On Friday the UNH Peace and Justice League will begin a day-long car ride to Fort Benning, Georgia to participate in a nonviolent demonstration against the United States’ training school for foreign soldiers.
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation – more commonly referred to by its former name, the School of the Americas (SOA) – trains soldiers and police officers from Latin American countries.
The protest, which has occurred annually for the past three decades, is organized by the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW), an organization dedicated to closing the training facility.
According to the SOAW, many of the soldiers and security officers trained at the school have returned to their home countries and participated in terrible crimes, including the murder of civilians.
The SOAW website describes the goal of the protest at Fort Benning is the closing the SOA. The organization is confident that with a Democratic president in office the closing may actually become a reality.
According to Peace and Justice League Keeper of Peace, Bekah Hawley, a sophomore at UNH, the SOA protest is very important to the organization, as the SOA represents many of the things Peace and Justice League try to work against.
"We're a non-violent, non-hierarchical group," Hawley said. "We advocate non-violent means for providing peace. The SOA is all about forcing, coercing, and dehumanizing people, which is the exact opposite of what we're trying to do."
Another member of the Peace and Justice League, UNH junior Joe Lavoie, agreed that the goals of the SOA in training foreign soldiers go against the non-violent ideals of the Peace and Justice League.
"There is awful violence [at the SOA]," Lavoie said. "It is a failed means to establish peace. It's just trying to put a U.S. influence in other countries."
According to Hawley, by participating in the protest, Peace and Justice League members are doing something tangible to work towards their goals.
"We're talking about issues and why we want to change them," Hawley said. "But now we're also taking an active role."
Thirteen members of the Peace and Justice League, including a majority of first-year students, will leave Friday to drive to the protest in Georgia, where they will join thousands of other people.
According to Hawley, however, this event is more than just a protest.
“There is a week of speakers beforehand, peace-keeping seminars, training on legislation,” Hawley said.
Lavoie said that for a young person wanting to go into activism, this protest, with its many seminars and activists, is a great learning experience.
“I hope to learn tools to put my beliefs into action,” Lavoie said. “And it’s a great way to network. If you want to be an activist [this protest] is the first place to go.”
According to Hawley, the real value of this event is the information it will provide for Peace and Justice League to bring back to the campus and community.
“We hope to bring back everything we learn and get other students to realize that this isn’t right,” Hawley said. “We’re bringing a speaker in December who is an active member of the SOAW, and I would also like students who went to the protest to talk about their experiences.”
For those members of the UNH Peace and Justice League who are unable to go to the protest, as well as any student or member of the Durham community, a prayer service to remember the victims of the SOA will be held Friday night at 6 p.m. at Saint Thomas More Church on Madbury Road.
Be the first to comment on this article!