Concert supports SOA protest

Concert to take place to raise money for the SOA prostest

A night of music and activism will take place at the Cat in the Cream on Saturday. Oberlin campus musical ensembles will play the Cat in order to raise money for Oberlin students' participation in protest of the US School of the Americas.

Activists charge that many soldiers who received training at the SOA have been responsible for human-rights atrocities in Latin America. The proceeds from the benefit concert will go to funding a delegation of Oberlin students' trip to Fort Benning, GA where they will participate in a national protest against the SOA.

The concert promoters hope to reach a large student audience through the unifying effect of music and poetry. "I am a musician," said senior Guy Mendilow. "Organizing a benefit show in which music and other performance art is used to spread this kind of message is one way in which I can do my part."

The show will feature such musical acts as the Oberlin Can Consortium, Fuad Ahmad, The Connection, Jason Miles Goss and Ilu Aiye; as well as poetry by junior Thomas Yagoda, sophomore Tarika Powell and the Word Orchestra.

In addition to raising money, the promoters hope to call attention to their efforts to close the School of the Americas. Mendilow said, "There are some active members of our group who first heard about the SOA in one of these benefits. I'd say that we have been successful."

Although promoters hope that the concert will be a major source of revenue for the trip, campus offices including the President's Office and the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association are also providing funding

Mendilow, who organized the concert, along with junior Brendan Cooney, was excited about the campus interest in the protest that will take place in Georgia. "Last year nearly 60 Oberlin students made that 10-hour trip," said Mendilow. "This year, roughly 100 students are going."

Sophomore Jackie Downing, a trip co-coordinator, said, "Obies are planning to be highly visible. We might be the largest student group there, and we'll be wearing T-shirts that read 'Oberlin Students Say Close the SOA' in English and Spanish."

Oberlin students who are participating in the protest in Georgia take their efforts to close the SOA extremely seriously. Some will even risk arrest and federal imprisonment. These students will take part in a non-violent action at Fort Benning. If convicted, they will face six months in prison and a $5000 fine.

Downing, as one of the students planning to take action that could result in her incarceration, said, "We hope that the College will continue to support us, especially if [we] have to go to trial."

Mendilow supports the actions of Downing and others, and said, "[They will send] the message that we will no longer support an institution responsible for the massacres, the disappearances, the torture, the extortion and the other crimes in South and Latin America for which graduates of the SOA are responsible. We will not allow it on moral grounds, and we cannot overlook the fact that our tax dollars are paying for this."

The benefit concert will take place at the Cat in the Cream on Saturday at 9 p.m. A $3 donation is suggested.