Syracuse
Peace Council
2013 East Genesee St., Syracuse, NY 13210
spc(a)peacecouncil.net, (315)
472-5478
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Syracuse
Peace Council's
72nd Birthday Dinner |
SPC's
72nd Birthday Celebration
CAMILO MEJÍA
Saturday, September
20, 2008
6:00 pm Dinner, 7:30 pm Program
St. Andrew the Apostle Church, 124 Alden St., Syracuse map
Camilo Mejía was imprisoned in 2004 for his refusal to return to fight in the Iraq War, which he termed "illegal and immoral."
Cost is $15-72 (sliding scale) per person (no one turned away for lack of ability to pay)
Dinner Seating for 175 people. Please make a reservation too help us
plan food well. (payment due by Monday, September 15)
Send reservations (with check) to address below, or register online or call Joe at 315-877-3432.
Childcare is available by reservation (Thursday, September 18 deadline)
Place an ad or greeting in the written
program.
Camilo Mejía is a native of Nicaragua who came to
the US with his family as a teenager. In 1995 he was working full time
and earning minimum wage at a Burger King restaurant in Miami to pay for
his college education.
After being denied federal financial aid for college because his minimum
wage salary made him ineligible, Camilo heard a military recruiter's pitch
about funding for education and joined the Armed Forces at age 19. He
served as an infantryman from 1995 until 1998 then continued his contract
as a reservist in the Florida National Guard. While participating in the
invasion of Iraq in mid 2003, Camilo witnessed Iraqi detainees being systematically
tortured and abused by US troops at the Al Asad detention center.
After spending six months in Iraq, Camilo returned for a 2-week furlough
to the US. There he reflected on what he had seen, including the abuse
of prisoners and the killing of civilians. He concluded that the war was
illegal and immoral, and decided that he would not return. In March 2004
he turned himself in to the US military and filed an application for conscientious
objector status. Two months later he was sentenced to a year in prison
and served nine months before being released.
His was the first highly-publicized case of an Iraq veteran refusing to
fight. Camilo's memoir, Road from Ar Ramadi, The Private Rebellion of
Staff Sergeant Mejia traces his life from his upbringing in Central America
and his experience as a working-class immigrant in the United States to
his service in Iraq and time in prison.
Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, describes
Camilo's memoir:
"This is the extraordinary journey - geographical, intellectual,
moral - of a U.S. soldier from the front lines of Iraq to a military prison.
Camilo Mejía gives us a close look at the day-to-day brutality
of the war. We learn what happens when a young man decides to challenge
the entire military establishment in order to follow his conscience. It
is an inspiring memoir."
Hear the song "Camilo"
by State Radio