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Tuesday, 03 October 2006 18:39 |
By JIM GENARO
The biblical commandment, "Thou shall not kill," is a spiritual law that should be honored above all earthly laws, according to Father Roy Bourgeois.
He is the founder of the School of the Americas Watch, an organization that opposes the controversial School of the Americas, a U.S. Army facility at Fort Benning, Ga., which trains foreign military officers ÇƒÓ many of whom have allegedly been involved in subsequent war crimes and acts of terrorism.
The priest-turned-peace-activist addressed about 50 people at UNC Ashevilleës Highsmith Union in a Sept. 26 lecture sponsored by two university groups, the schoolës chapter of Amnesty International and the UNCA Socialist Unity League.
Bourgeois
first encountered the horrors of war during a tour of duty in Vietnam.
When he returned to the U.S., he became involved in the anti-war
movement and attended seminary, eventually being ordained as a priest
in the Maryknoll Order of the Roman Catholic Church.
But his activities took on a much more personal dimension, he said, when he was sent to Bolivia to work with the poor.
"They became our
teachers," Bourgeois said. "They began to teach me first about their
struggle, which is a struggle for survival."
The Bolivian
people worked tirelessly for survival, he told the audience, often
earning as little as a dollar per day. Malnutrition was common among
children.
"This is not simply an accident," Bourgeois noted. "There is a reason for this."
That reason, he
argued, was in large part an alliance between American corporations,
eager to exploit Boliviaës cheap labor pool, and a violent military
dictatorship ruled by Gen. Hugo Banzer.
"There are huge profits to be made off the backs of the poor," Bourgeois added.
When a
social-justice movement began in the country ÇƒÓ comprised largely of
Boliviaës students and working poor ÇƒÓ the military cracked down
violently, kidnapping, killing and torturing the movementës leaders, he
said.
However, news of
these events seldom made it to the U.S., Bourgeois added. Americans
"werenët watching it on the evening news. How would we know?" he asked.
Furthermore,
much of the publicity about the dictators in Bolivia and other Latin
American countries was presented in a context of trying to justify
their actions, Bourgeois said. "They would say, ǃÚTheyëre fighting
communists. They might not be saints, but theyëre not godless
communists.ë"
The violence in
Latin America did come to the attention of the American public,
however, when four nuns from the U.S. were raped and killed by militias
in El Salvador, Bourgeois noted.
As reports of
the ongoing warfare there began to make the nightly news, Bourgeois and
a small group of his associates went to El Salvador to bear witness.
Though he had been prepared by his experiences in Bolivia, Bourgeois
said the magnitude of the conflict ÇƒÓ with an average of 100 people
killed daily ÇƒÓ was staggering.
"Iëve never seen such brutality, such abuse of power," he said.
Furthermore, the
influence of American aid was evident, Bourgeois added. "Our country
was very deeply involved. We were giving training and giving guns to
those soldiers that were doing the killing," he told the audience.
When Bourgeois
learned that 500 Salvadorian soldiers ÇƒÓ many of whom had been involved
in killings of innocents ÇƒÓ had trained in the U.S. at a military
facility in Fort Benning, Ga., he decided to return to his homeland to
confront the American government.
"We went there to protest and say, ǃÚNot in our name!ë" he said.
Bourgeois and a
small group of co-conspirators returned to the U.S., where they
acquired military uniforms and infiltrated the base at which the S.O.A.
was located. Having gained access to a forest outside the barracks
where a group at Salvadorian military officers were sleeping, the
activists climbed trees carrying a portable stereo on which played the
last sermon given by Bishop Romero, a Salvadorian clergyman who was
assassinated for his anti-war speeches.
Over the
speakers came the words of Romero, saying, "Disobey your superior
officers who are telling you to kill your brothers and sisters! Obey a
higher law: the law that says, ǃÚThou shall not kill,ë" Bourgeois told
the audience.
Many of the
Salvadorian soldiers recognized the voice of Romero, who was a popular
social leader in their country, Bourgeois noted.
For their
subversive actions, Bourgeois and his allies were imprisoned for more
than a year. However, he said he harbored no regrets.
"When you go to
prison for following your conscience, no regrets ÇƒÓ youëre free,"
Bourgeois said. "Iëve never been so free as when I was in prison."
On Nov. 16,
1989, a group of Salvadorian militants killed six Jesuit priests, along
with a young mother and her teenage daughter, he said. This incident
sparked an international crisis after it was discovered that the
executioners were trained at the S.O.A.
Bourgeois and his allies responded by staging a 35-day hunger strike.
Another
significant blow to the school came when Bourgeoisë group gained access
to a set of manuals published by the school that gave specific
instructions on how to torture dissidents. The manuals, he noted, were
shown on the cover of the New York Post, starting a significant
controversy over the schoolës curriculum.
Eventually, the
group began focusing its efforts on staging an annual protest at the
S.O.A. "Itës a celebration of hope," Bourgeois said of the
demonstrations.
Thousands of
protesters turn out each year and on the second day, a memorial service
is held at which crosses, Stars of David and other religious symbols
are placed on the fence of the military base ÇƒÓ one for each person who
has died at the hands of S.O.A.-trained militias.
Bourgeoisës
group recently met with the president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, whom
Bourgeois noted, is the first indigenous president in the countryës
history.
Morales told the activists, "that our country is welcome. But not as before, not as a conquistador," Bourgeois said.
"Let me just say, our hope is strong, but we have work to do," Bourgeois concluded. "Peace-making is never easy."
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