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Southwest Weekend of Witness 11/14 - 11/16
by libertad
Friday, Oct. 10, 2008 at 7:55 PM
Ft. Huachuca, located 70 miles southeast of Tucson, Arizona, houses the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School (USAICS). Ft. Huachuca has a long history of complicity in U.S. crimes of torture. Join us in the Southwest Weekend of Witness, Nov. 14-16
Ft. Huachuca is the home of USAICS, the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School, and has a long history of complicity in U.S. crimes of torture. The torture manuals used at the School of the Americas came from Ft. Huachuca.For several years, in solidarity with the SOA Watch annual vigil and action at Fort Benning, Georgia to close the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas (now the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) there has been a growing grassroots demonstration at the gate of Fort Huachuca to protest our country’s slipping standards on torture, being practiced in our name and with our tax dollars in places like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. The November 2008 demonstration at Ft. Huachuca will take place the week before the Ft. Benning vigil and action.
All of these events are sponsored by Southwest Witness, Tucson SOA Watch, and Torture on Trial in solidarity with SOA Watch and their annual Vigil & Action at Ft. Benning, November 21-23.
Southwest Weekend of Witness To End Torture
Schedule of Events
Friday, November 14, 2008 / 7pm
Pre-Event Event!
Antigone Book Store
411 N 4th Avenue / Tucson
Click here for map
A Book reading and signing by Colonel Ann Wright, US Army ret. from Dissent: Voices of Conscience Ann Wright is a retired US Army Reserves colonel with 29 years of military service and a career US diplomat. She resigned from the diplomatic corps in March 2003 in opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. She will be a guest speaker at the Southwest Witness on Sunday, November 16 at Veterans Memorial Park in Sierra Vista.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
10am - 3:30pm
Plan of Action: How can we stop torture?
Pima Community College, Downtown Campus
Amethyst Room in Campus Center
Stone Avenue N of Speedway Blvd / Tucson, AZ
Click here for city map to campus
Click here for campus map - “CC” is Campus Center
Participants will create a plan of action to bring more public pressure to bear to Stop Torture Now. Simple lunch served for donation.
Please Note / Because of I-10 construction in the Tucson downtown, leave I-10 and get on the frontage road if you are coming into Tucson from either north or south. (Watch for signs.) Turn east onto Speedway Blvd. Pima College is a few blocks east of I-10 on your left. There are adequate parking lots on both the west and east sides of the campus.
4 - 6:30pm
Sign-making and Community-building Event
Held at Southside Presbyterian Church
317 E. 23rd Street Tucson, AZ
Simple supper served for donation
Click here for map
7pm
Theater of the Oppressed
Live performance of Nightwind
by Hector Aristizabal
Held at Southside Presbyterian Church
317 E. 23rd Street / Tucson, AZ
Donations accepted.
Hector Aristizabal is a native of Medellin, Colombia and currently living in Pasadena CA. His commitment to human rights forced him to leave his country due to death threats. Hector’s main work has been on the use of Theater of The Oppressed techniques, traditional myths and storytelling as a way to combine theater, drumming, and dance with psychotherapy as a way to address the healing needs of many of our communities. He is a survivor of torture and active in SOA Watch.
9pm
No to Torture Candlelight Procession
from the church to the Federal Building followed by a vigil
Sunday, November 16, 2008 / 10am - 3pm
No to Torture Rally
Veterans Memorial Park
3105 E. Fry Blvd / Sierra Vista, AZ
Between Mormon Dr. and the Highway 90 bypass
Click here for map to to Rally
The rally will be followed by a Procession and Presence at the Ft. Huachuca Main Gate, Fry Blvd & Buffalo Soldiers Trail. Speakers, musicians, puppetistas.
Click here for map to Ft Huachuca Main Gate
Bring brown bag or picnic lunch, beverages, hat, sunscreen, folding chair, approproiate signs and walking shoes if you will be in the procession. The park has restrooms and plenty of parking. There are fast food and cafe options all along Fry Boulevard.
Please Note re: Car Pooling / For those who wish, car pooling can be organized leaving from the Pima College west-side parking lot on Sunday. Sierra Vista is 72 miles southeast of Tucson. Allow at least 90 minutes for the trip to the park, east on I-10, then south on Hwy 90.
Please Note re: Procession / A Vigil of Presence across from Ft. Huachuca’s main gate on the east side of Buffalo Soldiers Trail and Fry Blvd follows the park Rally. We will also have a presence at one of the private contractor’s office nearby. The gate is 2.2 miles from Veterans Memorial Park, straight west along Fry Boulevard. We will be using the sidewalk that extends the full distance. Counter-demonstrators are expected and peacekeepers will be aiding us in our procession. We will allow an hour and a half for the transition from the park to the gate. Those not walking may drive near the gate and park in the neighborhood east of the gate. We will be requesting those driving to offer rides to those walking back to their cars at the park.
For more information please visit http://www.tortureontrial.org, soaw,org or http://www.southwestwitness.org/