Feature Archives

2/18/04: Two officials from the WHISC (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation), formerly known as the School of the Americas, spoke on a panel at the University of San Francisco. Kenneth LaPlante, Executive Liaison Officer and Operations Coordinator for WHISC/SOA, has spearheaded the Army's new tactic of tracking down students who protest at Ft. Benning and "re-educating" them. Among his allegations are that "torture has never been taught" at WHISC/SOA, even though the release of SOA training manuals prior to 2001 reveals an explicit outline for torture. WHISC currently refuses to release new training manuals to the media. He spoke with Lt. Col. Linda Gould of WHISC, in a debate with Bill Quigley, the lawyer who has defended SOA protesters for the past three years.
Come defend the people's right to know the truth at USF Law School at 5pm, Kendrick Hall, Rm. 101.
School of the Americas Watch | USF SOAW Events

Upcoming event: 3/12: From Iraq to Palestine: Making the Connections in San Francisco.
Author and peace activist Dana Visalli gave a reportback on March 5th about his trip to Iraq.
Local Bay Area independent reporters Rob Eshelman, David Martinez, and Tristan have recently been in Iraq and have been sending home dispatches of life on the ground in that ravaged country. With the climate in US-occupied Iraq becoming increasingly hostile for journalists and restrictions tightening on media access, it is more and more important that independent journalists be allowed to report on what they see and experience. Especially when it comes to accounts from soldiers overseas who are growing weary of a war they do not understand and risking their lives for freedoms they don't necessarily have.
Read Martinez's dispatches: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
Read Eshelman's dispatches: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Read Tristan's dispatches: 1 | 2 | 3 Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

On Wednesday February 11th, Madeleine Albright spoke at Cody's Books in Berkeley ( Photos).
In a "60 Minutes" Interview on May 12, 1996, Lesley Stahl asked then Secretary of State Albright about US sanctions on Iraq. "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And -- and you know, is the price worth it?" Madeleine Albright responded "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price -- we think the price is worth it." On Kosovo, so determined was she that nothing would get in the way of military action that she asked Congress to cancel its March 11 debate on the subject, claiming that it could cause divisions within NATO.

1/30: As anti-war activists around the country gather support for the national March 20th day of demonstration on the one year anniversary of the war and occupation of Iraq, some local activists are in Iraq bearing witness to the ongoing occupation of the country. Code Pink Alert and Global Exchange have sponsored a women's delegation to Iraq. They are meeting with representatives of a variety of Iraqi women's organizations that are working on issues ranging from creating income-generating projects for women to organizing shelters for victims of domestic violence to raising women's concerns in the writing of the new constitution.
2/11:Read Kate Raphael's Dispatches and find out dates of reportbacks, on the Womyn page

On February 24th, several hundred anti-war protesters gathered at Bechtel Corporate Headquarters to protest against the corporate invasion of Iraq. Photos: 1  2 3  4  5 | Video: 1  2  3  4 5 |  Poster Art:  1
United For Peace | DASW | Flyers
Following on the heels of the military invasion of Iraq, another invasion began: a corporate invasion by Halliburton, Bechtel, and other U.S. companies that were awarded millions in “reconstruction” contracts. Nine months into the occupation, Iraqi schools are still in disrepair, electricity is intermittent, and the water is not safe to drink.
Qualified Iraqi businesses say they are shut out of the reconstruction of their own country and some 70% of Iraqi workers are unemployed. At the same time, the occupation administration has essentially put Iraq up for sale. In September, the Coalition Provisional Authority issued an “order” that allows for the privatization of Iraqi state companies, 100% ownership of Iraqi banks, mines and factories by foreign companies, and 100% expropriation of profits by foreign firms operating in Iraq. The CPA has also left in place a Saddam Hussein-era law that forbids workers in state-owned enterprises (where the majority of Iraqis work) from forming unions (see LaborNet for more information). They have also repeatedly detained or harassed workers who are demonstrating for jobs or better pay. Read More...
Bechtel Wins Iraq War Contracts | Operation Sweatshop Iraq | MAKING A KILLING: The New War Profiteers
Previous Protests At Bechtel Headquarters in SF: 10/28/2002   3/20/2003   6/5/2003

In San Francisco on Tuesday, January 20th, there was a vigil to remember Tom Hurndall and others killed by the Israeli occupation in 2004. Tom Hurndall, the British photographer shot in Gaza while shepherding young children out of the line of fire, died Monday January 12th at 7:45pm. His death came nine months after an incident in which he was shot in the head by an IDF soldier which left him in a vegetative state. The Israeli sniper who shot him has been arrested. The army leadership has now admitted that its initial accusations of Tom being armoured and in camouflage were lies.

Kate Raphael has been released from the Israeli prison in which she was held for over a week. She was one of four international activists whom Israel wanted to deport after they were arrested when they accompanied villagers from Budrus in a march onto land that is set to be destroyed for the construction of the Israeli Apartheid Wall
Read more about her arrest. Check here for Updates
International Women's Peace Service | Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism | ISM
Jan 6th Rally in SF: Photos: 1   2   |   Video: 1  2