A) Nov.16-18: Relatori e Musicisti di fronte a Fort Benning, Georgia/ DAL 16 AL 18 NOVEMBRE MIGLIAIA DI ATTIVISTI CHIEDERANNO LA CHIUSURA DELLA SCUOLA DELLE AMERICHE

["valeria.sonda at alice.it" <valeria.sonda at alice.it>]

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Data: 8-nov-2012 19.52

Ogg: Nov.16-18: Speakers and Musicians at the Gates of Fort Benning, Georgia/ DEL 16 AL 18 NOVIEMBRE MILES DE ACTIVISTAS PEDIRÁN CIERRE ESCUELA DE LAS AMÉRICAS

Dal 16 al 18 novembre 2012, migliaia di attivisti dei diritti umani, sopravvisuti alla tortura, i veterani contro la guerra, studenti, famiglie, sindicalisti, monache, artisti e altri si riuniránno alle porte di Fort Benning, Georgia, per chiedere all' amministrazióne di Obama porre fine alla militarizazióne degli USA  delle Amériche, e per chiudere la Scuola delle Amériche (SOA / WHINSEC)! Per maggiori informazióni visita SOAW.org

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From: SOA Watch <info at soaw.org>
Date: 2012/11/8
Subject: Nov.16-18: Speakers and Musicians at the Gates of Fort Benning, Georgia



 

From November 16-18, 2012, thousands of human rights activists, torture survivors, anti-war veterans, students, families, union workers, nuns, artists, and others will converge at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, to call on the Obama administration to end the U.S. militarization of the Americas, and to close the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC)! Fore more information visit SOAW.org
Here's a list of some of the featured speakers and musicians:

Father Melo
Father Melo, a Jesuit priest and radio host, condemned the SOA graduate-led military coup against the democratically elected Honduran government in 2009 from the start. As a result, his radio station was occupied by the military following the coup and he began receiving death threats. The killing in Honduras continues. Just last Sunday, three rural laborers were killed amid an ongoing conflict over land in the Bajo Aguán region on Honduras’ Caribbean coast.

Adriana Portillo-Bartow
Adriana is a life-long advocate for human rights and a survivor of the war in Guatemala. After Guatemalan security forces killed one of her brothers and disappeared six members of her family, among them her father, her 10 and 9 year old daughters, and her 18-month old sister, Adriana and her two surviving daughters fled their native country and arrived in the US in 1985.

Father Roy Bourgeois, M.M.
Father Roy has been a priest for 38 years. He founded SOA Watch in 1990 after witnessing the killings of thousands in Central America in the 1980's. Father Roy's conscious awakening and calling to priesthood happened immediately after his experience serving in Vietnam. He has spent four years in prison for nonviolent protests against the SOA.

Theresa Cusimano and Ed Kinane, former SOA Watch Prisoners of Conscience
300 SOA Watch activists have been sentenced to prison and probation for nonviolent resistance actions to expose the horrors of the SOA and to express solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Latin America.

Joe Jencks
Joe Jencks is an international touring performer, songwriter, entertainer, and educator, based in Chicago, Illinois. From venues like Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, to coffee houses, festivals, spiritual communities, and schools, Joe Jencks has spent the last 12 years touring full time.

Colonel Ann Wright
Ann Wright is a former United States Army colonel and retired official of the U.S. State Department, known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. She received the State Department Award for Heroism in 1997, after helping to evacuate several thousand people during the civil war in Sierra Leone. She is most noted for having been one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

U.S. military veterans are on the forefront of the struggle to close the School of the Americas/WHINSEC. Veterans have fasted, organized, marched, hung uniforms and other military items on the fence, crossed the line to carry the protest onto the Fort Benning military base, and served jail time.

Maria Victoria Batista
Maria will address the situation of U.S. militarization in the Dominican Republic, especially in regards to the Saona Island, where the U.S. Southern Command is planning to build a naval base.

Omari Fox, New Danger Collective - the New Danger Movement is a play on the historical identification of the perceived "threat" that artists, thinkers, and change agents pose to the system.

Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a community-based worker organization whose members are largely Latino, Haitian, and Mayan Indian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout Florida.

Charlie King
Charlie is a musical storyteller and political satirist, who sings and writes about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people.

Medea Benjamin
Medea Benjamin is a cofounder of both CODEPINK and the international human rights organization Global Exchange. She has been an advocate for social justice for more than 30 years. Benjamin is the author of the book Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, and she has been campaigning to get lethal drones out of the hands of the CIA. Predator drones from the war in Afghanistan are being transferred to the control of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) for use in its operations in Latin America. As Fort Benning is scheduled to become a drone base, organizing against drones is picking up around the country.

Brother Domingo Solis is a Franciscan friar and currently the director of the Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation (JPIC) in El Salvador. JPIC is an organization of Franciscans whose mission is to care for the poor and marginalized, advocate for human rights, be peacemakers and respect and care for all of creation. In El Salvador, JPIC is an active member of the National Roundtable against Metallic Mining (the Mesa) and has supported the struggle for a complete ban on all metallic mining in the country. As part of the Mesa, Brother Domingo has helped organize protests of thousands of people demanding stricter domestic environmental regulations, has educated parishes and communities around the dangers of mining, and has demanded the respect for the human rights of environmental activists.

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For more information about hotels, the rideboard and directions, workshops and concerts, the schedule of events, and more, visit SOAW.org

To make a donation to support the mobilization efforts for the November Vigil at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, visit SOAW.org/donate

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Click here to contact SOA Watch with any questions or concerns.
SOA Watch, PO Box 4566, Washington, DC 20017