On October 10th, Hendrik Voss, a German citizen and volunteer for SOA
Watch/NE and former volunteer for the SOA Watch national office, was arrested
by the US Border Patrol at the WA state/Canadian border. Hendrik was traveling
with Eric LeCompte, SOA Watch Outreach Director. Both were on the way to give
presentations about the US sponsored war in Colombia and to hold nonviolence
trainings for SOA Watch groups in British Colombia, Canada. This was to be the
start of the first leg of a West Coast tour involving presentations and
trainings down the coast from BC, Canada to San Francisco. Hendrik was held
overnight at the county jail in Colville, WA, while Eric was released at the
border after being banned for life from entering Canada.

Due to a swift and well-coordinated international protest, Hendrik was released
the next day and together with Eric continued on to Seattle where I was able to
attend their workshop on non-violent resistance. Both generously agreed to an
interview with Left Turn via e-mail.

1) For those of our readers who may not be familiar with SOA Watch, can you
tells us about the School of the Americas and the goals of your current tour of
the West coast?

Eric: School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch), is a grassroots organization
trying to walk in solidarity with our sisters and brothers throughout Latin
America. It seeks to educate, mobilize and empower individuals to challenge
and change corrupt US foreign policy, and ultimately to close the School of the
Americas (last January renamed the "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation").

The School of the Americas is a US military training school established in
Panama in 1946, ostensibly "to bring stability to Latin America." Currently
located at Fort Benning, GA, the SOA trains hundreds of soldiers each year, at
a cost to US tax payers of millions of dollars annually. SOA graduates have
done little to promote stability in their countries. In fact, hundreds have
been cited in the rape, "disappearance," torture, and massacre of thousands of
Latin Americans. Their primary targets have included educators, union
organizers, religious workers, student leaders, indigenous communities and
those who speak out on behalf of the poor.

Hendrik: From it’s beginning, the mission of the SOA has been to train soldiers
to protect the interests of multinational corporations and to maintain the
economic status quo for the few rich and powerful in the US and their cohorts
in Latin America.
The focus of our organizing work as SOA Watch has broadened over the course of
the last two years and includes now resistance to oppressive trade agreements
like the FTAA, and covers also domestic issues like the US prison system. We
see the Prison Industrial Complex and the School of the Americas both as
symptoms of a broader system of exploitation and oppression, a system that is
dependent on repressive institutions to stay in power.

The intention of our Canada/US West Coast tour is not only to bring the issues
of the SOA/militarism, human rights and socioeconomic oppression to the public,
but also to facilitate some kind of coalition building in the local communities
that we are going to visit. The Seattle event that you have been apart of for
example brought together Earth First! activists, rank and file trade unionists
and members of the religious community.

Eric: These are serious times but I also believe that the current crisis is a
teachable moment. SOA Watch has a ten-year history of nonviolent direct action
and we are currently able to connect with hundreds of other organizations and
grassroots movements. It is a crucial time for organizing and training others
in nonviolence and leadership skills to work for systemic social change. We
have an amazing opportunity and a critical challenge to go deeper into our
understandings of nonviolence. We have the power within in us to subvert this
ugly system and transform our world into something sublime.

2) During the workshop, you talked about your experiences at the border. The
level of harassment by border guards has been on the increase in recent years,
but your experience indicates a new relationship between US and Canadian law
enforcement. Please tell us what happened at the border.

Eric: We entered Canada at the Patterson station north of Spokane, and were
detained. The Immigration official asked for our identification papers and then
disappeared into the Canadian Immigration Office. After about 20 minutes, a US
Immigrations Agent joined the Canadian Immigration official. The Canadian
official emerged from the building and asked us to pull the car to the side of
the building. The Canadian Immigration official knew my history and he knew
when I'd been arrested for political reasons in the United States. Our car and
all belongings were thoroughly searched jointly by a Canadian immigrations
official and an US immigrations agent. Canadian and US immigration officials
spent a great deal of time looking through SOA Watch materials in our car.
According to the Canadian Immigration officials, Canadian Immigration has
access to the FBI database and were able to produce my conviction record and
other information about me available in my FBI file. After being detained for
three hours of searching and interrogation they told me that I would not be
admitted to Canada because of an arrest in 1995 where I was demonstrating for
Welfare Reform in Rochester, New York. Hendrik was not admitted to Canada
either. I was also told that part of the reason that we would not be admitted
to Canada is because they suspect that we would encourage Canadians to protest.
They told me that I should not return to Canada at all in the future, and if I
do return they will arrest me immediately. Hendrik was also told by Canadian
officials that he could not enter Canada now because he didn't have enough
money on him.

Hendrik: Back at US customs we were stopped again and ordered by US border
police to get out of our car and to come into the border station. Inside the
border station I was immediately singled out and brought into an office in the
back, where I met the same INS agent that had taken part in the questioning and
the search of our car on the Canadian side of the border. I had to empty out
my pockets and the INS agent went outside and grabbed my backpack out of the
car to search it. He and the US border patrol agent in charge were especially
interested in political literature and questioned me about my involvement in
protest actions in the United States. The border patrol agent left the room
where I was interrogated with my notebook and read extensive passages from it
over the phone while the INS officer continued to ask me where I’ve learned
about the School of the Americas and other questions related to political
issues. As the INS agent began to talk about deportation, I stopped answering
any questions and demanded to talk to an immigration lawyer. In retrospect I
shouldn’t have talked to the INS or the border police at all.

3) Hendrik, what happened after you were taken from the border station?
Were you aware of the international support being organized to support you?

Hendrik: The border patrol agent handcuffed and transferred me to the border
patrol station in Colville, WA, where all of my written material as well as all
political literature got copied. I was finally allowed to make my phone call
and talked to a supporter in the region. After the call I let the border
patrol know that I wouldn’t take part in any further interrogation and
proceedings until I would have been in contact with my lawyer, Katya Komisaruk
from the Just Cause Law Collective. They got pretty upset about that and came
up with bogus claims that disobedience would result in criminal charges against
me etc. After I got picked up from my chair to be processed with force, I went
limp and one of the border patrol officers shouted out; “that boy got trained –
he’s not doing this for the first time…”
Engaging in non-cooperation tactics actually allowed me to stay somewhat in
control in a situation that is laid out to be disempowering.
Katya called pretty fast. We had to start out talking over speakerphone (my
hands were still cuffed on my back) with three agents in the room, but after
she demanded some more privacy, I got chained to a chair and could pick up the
phone. Katya reassured me of my legal rights and informed me how I should best
proceed further in jail. She also updated me about the planning for solidarity
actions that took place right away after my arrest and a campaign that was
started in activist networks in Germany to pressure the German consulate to
take action. After we were ready, Katya also talked to one of the border
patrol agents witch resulted immediately in a much better treatment.
The next time that I heard about the effective solidarity work that was going
on outside was as I got transferred to the Stephens County Jail, where I spent
the night. The jail guards placed me in a waiting room while they discussed my
case with the border patrol agents. I was able to hear them through the
door. “He’s one of these IMF/World Bank people… he has got a whole system
behind him with lawyers and everything… it’s a whole can of worms…”etc.
The next morning I was told that the District Council in Seattle decided that
they “don’t want to fight this battle” and that I am free. Ken Little, SOA
Watch union organizer and Advisory Group member from Tacoma, WA picked me up at
the jail and we drove to Spokane were people had been up the whole night to
strategize and contact the networks that ensured this success.
There is no question that I would be still in jail or deported by now if it
weren’t for the solidarity work that took place. I am sure that there are
hundreds of others that are being unjustly targeted for their political
believes or because of the color of their skin and the INS has an easy game
because no one knows about them.

Eric, we all shared a laugh during the workshop about the legal actions taken
against you by the Canadian authorities, but this is a serious situation. How
will this restriction on your right to travel affect you and the efforts of SOA
Watch?

Eric: Well, I’m banned from Canada because of my work to close down the School
of the Americas. I can’t visit Canadian groups that are working on this vital
human rights issue. But this movement is bigger than any one person. The events
in Canada went ahead without us and were well attended because of what happened
to us. We are finding that there is greater interest in some of the cities
Hendrik and I are visiting on the West Coast because of what happened at the
border. Also, this entire event really invigorated the movement to close the
SOA. Thousands of people called the German consulate asking for the consulate’s
assistance with Hendrik’s release. Members of congress and major religious
leaders were moved by our movement to contact the INS and demand Hendrik’s
release. The fact that I cannot return to Canada without being arrested was an
opportunity for us because it unmasked what this system is willing to do to
squash dissent and to stop those of us who are working for a more humane world.
Whenever we are able to unmask this system, we have the opportunity to show the
people of the world the ugly face of this system.

4) How do you expect Bush's global war and his new Homeland Security project to
affect the work of SOA Watch, particularly the upcoming events at the SOA base
in Ft. Benning, Georgia during the weekend of Nov 16th?

Eric: We at SOA Watch are already seeing the effects of this global war on
terrorism. Beyond what happened to Hendrik and I at the border, our movement
has been wrapped up in a permit struggle with the city of Columbus. General
Lemoyne of Ft. Benning has told Columbus Mayor, bobby Peters, not to grant us a
permit at the gates of Ft. Benning this year. Hence, the mayor followed General
Lemoyne’s orders and we’ve been fighting to be in Columbus as we have for the
last ten years. Additionally, Mayor Bobby Peters has threatened to arrest the
organizers of our annual gathering at the gates of Ft. Benning if civil
disobedience occurs. The times are serious when civilian authorities are taking
their orders from Generals at US Army bases. No matter what, we will gather
again in Columbus this November and if we are arrested for organizing, we have
yet another opportunity to unmask the ugliness of this system.

Hendrik: On another note, our movement has received a lot of attention in
recent weeks because of this so called global war on terrorism. People know
that Osama Bin Laden and several of the alleged perpetrators of the Pentagon
and World Trade Center tragedies received military training either from US
forces or via US aid. People are saying is that we have a training camp for
terrorists in our own backyard called the SOA. More than ever, we must gather
in Columbus to call for this training camp for Terrorists to be closed. If
President Bush was serious about a war on terrorism his first act would be to
close the SOA in Ft. Benning Georgia.

5) What can the readers of Left Turn do to support the work of SOA Watch and
defend the rights of those targeted immigrants who may not be part of the
movement for global justice and peace?

Hendrik: The attacks carried out by SOA trained militaries against the people
of Latin America are part and parcel of the same system that criminalizes
immigrant communities and erodes civil liberties in the United States. In
order to affect real social change, we need to tear down the false distinction
between different single issues and support each other in our struggles for
justice. It’s also crucial that we are taking on the responsibility to make
the voices of those heard who’s voices have been taken away. May it be the
voices of people murdered by graduates of the SOA or the voices of people who
are incarcerated because of racist and unjust immigration policies.

Eric: We tried this on October 15th through 18th. We were supposed to be in
Vancouver, but since I couldn't return to Canada without being arrested and
Hendrik couldn't go because of US immigration problems, we met with folks from
different civil liberties groups and we spoke to legal and immigration rights
groups about organizing to protect our civil liberties and raise awareness
about immigrants who may be unjustly imprisoned. We ended up having a
demonstration in Tacoma, Washington followed by a delegation of concerned
citizens who delivered a letter, which advocated for immigrant rights, to the
INS headquarters in Seattle. We are all apart of the same struggle and our
struggles of liberation are all bound together. We are unmasking this ugly
system and together we will build a world where liberty and beauty can thrive.


Hendrik Voss, 26 started his political life in the antifascist struggle against
the rightwing resurgence in Germany. He left Europe for Washington, DC in 1999
and became full time staff for SOA Watch

Eric Lecompte, 25, as a child on the Southside of Cicago, a Catholic Worker in
New York, and a college student in Colombia, Eric has seen the effects of US
policy upon the poor. He has organized for the Fellowship of Reconciliation,
Pax Christi USA, and the GI Rights Hotline and been arrested for advocating
radical/economic justice and disarmament.

For more information about the campaign to close down the School of the
Americas and the upcoming November vigil and direct action visit www.soaw.org