harelb@arthur.uchicago.edu (Harel Barzilai) (01/18/90)
After answering several private inquiries (and suggested sources), I decided it's best to post a letter (suitably made more "general") I sent to one person; after all, we could use all the help we can get... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I will post also an "intro" file (which I wrote a while ago) about our project, but here's the essential idea: There is a fairly recent Amnesty International report called "El Salvador: Death Squads -- A Government Strategy"; this well researched 50 page publication concludes that the "Death Squads" are just regular army and security forces; it isn't "right-wing extremists" or "out of control elements" in the army, but the army itself, as part of a deliberate program of intimidation and terror, while the gov't looks aside. We have purchased 135 copies of this report. We intend to mail 100 copies -one to each Senator- plus to various newspapers and other media organizations, along with a statement, to be signed by a cross section (geographically balanced) of concerned (and outraged) citizens. That's pretty much the easy part, and it won't be a problem making this much happen The success of this enterprise will depend crucially on publicizing it. We would like to, on the day of the mass-mailing, to make an announcement; in fact, to hold news conferences at 3-4 (the more the better) places across the country; we want to be joined by several concerned Representatives (or Senators) from congress, and/or people from or in contact with the church in El Salvador [someone here is working on contacts with church groups here and in El Salvador] I got in touch with National Agenda for Peace in El Salvador (basically a lobbying group I think); they helped with which Rep.'s to contact and with the suggested timing of the project. CISPES et al will be doing a lot of things Jan. 23-25; this will be followed by the usual BS responses from congress and Admin.; we were planning to act sometime around the 29th; after talking with Jeff Thale (National Agenda) and finding more about when which things will be happening in Washington [State of Union =30th; recess, with congresspeople going home and thus avail. to their constituents=Feb. 9-15; same period, HofR task force goes to El Salv. to check on the investigation], it looks like the first 5 days or Feb. would be the optimal time to launch this, both from the standpoint of publicity, and for helping pending legislation (bills HR3733 and S3733). People at both organizations (in fact, everyone I talked to) agreed with this point: so long as congress and the Admin. can perpetuate the lie that we are helping "moderates" in E.S. -that the murders of the Jesuits and others are carried out by "extremists" out of the control of the army and gov't- so long as the public doesn't know that the people we are sending the money to are *precisely* those committing and responsible for these crimes [see quotes from report in "general background" post]- Bush and many in Congress be able to justify the same policy they've had for the past decade or so So *our* job is to debunk their public statements -the usual "party line" about supporting "moderates" -when these come (as a response to the 23rd-25th national outcry). Our job would be to come out with and publicize this report which clearly demonstrates who the killers are, and therefore that US policy towards El Salvador needs to be *fundamentally* changed. The other main coordinator is a friend and former teacher of mine, professor John Lamperti at Dartmouth College. He's coordinating the NH/Vt area, and he (and some people here) are working on connections with the west coast. You may have seen a study John wrote for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) on Central America called "What Are We Afraid Of? An assessment of the 'communist threat' in Central America". If you are interested in helping (and/or know people who might), please email, and/or call me or leave a message at (312)493-5796 (any time). We could use people to coordinate activities all over the country; people with experience in getting publicity; people who'd be able to convince at least one [ insert your state] Rep. (and National Agenda gave me a list of quite a few people there who they think are good on this issue), and/or other fairly well know (but not ones Admin could call "radical") persons, and people from the Church who are involved. Time is short (just over 2 weeks), but unless we act, the killing and repression on this massive scale [the UN has singled out El Salvador as being one of the worst human rights violators in the *world*] will continue in El Salvador -with the help of our tax-dollars... Harel B