Buses of Believers call for closure on School of Assassins

"It is not power that corrupts, but fear" -- Aung San Suu Kyi, parent & Nobel Prize winner (resister to military dictatorship)

The term power is corrupted. For too long it has been associated with the negative --power corrupts; power to manipulate; power to control; power to own. Yet, power is not negative or positive, rather, it is a tool; a mechanism that can be used for unhealthy or healthy ends, depending on the person who weilds the power.

Why is this important? Because there is a long lineage of power used to overthrow the centries-old dictates of war and violence. Non-violence is an oft-maligned, oft-dismissed concept. A concept that is not given enough credit in our schools and intentionally overlooked in our societal aims. Non-violence, in its truest form, requires a processing within and a rejection of criticism, judgement and separation without.

While I may not be a religious person, I have often admired the fortitude and persistence of theological denominations in bringing a more peaceful perspective to life on Earth. As such, the blog this morning is in relation to non-violence, power and the Anglican Church.

This November a group of young Canadian Anglicans will be among those participating in a pilgrimage to the US Army School of the Americas (SOA). Originating in Toronto, the pilgrimage will include stops to various justice-seeking Christian communities before culminating at the gates of the SOA in Fort Benning, Georgia. The intention of the pilgrimage is to call for the closure of the SOA (now technically known as The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation -- WHISC).

The WHISC is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers. In the 59 years of the school's history, the SOA (dubbed the "School of Assassins") has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. While the efforts of the school do not fall in line with the precepts of the Anglican Church, the primary reason for shutting down the school is because these American-trained-graduates of the SOA have been known to use their skills to wage a war against their own people. As many who follow Latin American politics know, the targets of the SOA graduates include: educators, union organizers, clergy and religious workers, student leaders, and others working for the rights of the poor, who have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refuge. Needless to say the work of the SOA helps to undermine human rights and propogates the necessity for violence.

Last year, the Student Christion Movement of Canada and the North America Region of the World Student Christian Federation (the two organizations responsible for the SOA pilgrimage) were able to coordinate a pilgrimage that placed 19,000 people in front of the Fort Benning gates. This year they expect more. The SOA non-violence wake to call for the closure of the School of Assassins will leave Toronto on November 16. These buses of believers (both Anglican and supporters of non-violence) will trek 1065 miles for their cause.

For more information contact: Rob Shearer, PWRDF Youth Initiative Staff Email: youth@pwrdf.org. Or call Rob at: 416 924-9199 x 366

As Mother Theresa said: Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.