Shut Down the School of Assassins!

Fort Benning, Georgia, Nov. 19–21, 2004

The School of the Americas (SOA), renamed the Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation or
WHINSEC, is a combat training school for Latin American
security personnel located at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Initially established in Panama in 1946, the SOA was
kicked out of that country in 1984 under the terms of
the Panama Canal Treaty. Former Panamanian President
Jorge Illueca stated that the School of the Americas
was the "biggest base for destabilization in Latin
America." The SOA/WHINSEC, funded by US taxpayer money,
has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in such
courses as counterinsurgency techniques, sniper
training, commando and psychological warfare, military
intelligence and interrogation tactics.For over a decade, students, religious, labor,
veterans, human rights, and social and global justice
groups have been converging every November at the gates
of Fort Benning, Georgia to speak out in solidarity
with the people of the Americas and to engage in
nonviolent direct action. We will gather again this
year on November 20 and 21, 2004 to continue together
in the struggle until the School of the Americas is
closed and the policies it represents are changed
forever!

This "School of Assassins," in the guise of promoting
democracy, has graduated eleven Latin American
dictators, including Manuel Noriega of Panama, Efrain
Rios Montt of Guatemala, and Hugo Banzar Suárez of
Bolivia. Graduates of the school have been consistently
linked to human rights violations and to the
suppression of popular movements in Central and South
America of people demanding access to land, safer
working conditions and control of their own natural
resources.

For decades, while supporting death squads, propping up
dictators and actually overthrowing democratically
elected leaders, the US government claimed it was
bringing democracy to Latin America. We do not believe
that you can bring about positive social change through
the use of force. You cannot spread democracy through
the barrel of a gun!

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

** Come to Fort Benning this November! Teach-ins,
trainings, and caucuses will begin on Friday, November
19. On Saturday and Sunday thousands will gather at the
main gate of Fort Benning for rallies, music, speakers
and nonviolent direct action. Check back at
www.SOAW.org as plans unfold and various events are
announced in more detail.

** Engage in Nonviolent Direct Action on Sunday,
November 21st. Every year groups of people decide to
take their message onto the base, publicly defying the
laws which prevent political speech on military bases
and making a bold call for the closure of the "School
of Assassins." This year, we encourage people to come
as individuals and affinity groups to take nonviolent
direct action to help liberate us all from oppressive
US foreign policy in Latin America and to close the
SOA/WHINSEC.

** Organize In Your Community: organize nonviolent
direct action trainings, talks about the SOA, video
showings or other educational events in your community
in the next two months. Write to your Members of
Congress and ask them to support legislation to close
the SOA/WHINSEC. Organize a bus, vans or car-pool to
Georgia, publicize the vigil action in your region and
invite others to join you. Discern together with family
and friends and consider engaging in nonviolent civil
resistance in November.

For more information, educational resources, outreach
materials such as fliers and videos, logistics and
travel info and to get plugged into the November
organizing, please call 202-234-3440 and visit
www.SOAW.org.

Resistance organizing costs money. To help SOA Watch
cover the costs of November organizing click
here.

SEE YOU AT THE GATES OF FORT BENNING!