March 2006

Editorial material in Peacework is published under a Creative Commons
Attribution-
NonCommercial-
ShareAlike License unless copyright is otherwise specified.

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

Embracing All of Life

Steve Clemens, 55 years old, is a member of the Community of St. Martin in Minneapolis, MN, and one of the SOA 37 arrested in November 2005. After the trial judge ruled that no defense based on international or necessity would be admissible, Steve Clemens entered a plea of Nolo Contendre (no contest). The following is an edited excerpt from his pre-sentencing statement in Federal Court in Columbus, Georgia, January 31, 2006.

Police officer handcuffing Sam Foster at Fort Benning, GA, November 20, 2005. Photo: © Linda Panetta, www.soawne.org

The US Government, as a signatory to the Convention Against Torture and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has legally committed itself to forgo the activities I believe have been taught and encouraged by The School of the Americas and its successor, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). As such, I feel I have a moral and legal obligation under the Nuremberg Principles not to be complicit by remaining silent in the face of the atrocities committed by graduates of this military school. The school has promoted torture, rape, assassination, and the repression of progressive peoples in Latin America over the years. I urge our national leaders to live up to both the letter and the spirit of the treaties which they have not only signed but also helped write. Amnesty International USA has also called for an investigation of this school.

The SOA/WHINSEC is a symbol of our national foreign policy. It is policy to torture Iraqis at Abu Ghraib and many other prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo, and many secret locations run by the CIA around the world. It is a misguided policy to quell "terrorism" by violence and intimidation in order that the "beneficiaries" of the American Empire can maintain a standard of living at the expense of the world's poor. The SOA continues to train military officers from Colombia who have been implicated in human rights abuses.

I went to Fort Benning and the SOA confessing my own failure to more fully follow the life and teaching of Jesus, who calls us to a lifestyle of justice and compassion. My prayers and act of civil resistance to these powers of death are a small attempt to give a voice to the voiceless, to speak and act in solidarity with the victims of our national policies as embodied in this institution. I pray that this saying "NO" to the powers of death is swallowed up in the "YES" embodied in the life and teaching of Jesus and I will continue to work for a world of justice, compassion, and equal opportunity.

I ask all of you to join me as you are able, to work and pray to close this school and change our policy.

I wish to end on a personal note. On Monday I was seated in the rear of the courtroom in support of my friend Sam Foster. Prior to the beginning of the trials, the Court Officer/Bailiff told us, "Act like you're in church," informing us of the behavior he expected of those of us observing the trials. I've taken his instruction to heart.

Although the Court has framed this issue before us as a political one -- the law does not permit "political demonstrations on a military facility," for me, this is primarily a theological issue. I know this is dangerous ground because much of the worst excesses in recent history have been the result of some people acting because "God (or Allah) told me to."

For me, as one who has chosen to follow the way of a nonviolent Jesus, I resonate with the response in Christian scripture attributed to the disciples Peter and John when a conflict arose: "We must obey God rather than human authority."

I gladly submit to whatever punishment the Court wishes to impose but wish to make it clear that my presence on the military base on November 20 was a theological statement that this precious earth entrusted to us by our Creator is not to be used to prepare for war and domination of others but rather to embrace all of life as God's gift.

Steve Clemens requested a sentence of service with Mennonite Disaster Service helping rebuild after the hurricanes. Instead, Judge G. Mallon Faircloth sentenced him to three months in Federal Prison and a $500 fine. At the end of January 2006, 33 SOA Watch protesters were sentenced to between one and six months of jail, and one was sentenced to probation.

School of the Americas Watch is sponsoring lobbying days in Washington DC, April 23-25, 2006. SOA, POB 4566, Washington, DC 20017, 202/234-3440, info@soaw.org, www.soaw.org.

Previous Article    Next Article