Students to protest School of Americas in GA

Approximately 90 students will leave today for Fort Benning in Georgia to participate in a protest designed to close the School Of Americas. Some students could face criminal charges for engaging in civil disobedience by trespassing on the Federal training facility.

The protest, coordinated nationally by SOA Watch, is in its 10th year. However, this year's protest has increased significance due to the growth in volume of protesters and its level of organization.

This will be the third year that Oberlin students have participated in the demonstration. Sophomore Jackie Downing and junior Laurel Paget-Seekins are coordinating the trip, sponsored jointly by The Oberlin Peace Activists League and La Alianza Latina. The National SOA Watch has asked Downing to be the student spokesperson at the protest; she will speak at a press conference on Saturday.

To generate more publicity this year the National SOA Watch hired a group to devise a media strategy. Part of that strategy was to hold a press conference with representatives from the major issue groups that participate in the protest. Students make up possibly the largest participating group. Labor groups, people of faith and Native Americans are also major participants.

When Downing and Paget-Seekins attended a National SOA Watch planning meeting last February, they met the national coordinators. "Since they know me, they've asked me to be the student spokesperson," said Downing. "I guess they have a little confidence in me."

This year 10,000 protesters are expected to be present, and about 5,000 are expected to actually cross onto the base to make their statement. The sheer number of protesters committing the federal offense confuses the issue of arrest. Usually violators would receive a ban and bar letter on their first offense and six months in federal prison for their second offense.

Last year when 2,300 people crossed onto the base, they were simply removed from the premises and no legal action was taken. Since almost twice as many are expected to cross this year, no one knows what the outcome will be.

"This year we're not sure what's going to happen. We expect 5,000 people to cross the line," said senior Laura Wimberley. "People who cross the line and cooperate with the military police probably won't be processed at all."

In the past, people have decided on a personal level if they will cross the line that marks federal property. However, due to the decline in resulting publicity last year the SOA Watch has developed more organized resistance. This year, the protesters will have a choice of four actions: protesting off the base, crossing the line and cooperating, crossing and resisting by going limp, or participating in a high risk action.

The high-risk action was designed by the National SOA Watch and details won't be disclosed until Saturday night. It will almost certainly incur legal ramifications, which is the intended effect to arouse public support.

"It really gets people when they think about the fact that in this country we're putting nonviolent activists in a prison for six months for crossing a line when the people who are committing the atrocities that they are protesting against in Latin America aren't spending any time in jail at all," said Paget-Seekins.

There are only three Oberlin students considering participation in the high-risk action but not all will cross onto the base.

"Not everyone will cross," said Wimberley. "We need people to do press work. People are filming and photographing to do presentations later and to document any potential police brutality, although that is really unlikely."

The students of Oberlin going to Georgia are very committed to this cause. They are willing to sacrifice six months of their lives in some cases to right what they consider a great injustice. Downing said, "It's pretty serious; while we feel that this is extremely important, we are also really nervous because these are pretty serious consequences. We really hope the College will support us. We hope that they'll stand behind the students."

"I feel like this is a cause that really deserves some serious attention. I find it appalling that we are supporting this particular form of corruption," said first-year Joanna Burch-Brown, "We have the capacity to change and the responsibility to change it because the people who are being violently hurt by it don't have the capacity to change it."

Despite the great risk that some of these students will be facing, most are confident and place great faith in the level of organization of the protest. "Any fears that I confront will be more about myself than because of actual situations," said Burch-Brown.

When the group gets back they will continue to be active, putting together a multi-media presentation including photos, accounts of the experience of crossing the line, and details about what kind of people spoke. They also might assemble a panel of speakers. In the spring semester, they will lobby in Washington D.C.

"If you're going to get involved in human rights activism right now, the SOA Watch is a really important cause because we've had a lot of bills go through the house and the senate, and we're only 11 votes away," said Downing. "If you're going to devote all your energy to something, this is an issue we can win."