." In her narrow room, under an icon of Archbishop Romero, Sister Gwen was reading a book sent by a well- wisher, "How to Survive a Federal Prison Camp: A Guidebook for Those Caught Up in the System."

Sister Gwen will leave her job caring for nuns with Alzheimer's disease at the convent. Sister Dorothy Marie will not finish assembling the letters of her brother Ron, who died of a heart attack in 1999 after 34 years in Central America.

She cannot bring the papers to prison. "They said the only thing you can take into prison with you is your glasses," Sister Dorothy Marie said, "but I hope they let me keep my hearing aids."

[Page 10 includes color photo: www.nytimes.com/2001/06/24/national/24NUNS.html

Six students stood trial from June 20 to June 22, 2001 in Washington DC for a nonviolent demonstration against the Sikorsky Corporation, manufacturer of the Black Hawk helicopter. The six students, all from Oberlin College, locked themselves around a pillar inside the Sikorsky Corporation's conference at the National Guard Memorial Museum on April 2, 2001 to protest the $221 million profit Sikorsky is making off the "War on Drugs" in Colombia.

The six students are Jackie Downing, 21, Sarah Bania-Dobyns, 22, KateBerrigan, 19, Rebecca Johnson, 21, Laurel Paget-Seekins, 21 (of Philo, CA) , and Sarah Saunders, 20. They defended themselves, arguing that they acted out of an international tradition of a nonviolent civil disobedience to raise public awareness and change policy. The students argued that they had a right and an obligation to speak the truth to the officials of the Sikorsky Corporation.

In the trial, two of the students, Sarah Saunders of Lake Orion, MI and Jackie Downing of Topsfield, MA, testified about the violence and poisoning of food crops in Colombia, both consequences of the U.S.-funded "War or Drugs" that they witnessed while visiting Colombia in January 2001.

The Sikorsky Corporation is supplying 30 Black Hawk helicopters to the Colombian military as part of Plan Colombia. In addition to accompanying fumigation planes, the helicopters are used to fly American and Colombian soldiers into direct combat. "These helicopters are not being used for peaceful purposes, as Sikorsky claims," said Kate Berrigan in the opening statement for the group. "We believe that helicopters and military aid will not bring an end to the 40-year civil war or the drug trade in Colombia."

After an hour and a half of deliberations, the jury returned with a verdict of guilty. Judge Zinora Mitchell-Rankin subsequently dismissed the jury before proceeding to sentencing. The District Attorney asked the judge for a sentence of three days, insisting that the six women would clearly not comply with probation. Instead the judge sentenced them to a $75 fine.

"Although an acquittal would have been a great victory for us and for the movement, we win on either count," states Sarah Bania-Dobyns of Denver, CO. "We raised a lot of awareness today about what the U.S. government and corporations are doing in Colombia and we will continue to do so."

For more information, see: San Francisco Chronicle, 06/15/01
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/15/MN219178.DTL

For our Fair Use of Copyrighted material notice, please click on Fair Use.

Sikorky's page on Black Hawks: www.sikorsky.com/programs/blackhawk/index.html

Colombia Support Network: www.colombiasupport.net.
 

(1)   6 cosponsors of HR 1810: Woolsey, Pelosi, Eshoo, Farr, Miller, Lee. ACTION: letters and calls to Lantos, Stark, Honda, Lofgren, Tauscher, Matsui, Ose, Thompson

(2)   Time to be active? San Francisco SOAW meeting on Thursday, July 5, 7:00 to 8:30 PM Unitarian Universalist Center, Franklin at Geary, San Francisco
(3)    Ft. Benning Vigil and Nonviolent Witness: November 17-18, 2001
(4)   CD Training for Ft. Benning: Saturday, Nov. 3, 8:30 AM to 4 PM Unitarian Universalist Center, Franklin at Geary, San Francisco

The Afro Colombian Peace communities of Esperanza de Dios and Neuva Vida had 34 of their members kidnapped last week. These members have just been returned. However, the communities are now surrounded by a large number of paramilitary and military personnel. It is estimated that 800 are now present in the region.

The Peace communities are located in the Cacarica area near the Panamanian border. The non-violent peace communities are being told to leave their farmland for which they have legal titles.

The communities are resisting the displacement by banning together as one Community. They have declared themselves a Humanitarian Zone under UN Human Rights Article 17. This declaration requires that they do not leave the village even to go to their fields to work. In time, they will have no food to eat. Eye witness accounts confirm that these nonviolent farm families do not harbor ANYONE with guns and they grow NO COCO, only rice and corn.

Peace Brigades International has maintained a long term presence in the Communities They are now being told that it is illegal for them to have a cellular phone. They will not stay in the communities without the possibility of outside communication.

ACTION:
Please call Senators Boxer and Feinstein in Washington, DC at 202-224-3121.
-----Ask that the people of Cacarica be supported to stay on their land through the withdrawal of armed personnel in their region.
-----Request that the US Ambassador to Colombia make a report on this area and the needs of the Cacarica communities.

Joan Brown, osf joankansas@juno.com
SOA Watch West
Member of fact finding team who visited this area a year ago and knows the people at risk

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(1) HR 1810, the House bill to close WHISC, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation at Ft. Benning, GA.

Thank those who have already signed on as Co-sponsors:
Reps. Lynn Woolsey, Nancy Pelosi, Anna Eshoo,
Reps. Sam Farr, Barbara Lee, George Miller

Urge these Reps to become Co-sponsors NOW in memory of Rep. Joseph Moakley.

   Reps. Mike Thompson, Tom Lantos, Mike Honda,
   Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Pete Stark, Ellen Tauscher
   Reps. Robert Matsui, Douglas Ose

ACTION:
1. Call 202-224-3121 (Capitol Switchboard) or write U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515
2. Urge your Representative to co-sponsor HR 1810 to close WHISC. Contact Cindy Buhl (Rep. McGovern's office) or John Hendricks (Rep. Scarborough's Office) to co-sponsor.
3. Mention the life and concerns of Rep. Joe Moakley and the harsh sentences given to those who witness nonviolently including Charlie Liteky (now in his 10th month of his 12-month sentence).
4. E-mail Dolores Priem (doloresmp@aol.com) with any important information you learn from your call.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA), Joe Scarborough (R-FL), Joe Moakley (D-MA) - now deceased, Connie Morella (R-MD), Christopher Shays (R-CT), and Lane Evans (D-IL) introduced a bill to close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation on Thursday, May 10, 2001.

The bill, HR 1810, is modeled after last year's Moakley/Scarborough/McGovern/Campbell amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill. It calls for the closure of the school and the establishment of a joint congressional task force to assess U.S. training of Latin American military.
For text of bill visit Congressional web site, thomas.loc.gov

The school's name has changed - but the courses, instructors, and purpose remain the same.

(2-3-4) Time to be active?
Thinking of going to Ft. Benning?
Interested in planning CD training on Nov. 3?
Contact Dolores Priem (doloresmp@aol.com)