[PEN-L:9449] Re: [DEMSOC-L] Fwd: Wesleyan War tax protest: telephone tax resist idea

[Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think it is a great idea.  It's is relatively easy & safe, so the perosnal
cost of participation is not high.  It cuts across political ideologies, as
resistance to  federal tax is popular with populist right -- so it can
bridge the frames of many groups of different political orientation.  And
once the campaign is organised, it can serve as spring board for other
actions.  The amounts involved are small and by themselves they won't make a
dent in the Washington war machine.  But the organizing potential of the
telephone tax resistance that cuts across political divisions inflicted by
the mainstream propaganda is too great to be ignored.



At 12:53 AM 4/11/97 -0400, you wrote:
>---------------------
>Forwarded message:
>From:   rcowan@xxxxxxxxxx (Rich Cowan)
>Sender: cccowr@xxxxxxx
>To:     wrl@xxxxxxxxxxx
>CC:     ccco@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, rcowan@xxxxxxxxxx, mstyer@xxxxxxxxxxxx,
>span-talk@xxxxxxxxxxx, hjordan@xxxxxxxx, can-budget@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
>khanson@xxxxxxxxxxxx, DavidMcR@xxxxxxx, can-peace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
>cmtc@xxxxxxxxxxx, WRLNE9@xxxxxxx
>Date: 97-04-10 21:35:31 EDT
>
>Dear CCOers, YouthPeacers, SPANers, SCREAMers, Youth Liberation Summiters,
>etc.,
>
>If we believe in peace, why are we paying for war?
>
>I think the idea below is great, and I will forward it to our SCREAM
>(Student Commitee Resisting Enlistment and Militarism) coordinators for
>possible use in our tax day action that we're collaborating on with AFSC
>Northampton, MA during the SCREAM gathering there April 13-15. We're
>especially outraged by the $1.9 billion spent by the military on recruiting
>efforts: money used to propagandize youth into believing myths of military
>economic opportunity, and what the World War I poet Wilfred Owen called,
>"that old lie: dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (It is sweet and
>glorious to die for the fatherland)."
>
>I am a war tax resister, and I'm also a war-telephone-tax resister. I've
>thought for years that telephone tax resistance would be a great campaign
>for campus activists to take up (but have never gotten around to actually
>proposing it as a campaign to WRL, NWTRCC, CCO, etc). There is a federal
>tax on all phone bills that historically is linked to paying for war.
>Refusing to pay the tax, and donating it instead to life-sustaining causes,
>is a relatively risk-free form of civil disobedience. Resisters tell the
>phone company that we are paying the entire amount owed to them, so the
>company can not shut off our service, and the IRS doesn't want to try to
>collect the individually small amounts involved.
>
>If a campus peace group convinced 100 students to resist the tax, and each
>one resisted an average of $1 a month (the amount is tied to the size of
>the phone bill), this would generate $100 a month from the campus group
>that could be pooled and donated to local battered women's shelters, civil
>rights groups, homeless shelters, rape crisis centers, or any of a variety
>of peace and social justice groups.
>
>Whaddayathink? Is there any interest in pursuing this idea? Do you think
>it's worthwile for the above and allied organizatios to promote on a
>wide-scale basis? Is there anyone on a campus out there that would want to
>try it out (or already has tried it out), to give us a sense of how better
>to promote it nationwide?
>
>Good luck with tax day actions.
>
>Peace,
>sam diener
>Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors Military Out of Our Schools
>Coordinator
>www.libertynet.org/ccco
>415-474-3002
>
>>>Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 23:23:39 -0500 (EST)
>>>From: "Michael A. Styer" <mstyer@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>To: span-talk@xxxxxxxxxxx
>>>Subject: national student protest (fwd)
>>>
>>>Fellow SPANers--
>>>    We at the Wesleyan University Chapter of Peace Action are trying to
>>>start something. See the letter below for details... What we need is for
>>>you, on your campus, to organize an event in cooperation, and to forward
>>>the letter on to every other campus organizer you know. If you have any
>>>comments or questions, please contact us. Thanks.
>>>
>>>/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
>
>>>Michael Styer                    But ne'ertheless I hope it is no crime
>>>mstyer@xxxxxxxxxxxx          To laugh at all things--for I wish to know
>>>(860)685-6753                What, after all, are all things--but a show?
>>>                                        -Byron, "Don Juan"
>>>\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
>
>>>
>>>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 22:53:44 -0500 (EST)
>>>From: "Krista L. Hanson" <khanson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>To: "Michael A. Styer" <mstyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>Subject: national student protest
>>>
>>>
>>>Please forward this to leaders and activists you know.  Our contact list
>>>is short, so we depend on you to pass word on.
>>>
>>>
>>>To all Student Leaders and Activists,
>>>
>>>        This tax day, April 15th, you have an opportunity to use your
>>>voice to demand a change in our governments spending priorities. Students
>>>across the nation will call for change in the form of a protest of
>>>military spending.
>>>
>>>        Why protest military spending?  Over half of the funds in the 1997
>>>federal
>>>discretionary budget are allocated for military spending (+$260 billion,
>>>about %52).  In contrast, education receives $23.4 billion (5%) and
>>>environmental protection receives about $7.1 billion (1%).  Money spent on
>>>the military is at the expense of other programs that are being cut to
>>>balance the budget.  In fact, in the midst of cutbacks, the 1997 budget
>>>gave the Pentagon $11.2 billion more than requested!  This reflects a
>>>frightening trend.  Politicians place a higher priority on methods of
>>>destruction than on any true national security  education, housing, and
>>>health for all.  Clinton has proposed the 1998 budget, and it is time that
>>>we demand  changes.
>>>
>>>        There is something that you, as a student, a leader, and an
>>>activist can do to make your dissatisfaction known.  On campuses across
>>>the nation on April 15th there will be a one minute moment of silence at
>>>noon, protesting excessive military spending.  However, this will not
>>>happen at your school unless you take action and initiate this event.
>>>What we need is: first, for a student or groups on each campus to
>>>facilitate the minute of silence (or screaming!), and second, for you to
>>>tell us that you plan to participate so that we can report to the media
>>>how many students are taking this action for change.  There is also a
>>>petition attached at the bottom of this, please circulate it.  With
>>>students acting together across the country, we can take a step forward
>>>for political change.
>>>
>>>        If you want more information, please e-mail or call, or see the
>>>resources at the bottom of this message.
>>>
>>>        Peace,  Krista Hanson
>>>                Wesleyan Peace Action
>>>
>>>for more protest info:
>>>        Krista Hanson or
>>>        Michael Styer, mstyer@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>        (860) 685-6753
>>>
>>>great information resources on the web:
>>>        War Resisters League:
>>>                http://www.NONVIOLENCE.ORG/wrl/piechart.htm
>>>        Peace Action:
>>>                http://www.webcom.com/peaceact/
>>>        Military Spending Working Group:
>>>                http://www.fas.org/pub/gen/mswg/
>>>
>>>
>>>------------------------------
>>>Krista Hanson
>>>khanson@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>
>>>Box 4480, Wesleyan University
>>>Middletown, CT 06459
>>>------------------------------
>>>
>>
>
wojtek sokolowski
institute for policy studies
johns hopkins university
baltimore, md 21218
sokol@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
voice: (410) 516-4056
fax:   (410) 516-8233


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