- INVITE A SPEAKER TO COME TO YOUR SCHOOL TO TALK ABOUT THE SOA/WHINSEC -

Linda Panetta just returned from Ecuador, Chile, and Peru as part of the SOA Watch Latin America Initiative where she joined Fr. Roy Bourgeois, Lisa Sullivan and Carlos Mauricio. She also was part of the delegation that traveled to Argentina and Uruguay which resulted in those countries withdrawing troops from the SOA/WHINSEC. She is a photojournalist and human rights advocate whose work focuses on cultural, environmental and human rights, with a particular emphasis on conflict zones. She lived and worked in Guatemala and Nicaragua in the late 1980's and has since traveled on several occassions to El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia, and Haiti. Her photography from Afghanistan (2002) and Iraq (2003 / 2004) has also been published globally. Her upcoming travels include Palestine and she and Lisa Sullivan will lead a delegation to Venezuela for the December elections.

Linda's photos have been widely published in books, magazines, and newspapers, and have been aired on several national TV networks. Her photos have been exhibited throughout the US, Canada, Europe and in Afghanistan's National Museum of the Arts.

In 2005 the Catholic Press Association awarded her two Honorable Mentions: Best Photo Story for "Iraq Diary" and Best General News Photo for "Iraq's Search for a Future" (published in the National Catholic Reporter). A collection of Linda's work can be viewed at: www.OpticalRealities.org and her coverage of anti-war demonstrations can be found at: www.soawne.org.

Linda is also the founder of School of the Americas Watch Northeast (SOA Watch/NE) and is the producer and director of the award winning documentary "An Insider Speaks Out!"  This 20 min. video highlights the abuses of the military training facility - the School of the Americas (SOA) - now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) and is located at Ft. Benning, Georgia; more than 10,000 copies of the video have been sold. 

To contact us to schedule a talk, show slides or to set up a photo exhibit at your college, high school or at another venue, please call: 215-473-2162 or email Linda directly at: Linda@OpticalRealities.org.

For more information about Linda and her work please visit: www.OpticalRealities.org .

Photo Exhibit & Slide Show at the SOA Protest in GA!

Saturday, Nov. 18
7:00 PM - till the end of the concert

In conjunction with SOA Watch/NE & in solidarity with the benefit concert at the Convention Center,* Optical Realities with have on display - and for purchase - photos from throughout Latin America, Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti, as well as keepsake photos from previous protests.  The price for the photos is on a sliding scale... and many will be sold at a special SOAWNW price this weekend! 

Remember - the holidays are quickly approaching - the photos make great holiday gifts … & conversation pieces!  Visit: www.OpticalRealities.org & www.soawne.org to check out a selection of the photos.

[The exhibit will take place in the hallway outside of the Convention Center Ballroom; several hundred slides will be shown throughout the concert - the slide show is completely revised from last year's showing!]

*The Convention Center is located just 2 blocks from the Jesuit tent at 801 Front Avenue (the concert will be held in the Ballroom)

> Also on sale with be the award-winning documentary "An Insider Speaks Out!" - NEW! - we will also have the documentary available on DVD and with Spanish subtitles! Major Joseph Blair talks about how some of his own students at the SOA were responsible for the massacre of the 6 Jesuits and their 2 co-workers.  Over 10,000 copies sold - this is a must buy, especially for veterans, who will hear the first-hand accounts of a former military instructor who taught at the SOA!  Rarely seen footage from Latin America, and music by Bruce Cockburn make this a moving and powerful 18-min documentary.

> Also, also… we will have Guatemalan weavings for sale - all proceeds are returned to the women who made them!!!
Soooo come check us out - at teh Convention Center Saturday night and at our table during the rally on Saturday and Sunday - while supplies last! ...

** Hope to see you in GA - but if you're not able to make it, be sure and contact us to order resources, photos, or to request to have an exhibit or presentation at your school.