Students participate in Day of Protest

By Tovin Lapan

For the Daily

Protesters mockingly renamed the Ann Arbor Federal Building the "School of Fools" yesterday as part of an international day of protest against the opening of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in Columbus, Georgia.

The institute, where a crowd of 20 protesters demonstrated yesterday, was formerly known as the School of Americas. It was restructured under the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act, which was approved by President Clinton last year after a referendum to close the SOA failed by 10 votes in the House of Representatives.

Yesterday's International Day of Protest was coordinated by the School of the Americas Watch, an organization founded in 1990 by Father Roy Bourgeois, an Ohio priest. The SOAW is dedicated to protesting the reopening through vigils, fasting and other forms of non-violent action.

Since 1990, the SOAW has protested the SOA's training of Latin American military governments that have been accused of numerous human rights violations. Former students of the SOA include Manuel Noriega of Panama and Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru. The SOA has been in operation for 54 years and has trained more than 60,000 Latin American troops.

Since Jan. 1, students from Oberlin College in Ohio have been fasting and holding a public vigil outside the SOA's home in Fort Benning. Bourgeois said the renaming of the SOA is a simple cosmetic change and no fundamental alterations to the school program or training methods have been made. He said the name change "is like taking a bottle of poison and labeling it penicillin - it is still deadly."

Six students and one professor, all from Oberlin College, were arrested during the protest yesterday at Fort Benning. The activists carried coffins onto school grounds and chained themselves to the gate blocking the school's entrance. One of the student protesters, Rebecca Johnson, is fasting outside the school through the month of January.

"I felt it was time to take part in a more meaningful way," Johnson said.

In Ann Arbor, the local protest was organized by resident Sheri Wander and the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice. The council was joined by the Eastern Michigan University Student Peace Action Network and activists from the Buddhist temple in Ann Arbor.

Along with a mock inauguration and ribbon-cutting ceremony, protesters also dressed up as clowns, jesters and jugglers to garner attention and promote the rally.

"Democracy should be fun," Wander said, explaining the unique form of protest.

The protest was an international event, with more than 40 organized protests throughout the United States and around the world. Rallies were organized in Santiago, Chile; Vienna, Austria; Toronto, Ontario; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Tegucigalpa, Honduras, among others.

A written statement issued by the Defense Department stated that WHISC has "a new board of directors, new curriculum and a new managerial set up." The statement added that human rights training is a part of the curriculum and they "should not be held accountable for the actions of some students."

Additionally, the new school has added training for peace support operations such as disaster relief to its curriculum.

After yesterday's protest, Fort Benning spokesman Rich McDowell said the protesters "don't have a clue what they are protesting." He went on to say that the protesters from Oberlin were invited to visit the school and see for themselves that it has changed, but "Father Bourgeois discouraged them from accepting the invitation." McDowell said the SOAW is practicing, "intellectual dishonesty" and the protesters are "robots" influenced by Father Bourgeois.

The WHISC will continue to offer public visits to protesters and all those interested in the school's activities. The SOAW has planned a rally in Washington, D.C., from March 31 to April 3 in order to continue their public activism and lobby the U.S. Congress to once again vote on a referendum to close the school.

SAM HOLLENSHEAD/Daily

Yspilanti resident Sheri Wander blows bubbles at a rally outside the Ann Arbor Federal Building.