Call to Nonviolent Direct Action at the RNC

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CALL FOR NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION AT THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
(RNC) IN NEW YORK CITY (AUG. 29 – SEPT. 4, 2004)

Expose the double standard in the government's "War on Terrorism" and demand
the closure of the School of the Americas (SOA), the notorious terrorist
training camp on US soil.

Contrary to the government’s “War on Terrorism” propaganda and Bush’s
statement that “every known terrorist training camp must be shut down,” the
U.S. government has been training terrorists at a camp in Georgia for
years - and is still at it.

The Fort Benning-based School of the Americas (SOA), renamed in 2001 the
“Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation” or WHINSEC, has been
pumping out assassins, dictators and death squad leaders since 1946.

The SOA, frequently dubbed the “School of Assassins,” has left a trail of
blood and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned. The
school has trained over 61,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency
techniques, sniper training, commando & psychological warfare and
interrogation tactics. SOA graduates have consistently used their skills to
wage a war against their own people.

Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers,
religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of
the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured,
raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refuge by
those trained at the School of Assassins.

Nonviolent direct action has been a key element in the campaign to close
down the SOA/WHINSEC. SOA Watch activists have engaged in protests, held
"die-ins" in the streets, held sit-ins in congressional offices, blocked
entranceways to the Pentagon and crossed the line onto Fort Benning to stand
in solidarity with the people of Latin America and to stop the training of
repressive forces at the notorious School of Assassins.

SOA Watch is calling on people of conscience to join the protests that are
already being planned against the Republican National Convention (RNC) in
New York City in the summer of 2004 and to engage in nonviolent direct
action to call attention to the injustice that is perpetrated in our name
and with our tax money. Help to expose the double standard of US foreign
policy; demand the closure of the SOA/WHINSEC!

Contact SOA Watch at (202) 234 3440 or email info [at] soaw.org to get involved.

Download the SOA Watch RNC 2004 palm card and spread the word:
http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=665.