Live from the electronic teat..... the Anti-War edition

* On March 19 the fifth year of the illegal, immoral, disastrous war in Iraq will begin. Activists across the country are mobilizing to mark the occasion with demonstrations, vigils and direct actions from Friday March 16 through Tuesday March 20. Add your voice to the rising call for peace: right here

* Congress is expected to vote on the bill to suspend operations at the SOA/WHINSEC in as early as May 2007. April will be a critical time for us to organize and make our voices heard.

This April 25-27, SOA Watch activists will organize local public fasts and events throughout the United States to educate the general public and members of Congress on the SOA/WHINSEC issue. link

* Activists 'Purify' Site After Bush Visit link

* 20 Arrested At SDS New York Counter Recruitment Action - link

* Do you have a protest or topical song available on the web? As of today Neil Young's Living With War website has 1430 song listings. Send your song link to: songs@lwwtoday.com

* Sign The Petition - The US Copyright Office has released their new set of rates for the payment of royalties by Internet Radio -- royalty rates so high that they will put RP and every other US-based indie webcaster out of business.

Quote For Today
"Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war." --Martin Luther King, Jr.

SOA WATCH

Close the School of the Americas, 11/17-19, Fort Benning GA; honor the memory of those who have died at the hands of SOA graduates.

There are scheduled events all weekend leading to Sunday, for the Memorial Service and Solemn Funeral Procession, followed by Nonviolent Direct Action, Puppets and Festival of Resistance at the gates of Fort Benning!

What exactly is the SOA?

SOA, or School of the Americas, is a school located at Ft Benning, GA, that trains assassins. On September 20, 1996, under intense public pressure, the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals that were used at the School of the Americas for years. These manuals advocated torture, extortion, blackmail and the targeting of civilian populations. A Washington Post article by Dana Priest broke the story.

The release of these manuals proved what SOA Watch, thousands of Latin Americans and numerous human rights organizations had been saying for years: that U.S. taxpayer money had been used for the teaching of torture and repression.

PEACEWORK Magazine is having Live Blogging

Argentine Torture Survivor Patricia Isasa Returns to Police Station Where She Was Imprisoned and Abused

Previously posted:
9/30/05
5/17/06
10/06/06

In 2004, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that Venezuela would no longer send soldiers to train at SOA. Earlier this year, the governments of Uruguay and Argentina followed suit.

Vigil to Close the SOA/WHINSEC November 17-19, 2006

Together We'll Shut it Down!

This November 17-19, thousands will gather at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia for the Vigil to Close the School of the Americas! Following on the heels of our first vote in Congress in seven years, this year's Vigil is shaping up to be a powerful time for movement building and an effective tool in the campaign to close the SOA/ WHINSEC.

See if there's a group in your area.

link

I bitch about the SOA a couple of times a year and I always find it hard to believe this annual protest doesn't get more buzz than it does.

The FBI is keeping tabs on SOA Watch, the human rights group that monitors the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia.

On April 24 and 25, torture survivors, students, nuns, veterans and other SOA Watch activists flooded the halls of Congress in Washington, DC to knock on doors for hundreds of meetings with staffers, Representatives and Senators.

On May 4, the FBI elevated its concern of SOA Watch to "priority" level, claiming that the group is subject to "counterterrorism" monitoring, according to documents by the ACLU and its Georgia chapter.

For almost 60 years, the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC) has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in tactics that are used to wage war against their own people. Courses taught at the school include counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. Among those targeted by SOA/ WHINSEC graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders and others who work for human rights.

What it boils down to is the FBI is concerned about a peaceful human rights group of mostly nuns that monitors a camp that trains asassins at the School Of The Americas. Don't you love that the more sanguid the name, the more nefarious the group? In a perfect world, the FBI wouldn't even allow the killing camp to operate, let alone fund them.

link

For almost 60 years, the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC) has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in tactics that are used to wage war against their own people. Courses taught at the school include counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. Among those targeted by SOA/ WHINSEC graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders and others who work for human rights.

Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, "disappeared," massacred and forced to become refugees by those trained at the SOA/ WHINSEC. During the November 1999 Vigil, over 4000 activists disobeyed military authorities, processed onto the grounds of Ft Benning, GA -home of the SOA- and overwhelmed the authorities in a solemn funeral procession.

More than 15,000 thousand of us will again gather in front of the gates of Ft Benning over the weekend of November 18th-20th, 2005. This year will you be among those who cross the line onto Ft Benning?

Link