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On Wednesday, May 23, I was found guilty of criminal trespass along with 25 others for our actions at Ft. Benning, to close the School of Americas (now named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.) I was sentenced to 6 months at a federal prison camp and fined $500.
May 22, 2001
My name is Rebecca Kanner and I was born in 1957 in Cleveland Ohio. I received
a mechanical engineering degree from Ohio State University and moved to Ann
Arbor, MI to work at the US EPA’s Motor Vehicle Emissions Lab. Now I work
as an environmental educator for a non-profit environmental organization, going
into classrooms, teaching children how they can make the earth a cleaner, healthier
and safer place for everyone.
When I was growing up, I learned a deep lesson from my rabbi that I try to follow
in how I live my life. I didn’t learn this life lesson at my synagogue
- I learned it at school. My ninth grade civics teacher presented a sermon by
my rabbi as part of the lesson plan on how to be a good citizen. This sermon
talked about the rights and responsibilities of all citizens, listing ways that
each one of us must act to ensure our democracy continues. The first step was
voting and other steps included attending public meetings and writing our elected
officials. Now, almost 30 years later, I of course don’t remember all the
steps listed or even how many there were but I do remember the final one and
that was non-violent civil disobedience. I wasn’t surprised to hear this
message from my rabbi. I knew that Rabbi Lelyveld had been arrested and terribly
beaten for his work in the civil rights movement in Mississippi in 1964. So
I wasn’t surprised that my rabbi would give a sermon advocating civil disobedience
as one of the actions that may be required of us to preserve our democracy.
What did surprise me was that my civics teacher would teach us at my public
junior high school that sometimes breaking the law was a viable action by concerned
citizens to protect our democracy. Mr. Quinn, my respected teacher, taught us
that in severe cases it was ok, in fact it is our responsibility to break the
law. So when I crossed the line at Ft. Benning (in 1997, 1999 & 2000), I
was practicing a lesson that I learned in school.
When I made the serious decision each time to participate in a direct action
to close the School of the Americas (SOA)/now the Western Hemisphere Institute
for Security Cooperation (WHISC), I was inspired by the Jewish concept of tikkun
olam - translated from the Hebrew, this means the just ordering of human society
and the world - or more literally, the repair of the world. I was also inspired
by the Jewish prophetic tradition of social justice. As a Jew, I am moved to
work to repair the tragic consequences of the SOA/WHISC.
The three times I crossed the line at Ft. Benning, I have felt what the Jewish
theologian and philosopher Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel felt when he marched
together with Martin Luther King out of Selma. He believed that the it was a
day of sanctification, filled with spiritual significance and he felt as though
his legs were praying. I was praying with my feet during those holy moments
as we gathered together to do tikkun olam at Ft. Benning.
This trial is not about if I crossed that line at Ft. Benning or not - I did cross it. Rather this trial is about bringing truth to the lie that SOA/WHISC helps Latin American governments to promote stable democracies. This is an obscene lie. The opposite is the truth. When Panama kicked the School of the Americas out of its country in 1984, the president declared that the SOA is “the biggest base for destabilization in Latin America.” This School is funded by our taxes. Graduates of the School/Institute use the tactics learned, in courses taught by the US Army, against their own people. The victims of SOA graduates are those working for a better life - working for land reform, for better wages, for adequate housing and health care for the poor - and the victims of the SOA graduates are those just trying to simply live.
Over the years, we’ve learned that SOA graduates have been responsible for countless atrocities. The movement to close this School of Assassins has forced the Pentagon to make cosmetic changes to “reform” the School, even changing its name. But we know that past “reforms” have not worked and this latest “reform” is not the answer. The atrocities continue: in Guatemala with the 1998 murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi by an accused SOA graduate; in Bolivia where the president, a former military dictator and SOA graduate declared a state of siege and ordered troops into the streets against the people; and most notably in Colombia, with over 10,000 troops trained at the SOA and the worst human rights record in all of Latin America.
So I am doing what I can to close this notorious School/Institute. I have written letters to my elected officials; I have helped organize public forums to educate others about the situation; and yes, I have solemnly and sincerely, entered Ft. Benning asking that the School be closed. I hope my actions, the actions of my friends on trial with me, and the actions of thousands of others in our movement will serve as a catalyst to others to act to close the School/Institute in what ever way that is best for them. Together, I believe, we will bring about justice and that the SOA/WHISC will be closed.
Rebecca Kanner 92078-020 FCI Pekin Camp P.O. Box 7000 Pekin, IL 61555-7000
rebecca@ecocenter.org www.ecocenter.org