Conquering Fear to Do the Right Thing

Activist Devotes herself to Closing School of the Americas and to Aiding Victims of Colombia's Drug War

by Anne C. Paine

In its September/October 2001 issue, Mother Jones magazine tagged Oberlin one of the top 10 activist schools in the nation. The article cited Oberlin's strong participation - 110 students - at the November 2000 rally to close the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Georgia.

Senior Jackie Downing is one of the powerhouses behind that presence. The annual protest is held each November at the school, which was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in May 2000. The national organization SOA Watch charges that many of the soldiers trained at the school have committed atrocities against thousands of civilians and human-rights workers in South America.

A slight woman with long, straight dark hair and bright blue eyes that flash with intensity, Downing (along with Laurel Paget- Seekins '01) revived the dormant Oberlin Peace Activists League, a campus organization whose primary focus is closing the SOA. She's also a member of the SOA Watch national steering committee and an active educator in methods of nonviolent protest.

"Yes, this is scary, but it's right. The good that comes out of our presence outweighs the fear." Jackie Downing

For her efforts, she was one of just six students in the nation given the Howard R. Swearer Humanitarian Award by Campus Compact last year. The award carries a $1,500 prize.

Her efforts have also led to two arrests.

The first came at the November 1999 SOA Watch protest, where Downing "crossed the line" onto the army base and portrayed a victim of SOA violence by wearing a white death mask and carrying a coffin.

The second arrest - for a nonviolent action at a Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation conference in Washington, D.C., in April 2001 - brought a conviction for unlawful entry and a $75 fine. Downing and five other Oberlin students had snuck into the conference room and chained themselves to a pillar. They were protesting Sikorsky's profits from the sale of Black Hawk helicopters to the U.S. government for use in the drug war in Colombia. In their trial, the students defended themselves and argued that U.S. tax dollars should be spent on drug treatment, not on enriching private corporations.

Downing is a committed activist, but she doesn't jump on bandwagons. She always does her homework.

"Early in my freshman year, I saw a documentary on the School of the Americas, and simultaneously had to choose a topic for a paper in a sociology class. After learning what I did, I had to get involved," she said.

Downing's work with SOA Watch inevitably led her to oppose U.S. involvement in the Colombian drug war. According to SOA Watch, Colombia has more SOA graduates (10,000) than any other country.

"I really wanted to direct my energies to something that is still going on, rather than just focusing on past massacres," Downing said. "With Colombia, we have a chance to educate people and stop people dying right now."

Again, Downing did her research, this time by traveling twice to Colombia, the third-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid.

During her first trip, in January 2001, she traveled with the Colombia Support Network and photographed the effects of the drug war and its aerial fumigation of coca plants on families and communities in the state of Putumayo. Upon her return, she met with congressional representatives from Ohio and Michigan to lobby for an end to the spraying.

Downing also spent four weeks last summer traveling with the International Caravan for Life in the state of South Bolivar. The group worked to draw international attention to the humanitarian crisis while distributing food, medical supplies, and school supplies to devastated communities.

Colombia is a major exporter of coca, the plant from which cocaine is derived. For nearly 40 years, the country has been gripped by a civil conflict involving leftist rebels, state troops, and right-wing paramilitary groups. In May 2000, the U.S. Congress passed the Clinton administration's $1.3 billion counter-narcotics package to support the war against drugs. A major component of the package, known as Plan Colombia, is the aerial fumigation of coca plants.

"The problem with fumigation is that most of the small farmers mix the coca plants in with their food crops," Downing said. "The coca plants are resistant to the fumigation, while the food plants are not. So people are starving. Farmers are desperate, so they grow small amounts of coca just to support their families. The sad thing is that the people we met don't even want to grow coca. They'd gladly grow anything else if there were roads to get other crops to market," she said.

A number of independent observers and human-rights organizations, as well as members of the U.S. Congress, have come to similar conclusions. Last July, the United Nations called for an independent audit on the spraying operations.

Though Downing rarely speaks about it, her commitments have put her in very dangerous situations. She strives to conquer her own fear and be optimistic.

"I try not to get bogged down in the details. Yes, this is scary, but it's right. The good that comes out of our presence outweighs the fear," Downing said. She'll be in Colombia again this January, leading a student delegation on a trip cosponsored by Witness for Peace and SOA Watch.

She has her work cut out for her. In his 2002 budget, President George Bush proposed the Andean Regional Initiative, a major expansion of Plan Colombia; the legislation is working its way through Congress with barely a notice in the American press.

For more information, see the web sites of
SOA Watch or the Colombia Support Network.