All but 1 SOA Watch protester found guilty

[roody]

Source: Columbus Ledger Enquirer

Monday, Nov. 22, 2010

All but 1 SOA Watch protester found guilty
By ALAN RIQUELMY - [e-mail]

Lauren Stinson, an undercover agent with the Metro Narcotics Task Force, testified Sunday that she participated in two meetings with SOA Watch protesters as they planned to step onto Victory Drive Saturday afternoon. All but one of the 22 arrested were found guilty, an SOA Watch organizer said.
Stinson followed the group of about 12 people into the southbound lane around 4:45 p.m., blocking traffic and being rounded up with the others on charges including obstruction of a highway and unlawful assembly.


Stinson was put in the back of a patrol car and taken to the Muscogee County Jail, but wasn’t arrested. She testified before Columbus Recorder’s Court Judge Michael Cielinski in some of the 22 cases the judge heard Sunday afternoon.

---snip---

Read more: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2010/11/22/1354909/all-but-1-protester-found-guilty.html

[FormerDittoHead]

1. Help us all: what is "SOA"?

[roody]

2. School of the Americas Watch

DU info here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9601104&mesg_id=9607408

SOA Watch homepage: www.soaw.org

[dipsydoodle]

5. aka

How the USA helps/helped Latin American dictators create death squads etc.

Please read : http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Terrorism/SOA.html

Cuba is notably absent from that list due to the timely removal of Batista.

Hasta la victoria siempre.

[Kali]

3. at first I thought this had made it into a mainstream news report and I was shocked

I was going to post a "wow" didn't think many in this country even know about SOA

of course it was most unfortunate that I was wrong

the lack of real news and information is sure killing this country

[ProudDad]

8. The fire hoses and dog attacks at the Edmund Pettus Bridge

would have never reached the eyes and ears of 21st Century USAmericans...





There would still be "colored only" water fountains and "riding in the back of the bus" in 21st Century USAmerika...

If the MSM hadn't been a public service instead of a "profit center"...

-------------------------------------------------

Hell, there might even be degrading sexual abuse disguised as "security" at airports throughout the land if the media didn't do their job...

Oh, there is...?

Never mind...

[gratuitous]

4. The rat was from the narcotics task force?

I guess for the powers that be, anyone who opposes violence as the first best tool for anything must be on drugs. I hope Ms. Stinson's career as an undercover narc is shot to hell. I hope she's very ashamed of her work.

[Marnie]

6. Who, What, When, Where and most importantly

Why.

Talk bout lame stream media total fail.

[ProudDad]

7. They evidently had at least 5 moles and agent provocateurs

inserted into the Movement...

Police State BULLSHIT!

Life in the belly of the beast, the heart of the dying Empire... :grr:

FUCK...

-----------------------------------

Live from the courtroom:
We're rolling live from the Muscogee County Jailhouse, down by the waters of the lovely Chattahoochee River!

Of the 26 arrestees from Saturday, there are still many being arraigned at the courthouse, with the Columbus police trying hard to make an example out of the defendants, in the hope of intimidating them and preventing us from speaking truth to power. The arrested peace activists and bystanders have been brought into the courtroom in orange prison-issued clothing, some visibly shocked and frightened, others arguing calmly in their defense.

We have verified that the Columbus police had at least five undercover law enforcement officers, who attended the direct action meetings, held signs at the rally, and were even arrested and kept in jail with the other activists in a clear attempt to learn names and fabricate stories.

However, we have an excellent legal team who are fighting hard against the lies and keeping our spirits up. For years, our movement has refused to be silent, and we continue to refuse to be silent now. We don't want to leave anyone behind!

This is a moment for us to come together and fight impunity. Our fight for the truth here in the cases against our sisters and brothers here in Columbus is part of the fight against militarization, threats and impunity in Latin America, represented by the School of the Americas. The threats and repression taught at the School of Assassins in Ft. Benning are being reproduced in the Columbus courthouse.

We also can't win this without you at your home, office, public library or school. We ask you to continue to step forward and send us your donations. Since we started the online plea, we have raised over $18,000... but we need more. We encourage you to petition your community networks, friends and family to raise more money for the legal defense fund.

You can make online donations to the Legal Defense Fund here.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ceEZczOYBIcanRZ2FOl1zwZl9GOOf7XH

Please note: if you were present during the arrests and have any audio or video footage of the tapes, it is urgent that you send that material to us at [e-mail].

[bluedigger]

9. It's good that people will still engage in acts of civil disobedience despite the risks.

Thank you, members of SOA Watch.:patriot:

[Doctor_J]

10. Getting more like Nazi Germany every day

Murderers get tax dollars to keep on murdering, while peaceful protestors get sent to prison.

[Judi Lynn]

11. You may remember hearing twin nuns in their 80's were arrested.

It's mentioned in a book by another nun who was also arrested:

~snip~
Each November thousands of protestors organized by the SOA Watch speak with their voices, hearts, and feet as they march with white crosses to remember the innocent victims who were brutalized in Latin America by the graduates of the School of the Americas (SOA). On her first march in 1997, Mary and hundreds of other protestors were arrested for what was deemed criminal trespassing. She received a ban and bar notice, prohibiting her from entering the grounds of Fort Benning for five years. A few years later, during Mary’s second march against the SOA, she again crossed the “invisible line” on the property and four hundred members of the group were arrested. A trial was held in the spring of 2001 and 20 protestors were sentenced to six-month jail terms. Nine of the women arrested, including Mary, two Franciscan Sisters in their late 80s, and a 19-year-old student, were sentenced to Pekin Federal Prison Camp in Illinois. A quote from Mary’s book states, “Since the protests began, 183 people have collectively served over eighty-one years in prison for civil disobedience while countless innocent people in Latin American countries continue to die from the repressive efforts led by SOA graduates.”

More:
http://www.celebrationsoflife.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=1&Itemid=76

~~~~~

Grandmothers for Peace Sentenced to Federal Prison
Cathy Webster, a grandmother living in Chico California, organized "A Thousand Grandmothers for Peace" to protest in November 2006 against the torture-training School of the Americas (SOA) (now called the Western Institute of Security Cooperation or WHINSEC) located at Ft. Benning Georgia.

SOA-WHINSEC has been the subject of international criticism since it was disclosed that torture manuals were used in the training of Latin American military personnel. Amnesty International USA called for the closing of the school, an investigation into the human rights atrocities committed by its graduates, an apology to its victims and reparations.

This week a federal judge in Columbus, Georgia sentenced Ms. Webster to 2 months in federal prison for stepping through a hole in the fence onto the grounds of Ft. Benning to carry her protest to the doors of the SOA-WHINSEC.

Two other Grandmothers for Peace were also sentenced to federal prison for the nonviolent protest ? Julienne Oldfield of Syracuse NY and Val Fillenwarth of Indianapolis IN.

More:
http://www.soaw.org/soaw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2941&catid=6&Itemid=64

~~~~~
Remember the military leaders involved in the Honduras coup recently were also SOA grads. Same people who tortured and murdered protesters of the coup there. Human filth. Trained with your tax dollars.