Alumna, faculty particpate in S.O.A. protest

Two members of the Cabrini community actively protested the controversial School of the Americas, where many oppressive leaders have been trained and educated.

by Matt Coughlin staff writer

Two members of the Cabrini College community were involved in protesting the U.S. Army School of the Americas. Alumna Linda Panetta and Dr. Margaret Reher, professor of religion, both made the journey down to Fort Benning, Ga., to participate in the procession and rallies that were held over the three-day weekend. Protesters want the school closed because of the many human rights abuses attributed to graduates of the school, while the supporters of the school feel that the school serves to promote democracy and human rights in Latin America and the lessons taught there minimize these human rights abuses.

November 19-21, 1999, thousands of Americans gathered at the gates of Fort Benning in Colum- bus, Ga., to exercise their right to protest a perceived injustice. They were protesting the School of the Americas, an institution located on the base, which has trained Latin American soldiers since 1946. The protest was the ninth against the School of the Americas since 1990.

The group SOA Watch, the organizers of the protest, hopes to bring about the closing of the controversial school. Those who have trained at the school have used the skills they learn "to make war against their own people. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, have disappeared,been massacred and forced into refuge," claims the SOA Watch.

The school's official press release states that the school "exists to improve the performance of Latin American militaries as institutions accountable to the elected democratic governments of the region."

"It's really great that they have this program for human rights, but you can probably count on one hand the number of students that have taken it," said Panetta.

Panetta, the recipient of this year's Cabrini Day award, is the founder of the SOA Watch Northeast. Panetta was impressed by the "emotion that was there on the part of the students and the outpouring of love and solidarity and compassion."

The protest itself consists of prayers, singing, speeches and reenactments of Latin American massacres by actors in black robes and white tragedy masks splat- tered with red paint, as well as a column of coffins symbolically carrying the dead.

The main event of the protest is a procession that crosses over onto the base while a speaker reads aloud the names of the multitude of human rights victims from Latin America. Those in the procession, carrying crosses representing specific victims, respond "presente," when the name of each lent manner possible. Some of the protesters are designated peacekeepers and are dispersed throughout the procession. These peacekeepers undergo additional nonviolence training beyond that given to all protesters. victim is called out.

"The people are real cooperative," said Columbus police chief, Willie Dozier, in comments made to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Reher, a first time SOA protester, was pleased with the nonviolent atmosphere around the protests.

"This is a highly-organized, highly-committed-to-nonviolence protest," Reher said.

Col. Glenn Weidner, the commanding officer of the School of the Americas, was glad that once again it was a peaceful and nonviolent protest. "It is frustrating and disturbing to see the demonization of an institution that does so much good for democracy in Latin America," Weidner added in the Ledger-Enquirer.

An expression of serious thought on the face of Dr. Margaret Reher, professor of religion, embodied the essence of the peaceful, but gloomy protest.

Reher participated in the procession onto the base and found herself moved by the litany of the deceased. Reher found herself moved when one of the speakers, shortly before the procession began said, "remember the power of silence."

"The whole 12,000 people fell into silence, and this was; powerful," Reher said.

The entire protest is carried out in the most peaceful and nonvio-

Sixty-five of the protesters who walked onto the base were transported to a nearby airfield and given letters banning them from the premises for three years. Of those, 23 were repeats from previous protests and were cited for trespassing on government property. These 23 will be sent before a federal magistrate to have their cases heard.

While the military estimates that 8,000 people participated in the protest and 3,100 of those risked arrest by joining the procession onto the base, the SOA Watch claims the numbers to be 12,000 and 4,400, respectively.

Protesters included retirees and church members from around the country, as well as a large contingent of college students.

Both Panetta and Reher were impressed by the student representation among the protesters.

"I was just impressed with the whole bunch of young students that were there and the enthusiasm of them. It's wonderful to see students getting involved in issues like this," Reher said.

"We have a voice, it is our sisters and brothers who are being tortured and killed and disappeared. If we don't speak out we become complicit in their suffering," Panetta said.