While borders may give an impression of collective agreements, conflicts illuminate the deep fissures that exist when arbitrary lines in the sand are drawn and nationalists tensions are manipulated.  While one could easily spend their days reading the most recent headlines and following stings of articles on the internet to have a better grasp of what is occurring and the histories that have led us here, there often seems to be a sense of disconnect or what some have identified as psychic numbing.

Photo by Ed Hedemann, 2017.

For the past year there has been a dark cloud of potential nuclear war hanging over the conflict.  Now with Russia suspending the New START Treaty and threatening the possibility of resuming nuclear testing. While both the US and Russia have been withdrawing from nuclear arms control agreements, in January 2021 the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force making nuclear weapons illegal under international law.

In The Madness of Nuclear Warfare is Alive and Well in America, the author quotes Dorothy Day “Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.” as a testimony of the power that we have as citizens that led Dorothy and many others to war tax refusal and other tactics that promote life and strive for peace and justice. 

London 2/15/03 photo by Paul Mattsson

Recently there were remembrances of the largest global anti-war day of protest to prevent the escalation of war in Iraq 20 years ago. It seems essential to take pause and mourn what was lost in not pursuing that path towards peace including 1.5 million lives lost and $21 trillion of taxpayer dollars stolen in the war on Terror according to CODEPINK and you can also read a blog post by Sam about the Iraq War Tribunal. It also seems vital to celebrate the communities that were created in coming together to dream another world into being and to broadcast those seeds throughout the lands. 

Dorothy Day also wrote about the need to take a break from the daily news and suggested immersing oneself in the arts. It seemed particularly important to see the issues of our day in a wider context and the universal themes of the human experience. She was particularly fond of Russian authors on war and peace. Any suggestions of favorites would be welcomed.  Poetry seems to be a great way to chase the headlines away.

From The Dragon Who Never Sleeps  By Robert Aitken

When nations take their revenge

I vow with all beings 

to suggest that revenge springs from anguish-

perhaps we created the pain.

Then the army holds a parade

I vow with all beings 

to sing pacifist songs with the children 

of Minsk, Tel Aviv, and Fort Bragg.

When federal taxes are due

I vow with all beings 

to refuse any role in the killing 

of Sesshu, Dostoevsky and Bach. 

Post by Chrissy Kirchhoefer

The post Beauty Will Save The World first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Beauty Will Save The World appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

There is an immediacy this year to call for cessation of the war ravaging Ukraine and Russia for the past 11 months. It draws the attention of those seeking light in these dark days for those of us advocating for peace. Advocacy for peace is not limited to religious preference. NWTRCC encourages atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Jews (believers and non-believers) to consider backing this effort.

Image from 1914 Christmas Truce from Wikimedia Commons

At NWTRCC’s conference at the beginning of November, a group war tax resisters attending that conference decided to start meeting to discuss how we could address the war in Ukraine. This blog post is one way our group plans to address that war. Acknowledging that there is no good war, and no possibility of a lasting military solution in Ukraine, we urge everyone to press for an immediate truce—a ceasefire that is a precondition for peace talks to begin.

We support a proposed Christmas Truce based on the model of the Christmas truce held in the Belgian trenches of the German and Allied armies more than 100 years ago. Some 100,000 soldiers on both sides of that conflict laid down their arms and spontaneously suspended their warmaking.

Christmas Truce Statue from Wikimedia Common

They moved toward one another into the “no-mans-land” between them, and sang  “Silent Night” and other hymns together.  They shared food and they prayed.  They even shared a game of football (soccer) as well as drinks.  They engaged with each other as fellow humans with families and dreams of the future.

Today, the U.S. peace movement is responding to this call for a Christmas Truce, as spear-headed by Massachusetts Peace Action as part of large peace coalition at www.peaceinukraine.org. The call is also supported internationally by International Peace Bureau in Berlin (IPB).

Please contact one or both of these organizations to sign on to this action for peace. Or write your own legislators to call for a ceasefire from December 25th through January 7th. This is the first and vital step toward opening the way to negotiations and ending the carnage.

~Post by Cathy Deppe

The post Christmas Truce Redux first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Christmas Truce Redux appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

As Global Network members of an international delegation to the Russian Federation in May 2019, Alex Walker and I visited Moscow, St. Petersburg, and three cities in Crimea. We came to learn, to listen, and to build a bridge of friendship through citizen diplomacy. We had daily meetings with Russian journalists, activists, academics, and ordinary citizens. We gained first-hand information and historical perspective. The Russian people met us with warmth, openness, and generosity.

We came because we are alarmed by the U.S. demonization of Russia and by the NATO provocations which have created a world of increasing military confrontation, with the U.S. even threatening the first-use of nuclear weapons. Since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, U.S./NATO has encircled Russia with bases, so-called “missile defense” systems, and escalated “war games” right on its borders.

Russia is a country of just 144 million people, with an average income of $400 a month, or $13 a day. Their annual military budget is $60 billion and decreasing. The U.S. military budget is $800 billion and increasing. The U.S. has more than 800 bases encircling the world.

Our message is a call to end the demonization of Russia, remove U.S./NATO warships from the Black Sea, end the escalating war maneuvers on Russia’s borders, and build bridges of diplomacy and friendship.

One highlight of the trip was to hear from Alexander Pasechnik, the Chair of Russia Veterans for Peace in Komi, Russia. Afterward, we witnessed the signing of a Statement of Solidarity between the Maine, USA VFP Chapter and the Komi, Russia VFP Chapter. Our “citizen diplomacy” efforts at peace building had begun. In his presentation, Pasechnik focused on the “No First Strike” policy as rejected by U.S. Congress but implemented by Russia, and agreed on between Russia and China for years. Russia requires three persons to agree to push the nuclear button, but only one person, the U.S. President, is needed in the USA.

He said the U.S. President just signed a U.S. military budget approaching one trillion dollars, while the Russian military budget is only 47 billion, and that Russia’s percent of the total global GNP is only 2%, with an economy still suffering from past wars, with pensions and wages very low. For example, a Russian doctor earns only between $574 and $771 per month. Given their history and the current provocations of NATO on their borders, it seems clear that Russia will not hesitate to respond with the nuclear option in defense of the Motherland. I now realize how, given its long traumatic history of suffering wars, invasions, and occupations, the Russian people have an unbroken fierce determination to defend their homeland to the last breath.

The preceding is an excerpt from my personal report. It is quite long for this newsletter; therefore please follow this link to see my full report (nwtrcc.org/PDFs/Russian_Study_Tour.pdf). Thank you!

Cathy Deppe is a member of the Southern California War Tax Resistance Alternative Fund & has served on NWTRCC’s Administrative Committee. She lives in Los Angeles.

The post 2019 Russian Study Tour with Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Arms in Space first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post 2019 Russian Study Tour with Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Arms in Space appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

This war came at a perfect time for the U.S. government and war profiteering corporations. Just as military operations in Afghanistan were ramping down and there seemed to be fewer excuses to keep producing the weapons for war at current levels, a new war appeared in which U.S. soldiers are safe, but U.S. weapon manufacturers keep raking in the profits.

Exploded House in Borodyanka, Ukraine. Photo by Алесь Усцінаў from Pexels.

In April, the Pentagon hosted representatives from the top 8 U.S. weapon manufacturers to discuss whether they could meet demand for a war in Ukraine that may last years. Yes, the U.S. and its weapon manufacturers are planning for a war that will continue the hellish conditions in Ukraine for years. And the longer this war continues, the more likely that a line will be crossed leading to a direct war between Russia and the United States.

You probably already know that the largest-funded military in the world belongs to the U.S., whose military budget surpasses the budgets of the next nine highest-funded militaries combined. On a weekly basis—and often on a daily basis—the U.S. military is killing civilians using drones. This has not stopped during the war in Ukraine.

Although U.S. imperialism does not normally make headlines on the evening news, it is a reality that affects countless lives around the globe. With the help of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee’s (NWTRCC’s) wonderful resources, I have been able to refuse the payment of taxes that fund this imperialism for over 20 years. War tax resistance is also giving me tools to refuse paying for the kind of “aid” that sends billions of dollars of U.S. weapons to Ukraine and other war-torn regions.

I first discovered NWTRCC when I joined the Milwaukee Catholic Worker in 1998. Their bookshelf contained a copy of each practical booklet published by NWTRCC. A year later, attended my first NWTRCC conference, where I met some wonderful people from all over the United States who were refusing to pay for war. Although the conferences continue, most folks discover our literature online, with NWTRCC’s website receiving visits from 40,000 unique visitors each year.

I am very proud to be part of NWTRCC’s 40 year history, as well as part of the rich and diverse history of war tax resistance that spans diverse peoples and cultures throughout human history. If you are interested in learning more about war tax resistance, NWTRCC’s resources are all freely available at www.nwtrcc.org.

[Editor’s Note: This article was previous published in the summer 2022 edition of the Servant Song, the newspaper of the Agape Community in Ware, Massachusetts.]

Post by Lincoln Rice

The post U.S. Weapons, Ukraine, and War Tax Resistance first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post U.S. Weapons, Ukraine, and War Tax Resistance appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.