May 22-23, 2001
Trial Statement by John Ewers
Judge Faircloth,
It
pains me to be here today but not because I am accused by the United
States of America of criminal trespass on the grounds of Fort Benning.
It pains me because I HAVE to be here to accuse the U.S.A. of not upholding our sacred Constitution and Bill of Rights.
I
am here because the government of the United States authorizes the U.S.
Army to teach military personnel of Latin American countries to deny
their fellow citizens the very rights that we, as U.S. citizens, are
entitled to by our Constitution.
I
am here because I have finally been willing to face my denial that our
country would willingly do something terribly wrong: that is, to treat
the people of other nations differently than we treat ourselves.
I
am a product of a modest upbringing by loving parents, a solid
education and all the trappings of a successful business career. In
other words, I have lived the American dream as millions of others in
this country have.
I
must tell you: I am ANGRY. I am FRUSTRATED. I am EMBARRASSED
that we in the United States of America treat others less fairly
than we expect to be treated ourselves.
The
end of my denial and the beginning of my acceptance, as a U.S. citizen,
that I am a part of this flagrant denial of basic human rights began in
Colombia, South America. I was standing with a group of Presbyterian
Christians in May of 1998 on an abandoned garbage dump outside of
Cartegena, Colombia in the midst of 25,000 displaced Colombians barely
surviving in cardboard and plastic shacks, minimum food, no medicine,
no education.
These
people were among more than a million Colombian citizens driven from
their homes and property by paramilitaries, guerrillas and the military
of their own government. Through a translator we heard a typical story.
Sell us your farm (at a ridiculous price) or we'll buy it from your
widow.
At that
moment, we knew we had to do something--ANYTHING! As we read and
talked and researched the situation, we discovered that the U.S. Army
at Fort Benning GA was training Colombian soldiers in combat warfare
and repressive citizen control techniques. These soldiers were
graduating from the School of the Americas at Fort Benning and going
back home to control and abuse their own people.
We
studied the history of the School of the Americas. We were
appalled. Essentially, citizens of Latin American countries were
being repressed, intimidated and even murdered by their own military.
These soldiers are trained by the U.S. Army on behalf of us as U.S.
citizens and taxpayers.
With
many others I joined those already working to close this horrible
school. We use peaceful, non-violent lawful actions:
letter-writing, visits to congressional offices, education and
mobilization of fellow citizens and a November gathering at the gates
of Ft. Benning culminated by a solemn funeral procession onto the base
in remembrance of thousands of murdered Latin American brothers and
sisters.
In my
heart and soul, I know I have done nothing wrong. I am doing what God
has called me to do. I must do this. I must continue to be among
thousands that continue to work to close this school forever and renew
hope among the powerless people of Latin America and vindication for
their leaders. I would like to make one final point, Judge
Faircloth.
I am
absolutely amazed that this school exists if for no other reason than
its record of incompetence. I am a person who had a successful career
for over thirty years as a manager in a large U.S. corporation. I
learned early on that to succeed, even survive, in a competitive
business environment required learning and executing basic management
principles. As I learned how the School of the Americas operated, I was
appalled. For example, any organization must have a clearly
stated mission with performance elements of high quality, customer
satisfaction, and thorough training and respect for employees in order
to stay in business.
The
School of the Americas is weak in all aspects of this. Its stated
mission is to train soldiers to provide security and peacekeeping for
their countries . These needs don't exist. The reality is that the
courses taught and the actions of soldier graduates support the real
mission which is to keep their citizens repressed and unable to secure
even their most basic needs. It is clear that this supports the needs
of the wealthy citizens and corporations but certainly not
the country's people.
The
mark of a well managed organization is to track performance of its
products or services. In this way weaknesses can be identified and a
continuously improving product or service can be achieved. The School
of the Americas admits that it doesn't track performance of its
graduates (its product). And yet the School leadership denies any
"product" problems without even tracking "product" performance. A
statement like this is absurd.
Organizations
that are weak and have lost their purpose are routinely eliminated from
the corporate structure. They are non-productive and too costly to
maintain with no strategic value. This action is precisely what should
happen to the School of the Americas. Hopefully, the U.S. Congress will
take this action. I will continue to work to this end regardless of the
outcome of this trial.
Thank you for the opportunity to state my position and support my
actions.
