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JANUARY 23: FILM: School of the Americas: School of Assassins The activist priest Father Roy Bourgeois campaigns to close the U.S. Army School of the Americas FATHER ROY follows the fight against the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) from the gates of Fort Benning to the halls of congress. Susan Sarandon narrates this revealing account of the controversial Father Roy Bourgeois and his struggles against the SOA. A Vietnam vet, former missionary and leading grassroots activist, Father Roy's interest in human rights was spurred by the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador. He focused his aim on the SOA when it was revealed that those responsible for Romero's death - and hundreds of other atrocities across the region - had trained at the school. According to one congressman, the SOA has "the nefarious distinction of being the place in the United States where the worst human rights abusers in the Western Hemisphere come to learn military tactics" - tactics that many claimed included the use of torture. FATHER ROY shows how one person, risking his own life and freedom, can ultimately use the system to make a difference.

Written by Chapel by the Sea Bondi Beach for the Streetcorner.com.au