Come out and meet SOA Watch founder Father Roy Bourgeois on his visit to Long Island and NYC! The Maryknoll priest and Vietnam veteran will talk about the 17-year history of the movement to close the SOA. He has served prison time for his nonviolent protest of the SOA/WHINSEC and continues to travel the country speaking out against it and similar programs. Last year, a measure to close the SOA lost by only six votes. Fr. Roy is a great example of faith in practice. Sadly, the Catholic Church recently threatened to ex-communicate him for his support of women priests.

Thursday, April 2
7-9pm
NYU Law School
“Building Justice Through Solidarity and Direct Action”: A talk with Father Roy Bourgeois and fellow former prisoner of conscience Ed Lewinson, Professor Emeritus, History, Seton Hall University
New York University Law School
Furman Hall,
245 Sullivan St., Room 216
Picture ID required
Subway: A, B, C, D, E, F, V to W. 4th St.
Flyer: Father Roy NYU

Friday, April 3
7:30pm
Cinema Arts Centre
Catch a screening of the Academy Award nominated documentary School of Assassins, followed by a talk with Father Roy.
Cinema Arts Centre
423 Park Avenue
Huntington, NY
Sponsored by SOAW Watch Long Island, Veterans for Peace Chapter 138, Pax Christi, North Country Peace
Flyer: Father Roy Cinema Arts

SOA Watch West and Cinema Arts Centre invite you to brunch and a movie. For a good cause.

Cinema Arts will screen the documentary We Are Raised With the Staff of Authority in Hand, about Colombia’s indigenous population’s resistance to the repressive government of President Uribe. The station Radio Payu’mat has played a major role in this resistance, including the large nonviolent protest in northern Cacua in October 2008, when marchers spoke out against the militarization of their territories and the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

Let’s keep them on the air!

Guest speakers:
Tiokasin Ghosthorse, WBAI Producer of First Voices: Indigenous Radio, will talk about the media solidarity amongst indigenous communities.
Mario Murillo, back from six months in Colombia, will introduce the film and give the background about the causes of the mobilization of the indigenous people.

• Cinema Arts Centre
• 423 Park Ave.
• Huntington, NY 11743
• Sunday, February 15
• Brunch at 11:00 am (doors open at 10:30)
• Film at 11:30 am
• Price: $25
• For tickets: 1-800-838-3006 and ask for event 54041, or go to: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/54041
• For tickets at the door, no credit cards accepted.

SOA Watch founder Father Roy Bourgeois will speak at New York University Law School on Thursday April 2 at 7:00 p.m. in Furman Hall, 245 Sullivan St. (Washington Square South), Manhattan, Room 216.

Fr. Roy will discuss the very real possibility of closing the SOA this year, if we keep up the pressure on Congress and the new administration!  He will talk about his long-time committment to working for human rights, civil disobedience and his recent controversial stand for women’s equality in the Catholic Church.

For more information, contact (212) 255-5059.

Fr. Roy will also speak at the Ethical Culture Society in Maplewood, NJ on Wednesday April 1 at 7:00.

The Peace Task Force is hosting the panel discussion “U.S.-Sponsored Torture, Prisoners’ Rights, and Survivor Care,” with these special guests:

Stephen Xenakis, M.D., Retired Brigadier-General, U.S. Army
Jonathan Hafetz, J.D., American Civil Liberties Union
Gita Gutierrez, J.D., Center for Constitutional Rights
Allen Keller, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and Director, Torture Survivors Program at Bellevue/NYU

If there is one PTF event you come to this year, make it this one.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 – 6:30 to 8:30 pm
All Souls Church – Reidy Friendship Hall
1157 Lexington Ave (@ 80th St)
Download the flyer below for more info.

torture-panel-flyer.doc

Every October, Long Island SOA Watch brings to Long Island a speaker to talk about events related to Latin America and the involvement of the SOA in training Latin American military in counterinsurgency and torture.

In solidarity,
Mara Bard
Coordinator of LI SOA Watch, Nassau Chapter

Please distribute the following flyers and spread the word!

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Guatemala-Event-English-flyer
Guatemala-Event-Spanish-flyer
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Long Island School of the Americas Watch Presents:
An Informative Conference for People of Goodwill

Why THE SOA/WHINSEC’S DAYS ARE NUMBERED:
THE LEGACY OF BISHOP GERARDI

Guest Speaker:
Fr. Bernard Survil
Chaplain at Clelian Heights School for Exceptional Children, Greensburg, PA

Thursday, October 30, 2008, at 7pm
St. Anthony Society Hall at St. Brigid’s Church
85 Post Ave., Westbury, NY

Last April, Fr. Survil led a pilgrimage to Guatemala for the 10th Anniversary Memorial Mass for Bishop Juan Gerardi, who was assassinated by graduates of the SOA in 1998. He will share with us his experience and information about Guatemala.

From 1974 to 2002, Fr. Survil did pastoral work in war-torn El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, and was expelled from each of those countries and from Honduras. During his detention in El Salvador’s National Guard barracks, he suffered psychological torture in the presence of an unidentified American. In 2003, during the annual vigil to close the SOA at Ft. Benning, GA, he, together with 27 other people, “crossed the line” and was found guilty of criminal trespass, and served 3 months in Federal Prison. He was an active opponent of the invasion of Iraq.

Co-sponsors: (List in formation) Five Towns Forum, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, L.I. Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, L.I. Immigrant Alliance, LI South Country Peace Group, Pax Christi L.I., PeaceSmiths, St. Brigid’s Casa Mary Johanna, South Country Peace Group, Suffolk Peace Network, Suffolk Progressive Vision, The Great South Bay Forum, Veteran for Peace L.I., Workplace Project

Directions to St. Brigid’s St. Anthony Hall: Take the Meadobrook Pkwy to Exit M1 (Old Country Rd.). Make right onto Old Country Rd. Go about ¼ mile and make a left on Post Ave. (you will see Holy Rood Cemetery at the corner). The church is ½ block away and St. Anthony Hall is across the church. Parking available in front of the church and at the cemetery side too.

On May 22, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to declassify information about the notorious School of the Americas (now called WHINSEC), dealing a blow to the culture of secrecy and lack of accountability surrounding Defense Department policies.

The McGovern-Sestak-Bishop(GA) amendment (to the National Defense Authorization Act), which was passed by a 220 to 189 vote, forces the public release of names, rank, country of origin, courses, and dates of attendance of WHINSEC’s graduates and instructors to the public. It includes info only on those who attended or taught at the institute since the fiscal year 2005.

This information had been available in the past, but the Defense Department classified it two years ago. After introducing the amendment to the House, Rep. McGovern said,

The WHINSEC is supposed to be a model for transparency, accountability, and respect for civil society, including human rights groups and critics. What signal does the school send to its Latin American counterparts about our democratic values when it denies NGOs access to information that has been available for decades?

Georgia’s Rep. Bishop cosponsored the amendment “to help us put the lie to all of these protesters that come down and pretend, or that, through misinformation, believe that some sinister activities are taking place there.”

In the past, the student and instructor lists have enabled SOA Watch to connect SOA/WHINSEC graduates to murders (including the assassination of Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero), drug cartels (SOA grad Lt. Byron Carvajal was convicted this year for the murder of 10 counternarcotics police in May 2006), paramilitaries our government lists as terrorist organizations, and massacres of whole villages, like El Mozote, El Salvador, where SOA grads killed more than 800 civilians, ages 2 months to 100 years—they systematically murdered the unarmed people, first beheading and shooting the men, then raping and shooting the women, then stabbing and shooting the children (ten of the twelve officers cited for the massacre by a 1993 UN Truth Commission were trained at the SOA).

This month’s legislative victory was the result of hard work by SOA Watch’s many, many dedicated volunteers and supporters. Check out SOAW.org for more info and plans for a Senate bill.

SOA Watch Long Island and SOA Watch NYC would like to thank the following congresspeople from New York who voted for the amendment (NYC and Long Island districts are in bold):

* Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-5)
* Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-24)
* Rep. Timothy Bishop (D-1)
* Rep. Yvette Clark (D-11)
* Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-7)
* Rep. John Hall (D-19)
* Rep. Brian Higgins (D-27)
* Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-22)
* Rep. Steve Israel (D-2)
* Rep. Nita Lowey (D-18)
* Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-14)
* Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-4)
* Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-21)
* Rep. Jose Serrano (D-16)
* Rep. Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-28)
* Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-10)
* Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez (D-12)
* Rep. Anthony D. Weiner (D-9)

Reps. Peter King (R-3) and Vito Fossella (R-13) were the only two of all the Long Island and New York City congresspeople to vote against the amendment. (Only four from all of New York State voted against it.) Three representatives who had cosponsored the amendment, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-20), Jerrold Nadler (D-8), and James Walsh (R-25), did not vote, neither did Gregory Meeks (D-6), who has voted in favor of a similar bill in the past.

Good news from the SOA Watch Attorneys: SOA prisoner of conscience Ed Lewinson has been released from the “hole” and is now part of the general population at FCI Elkton. And the attorneys report he is happy to be there. Thanks to all who wrote to the warden.

Send Ed a note of support in prison: Dr. Edwin Lewinson/Prisoner #92126-020/FCI Elkton/PO Box 10/Lisbon, OH 44432

In May, HR 1707, the Latin America Military Training Review Act, which calls for the closure and invesigation of the SOA, goes before Congress for a vote. The legislation has bipartisan support, but only half of New York’s Congresspeople are among the bill’s 122 cosponsors (see below).

Reps. Eliot Engel, Carolyn McCarthy, Gregory Meeks, and Edolphus Towns-–all Democratic Congresspeople from Long Island and NYC-–have not signed up to cosponsor this bill but voted for a similar bill last year. Charles Rangel did not vote.

Visit SOAW’s Legislative Action Index page for ideas on how to get this bill moving, and check out New York legislators’ previous votes on this issue. Last year, 22 of New York State’s 29 representatives in Congress voted for a similar bill to shut down the SOA. The bill lost by just 11 votes (214 to 203).

Many thanks to the following representatives for cosponsoring HR 1707:

• Rep Ackerman, Gary L. [D-5]
• Rep Bishop, Timothy [D-1]
• Rep Clark, Yvette [D-11]
• Rep Crowley, Joseph [D-7]
• Rep Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-20]
• Rep Higgins, Brian [D-27]
• Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [D-22]
• Rep Israel, Steve [D-2]
• Rep Lowey, Nita [D-18]
• Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [D-14]
• Rep McNulty, Michael R. [D-21]
• Rep Nadler, Jerrold [D-8]
• Rep Serrano, Jose E. [D-16]
• Rep Slaughter, Louise McIntosh [D-28]
• Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. [D-12]
• Rep Walsh, James T. [R-25]
• Rep Weiner, Anthony D. [D-9]

Join SOA Watch Long Island in a demonstration in front of Rep. Peter King’s office, to ask him to cosponsor and support HR 1707, the bill to shut down and investigate the School of the Americas.

The protest is part of a nationwide mobilization from April 23 to 25, when SOA Watch members will lobby their congresspeople to gain support for the bill. SOA Watch has also called for a nationwide fast to shut down the SOA during that week.

Long Island SOA Watch and other organizations have been asking Rep. King for years to support similar legislation. King is the only congressman from Long Island who votes to keep the SOA open.

When: Thursday, April 24, 5-6:30pm
Where: 1003 Park Blvd., Massapequa Park (1 block north of the LIRR station)

Ed Lewinson is about 20 days into a 90-day sentence for his peaceful protest of the School of the Americas. At 78, he is the oldest of the SOA 11. He was sent to a prison in Ohio, far from his New Jersey home, and in a letter he just sent to his supporters, written by a cell mate, he said he has been placed in solitary confinement:

“Because I am blind, I have been placed in the disciplinary housing - the hole. Although there are 2 or 3 people per cell, we are locked in 23 hours per day, and 24 on weekends. The other hour we are allowed to walk around a 15 x 20 foot cage for recreation….

“We are allowed one phone call every 30 days, and I must be here 30 days before I can make my first (call). I have tried to change this, but so far, no such luck. Although, I have a very kind cell mate, who has been very helpful.

“Needless to say, the time goes slowly and I’ll be glad when its over. Although 90 days is a really short time to spend in prison, relatively speaking. Cordially, Ed”

Call your representative and urge them to contact the Bureau of Prisons to demand that Ed Lewinson be moved closer to home and given appropriate accommodations.

If you’d like to send a note of support:
Dr. Edwin Lewinson
Prisoner #92126-020
FCI Elkton
PO Box 10
Lisbon, OH 44432