NWTRCC held its third online conference the weekend of April 30 – May 2, 2021. More than 40 people attended some portion of the conference, which began the evening of Friday April 30 with a social hour. For the social hour, we broke out twice into random groups of six for 30 minutes. It was chance for old friends to chat, but also to meet new friends.
Saturday featured two panels. The first was a “Panel on the New Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons & Paths Forward for Resistance,” featuring Mari Inoue (attorney and cofounder of the Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World), Dr. Linda Richards (historian of science and a grassroots activist since the 1986 Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament who represented the WILPF Disarm Committee in international meetings), and Jack Cohen Joppa (cofounder of the Nuclear Resister newsletter in 1980, which continues to provide information and support for imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists).
The second was a “Panel on Organizing with Younger War Tax Resisters,” featuring Lindsey Britt (Vermont), Jerry Maynard (Texas) and Allison McGillivray (Oregon). The younger war tax resisters shared stories about how they each came to WTR and their suggestions for spreading WTR among younger activists. Both panels featured a lively, Q&A which is included on the YouTube recordings. Saturday concluded with concurrent WTR 101 & 201 sessions.
The Sunday business meeting began with reports from both NWTRCC consultants (Coordinator & Outreach consultant), a review of our objectives, and a financial update (which included news about our upcoming charity auction and push for more church donations [www.nwtrcc.org/church]).
Next, we unanimously approved the nominations of Lindsey Britt and Erica Leigh to begin serving three-year terms on NWTRCC’s Administrative Committee. (A huge thank you to both DeCourcy Squire and Sam Leuschner, who finished their three year terms!)
There were two proposals on our agenda. The first was an update to our statement of purpose, which simplified our previous statement and made it more succinct. We reached consensus on adopting the new statement, which can be found here: https://nwtrcc.org/about-nwtrcc/statement-of-purpose/
The second proposal was to choose a new logo from among three options. No consensus was reached on this item. If you have any ideas for a new NWTRCC logo, please contact the NWTRCC office. Minutes from NWTRCC’s business meeting will be posted in the near future at https://nwtrcc.org/nwtrcc-business/.
Overall, it was wonderful conference that featured attendees from Alaska, Hawaii, both Portlands, and everywhere in between. It was also great to host such great panels with panelists from all over the country. It would be better meeting in person, but I am glad we were able to make the best of what technology has to offer.
~Lincoln Rice
