On June 21, Long Island SOA Watch activists Mara Bard and her husband, Enzo Bard, joined leaders of 20 social movements from the U.S., Canada, and Latin America at a conference where they will share strategies to resist the increase in U.S. military intervention in the region, as well as strategies to close the infamous School of the Americas, which continues to train Latin American military.

The Encuentro of the Americas, which was convened by SOA Watch, is taking place in Sanare, Venezuela, and will continue until June 25. Among the delegates are educators, lawyers, priests, nuns, and human rights activists. SOA Watch founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois explains, “We have a lot of hope in this gathering, in coming together to work for peace, for the closing of the military bases and of the School of the Americas, things that do nothing positive for our people…. The poor need hospitals, food, medicine, and this is what the United States should share with our brother-sister countries.”

Mara and Enzo were exiled from Argentina in the late 1970s. Enzo, an SOAW board member and treasurer of the Freeport Community Worklink Center, was part of Argentina’s La Plata student movement, which was often targeted by the country’s military in the “dirty war.” He says, “Being originally from Latin America, expressing solidarity with the South is natural for me.”

Mara’s hope is that “Encuentro will teach us how to help the resistance in Latin America to the oppressive U.S. foreign policy and increase the understanding between people.” She has already been doing this work for years as co-coordinator of Long Island SOA Watch, taking part in the annual SOA protest at Fort Benning (since the movement began in the early 1990s), and reaching out to local communities, inspiring and coordinating them to work toward shutting down the SOA and improving U.S. relations with Latin America.

We are proud to be represented by Mara and Enzo at this incredible conference and look forward to hearing about their trip.

Next Thursday, Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of School of the Americas Watch, will give a talk on President Obama’s Latin American Policy, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Manhasset. He’ll also report on his recent trip to El Salvador, where he led an Oscar Romero Legacy Delegation in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the archbishop’s assassination at the hands of SOA graduates.

Then on Saturday, May 15, Fr. Roy will be the keynote speaker at the sixth annual Brooklyn Peace Fair.

Fr. Bourgeois on “Obama’s Latin American Policy”
Thursday, May 13, at 7:30 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock, in the Social Hall
48 Shelter Rock Rd, Manhasset
$5 suggested donation
For more info: Shelter Rock Forum, 516-6560, ext. 122

Brooklyn Peace Fair 2010
Saturday, May 15, noon to 5pm
Brooklyn College Arts Lab and Student Center
2900 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn

On Wednesday, December 2, United for Peace & Justice will hold a silent vigil in Times Square, joining with many other groups around the country that are speaking out against continuing this war that is having devastating affects on the Afghan people, the troops, and people here at home.

From UFPJ: Join United for Peace & Justice, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Peace Action New York, and CodePink NYC for a silent vigil at the Times Square Recruiting Station. We will have coffins and some signs and encourage you to bring your own signs. The starkness of hundreds of silent people in the chaos of Times Square will be cause for pause, conveying the solemnity of war.

No Escalation in Afghanistan–Bring All Troops Home
Silent Vigil
Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 6pm
Times Square Recruiting Station

Spread the word!

More than 100 people from Long Island and New York City are outside the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, for the 20th annual vigil and direct action (see photo below, taken today by SOA Watch’s Linda Panetta) to protest the School of the Americas (now called WHINSEC), the notorious training facility for Latin American soldiers. Yesterday, a group of Long Islanders protested outside the office of Rep. Peter King, a big SOA supporter.

They groups include students from Hoftstra University and members and friends of SOA Watch and NYCISPES.

The vigil began 20 years ago, after a death squad that was trained at the SOA murdered six Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her 15-year-old daughter in San Salvador. SOA grads have been implicated in many other massacres and tortures and disappearances since the school’s inception.

In the recent coup in Honduras, the major players that ousted President Zelaya are two well-known graduates of the SOA: General Romeo Vasquez, the head of the military, and General Luis Suazo, a 1996 graduate, the head of the air force.

This school is well known in Latin America as a school of coups. The school has trained over 60,000 soldiers from 15 countries in Latin America in combat skills. And it’s all paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

It’s time to shut down the SOA.

For more information on the local groups, contact Bill McNulty of SOA Watch Long Island.

Please join the annual local protest of the School of Americas in front of the office of Rep. Peter King in Massapequa Park.

King supports the SOA/WHINSEC, and has even said that “the School of the Americas has advanced democracy in Latin America.”

The protest began 20 years ago, shortly after a death squad murdered six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her 15-year-old daughter in San Salvador. The priests were killed for their outspoken stance in defense of the poor. Of the 24 assassins, 19 were trained at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia.

The Long Island protest, organized by the South Country Peace Group and SOA Watch Long Island, will coincide with the SOAW’s yearly Vigil and Direct Action outside the gates of the SOA at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Thousands are expected to coverge for the Georgia event, especially because it is the 20th anniversary of the vigil and because the recent military coup by SOA graduates in Honduras has once again exposed the deadly effects that the SOA has on Latin America. A large New York City/Long Island contingent is heading to Georgia this year. (Contact Andy at NYC SOAW for details.)

Despite the long history of human rights abuses associated with the graduates of this institution it continues to exist and has never been investigated–only given a name change.

Saturday, November 21, 2009, at 1:00 PM
In front of Rep. Peter King’s office
1003 Park Blvd, Massapequa Park
Directions: Sunrise Hwy to Park Blvd (House of Pancakes is on south side of Sunrise), turn north. King’s office is just north of Sunrise/RR Station. There is parking available behind the stores if there is no space on the street.

Cinema Arts Centre is screening the documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers on Wednesday, December 2. Ellsberg or filmmaker Rick Goldsmith will speak live via Webcast. Show this wonderful theater your support–it’s a great place to see a flick!

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
5pm: Food
6pm: Poetry and music
7pm: Film and discussion

$15 Admission / Tickets can be purchased online at www.CinemaArtsCentre.org, at the box office during theatre hours, or by calling Brown Paper Tickets toll free at 800-838-3006

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence started on October 2 in New Zealand and will be in New York City on Monday, November 30. Long Islanders will be joining the marchers in Brooklyn Borough Hall, then march across the Brooklyn Bridge at 1pm for a 3pm rally at City Hall in Manhattan.

World March for Peace and Nonviolence in NYC
Monday, November 30, 2009
1pm: March from Brooklyn Borough Hall, across Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan
3pm: Rally at City Hall
7pm: Riverside Church event, details TBA

By van: Two vans will be picking up Long Islanders to participate.The vans are for those who will not be walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. The pickup points: LIE Park & Rides, Exit 58 Old Nichols Road at 10:00 am and Exit 36 Christopher Morley Park at 10:45 am.

The vans will be meeting with others at Brooklyn Borough Hall for the 1pm march. One van will go back to Long Island after this rally. The second van will stay in NYC to participate in events at Riverside Church at 7:00 pm. More info on these events will be forthcoming. The cost of the van is $20 cash per person payable that day. (Note: The Riverside event might require paid admission.) If you are interested in taking a van, call George at 516-249-7517.

By train: A LI WPM representative will be at each of the following stations to meet you. Please sit in the first car of the train. Marchers will be met at Flatbush Ave. and proceed to Brooklyn Borough Hall for the 1pm march. If you are interested in taking a train and need additional information, please call Karen at 631-875-8647 or email rksrc2001@yahoo.com.

Train schedule:
Leave Babylon: 10:19 AM (arrive Flatbush Ave. 11:33 AM)
Leave Wantagh: 10:41 AM
Leave Baldwin: 10:51 AM
Leave Ronkonkoma: 10:08 AM
Leave Huntington: 10:04 AM
Leave Hempstead: 10:11 AM (arrive Flatbush Ave., 11:03 AM)

In preparation for the annual vigil at Ft. Benning, Georgia, SOAW LI and Cinema Arts Centre host a film and talk with SOA prisoner of conscience Father Luis Barrios

On Thursday, November 5, Cinema Arts Centre will screen the documentary The New Patriots, a documentary by renowned filmmaker Robert Richter, about five U.S. military veterans who speak about their transformation from warriors to peace activists. Among the featured vets are SOA cofounder Fr. Roy Bourgeois and SOA prisoner of conscience Charlie Liteky (pictured below, left), who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Vietnam war.

Following the film, Fr. Luis Barrios of IFCO / Pastors for Peace will speak, and The Last Internationale will perform. Barrios (below, right), who is also a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, was profiled last week in a New York Times article, “Theology from Classroom to Jailhouse.”

Photos, from left: Paul Phillips; Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Screening of The New Patriots, by Robert Richter
Thursday, November 5, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
Film followed by a discussion and reception
Tickets: $12
Buy tickets at the CAC Box Office, through CinemaArtsCentre.org, or by calling 800-838-3006.

There will be an NYC SOA Watch meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 5, 2009, at John Jay College, 445 W. 59th St., Room #4115-N. We will discuss our trip to the vigil and direct action at Fort Benning, November 20 to 22.

Please attend this meeting if you plan to go to the protest, especially if you want a place in the vans we’ll be driving to Ft. Benning. To reserve a spot, e-mail Andy Kafel at akafe@earthlink.net.

With such songs as, “When the Sweatshop Workers Went on Strike,” “Coke is the Drink of the Death Squads,” and “Jenin,” David Rovics has been described as a “musical version of Democracy Now.”

Opening performance by: Jose Matias Guardado, Salvadoran folk singer
Come to the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

Thursday October 1 at 7:00 p.m.

53 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn

Take the 2,3-Train to Grand Army Plaza, Q-Train to 7th Ave., F-Train to 7th Ave.