Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

schooloftheamericas

By staff

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Tucson, AZ – Hundreds of activists from across the country convened in southern Arizona for this year’s School of the Americas Watch: Converge on the U.S./Mexico Border. The event was held on Oct. 7-8 to bring attention to U.S. wars and intervention in Latin America, the continued militarization of the Mexico border, the pressing refugee crisis, and the criminalization and incarceration of undocumented migrants.

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By Tom Burke

SDS and Colombia solidarity activists at School of the Americas protest

Columbus, GA – A large group of anti-war and international solidarity activists passed out hundreds of flyers at the annual School of the Americas (SOA) protest at Fort Benning, Georgia on Nov. 21. The flyer calls to support the peace process in Colombia, freedom for Simon Trinidad and to close the SOA, where Latin American death squads and dictators are trained. The Colombian military trains regularly at the SOA and has the worst human rights record in the hemisphere.

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By Tom Burke

Tampa, FL – Anti-war activists and students from Florida are mobilizing to protest the School of the Americas (SOA), Nov. 20-22. The SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) a few years ago, but it is still widely known as the SOA meaning “School of Assassins.” It is based at Fort Benning, near Columbus, Georgia.

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By Cassia Laham

Leaders of Colombian peoples movement with Florida supporters.

Fort Lauderdale, FL – 20 antiwar and international solidarity activists gathered in Pembroke Pines, Nov. 25, to hear two leaders of the Colombian human-rights movement speak about their country and U.S. intervention. The event was the final stop on a nationwide speaking tour.

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By Alekos Zambrano

Columbus, GA – Over 1000 people attended the annual School of the Americas protest, at Fort Benning the weekend of Nov. 22. Every year thousands meet here to denounce the decades of U.S. military intervention, aid and overall presence in Latin America.

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By Students for a Democratic Society

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

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By Skye Schmelzer

Meredith Aby speaking out against political repression at SOA protest

Ft. Benning, GA – Meredith Aby, an anti-war leader from Minnesota, spoke out against U.S. political repression at the School of the Americas protest. Aby gave a presentation about the FBI raid on her home that happened because of her being an anti-war, Palestine and Colombia solidarity activist. 60 people attended, overflowing the room.

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By Harry Schmidt

Meredith Aby, of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, speaks about FBI and gran

Fort Benning, GA – Over 4000 people gathered here, Nov. 19, at the [School of Americas Watch](http://www.soaw.org) protest of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). Despite the change of name from School of the Americas (SOA) to WHINSEC, the legacy of half a century of training in counterinsurgency techniques, psychological warfare and interrogation tactics continues to this day in places like Colombia and Honduras.

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By Kas Schwerdtfeger

Tom Burke (second from right)

Milwaukee, WI – Colombia Action Network organizer Tom Burke came here Oct. 28 to speak about U.S. intervention in Colombia. Burke, who was served a Grand Jury subpoena in the FBI activist raids in late September, made strong observations on people’s movements both in the U.S. and Colombia.

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By Beto Soto

With chants of “The people, united, will never be defeated!” and “Close the SOA!” thousands marched here Nov. 21-22. Students, clergy and Latin America solidarity activists demand the immediate closing of School of the Americas (SOA), now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The SOA is a U.S. military school for torture, disappearances and assassinations.

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By staff

Puppets at the SOA

Fort Benning, GA – 15,000 people from across the U.S. and Latin America protested this weekend at Fort Benning, Georgia to say, “Shut down the School of Assassins.” The School of the Americas (SOA) trains military officers to run death squads in Latin America. In Colombia, these U.S.-trained military leaders conduct the dirty war against union workers. They shoot farmers and those trying to build a better life for themselves and their children.

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By staff

The following flier will be distributed at the School of Americas Protest in Columbus Georgia on Nov. 21.

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By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

With anger and passion, protests hit the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. For days, thousands of demonstrators put a people's agenda in the face of Democratic Party politicians.

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By Natasha Morgan

Milwaukee, WI - 50 people turned out for an Iraq Moratorium and anti-School of the Americans march here on the evening of Nov. 21. The event, which coincided with the massive protest at the SOA at Fort Benning, Georgia, was organized by the Milwaukee chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Peace Action.

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By staff

Charla Schlueter from SDS at UNC-Asheville speaks at the SOA protest.

Columbus, GA - Over 20,000 people from across the country flooded Fort Benning on the Nov. 22-23 weekend, calling for the School of the Americas (SOA), a U.S. military training institute that trains Latin American soldiers in ‘counter-insurgency’ techniques, to be shut down. During the vigil to honor the memory of the thousands of men, women and children that have been tortured, kidnapped and murdered by SOA graduates, six people, in an act of civil disobedience, crossed onto the military base and were arrested. They face up to six months in federal prison for taking action to close down the SOA – the ‘School of Assassins.’

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By Colombia Action Network

Join the Colombia Action Network at the School of the Americas Demonstration! Ft. Benning, GA, November 21-23, 2008

Help us shut down the School of the Americas (SOA) this November! The SOA is a U.S. tax payer funded combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia. Frequently called the “School of Assassins,” its graduates have left a trail of terror and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned. Over its 61 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, psychological warfare, and interrogation tactics. SOA graduates have consistently used their skills to wage war against social movements and progressive communities in their own countries. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. SOA training manuals made public in 1996 revealed that torture, extortion, and kidnapping are part of the curriculum. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and displaced by those trained at the SOA.

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By Michael Graham

Columbus, GA - 25,000 protesters arrived at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia to participate in the 2007 SOA Watch vigil to close the School of the Americas, Nov. 16 -18. The SOA, which trains military personal from Latin America in subjects like counter-insurgency recently changed names. It is now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, but name changes can not take away the bloody history of this tool of U.S. imperialism and oppression. SOA graduates have been implicated in killings, torture and massacres.

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By Doug Michel

A "Viva APPO" puppetista represents those who have recently been killed in Oaxac

Columbus, GA - Nearly 22,000 activists from around the country, gathered Nov. 17 through 20 to protest the School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Georgia. The School of the America’s special U.S. military program has trained military personnel to use methods of torture and killing throughout Latin America for over 59 years. SOA Watch, an organization dedicated to shutting down this program of terrorism, hosted the demonstration.

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By Heather Tuskowski

Chicago, IL – The weekend before Thanksgiving, November 21 and 22, people from around the country will gather in Fort Benning, Georgia, to demand that the School of the Americas be closed. Student activists from Chicago area campuses have joined the mobilization.

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By Brad Sigal

Columbus, GA - Ten thousand people descended on Fort Benning, Georgia, Nov. 18-19 to shut down the School of the Americas (S.O.A.). Also known as the School of Assassins, the S.O.A. has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counter-insurgency so they can repress the people in their homelands.

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