| SOA Watch Rally | |
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Philadelphia is the city which, for many people, symbolizes the American values of liberty, freedom of speech and human rights. It is, after all, where our forefathers asserted their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It is, therefore, appropriate that today, on Columbus Day, SOA Watch conducted a rally at the Liberty Bell Pavilion to protest the continued funding of the School of the Americas by Congress. Amnesty International has long ago passed a resolution demanding the closing of the school.
The rally received excellent press coverage on local stations and was well timed in that many tourists and locals were in town for the holiday. Philadelphia is chosen by many organizations as a perfect place to hold rallies of this type, often in Independence National Park. Whenever possible, we will provide coverage of these rallys so that you can keep in touch with some of the important issues of the day.
Our Human Rights Guide, Kevin Reid, has prepared an excellent feature, "Focus on the SOA" detailing a rally to be held November 21-22, at the main gate of Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia to demand the closure of the training school for soldiers and military personnel from Latin American countries. As Kevin states, "Graduates of the SOA have been implicated in hundreds of acts of torture, rape, assassination, "disappearances," and massacres."
We are pleased to present you with a number of photos of the rally.
Photo by John Fischer
Photo by John Fischer
Photo by John Fischer
Photo by John Fischer
Photo by John Fischer
Photo by John Fischer