Hanrahan, Claire

Hanrahan, Claire

Claire Hanrahan

1 December 2001Feature

Imprisoned for six months following a School of the Americas action in November 2000, Claire Hanrahan writes from her cell about life, war, solidarity and gardening.

Dear Allies and Friends
Fourteen weeks “down”. There is a golden bronze glow to everything now. The leaves are piling up in crunchy heaps on the hillsides and lawns keeping the women on “landscape crew” busy all day.

The Geese honk as they pass in wave after determined wave, disappearing through the valley beyond the river. Only a few leaves cling to the elder trees whose branches are dramatic against the pink- and grey-streaked sunset. Darkness falls earlier and by 7pm I'm…

1 July 2001News

Before she began her prison sentence for taking nonviolent action at the School of the Americas, Clare Hanrahan sent this report about the legal process and her commitment to standing on the side of truth.

For three days in May in a US courtroom, 26 citizens attempted to break through government deceit to speak the truth: that the US Army School of the Americas – renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Co-operation (WHISC) – is the sinister source of horrendous violence.

It is a place where Latin American soldiers are trained in the murderous techniques of counterinsurgency. Graduates of the school have participated time and again in documented torture, massacre, and…