A CAN perspective of the SOA protest

Ft. Benning, GA – On November 21-23, over 20,000 people gathered outside the gates of Ft. Benning to demand to end to Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of Americas (and sometimes called the School of Assassins by its detractors). The demonstrators encompassed the full spectrum of American liberals and leftists, from progressive Catholics to Anarchistic Atheists.

Protests at the SOA/WHINSEC began 19 years ago, following the massacre of 5 Jesuit persists, their house keeper, and her daughter by paramilitaries in Latin America. Opponents of the school decry it as a training camp for oppressive militaries and paramilitaries in Latin America, with a curriculum ranging from the use of fear and oppression to torture and kidnapping, all infused with a pro-America, pro-corporate ideology.

Over a dozen members of the Campus Antiwar Network from across the country were part of the weekend-long demonstrations.

Saturday saw a large gathering outside the gates with speakers, musicians, and scores of tables. It was a very lively atmosphere, a sort of politically-infused Burning Man-esq festival celebrating life and condemning those who brutally destroy it. In downtown Columbus, there were workshops and lectures lasting long into the night, covering a wide array of political and social issues.

Early Sunday morning, six brave individuals crossed the line of Ft. Benning in an attempt to physically close the school. Crossing the line at the highway rather than at the main gates – which were blocked by a temporary chain link fence topped with barbed wire – the six were detained half a mile into the base. They are expected to face felony trespassing charges, with 6 months in jail and $5,000 in fines, on top of the $1,000 bail.

At the gates of Ft. Benning, Sunday saw the 20,000 protesters gather with wooden crosses adorned with the names of the victims of the Latin American state terrorism. The crowd filed solemnly past the gate, placing their crosses in the chain link fence until they literally blocked out the sun. As the crowd marched, speakers on the stage sang out the names and ages of the victims of over 40 years of repression. After each name was sung, the crowd raised their crosses and sang back “Presenté.”

In addition, some members of the demonstration carried coffins which they laid before the gates. Dressed in black robes and white face paint, these representatives of death lay before the gates all day in a die-in, their black robes stained with red paint to represent blood.

As the day progressed, a Puppetista celebration made its way to the gates. Telling the story of how the people will eventually crush the oppression of Imperialism and terrorist governments with tools such as Women Power and Worker Power, the Puppetistas and their accompanying drum corps added the perfect splash of color and culture to the procession.

For more than 500 demonstrators, the procession was not enough. Led by a number of the Puppetistas, the group – mostly youth – burst forth through the police barricades into the town of Columbus. With chants of “SOA? Tear it down!” and “Whose Streets? Our Streets!” the bloc marched down two major streets and a number of side streets in an unpermitted expression of the Democracy and opposition to the SOA/WHINSEC. CAN members then led the bloc to the gates of Ft. Benning, where a drum circle and impromptu speak out energized the crowd. However, due to the chain link fence, no one crossed the line.

Over all, the SOA protest was an incredibly successful event. There is great hope among the organizers that Obama will help close the school, prompting organizer and SOA Watch founded Father Roy Bourgeois – who is facing excommunication for ordaining female priests – to declare that if the SOA/WHINSEC is closed down this upcoming year, there will be a final gathering in 2009 – for a celebratory fiesta.