We are still feeling the energy and power from the thousands who attended the 25th anniversary Vigil at the gates of Ft. Benning, GA last November! During the weekend, SOA Watch Field Organizer María Luisa Rosal and movement Founder, Father Roy Bourgeois made an important announcement about SOA Watch's decision to move the popular mobilization to the U.S./Mexico border in the Fall of 2016.
This October 7-10, Veterans For Peace members will converge in Nogales, Arizona for SOAW's first bi-national convergence at the U.S./Mexico border to demand a fundamental shift in U.S. foreign policy.
At a time when refugees who are fleeing U.S.-sponsored violence are being branded as criminals, rapists and terrorists, and as anti-immigrant rhetoric continues to poison the public discourse in this election year, it is important for people of conscience to take a stand and to offer a different narrative.
As politicians build walls, we must build bridges.
We need to build grassroots power to challenge the racist status quo and we need to take action. Immigration has been the biggest issue so far in the 2016 presidential election campaign, yet every major candidate has remained silent about the connections between militarized U.S. foreign policy and the reasons why people flee here for their lives.
Instead of welcoming refugees as required under international humanitarian standards, they are treated as criminals and imprisoned for profit in the U.S. Moreover, the U.S. "solution" to the so-called child migrant crisis has been to further militarize the borders of Mexico and Central America. Mexico now deports more Central Americans than the U.S. does - with our tax dollars.
Enough is Enough!
The border mobilization in Nogales is one more way to fight for the closure of the School of the Americas, and to work towards a world that is free of suffering and violence. We cannot forget that many of our immigrant brothers and sisters are survivors of U.S.-sponsored atrocities in Latin America. In calling attention to the militarization of the border, we continue to demand an end to state-sponsored terrorism and violence against our communities on both sides of the border.
Join us! Organize your community to join human rights activists, torture survivors, union workers, veterans, community organizers, migrants, faith communities, students and educators from across the Americas.
Get Involved:
- Download, print, and distribute our 2016 Vigil flyers!
- Order a box of ¡Presente! to distribute in your community.
- Sign up for action alerts from SOAW