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Happenings in the Keweenaw Peninsula November 20, 2001 Press Release © 2001 Copper Country Peace Alliance Reprinted with permission

Peace Alliance to show video on School of Americas

HANCOCK -- A video and discussion of a presentation by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, author of The School of Assassins: Guns, Greed, and Globalization, will be shown at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 28, at the Little Brothers new office building in Hancock. The Copper Country Peace Alliance is sponsoring the event, which is free and open to the public.

Nelson-Pallmeyer, who holds a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York, currently teaches at the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. His presentation was videotaped on October 22, 2001, at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth. In his new book, he uses the School of the Assassins (Americas) as a case study to present evidence on how the use of "terrorism" has been a central feature in the implementation of United States foreign policy, particularly in Central and South America. 

Nelson Pallmeyer argues that we are living in the midst of a dangerous "new mythology" -- a world view that keeps telling U.S. citizens that the U.S. is the greatest, most benevolent country on Earth and that we alone are fighting against evil.

The new mythology states:

1. that corporate-led globalization is inevitable,
2. that corporate-led globalization is the best hope for humans, and
3. that the U.S. leadership role of this corporate-led globalization demonstrates the "benevolent hegemony" of the U.S. government.

Nelson-Pallmeyer argues that this mythology is  hurting not only people around the world but U.S. citizens as well.

After years of citizen protest-based political pressure, the School of Americas has now been renamed the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security and Cooperation (WHISC). However, according to Nelson-Pallmeyer, the school continues to be an instrument of U.S. foreign policy and continues to train foreign military and civilian personnel in the tactics of economic and militaristic repression to promote or defend "interests important to or determined by the powerful U.S. corporations."

For more information about this presentation or about the Peace Alliance, contact Scott Rutherford at  scottru@chartermi.net or call Keweenaw Now at 483-0822.