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Hunger Strike By Charna Mamlok I was quietly minding my business in Music History class one day not too long ago, when I overheard two of my peers talking. They were chatting about food when all of a sudden one of them mentioned that she was participating in a13-day hunger strike. Being the nosy journalist that I am, I quickly turned to the students, joining in on their conversation. It turned out that Susan Meuse, sophomore Music Education major at Ithaca College, was preparing herself for Fast 2000 -- a national effort to close the School of the Americas, the controversial military training school in Fort Benning, Georgia. The United States Army School of the Americas has been in operation for 53 years as a combat training school for Latin American soldiers. The school teaches its soldiers interrogation techniques like torture, execution and blackmail to use on civilians who participate in "union organizing and recruiting," or distribute "propaganda in favor of interests of workers," or "sympathize with demonstrations or strikes," or even "make accusations that the government has failed . . . to meet the basic needs of the people," as stated in training manuals used at the School. Fast 2000 was organized by the School of Americas Watch, a group dedicated to the closing of the SOA. Their goal was to get 2000 clubs and organizations around the country to participate in the hunger strike. Bob Oswald, participant of the fast and president of the Ithaca College chapter of Amnesty International, said they were able to attain the goal. Each day of the fast represented a country that the School of the Americas has affected. The strike kicked off on April 6, with Argentina as the first recognized country, followed by Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru. Although the protest is a hunger strike, participants are allowed, and encouraged, to drink lots of juices. In fact, every group that signed up to partake in the protest received an information packet from the School of Americas Watch with tips for a successful fast. Some of their advice included getting enough sleep, drinking plenty of water, wearing extra layers of clothes if it's cold and at the end of the 13 days, going off the fast slowly by drinking clear soups and broth so that your body can adjust to food again. But the purpose of the hunger strike is obviously about more than just fasting. It's about making a worthy cause known to the public. The mission of the SOA Watch is to educate people and make them aware of the School of Americas, said Oswald. Meuse indicated that she has had many opportunities to talk to people about the hunger strike. Aside from the 12 now-enlightened students in our Music History class, Meuse also spoke to her Introduction to Multi Cultural Studies class about Fast 2000 and she tries to bring up the subject whenever she can, she said. "People will ask me 'How are you?' and I'll say 'Pretty good considering I haven't eaten for a few days' and then I'll talk to them about [the hunger strike]," she explained. Ironically, Meuse has not told her parents about the hunger strike, because she knew that they would worry too much. "I'll tell them afterwards," she said. Similar to Meuse, who talks about the hunger strike and its purpose whenever she can, Oswald has educated people on the subject even in the most obscure places, like the checkout line at Wegmans. "I was buying a lot of juice [in preparation] for the fast and the checkout woman asked me why I was buying all this juice," Oswald said. "So I told her." And when people ask Oswald about the SOA, he tells them, "It's a military school where they train soldiers basically to repress the population of a country mainly in favor of American business interests." Oswald has also been able to spread the word about the hunger strike by sitting at a table with information about Fast 2000 in the Ithaca College campus center, he said. "Every day we made signs and put them up around school," he said. Dana Carnemolla, another participant in the fast and next year's Amnesty International president said she has been able to make people aware of her cause. "A few people I know even tried fasting for a day, " she said. Carnemolla explained that she posted flyers on her dorm room door about the hunger strike and the School of the Americas. "People see it and say, 'What!? Our money pays for this?'" she explained. In fact, the School of the Americas costs U.S. taxpayers between $10 and $20 million each year, as stated in literature provided by the SOA Watch. "It's ironic that no one knows about the SOA," said Carnemolla. "Taxpayers pay to bring people from around the world to train at the SOA." Fortunately, the U.S. Congress is slowly recognizing the efforts of the SOA Watch. Last year, a majority of House Representatives, including Maurice Hinchey, voted to cut funding to the School of the Americas. "They just don't have the support that they used to," Oswald said. He believes that the SOA will eventually be shut down, because of this decreased funding. Should the School of the Americas close, Oswald said that the people involved in the SOA Watch would then concentrate on shutting down another military school, similar to the SOA. "The people who are doing this are also activists for other human rights movements," he said. |
