BY ASHLEY ACOSTA
Feature Editor
Every November, the Saint Mary’s University Peace and Justice Club makes the 19-hour drive to Georgia and participates in the School of the Americas (SOA) protest. But this year, the club is not making the trek alone when they leave Nov. 20.
For it’s tenth annual trip, Peace and Justice is teaming up with Veterans for Peace, a Twin Cities-based organization of veterans dedicated to world peace through nonviolence, to attend a peace vigil set for Nov. 22.
Because Peace and Justice was looking for new ways to decrease costs of the trip, club president Mary Gleich contacted Veterans for Peace, which takes a bus to Fort Benning, Ga., to participate in the vigil.
The national vigil is in protest of the United States military’s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC), formerly known as SOA. At the base, Latin American soldiers are trained with alleged tactics such as violence, torture and other types of guerilla warfare.
In addition, many of the soldiers and policemen who have gra dua t ed f rom the academy hav e be en linked to the promotion of dictatorship and violation of human rights in their home countries. “As Americans, we pay taxes, and we don’t want our tax dollars going to something that is contributing to the killing of people in other countries,” said Gleich.
According to the Veterans for Peace mission statement, the organization strives to increase public awareness of the costs of war, restrain the United States government from intervening in internal affairs with other nations and abolish war as a tool of national policy. “I think it is nice that the men and women who have served our country and respect the role of the military are
able to disagree with some of the military’s ways,” said Gleich. “They care about what happens here at home and in other countries. They add a new dimension to the meaning of our trip.”
Gleich also said SMU has a direct connection with the SOA/WHISC because former SMU alum Brother James Miller (66) who was killed by an SOA soldier while on a mission trip in Guatemala.
“This is an important Saint Mary’s tradition because we have such a personal connection with this situation,” Gleich said.
The purpose of the vigil is not only to protest in a peaceful civil action, but also to take a tour of the military base designed to help educate people on the academy.
Eleven SMU students are signed up to attend the protest, which is a smaller number than in previous years. However, the smaller group is not due to lack of interest. Gleich said the decline in the amount of students is a result of budget cuts and the sharing of travel space with another organization.
1 comment:
There are a couple of comments that are erroneous, and I'll offer the truth about them and invite anyone from SMUMN to make his/her own study of WHINSEC to verify what I say. (SMUMN students have come to the WHINSEC open house tours in past years while in Georgia.) First, WHINSEC is a creation of the Congress and Pres. Clinton, established in law in 2000, and opened in 2001. Its predecessor, the Army's School of the Americas, was closed by act of that same law. Every WHINSEC course can be examined on our web site, and every one has been approved by our government, by our Congressional oversight committee, even by the American Council on Education (which authorizes US colleges and universities to include these courses in their students who have attended them). Come see for yourself; WHINSEC is open to visitors every work day.
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