The Dayton Pledge of Resistance
(POR)
was formed in 1984 in response to the US-backed contra war against
Nicaragua. It was part of a national grassroots movement in the US that
was pledged to supporting the Nicaraguan people’s right to sovereignty.
In the later 1980’s the POR and the Dayton Central America Solidarity
Committee (which additionally had been countering US policies toward El
Salvador and Guatemala) decided to work as one group.
When in the early 1990’s it became clear that the US Army School of the
Americas (SOA) had long been playing a critical role in fomenting
repression throughout the Latin American region, the Dayton POR decided
to join the national effort to close the SOA (known throughout Latin
America as the “School of Assassins”). That national effort, which was
initiated by Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois, is known as SOA Watch (www.soaw.org).
From the start, SOA Watch activists have employed creative and
nonviolent civil disobedience in calling for closure of the SOA. To
date, over 100 activists (including Miami Valley residents Margaret Knapke,
John Ewers, Paula
Ewers, Bill Houston and
Hazel Tulecke)
have been imprisoned, most for annual mock funeral processions onto Ft.
Benning, GA, where the SOA is located. With growing grassroots and
Congressional scrutiny, the Pentagon and Army have opted to “close” the
SOA, only to open it under a new name -- the Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation. But even a cursory review of the
“new program” shows that there are no substantive changes, and even
less oversight than was possible with the SOA.
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