[For any of you keeping score, this is a re-hash of a post I did last November (I imagine I’ll probably be re-hashing the re-hash next year as well). Unfortunately, the full ‘Guns and Greed’ video has been taken off of youtube, so the clip below will have to do.]
When I was in Chicago, the director of the ethics center that co-sponsored part of my stipend asked me to write something ‘political’ for their newsletter. In response, I wrote a very brief article titled, From Afghanistan to Georgia. He was not terribly enthused with it and declined to use it. So, I ended up publishing it in Christian Ethics Today (with an extended version collected in Third Way Allegiance) where it died a slow, unnoticed death. Since the annual SOA protest is set for Nov. 16-18, I thought I would at least shout about it again.
If the article above interests you (or, even if it doesn’t) at least check out the short documentary below (the longer version includes appearances by John Dear, Daniel Berrigan, and the greatest President of the United States ever, Josiah Bartlet).
Each November, regardless of the class I’m teaching, we watch the full documentary of the clip above (it’s only about 13 minutes longer), discuss it, and then I offer extra credit to any students who join in the annual SOA protest. One year I offered to give ‘A’s to any student who was arrested at the protest. Of course, I was joking (sort of . . . activism is a lovely educational exercise–it’s a far better pedagogical tool than the “let’s put our chairs in a circle and pool ignorance” approach). Despite my half-in-jest offer, the news of it traveled so quickly that within four hours I was called into the department head’s office where he sternly “suggested” that I rescind my offer.
Given that I like making rent, I happily complied.
Oh well.
Now, go HERE for the SOA Watch organization, where they will hook you up with all you need to know.
And for more information on the priest/ex-Naval officer/principal protagonist of the ‘shutdown SOA’ movement/all around saint Fr. Roy Bourgeois, check out this documentary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhgBvG1SDzM&feature=watch-now-button&wide=1