US soldiers during a raid in Iraq. Photo credit: creative commons license from Wikipedia

Unfortunately as a trans person in this world, I am not surprised by the constant transphobia and oppression of us at just about every level of our lives. Instead, I am disgusted by the responses. I have spent hours and hours pouring through article after article, and across the board, the media and “progressive organizations” have taken this time to glorify and pinkwash* the military, violent masculinity, and murder. All in the name of “supporting trans people!” And I call bullshit.

There’s so much to say, I almost don’t know where to begin.

Soooo let’s just jump in.

First off, this is so much of a distraction, it is insulting. The sheer amount of news about the trans ban is outrageous. To be clear, the trans ban in the military was only lifted a year ago by the Obama administration. But these articles, which mostly focus on trans men in the military by the way and totally ignore the realities for nonbinary people in the military, make it sound like trans people have been able to live free of oppression in the military and Trump is taking that away.

• There is this one that somehow “now we know” that Trump is horrible, rather than when he increased the military budget and further militarized the US-Mexico border.
• Then this article where the British journalist writes about her friend who is a police officer in the UK but “when I met her a few years ago she was busy saving lives in the RAF.” For those who don’t know, the RAF is the Royal Air Force. So now people who drop bombs and murder innocent people are “saving lives” if they are a trans person in the military?
• Oh and this fun article that attempted to shame Donald Trump in order to be more like Israel where “they’ve served for years.” Ah yes, in Israel our trans brothers and sisters can destroy Palestinian villages with the IDF and achieve total trans liberation.

There were a few responses that were on point like from No Justice No Pride and L’lerrét Jazelle Ailith’s article THE MILITARY IS AN IMPERIALIST TOOL, BUT THE BAN ON TRANS FOLKS IS DEHUMANIZING AS FUCK. In it, she writes,

“But the President’s tweets from this morning are also a distraction. They are a distraction from the multiplicity of ways that the system has failed to protect trans people. Especially Black and Brown trans folks. […] This year alone, over 15 of Black transgender women and femmes have been murdered and the government continually ignores this issue. I think about the thousands of trans folks who are poor and homeless without access to adequate education or job prospects. Those who are not protected in the streets are consistently targeted, harassed, and imprisoned—and now our focus has been once again shifted.”

Trans people, and disproportionately black trans women, are being murdered in the streets every other week. Meanwhile, our national media is looking at Trump’s tweets, and barely covering official policy changes like the Senate’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Which, by the way, would single handedly impact almost all trans people in the United States (as L’lerrét Jazelle Ailith discusses in her article here).

The trans flag flying in the wind. Photo credit: creative commons license from Wikipedia

But even these discussions miss the larger point, which is why we as trans people are in the military in the first place and why our acceptance right now is being held up as our ability to join a terrorist organization—the US military.

So, why are so many trans people in the military? (FYI trans people are twice as likely to join the military.) We live in a world where trans folks have the highest rates of poverty and unemployment, especially for black and brown trans people. Many of us come face-to-face with total rejection from those closest to us resulting in extreme housing instability. The military is held up as one of the last remaining avenues where we can have some semblance of stability and camaraderie, but even that is mostly a facade as you can see in this pretty solid comic strip about the experiences of Jordan Blisk.

For us, it’s not only an “economic draft,” but I would say it is also a “social draft.” A last ditch effort to being accepted. This is extremely dangerous. Because of this, now some transgender people and many “left” organizations are holding up stories of trans people in the military as the pinnacle of supporting trans people. At the same time, they are sacrificing any more meaningful analysis of how the whole damn system is guilty as hell.

Yes trans people should have job protection, but also the military shouldn’t even exist as it currently does (or shouldn’t exist period, perhaps). Maybe we should spend less than the $1.45 trillion we put into the military every year, and we would be able to create more protections for trans people, and people in general. I don’t know, maybe provide guaranteed free housing for every single trans person in the country? (Which by the way would only cost $1 billion/year if we gave every trans person in the US $715 for rent every month.)

As L’lerrét Jazelle Ailith aptly warns in her article, “It is my fear is that the white LGBT+ infrastructure will mobilize around repealing this ban and use all resources and tactics to fight that one particular angle whilst ignoring the needs of the most marginalized and how this is connected to larger structures of dehumanization perpetuated by capitalism and white supremacy.”

Unfortunately, that is what is happening. Even worse, there is some serious pinkwashing happening of the US military—an organization that has illegally murdered over 20 million people in 37 countries since World War II and is the proud owner of a long list of war crimes. Personally, I don’t want our struggle as trans people to be used to praise the military or erase the genocides our country has committed.

And I don’t want our liberation as trans people to be determined by our ability to be a drone operator and murder people overseas as Eli Lake suggests in an article for Bloomberg. Lake writes,

“Imagine if Trump had leaned into the military’s recent policy instead of reversing it. Perhaps, with a little luck, a transgender special operations officer would be on the team that captures Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi, the current leader of the Islamic State. Or maybe a transgender drone operator would be the one who fired the missile that rid the world of al Qaeda’s boss, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Think of the opportunities. The Pentagon could tweet the image of Baghdadi on his knees with his hands tied behind his back, or Zawahiri’s exploded compound, with just a simple hashtag: #lovewins.”

I don’t think I even need to discuss the disgusting irony here….

This is part of a long legacy where oppressed people have been asked to join oppressive institutions with the false promise of recognition and rights. Perhaps the most famous example of people resisting these false promises is the National Black Antiwar Antidraft Union that included the Black Panther Party and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. They encouraged young black men to refuse to go to Vietnam to fight for a country that wanted to kill them here at home. It was because of their organizing that Muhammad Ali said his famous quote, “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong,” before he publicly refused the draft. Muhammad Ali’s words are as pertinent today as ever. (By the way, to read more about the life of Muhammad Ali and the dope organizing of Gwen Patton with the National Black Antiwar Antidraft Union, check out this great article.)

U.S. Army soldier with gun over Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan in 2015. Photo credit: creative commons license from Wikipedia

But why hasn’t there been a similar outpouring of support for Syrians and Iraqis? Where are the articles about trans people who are refusing to drop bombs as a bombardier because they don’t want their “great work” to be dropping the 24,287 bombs the US military dropped on Iraq and Syria in 2016 alone? Or any critique of how—for the most part—the trans people who can openly serve in the military are those who have the privilege to “pass” as cisgender? Or a discussion of how US destabilization of Iraq has led to queer and trans Iraqis having their lives be a living hell. What about honest national coverage of when men in the US military murder trans women in cold blood, simply because we are trans women? Both on duty and off duty.

The whitewashing and pinkwashing of the military that is happening right now in the media is a blatant (or maybe not so blatant since I don’t hear many people challenging it) attempt to glorify the military and our participation in violence. Our liberation as trans people will not come from the military. It will come from ending the horrible institutions that impoverish us, kill us, and ask us to kill others. Us trans folks need your support, but glorifying military violence is not the way to do it. So cut this bullshit now, and start organizing for some real change.

Sam Koplinka-Loehr is the field organizer with the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee. She is a white, 25-year old, transwoman. She is a nanny, a parent, and an activist. She is currently involved with campaigns fighting police brutality and prison slavery. Past references to Sam in NWTRCC materials referred to Sam as “they/them” or “he/him.” Sam currently uses she/her pronouns.

*pinkwashing is when an organization highlights LGBTQ people in the organization while attempting to hide or distract from the horrible things that organization does. This uses us to cover up other injustices.

The post I Call Bullshit On The Trans Ban first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post I Call Bullshit On The Trans Ban appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Following the national gathering, I did a small tour focused on resisting taxes for racial justice. I first went to Chicago. We had a lunch at the Christian Peacemaker Teams office. CPT is a spiritual group that supports frontline struggles. We had a group of CPT staff and tax resisters from Chicago. We talked about our effort this year where tax resisters are giving money to black, brown, and indigenous organizers in their communities. It was clear that this shift in our focus—to explicitly challenge white supremacy in our government and in our organizing communities—is a breath of fresh air for activists in our network.

After that, I ran to catch a train to South Bend, Indiana. Just barely made it! My first presentation in South Bend was at a Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) meeting. SURJ is made up of white people who sometimes show up for protests, and has been called out by regional and national black-led organizations to disband (read more here). 

The goal of my presentation was to talk through how white people might want to think of themselves as “anti-racist” but still be funding (and benefitting from) our white supremacist government that is killing black, brown, and indigenous people in our streets and around the world. For the people at the SURJ meeting, redirecting tax dollars is a way to use radical tactics and actions rather than just sitting around in a room talking about racism. In particular, it is part of returning money to black communities and organizations as part of large-scale reparations.

The following day I led a community presentation with Darryl Heller, the Director of the South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. We discussed tax resistance and building solidarity between movements. Darryl presented about being a war tax resister for many years in the 1980’s. He also talked about his work bringing Black and Brown people together to build community and shared resistance in South Bend. As per usual, it worked well to have the workshop co-hosted by a few organizations together. This provided space for building relationships between our groups and provided many ways for people to plug in.

I hope this gives you a few ideas about how a presentation could look in your area. It could be a workshop for an individual non-profit or activist group. It could also be a larger community presentation (hopefully hosted by a few different groups) that seeks to pull people in more broadly. The goal either way is to create a stronger regional base that you can then follow up with to build community power. If you would like to set up a presentation in your area, please email me at organizer@nwtrcc.org. 

A big thanks to everyone who made this trip possible, including hosting me, presenting together, and doing the hours of on-the-ground organizing required to pull off a community workshop.

Post by Sam Koplinka-Loehr

The post Resisting Taxes to Support Racial Justice in the Midwest first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Resisting Taxes to Support Racial Justice in the Midwest appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The early morning view from the train leaving New York City going towards Syracuse, NY. Photo: Sam Koplinka-Loehr

Over the course of the week, I led three presentations on war tax resistance and racial justice. There was one in Ithaca, Syracuse, and Rochester, NY. I also got to see some friends and family, which was an added bonus.

The idea for this trip started at the end of 2016 when Tom Joyce contacted me. Tom is a long-time war tax resister and organizer from Ithaca, NY. He wanted to have a gathering for war tax resisters in New York state, similar to the one that New England War Tax Resistance puts on every year.

We first discussed me coming to speak to the Ithaca Catholic Worker that Tom is a part of. After some talking, though, the idea quickly grew to include a series of presentations in three cities. We decided on two main goals. One of our goals was to highlight and support local organizing for racial justice. The other goal was to build a stronger base of people who refused taxes and redirected that money to organizers in their communities. We figured that after a series of presentations we would have enough people who were interested in making a regional gathering happen.

Some of my highlights from the week included:

• Presenting with Maria Engels from the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and Chanel Snead from Building Leadership And Community Knowledge in Rochester. We discussed defunding our white supremacist government and supporting black resistance in Rochester. 
• Eating hoagies at Subway (or i guess I should say “subs”) with Tom. We chatted about everything from sexual health to maintaining organizing energy over many years. Maybe those aren’t that different after all!
• Getting to see my aunt Mary Loehr in Ithaca. She helped out with the presentation at the Ithaca Friends Meetinghouse. It turned out to be quite the family affair, with my mom in attendance as well!
• Hearing Bernice Rodriguez present at our workshop in Syracuse, NY about her work with the Workers Center of Central NY. She is fighting for undocumented immigrants and workers rights. If you have money, the Workers Center is asking for people to support their organizing!

Between all three workshops, people were most excited about the tax redirection effort this year, which is people refusing money to the federal government and redirecting those tax dollars to radical organizing that is led by Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. At each presentation, people decided to start a redirection effort in their area.

It also seemed like this organizing model makes sense. It worked well to have a few workshops in cities or towns that are relatively close to each other that are co-hosted by local activist groups, a regional organizer, and NWTRCC. The focus on getting more resource and support to local activists was critical. Now, regional organizers can build a network that wants to stay connected with projects like redirecting taxes and starting an annual gathering. So stay tuned for a gathering in upstate NY in the coming year!

Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible through hosting me, reserving the space for workshops, doing local outreach, presenting together, and so much more.

Post by Sam Koplinka-Loehr

The post Organizing Region to Region: My Travels in Upstate New York first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Organizing Region to Region: My Travels in Upstate New York appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Image created by Sam Koplinka-Loehr, NWTRCC

There has been renewed interest in war tax resistance following Trump’s inauguration. Something has clicked in the minds of thousands of people across the country… we don’t want to pay for Trump’s agenda! While many of the reasons people are fed up—extreme militarism, mass incarceration, police brutality, and mass deportations—are part of the foundation of our country, it is exciting to see many new people contacting NWTRCC and wanting to organize in their communities.

We have a series of webinars coming up in the next few weeks to support this new wave of resisters. Join us online to learn more about war tax resistance and our redirection effort for this year!

Webinars

UPDATE: These webinars are over, but you can see recordings on our YouTube channel! And check out the analysis below by NWTRCC’s field organizer.

War Tax Resistance 101 with Erica Weiland, NWTRCC Social Media Coordinator
Saturday, February 18th, 1 – 2 pm EST

Redirecting Taxes to Black, Brown, and Indigenous Resistance! with Sam Koplinka-Loehr, NWTRCC Field Organizer
Saturday, February 25th, 2 – 3 pm EST

War Tax Resistance 101 with David Gross, a long-time war tax resister
Saturday, March 4th, 2 – 3 pm EST

War Tax Resistance 101 will cover the history of war tax resistance, which modern taxes go to war and militarism, reasons to resist, and ways to resist. There will be time for Q&A at the end.

Redirecting Taxes to Black, Brown, and Indigenous Resistance! will cover the collective redirection initiative of war tax resisters around the country this year. It will also include information on the logistics of redirection, and how tax resistance can be a tactic for racial justice.

RSVP is required for the webinars; please register here.

NWTRCC is hoping to support independent organizing efforts as well as provide some vision during this period of increased resistance.

***

To help frame this time in history, I want to address the glue that binds the whole system together: white supremacy.

Whether we are looking at drone strikes in Pakistan, police killings in Philadelphia, or the national guard holding checkpoints out at Standing Rock, there is one common theme: our government is escalating violence against Black, Brown, and Indigenous People. This is not new—indeed, white supremacy and violence have been the bedrock of our country since its founding—but the Trump administration has taken the extra step to raise the thin veil, making the system of white supremacy explicitly clear.

During the first days in office, the Trump administration took a series of actions reinforcing white supremacy. While some of them were very well publicized, like the Muslim immigration ban, others were more subtle. One of the first things on the new White House website was a policy statement that read, “The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong. The Trump Administration will end it.” This effectively put Black Lives Matter organizations and any group that is challenging racist police violence on notice. Then, just yesterday the administration approved the Dakota Access Pipeline, the path of which crosses directly through the territory of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

Image created by Erica Weiland, NWTRCC

War tax resistance takes direct action to challenge this racist system. During a workshop I helped lead in Philadelphia last month, I was reminded of Wally Nelson’s saying, “What would you do if someone came to your door with a cup in hand asking for a contribution to help buy guns and kill a group of people they didn’t like?” But in my mind it shifted to, “What would you do if a random organization wanted to build hundreds of prisons, give people guns on the streets, build tanks and fighter jets, all to lock up, kill, and oppress Black, Brown, and Indigenous People?” We would see it for what it is—a white supremacist organization—and many more of us we would refuse to pay.

Tax resistance is just one piece of the puzzle though; redirecting that money is the next piece. This year, I am excited to announce a new initiative that war tax resisters are taking on across the country, to redirect tax dollars to Black, Brown, and Indigenous organizers who are fighting for liberation. To read more about this critically important effort and to get involved, check out our website! You can also join me for a webinar, Redirecting Taxes to Black, Brown, and Indigenous Resistance, that will be on Saturday, February 25th from 2 – 3 pm eastern time.

Onwards in the struggle together!

Sam

The post Upcoming Webinars on War Tax Resistance and Redirection first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Upcoming Webinars on War Tax Resistance and Redirection appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.