Some Iowans wear civil disobedience like a badge of honor that says I took a stand against injustice and militarization. At the recent vigil at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, 26 people were arrested and jailed in conjunction with the 20th Annual Vigil to Close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (aka School of the Americas or SOA) located on the base. While no Iowans are known to be among those incarcerated, Iowans participated, there was a Des Moines Solidarity Vigil on November 21st at 42nd and Ingersoll, and scattered across the state are people who have participated in previous SOA vigils in Georgia. Click here to view a video about this annual event. 

When the issue of civil disobedience is raised among Iowans we know, there is almost universal respect for people taking a stand against injustice and militarism. At the same time, one questions the value of a nonagenarian peace activist like Bill Brennan becoming a “prisoner of conscious” thus removing him from the ever shrinking pool of peace activists doing this work while he serves his sentence. While taking a stand against injustice and militarism is important, the SOA vigil seems to be engaged in a conflict of diminishing returns.

The 800 pound gorilla in the room, that most everyone involved in these vigils seems to be avoiding, is that militarism is endemic to almost every aspect of American society and U.S. Citizens are generally disengaged from our foreign policy. Even if Fort Benning's “School of the Americas” were closed, the cross training of military and police officers from Central and South America and from around the world would continue in some other format. There is a demand from other countries and a desire by the administration to use training of locals to enhance regional stability. This was the approach in Vietnam and it is our approach in Afghanistan and Iraq. Central and South America is just one more instance. In addition, in a post 911 world, the school has taken on new missions, including support of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption.

A better question than “should the SOA be closed” is “what should United States foreign policy be and what is the role of the CIA and our military in foreign policy?” During the midterm elections there was almost no discussion of US foreign policy in Iowa or elsewhere. Our foreign policy is a much bigger question than is closing the School of the Americas. The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation is but a small cog in the machine and if we seek to wage peace, our target must be much bigger than a small place in Georgia.

We admire the small bands of Iowa activists who use civil disobedience to demonstrate resistance to U.S. militarism. The problem is that people may feel that they are contributing to the resistance, but the military-industrial complex has pervaded our society and gained an acceptance that makes it hard to stop.

We agree with what Mario Savio said in Berkeley, California in 1964, “There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!” Most Americans have not begun to smell the “odious” machine and the people who run it have not been listening for a while.

If you can contribute to the Legal Defense Fund for those arrested at Fort Benning, click here.

If you want to learn more about U.S. Foreign Policy, a good place to start is by reading the State Department website here.