School of the Americas
Colombia Action Network participates in massive protests against 'School of Assassins'
The following article from Fight Back! Newspaper highlight some of the Colombia Action Network's activities at the School of the Americas protest at Ft. Benning. Members of the CAN gathered hundreds of signatures to demand Lily Obando's release, and distributed 2000 flyers with information about her struggle for justice. One of our national coordinators, Meredith Aby, spoke at two workshops to highlight Obando's case and the broader context of the assault on trade unionists, and the peasants and agricultural workers movement in Colombia; while Chapin Gray, an organizer with the Colombia Action Network in Alabama addressed the crowd of thousands on Sunday and urged people to join the cause to free Lily Obando.
Update from CAN: Activities at the SOA
1. Colombia Action Network and Campaign for Labor Rights workshop info at the School of the Americas
2. Fight Back forum at the School of the Americas – features 2 members from the 2006 CAN delegation to Colombia
3. CAN flyer for the SOA demanding the release of Liliana (Lily) Obando, FENSUAGRO organizer, who toured for the CAN in the US in 2001
4. Attached is the petition we will be circulating demanding Liliana Obando's release
Protest the School of the Americas
Join the Colombia Action Network at the School of the Americas Demonstration!
Ft. Benning, GA, November 21-23, 2008
Help us shut down the School of the Americas (SOA) this November! The SOA is a U.S. tax payer funded combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia. Frequently called the "School of Assassins," its graduates have left a trail of terror and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned. Over its 61 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, psychological warfare, and interrogation tactics. SOA graduates have consistently used their skills to wage war against social movements and progressive communities in their own countries. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. SOA training manuals made public in 1996 revealed that torture, extortion, and kidnapping are part of the curriculum. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been assassinated, "disappeared," massacred, and displaced by those trained at the SOA.
Colombia Action Network: Shut Down the School of the Americas!
Activists from the Coalition to March on the RNC to Stop the War, the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee and the Colombia Action Network are organizing a workshop to discuss the importance of a massive anti-war march on the first day of the Republican National Convention (September 1, 2008). This workshop will include Q&A and discussion about the demonstration and other events at the RNC. All those interested in taking action against the Republican agenda of war and repression are encouraged to attend. (For more information check out protestrnc2008.org)
