News Article about November 2005 Student Delegation from SI

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/13221360.htm

Ledger Enquirer

Columbus,  Ohio Newspaper

Students advocate human rights

BY CHUCK WILLIAMS AND ANGELIQUE SOENARIE

Staff Writers

The students from St. Ignatius High School in San Francisco traveled a long way to protest Sunday.

The group, which included six students and four adults, expressed concerns about human rights violations committed by graduates of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, based at Fort Benning.

"Our social justice club promotes stopping the School of the Americas," said Kevin Hahn, 16.

For Micaela Shorruck, a 17-year-old senior, it was her second Southern trip in recent months. She spent two weeks helping to build houses in Birmingham this summer.

"We advocate the rights of human beings," Shorruck said.

The students said they had the full support of their parents.

"My parents have a history of protesting," said Maya Smith, a 16-year-old junior.

First-timers

Some were attending the protest for the first time.

Mario Moreno 15, used his slender fingers to untie the brown tarp that covered the fence at Fort Benning.

For him, it wasn't about crawling under the fence, it was about showing his face to the military police standing behind the fence.

"They need to know they're hurting people," said Moreno, who received cheers from the crowd for taking down the tarp. "They need to know what it feels like."

Moreno came from El Salvador to attend the rally with his aunt.

He said his uncle was involved in an "armed conflict" back home.

"The paramilitary tortured him," said Moreno in Spanish. "It was 22 years ago."

Carlos Miranda, 25, a student at the University of Wisconsin translated Moreno's comments at the gate.

Anti-war agenda

Some protesters came with their own agenda even though the protest was about closing down the institute.

Nick Przybyla of Detroit stood next to a table with information about an anti-war group called Iraq Veterans Against the War. Przybyla served with the Navy and Marines during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He said he came to Columbus because he had heard there would be a huge protest.

"I would wake up in the morning and I knew we weren't doing the right thing," Przybyla said.

Move the cars

Some of the protesters parked at a nearby Piggly Wiggly and Dollar General.

During the morning protest one of the speakers told the people to move the cars or they would be towed. The speaker said they were being harassed by the city.

Columbus Mayor Bob Poydasheff took exception to the comment.

"That is reckless and they didn't know the facts," Poydasheff said. "They left the crowd with the impression the city was harassing them. We are not."

Poydasheff was not the only elected official at the protest. Columbus Councilor Glenn Davis attended in the afternoon.

He praised the job being done by law enforcement.

"It was very professional," Davis said.

Mayan protester

Genaro Jacinto, 36, stood in line behind the stage to say the name of people killed.

"I come because the School of Americas is training soldiers to return to Guatemala to kill and torture and wipe out villages of Mayan communities," said Jacinto, who is Mayan. "More than 500 villages were totally wiped out."

He wore a silver pendant of a Mayan god.

"It's for my protection," he said.

Jacinto said one of his uncles was arrested by the military in 1982.

"He was tortured and killed and we never found his body," said Jacinto. "The reason I know is I hear from soldiers who drink at the bar in my town, San Juan, Ixcoy, in Guatemala."

Sunday learning

Lucia Domingo, 22, of Boulder, Colo., said her parents left Guatemala before she was born. However, she knows the circumstances that led them to the U.S.

"They left in 1981 during the guerilla wars," said the bio-chemistry student at the University of Colorado. "My parents had to leave because they were gathering a lot of the men and killing them. So (her father) decided to go to the U.S. My mom was pregnant with me when they left."

During Sunday's procession, Domingo learned something new.

"I never realized that other countries were affected," said Domingo, as she listened to the names of victims who were killed in other Latin American countries. "I thought it was just El Salvador and Guatemala."

Maladjusted patriots' at Fort Benning
by Tomek Krzyzostaniak
SojoMail 11-23-2005
http://www.sojo.net

News article from Sojourners

As we drove into Columbus, Georgia, on Saturday, Nov. 19, the local oldies station greeted us with an advertisement for "God Bless Fort Benning Day" at the Columbus Civic Center. Supporters of Fort Benning would have the opportunity to see the Budweiser Clydesdales, take a look inside the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, and inspect a military helicopter.

This patriotic celebration was likely in response to those gathering to protest the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly called the School of Americas, a school located at Fort Benning that has trained Latin American military officers in interrogation, counter insurgency, and - by many accounts - torture.

We "maladjusted patriots," as Rev. Charles McKenzie, one of the Sunday speakers called those protesting, were not tempted with any fun activities or corporate mascots. Our cry to close the School of Americas needed no gimmicks. We had Rosa del Cid and thousands of others who inspired us to be present at this event of remembrance.

Who was Rosa del Cid? She was no famous activist or speaker: She was 20 years old and pregnant when she was murdered by School of Americas graduates in the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador. Rosa's name was remembered this weekend, as were thousands of others.

Those gathered at the gates of Fort Benning and the SOA were a motley crew. They spanned the political spectrum, including anarchists, communists, socialists, military veterans, and Catholic clergy. That I, a Polish-American anti-communist Catholic can march with a writer from The Militant, a socialist newspaper, is telling of the power of this cause. The Columbus police estimated 16,000 attended Saturday's event. Organizers said the number swelled to 19,000 Sunday.

These thousands gathered at the peaceful vigil cried out "No Mas! No More!" to a perversion of the American ideal. They did not wish to be represented by graduates who murdered 900 men, women, and children in the village of El Mozote. They demanded that America not be associated with the assassins of Bishop Oscar Romero or the murderers and kidnappers of 30,000 people in Chile.

During the Sunday vigil, many of the known victims of school graduates were named, while participants marched to the gate of the fort. After each name those gathered cried out, "presente!" Many participants became emotional when the speaker read, "unnamed child, two months old, El Mozote." Unfortunately the names of such young victims were common in the litany. Perhaps some would call this collateral damage, but those present believe it is unacceptable. As the vigil continued, 40 activists crossed the property line and trespassed onto Fort Benning in an act of civil disobedience. Even though they knew they would face up to six months in a federal prison, they were undeterred and recognized that this was the least they could do to remember the young victims.

Pope John Paul II once said, "Radical changes in world politics leave America with a heightened responsibility to be, for the world, an example of a genuinely free, democratic, just, and humane society." Those who gathered at the gates of Fort Benning believe the existence of this school prevents us from meeting that responsibility. A school on American soil that is funded by Americans and trains war criminals reflects on our values and our nation. As patriots - maladjusted perhaps - it is our duty to hold our nation to the highest standards of justice.

Tomek Krzyzostaniak is a development assistant at Sojourners.