Hundreds of people risk arrest in direct actions pretty much every day. Protests about the war on Gaza might top the list with thousands of arrests in the U.S. since Israel’s genocide began. Last July Nuclear Resister tallied 9,000 arrests, but that number could have doubled by now. Thousands have been arrested in Black Lives… Continue reading
History
Book Review: I Was Sentenced to Be Shot
Review Lawrence Rosenwald Autobiography of a Political Objector Max Sandim’s Memoir; Forward by Randy Kehler; Edited by Ed Hedemann & Ruth Benn ($15) Published in May 2024 Max Sandin’s memoir begins with a story told by the late Randy Kehler, who met Sandin in 1963, in New York, on a bus taking them to the… Continue reading
Dear IRS, I object to paying someone to kill in my name…
Dear IRS Friends, I was not born or raised this way. But when I received a death threat, in 1968, and was planning a gunfight, a prophet/angel appeared in a dream, taking me to talk with the man who wanted to kill me. I know now that Jesus’ “love your enemy” actually works better than… Continue reading
Good Grief?
79 years ago, the United States unleashed the most powerful weapon known to humankind. The devastation of ‘Little Boy,’ a uranium bomb rained down on Hiroshima killing an estimated 140,000 people, mostly civilians. Three days later the United States dropped the second bomb ‘Fat Man’ made of plutonium which was ten times more powerful and… Continue reading
War Tax Resistance: A Catholic Worker Tradition
[Editor’s Note: A longer version of this article was first published the April 2024 edition of the Agitator, the newspaper of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker.] “‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me’ with napalm, nerve gas, our hydrogen bomb… Should one pay… Continue reading
An Overlooked Avenue for Political Dissent
“An Overlooked Avenue for Political Dissent” is the title of the one and only review on that big online bookseller for the War Resisters League book Guide to War Tax Resistance, precursor to the 2004 edition of the book titled, War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military. The 5-star review… Continue reading
Time is a Ticking to Take Action
Recently the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists met to share their annual Doomsday Clock. The Council decided to keep the Doomsday Clock, which estimates the probability of a nuclear catastrophe at 90 seconds to midnight. That same time was set a year earlier in 2023, the closest the clock has been set to midnight, the deadline… Continue reading
Wake Up to Find that You Are Eyes of the World
People are mobilizing, taking a variety of actions to call for an end to the slaughter in Gaza; making connections of how our struggles for liberation are bound together. It is encouraging that so many people are seeking out information about how to resist paying for war and then collaborating with others to learn more… Continue reading
It All Began with a Telephone
Fifty-three years ago, as a cash-strapped University of Texas graduate student, I relied on my office phone at the astronomy department to save money. Consequently, I didn’t also need a telephone at home. But I got one anyway. It was my gateway to resisting taxes for war. The year before, I had refused induction into… Continue reading
War Tax Resistance Penalty Fund: Supporting Resisters for over 40 Years
[Editor’s Note: In the latest letter for the War Tax Resistance Penalty Fund, Peter Smith provided a brief history of the fund, which began the same year as NWTRCC. More information about the Penalty Fund can be found at wtrpf.org] The last NWTRCC gathering was at Joyfield farm in North Manchester, Indiana (May 2023). This… Continue reading
The Other September 11th
As September 11 approaches, New York City slides into mourning for the 2,977 lives lost in the city, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC in 2001, plus the lives of first responders who have since died from 9/11-related illnesses. It was a terrible, unforgettable day — for those who lost family and friends and all of us… Continue reading
WRL Pie Chart for World War I?
[Editor’s Note: Ed Hedemann created this post for a portion of NWTRCC’s website in 2015 that no longer exists. With it being the 100th anniversary of War Resisters League this year, it seemed appropriate to re-post it.] Had the War Resisters League been founded a few years earlier than 1923 and was producing its annual… Continue reading