Letztes Wochenende haben wir mit 100 AktivistInnen (vom Chicago Direct Action Network, Catholic Worker aus DC, SOA Watch Aktivisten und religioesen Gruppen) in Connecticut das Hauptor des Sikorsky Werkes blockiert. Sikorsky is der Produzent der Black Hawk Helicopter, von denen 30 in naher Zukunft im Rahmen des 'Plan Colombia' nach Kolumbien ausgeliefert werden sollen.
Das vorangegangene Wochenende hat in Washington DC das Strategie Treffen von School of the Americas Watch stattgefunden auf dem entschieden wurde Kolumbien zu einem Fokuspunkt in der Arbeit zu machen (was naheliegt bei 10,000 SOA trainierten kolumbianischen Soldaten)
29ter Maerz bis 3ter April finden in Washington DC die 'DAYS OF RESISTANCE' statt bei denen Vertreter von vertriebenen Afro-Kolumbianischen Communities auf einer Demonstration vor dem Weissen Haus sprechen werden. Neben Aktionen des zivilen Ungehorsams am Pentagon und autonomen Kleingruppen-Aktionen in DC wird es am Samstag Workshops zu Kolumbien und der FTAA geben, bei denen die haelfte der Zeit fuer konkrete logistische Planung von Aktionen vorgesehen ist (formierung von Bezugsgruppen fuer die Aktionen an den Grenzen und in QC sowie eine Delegation nach Kolumbien die zurueck in den USA auf dem Militaergelaende Ft.Bennings enden wird)
Wir arbeiten gerade an einem Flyer der Kolumbien, die FTAA und die SOA verknuepft. Dein Text ist sehr hilfreich.
Bei den DAYS OF RESISTANCE geht es hauptsaechlich um Widerstand gegen die School of the Americas (fuer mehr information auf deutsch check die webpage http://www.illoyal.kampagne.de/nr12/seite23.html oder die SOA Watch webpage www.soaw.org)
Solidaritaetsaktionen im Vorgarten des amerikanischen Generalkonsulates in Hamburg oder vor der US Botschaft in Berlin waehrend Aktivisten Aktionen in Washington DC durchfuehren waren klasse - kannst Du die vorstellen das sich sowas organisieren lassen kann (wenn ja, von wem)
Melde Dich!
Mit solidarischen Gruessen,
Hendrik
SOA Watch NE/Philadelphia
215.477.5892
A couple of days ago there was a action against Plan Colombia in front of the factory producing the Black Hawk Helicopters that are being sent to Colombia. The action was coordinated by Direct Action Network Chicago, Catholic Workers DC and SOA Watch activists ...).
From 29.3-3.4, there will be 'days of resistance' in Washington DC which will involve demonstrations, actions of civil disobedience and autonomous small actions. Representatives of the Black Communities are expected to take part. There will also be workshops on FTAA and Colombia. The days of action will mainly focus on the School of the Americas (also renamed as School of Assassins , see also www.soaw.org).
Hendrik from SOA watch asks if there are people willing to organise solidarity actions around those dates in front of US embassies and so on here in Europe.
Contact:
Hendrik
SOA Watch NE/Philadelphia
215.477.5892
by SOA Watch www.soaw.org
The United States' main goal in the FTAA process is to secure economic and political hegemony over the Western Hemisphere through the FTAA. The Georgia-based School of the Americas (SOA), recently renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, a combat training facility for Latin American soldiers has a crucial role in this project. This school has also become known as the 'School of Assassins'.
Soldiers at the SOA are trained to protect the interests of U.S. corporations and maintain the economic status quo for the few rich and powerful in the U.S. and their cohorts in Latin America.
In official SOA publications "economic development along free market principles" is identified as the "primary foreign policy goal[s] of the U.S." in Latin America. The SOA strategy is "to prepare military and police forces to respond to current threats to the achievement of those goals."
For example, in Mexico, hours after NAFTA went into effect, indigenous communities rose up to say "No!" The Mexican military moved in immediately with troops, helicopters, and artillery. At least 18 of the high-level officers involved in the civilian-targeted warfare are SOA graduates.
In Colombia, recent reports from Human Rights Watch and the U.S. State Department link SOA-trained soldiers to numerous peasant massacres and the assassinations of Labor leaders and striking workers.
Last year the Bolivian government sold the public water system of Cochabamba to a private corporation and the water rates immediately doubled and at times tripled. As thousands peacefully took the streets, Bolivian President and former military dictator, SOA graduate Hugo Banzer sent out the armed forces to attack civilians.
Gen. Walter Cespedes Raallo, Military Governor of Cochabamba, is an SOA grad as well. In 1998, while he was Commander of the Joint Task Force in the Chapre coca region, the level of state sponsored violence escalated. Fifteen farmers were killed and others were brutally tortured. Cespedes was indicted for negligent homicide in three of these deaths, but the case is slow to move forward because of death threats against the prosecution and human rights workers
It is no surprise that as state sponsored violence is used to support economic injustice against the people in Latin America, graduates of the 'School of Assassins' are consistently at the forefront.
Plan Colombia (de)
Plan Colombia (en)