Ironically, it is often people who have served in the military and have experienced firsthand the banality and brutality of mindless obedience who come to question and then reject external authority over their own internal ethical decisions. (“Brian Willson and the Problem of Obedience” by Dana Visalli) Heading into the Memorial Day weekend it seems… Continue reading
By H. A. Penner Kathy Boylan invited me to speak at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker about war tax resistance for their March 6th clarification of thought. Around 30 persons were present. The group was composed of both young and old. The best part of the evening was the extensive and engaging group dialogue! There… Continue reading
Activism against nuclear weapons got me my second arrest and pushed me further into war tax resistance. It was the late 70s into the 80s, the time of Reagan’s military build-up, nuclear threats, and No Nukes: The MUSE Concerts For a Non-Nuclear Future to inspire activism.* Over the years artists of all genres have used… Continue reading
In a recent Boston Globe column (“Resisting Trump: The Revival of Tax Protest,” April 10), Alex Beam points to a time-honored way of resisting violence and war: refusing to pay for it. He highlights the activism of the Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts, and central to that activism were Juanita and Wally Nelson, two peace… Continue reading
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” One of the greatest opening lines. Are we there, 41 years later? In real life, 1984 was a year during Reagan’s presidency, and a lot of us thought we might be headed into the book’s vision of dystopia at that time. Or… Continue reading
[Editor’s Note: The following remarks were made by Peter Goldberger at a National Lawyers Guild war tax resistance workshop over Zoom on April 4, 2024. Goldberger addresses three subjects: the legality and ethics of counseling illegal activity; the particular risks faced by legal professionals contemplating participating personally in tax resistance; and the argument by certain… Continue reading
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
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 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
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
[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” 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