SOA WATCH update

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SOA WATCH UPDATEFebruary 17, 20051. Lobby day and national call-in day: Tuesday,

Feb 222. SOA Watch activists headed to prison3. Brutal death squad murders in

Brazil- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -1. LESS THAN ONE WEEK UNTIL LOBBY DAY AND

NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY!This Monday and Tuesday, February 21 and 22, join SOA Watch

in Washington,DC to tell Congress that the time has come to make a real stand

for humanrights by closing the SOA/ WHINSEC.Click here for INFORMATION,

including schedules, location and housinginformation:

http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=983.On Monday, February 21st, we'll

gather at 1 pm at the George WashingtonUniversity Law School at 20th and H

Streets for a legislative teach-in andlobby trainings. On Tuesday, February

22nd, there will be an SOA Watchdrop-in space at the Church of the Brethren on

Capitol Hill, where you canstop by before, in between or after your

Congressional visits to get a cupof coffee, eat lunch, pick up materials for

Congressional offices

andsocialize with others working to close the SOA.For TRAVEL and TRANSPORTATION

INFORMATION, visithttp://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=991.ACCESSIBILITY: If

you have questions about accessibility at these eventsor if you need

accessibility accommodations, please email Christy Pardewat cpardew(at)soaw.org

<cpardew or call her in the SOAWatch office at

202-234-3440.CAN’T MAKE IT TO DC? You can still put pressure on Congress! Call

yourRepresentative and Senators on the SOA Watch National Call-in Day,Tuesday,

February 22^nd , and ask them to close the SOA/ WHINSEC. Look formore

information in an email tomorrow.For more information on the CALL-IN DAY,

visithttp://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=96.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -2.

SOA WATCH ACTIVISTS RECEIVE PRISON NOTICE – “BOOK THEM” NOW TO SPEAK INYOUR

COMMUNITY!Most of the eleven peacemakers sentenced to prison in January

havereceived notice that they are to report to a federal prison close to

theirhomes on March 15

to begin serving their three to six month prisonsentences.Many of these folks

are available for speaking to churches, peace andjustice organizations,

community groups and more. Chances are one of themlives close to you! Consider

inviting one of these activists – or someoneelse who’s been to prison in the

past – to speak about the SOA/ WHINSECand their decision to put their bodies on

the line to say, “Not in ourname!”To read more about those tried in January, the

“SOA 14,” visithttp://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=322. To read about past

prisonersof conscience, visit http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=339.To set

up a speaking event in your community, contact Sarah Mertz in theDC office at

smertz(at)soaw.org <smertz or 202-234-3440.NEWS: Articles about

people sentenced to prison for their nonviolentdirect actions to close the SOA

have been turning up all around thecountry lately. To view all coverage,

visithttp://www.soaw.org/new/newswire_detail.php?all=1.“The

Nation” magazine is featuring an article called “Punishing the WrongPeople” on

its website. The article, written by Patrick Mulvaney, begins:“In protest

against the School of the Americas--a US-run training facilityfor Latin American

soldiers that has earned a reputation for teachingtorture, coercion and

execution tactics--the eleven demonstrators enteredthe grounds of Fort Benning

on November 21, in some cases by scaling abarbed-wire fence at the main gate.

The sentences are not unlike thosedoled out to past SOA protesters, but they

are, viewed from a broaderperspective, strikingly harsh and excessive,

especially in a year in whichthe use of torture has generated headlines...”To

read the whole article,

visithttp://www.soaw.org/new/newswire_detail.php?id=683.- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - -3. BRUTAL DEATH SQUAD MURDERS IN BRAZIL OF U.S. NUN, UNION ORGANIZER

ANDLAND RIGHTS ACTIVISTSSr. Dorothy Stang, a 73-year-old nun and prominent

Amazon activist, wasmurdered in a remote section of

Brazil on Saturday, February 12 trying tononviolently defend the jungle where

she had lived for decades. Stang wasgunned down after she repeatedly warned the

federal government – includingnine days before her death - that she and rural

workers faced deaththreats.Since Stang's death, two land rights workers have

been killed in the Anapuarea close to the Trans-Amazonian highway, where she was

helping set up asustainable farming project. Additionally, farmworkers union

leader DanielSoares de Costa Fiho was shot dead by gunmen on Tuesday near

Parauapebas,around 210 miles south of where Stang died. Death squads have been

blamedfor the killings.Stang and other activists have encouraged peasants to

occupy areas setaside for creation of government settlement projects and to

lobby for landto be demarcated as reserves. That puts the peasants in direct

conflictwith loggers, ranchers and land speculators who already claim the areas

astheir own, and there have been frequent killings.Thousands of

Brazilian troops have been sent to the area since Sr.Dorothy’s bullet-ridden

body was buried this week. Activists fear moreviolence as rural workers in

Anapu, near where Stang was gunned down,received new death threats. " The note

said I was next, " said Francisco deAssis Souza, leader of Anapu's rural workers

union.President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called for a federal probe andsent

troops amid international outrage at killings in Para. The governmenthas

promised to beef up its permanent presence in regions like Anapu andpush ahead

with sustainable development projects like the one Stang dieddefending.Sr.

Dorothy Stang, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, had lived in theregion for 37

years. She is the most prominent Amazon activist slain sinceenvironmental

campaigner Chico Mendes was killed in

1988.______ To , send a blank email

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