Longtime NACC volunteer John Reese served as NACC's co-coordinator throughout 1998, during which time he organized and led a bus tour for that year's Day Without The Pentagon. The bus, full with rabble-rousers, journeyed from Seattle to arrive in D.C. for the day's activities, making awareness-raising stops along the way. For the past year-and-a-half, John's activism has been focusing on ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine. In early November, we interviewed John about his work, just as he was recovering from a successful day of protesting against the so-called "Security Wall" currently being built by the Sharon Administration.
What stimulated you to focus your work on the issue of the occupation Palestine?
That would go back to the first Gulf War, in 1991. I spent almost tw months at the Federal Building: one month leading up to war, and then one more after it began. We had an encampment there, and lots of people were going down there protesting. That's when I met Arabs and Palestinians, and people working with the Palestine Solidarity Committee.
So afterwards I stayed involved somewhat, going to some meetings, to demos, and to events over the years -- as with many issues, dropping in and out.
What really got me directly involved was when Arafat's compound was under siege, which began in March of 2002. I just felt like, "I've got to go." Part of it was the timing in my life: my daughter was somewhat independent at that time, which gave me a window of opportunity to just take off and go to Palestine.
So I raised enough money to get there -- the little I had covered about half, and I raised the other half -- and was there for about a month. Just being there and seeing what's going on, it doesn't take long -- just a few days -- to realize what a horrible situation it is.
And as with so many other issues, once you become involved, you realize that as the rest of world continues to sit in cafés discussing the situation, that it really knows very little about the situation.
The situation in Palestine -- what you have is a European invasion, which started in late-1880s. Zionists of European origin, coming in and wiping out people of color. And I couldn't help but relate that to what we, the United States, did to Native Americans and Africans here in this country. I couldn't undo that history, but I could work on this continuing invasion.
I had friends who'd gone to Central America during the '80s, participated in construction brigades Nicaragua. I always wanted to do that and never could. And so I just felt that this is my time to take part and do what I can do directly; rather than just protest, or educate myself, or help to educate others (all of which is certainly important). But this time I could go there first-hand and see what is going on. And from there it's definitely affected what I've been doing since.
So my first month there, April of 2002, I primarily went to work with the International Solidarity Movement. [The ISM, a movement comprised of Palestinian and International activists uses nonviolent direct action to confront and challenge the Israeli occupation.]
I attended different activities that ISM was organizing. I was at the Church of Nativity when it was under siege. On a number of occasions, the ISM tried to take food and water to the Church, but got turned back. Then we got all way to the door one time, but did not get in. The people inside would not open the door because our coordination was bad, they did not know what going on. As it turned out, another group did get in about a week later.
I also went to Arafat's compound in Ramallah, and was part of a decoy group of ISMers -- we split into two groups, and six people did get in.
The whole idea is that if we have Internationals present, if there's an International presence, it's going to be more difficult for Israel to attack civilians. We are going to be the ears and eyes of world, and be able to document what's going on. And our presence might be able to minimize the death and destruction that's going on there. I firmly believe it does reduce the violence.
I also did a lot of traveling around, to cities and villages, and that's when I started looking at the environmental problems. After doing environmental work here in states for 20 years, I had to notice the environmental catastrophe that is taking place there, and so got to thinking that maybe I could return and work on environmental issues, to put my expertise in hazardous waste and hydro-geology to work.
So I went around to talk to different NGOs: the Palestine water authority, a couple of municipalities, those in charge of water systems. And also the Palestine Hydrology Group (PHG), who said, "Sure, we can use you." So I came back home for six months, and returned to Palestine in June '02. I stayed for six months, working for both PHG and the ISM.
So, I would go somewhere to do things with ISM and see things PGH was working on. For example, I went to Nablus for two weeks because one of the things ISM does is to make sure water trucks are able to get through the checkpoints. About 100 villages in the West Bank rely on water trucks for water supply, and so trucks come into Nablus, and return to the villages with water.
So one task the ISM was performing was to go to checkpoints and monitor, to make sure the trucks would get through. At the same time, PHG was trying to work out getting a pipeline to a village, and getting a well opened up. In other words, I worked on the same issue from different aspects.
Also, bulldozers would come in to build barricades across roads, to restrict the movement of Palestinians, and they would break water and sewer lines. So that was something else that the ISM would try to stop -- and PHG also monitors, so they could document such destruction. In addition to constructing new systems, PHG also does repair work (they get some money from NGOs, mostly from the European Union).
What other work did you do with the ISM?
With the ISM I started doing Nonviolence trainings. I did all of their trainings for a three- or four-month period. I sometimes spent two days a week doing Nonviolence trainings.
I developed and coordinated the Olive Harvest Campaign [in 2002], coming up with the plan for how that would work.
So during that time, I would run back to Beit Sahour for trainings, and then run up to Jenin, Qalqilya, Tulkarem, wherever, to try to coordinate the Olive Harvest. I did a whole lot of traveling. I went to every major city, and about 100 villages. So I did ISM coordination for about a three-month period.
Can you say more about the Olive Harvest?
Last year's Olive Harvest Campaign was extremely successful: it was the most productive olive harvest they have had in five years. All totaled, about 400 Internationals participated, as well as a number of Israeli groups (they didn't exactly work closely with us -- they did a lot of work but, we didn't coordinate with them).
How much of the West Bank was covered?
We mainly focused on areas that were a problem in the past with settlers -- primarily in the north of the West Bank: Tulkarem, Nablus, Jenin. We did do some work around Ramallah and Bethlehem too. People say it was the most successful campaign the ISM has had.
What made it so successful?
What was told to me is that we worked closely with Palestinian NGOs. The process of establishing community and relationships is very difficult because we don't have enough people over there for the long term. Many people who have been there a length of time, Israel either kicks them out or does not let them back in. Like me, for example. I was refused re-entry in May of 2003. Many folks have been kicked out.
My long-term approach is that we need to expand on our long-term presence. Many of us feel campaigns are important, direct action is important, we are all for having a nonviolent movement there. But at same time, I believe we need to establish good long-term relations, and that can only be done by having people there for as long as possible -- which Israel is trying to prevent.
All organizations need a regular funding base. It's the only way to get people there long term, and to me that's the only way to support a long-term nonviolent campaign: get the funding to get people there. It doesn't really cost much -- maybe $200 per month, depending upon how much you travel. For $200 a month, you can get by --$100 for rent, and $100 for food.
So tell us about your current focus on the Wall in Palestine.
We have to be thinking about different ways to get people's attention. As activists, we have to be creative in thinking about how can we grab someone's attention, get them involved, and get them thinking. If you talk about Palestinians dying, people yawn. But if you say that their rivers are being polluted, the ears perk up.
It's the same kind of thing when you go there and see the Wall: here is an atrocity that people can't help but notice. When I was touring around the states doing my Palestine presentation, when I would throw up a slide of the Wall, there were gasps most of time. And it's obvious that this wall is something that people can see and relate to, and this has a major impact.
Palestine is getting in the news more, and part of that is because of the Wall. We are not taking advantage of this. It's a "gift" to us, and unfortunately activists in the U.S. aren't doing enough to bring the point home. After all it's our tax dollars that are paying for the "security" of Israel, and the Wall falls under "security", so it's our tax dollars paying for this Wall.
The Wall is not on the [1967] Green Line, it's taking away land and water and splitting villages and dividing families. It's displacing students from their schools, and the sick from the hospitals.
In some ways it's much worse that the Berlin Wall. It's longer and taller. The Berlin Wall, when it was built, did not take people's land away. Villages are being cut off from their fields.
But here's a "gift" to organize around, and these kinds of things don't come along often. It's bad enough people are dying every day -- 15-20 Palestinians die every week -- but that hasn't been enough to get people motivated (which is a horror in itself, something I don't understand). But with this Wall thing it's like, "Enough is enough." It's something that people do understand when they hear about it. So my feeling is that if more of us are working on the Wall, to educate people about it, we can turn this into a valuable tool to end the occupation.
The Wall is merely a symbol. It's one character, or a symbol, of the horrors of the occupation. It could be used as a window (pardon the pun): a window to the horrors of the occupation.
I want to make a prop, a club that looks like a wall. Because with that "club", the Israelis are smashing the life out of Palestine. The wWll is a weapon -- it's a different type of weapon of mass destruction.
Are you hoping to go back?
My long-term goal is to somehow work it out to be there ideally, say six-to-nine months per year, and spend three-to-six months here touring and educating people. When I was interrogated by Shin Bet [when refused re-entry in May of this year], I was told that I am on a "blacklist" (he used that term). But I think I can get back in.
The timing revolves around the Wall Campaign here in the U.S.. I have hopes for an energized Campaign. One thing I'm looking into is a third cross-country tour, with a trailer on the back of a vehicle, with a very realistic model of the Wall. Maybe 8-feet long, so it would travel easily, and also have a full-scale model inside the 8-foot model. Set the full size Wall up, and do protests and educational events, ideally ending up in D.C. with one huge demonstration -- maybe around April or May, or maybe in June (the anniversary of the 1967 war).
How can people support this work?
There are a number of ways to support. One is, of course, by getting involved in activities. For the Wall Campaign, we need people to perform tasks -- office work, running around, maintaining the website. Basic tasks. (And then there's always selling your house and giving all the money to the cause...)
To support us in Seattle you can send money to Community Action Network. If you want to send money to the national Campaign, based out of Palestine (the Anti-Apartheid Campaign), they certainly need it. For the ISM, my preference is to support local individuals. We need to support them financially, logistically, and psychologically -- the people that are going.
We need long-term people, who can go for months, but it would also be helpful to have people for two weeks. We need about 1,000 people to quit their jobs, find funding, and stay there as long as possible. If we could get that, before long the occupation would end. It would have a major impact. It's not that much, people-wise or dollars-wise: maybe $1 million for all logistics and such. We can do it.
--Scott McClay
John recommends the following Palestine Resources:
As these words are being written, the "Coalition Provisional Authority" in Iraq, taking a page from the Israeli playbook, has in response to the heightening of the Iraqi resistance (a resistance, it's worth noting, which is, according to International Law -- and irrespective of whether the resistance is more or less comprised of "good guys" or "bad guys" -- entirely legal), begun demolishing homes of "suspected" insurgents. A tactic which, as elements of the U.S. military itself acknowledge, is likely to even further disenchant the "hearts and minds" of the Iraqi population (only 5% of which, according to a recent poll, considers the U.S. to have undertaken the occupation with benign intentions).
So to what end -- in one country overflowing with hidden caches of explosives and with a proud history of resistance to European attempts at occupation; and in another country whose leadership has cast its campaigns in Manichean terms and which once again finds its military "credibility" threatened -- are these developments pointing?
One possibility, of course, is suggested by recalling the interminably bloody guerilla wars waged by the United States in the Philippines and Vietnam. Wars in which, despite its massive military firepower (and its leaders' horrifying willingness to use it), the United States was reduced to herding the countries' populations into "reconcentration camps" and "strategic hamlets", respectively, in an ultimately failed attempt to, ahem, "win over" their "hearts and minds".
The Bush Administration's "Nuclear Posture Review", enunciated in December of 2001, and Congress' recent rubber-stamping of the Administration's designs to "study" the development of "useable" nuclear weapons (not to mention the Administration's maniacal drive to develop "sci-fi" weapons systems and to militarize outer space) suggest another grim possibility.
The first possibility spells a nightmare for Iraq's already beleaguered population as well as the American GIs (largely poor and/or minority, and whose exposure to the military's toxic implements of warfare has already greatly surpassed that of the 1991 Gulf warriors) sent to kill and die for the "security" of Iraq's oil fields. The other possible outcome, yeah, would spell the "end of the world as we know it".
But yet a third possibility exists: that of the so-called "second superpower" -- that 90% of the world's population opposed to the Bush Administration's "cowboy diplomacy" -- stopping the war machine cold in its tracks.
It is in this context, and hard on the heels of L. Paul Bremer's acknowledgement that it will take "several tens of billions of dollars" to "pacify" the Iraqi population, that we here at NACC can't help wondering why the concept of War Tax Resistance hasn't captured the fancy of the nation's burgeoning Peace Movement.
As with any act of Civil Disobedience, the potential consequences of refusing to contribute to the Pentagon's spiraling budgetary behemoth are real. While these consequences very rarely (almost too rarely to even mention) include jail time, it is an activity that should not be undertaken capriciously.
On the other hand, the potential consequences of not engaging in War Tax Resistance -- a few of which outlined above -- include, quite simply, the propagation of a series of unmitigated catastrophes and holocausts, already well underway.
Those willing to investigate the matter further are urged to either contact the NACC office, or log on to the websites of both NACC and the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, or to get hold of the newly updated edition of the War Resisters League's canonical War Tax Resistance: A Guide To Withholding Your Support From The Military. For those in Seattle, the highly recommended Guide can be purchased from the NACC office for $15, or it can be ordered directly from the WRL itself.
While the process of awarding NACC's CMTC Escrow Account grants (see below) has been supremely inspiring (the more so because almost all of the recipients in the three years of the program have been unable to secure funding from more mainstream sources), our great regret is that we've far too few dollars to grant. A precipitous decline in donations this year -- an event experienced by many a peace-and-justice-loving organization in the midst of these days of woe and want, the "jobless recovery" -- coupled with the continued suppression of interest rates could have seriously undermined the program's granting capabilities for 2003. Fortunately, an extremely generous (and extremely unexpected) bequest pulled the chestnuts out of the fire. But this is not the sort of income that can be counted upon. NACC supporters with the means to do so are welcomed to use the form on page 7 (also available online at) to either submit a donation, or to open a CMTC Escrow Account -- the interest from which will be added to funds available for grant. (An account can be opened using resisted war taxes, or simply accumulated savings. For more information, consult the NACC website.)
Some of the graphics in the print edition this newsletter were discovered through the War Resisters League's beautiful 2004 Peace Calendar, Dissenting Views: Art In The Age of Terror, edited by Rick Bickhart and Ruth Benn. Copies of the Calendar -- at $12.95 each, or $48 for four -- can be ordered online or through the mails (339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012).
-- Eddie Tews
On September 1, NACC announced $6,794 in grants to seven peace and justice organizations. Grant money derives primarily from interest from the CMTC Escrow Account, with a smaller amount deriving from donations to NACC. This was NACC's third year of grant making, and the process for soliciting and awarding the grants went very well. NACC received grant applications from twenty-two organizations around the country, requesting a total of $38,400. Following several rounds of (often heart-rending) evaluation and discussion, the grants have been awarded as follows:
After its Northwest birth in the summer of 2002, The Axis of Peace has had a slow 2003. It remains an effort to expand on the existing War Tax Resistance paradigm of small numbers of citizens refusing to pay large amounts of taxes, often covertly.
The Axis of Pace campaign hopes also to attract large numbers of citizens to redirect small amounts of income tax in a gesture of conscientious objection to the U.S. proliferation of war on the planet.
The small amounts to be redirected remain $9.11 or $91.11, symbolic of the date when decades of American proliferation of war came full-circle back to American soils and over 2,700 non-combatants suddenly and violently lost their lives. In the first Axis of Peace tax season, some neophyte war tax resisters even redirected $911.0l.
September 11, 2001 is the date when U.S. leadership might have begun to acknowledge the likelihood that the quest for corporate power and profit might be engendering the level of hatred and determination necessary for such acts of terrorism as befell the World Trade Center -- acts quietly tolerated, if not heralded, by the disempowered masses all over the globe.
September 11, 2001 could someday be seen as the date that thousands of innocents will not have died in vain -- if only our leadership could truly give the proliferation of freedom for the poorest peoples on the planet primacy over the accumulation of power and profit for a wealthy corporate few (or if those of us who count ourselves among the disempowered masses force them, against their wills, to do so).
The campaign has been very slow to pick up steam. It would appear that we Americans are intimidated into submission by our own federal government -- the very same government that purports to promote our manifold "freedoms".
One tax resister, who is a member of the Western Washington Veterans for Peace is appealing to his fellow veteran activists to join him in redirecting $91.11 to the Rachel Corrie Foundation. The foundation was established to commemorate the brave young woman who lost her life in 2003 attempting to block an Israeli bulldozer from plowing down yet another Palestinian home. There is also discussion about forming redirection groups of church donors, each pooling a symbolic amount of their contributions to the church projects from an Axis of Peace redirection.
Other considerations could be redirections to treatment facilities, community land-trusts, war victims support projects, or environmental protection funds. Such groups could compose a common letter of "protest and redirection intent" and include it with their tax returns, while sending copies to their federal legislators. Having stood together in protest, they would then continue to support each other as legislators, fellow citizens, and the IRS react to their conscientious objection.
Please consider becoming a part of the Axis of Peace by creating a redirection group in your own community to support a similar cause -- one more worthy of your dollars than is the U.S. war machine. For details, log on to to the Axis of Peace website, or contact the NACC office.
--John Chisholm
I've come across a number of significant WTR news items lately, and would like to share them with Nonviolent Action readers.
The first comes from a recent issue of More Than A Paycheck, the newsletter of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC). This past April 17, the NWTRCC web site received more than 30,000 hits. The NWTRCC staff person, Ruth Benn, attributed those hits to all of the Tax Day leafleting that takes place around the country. It made me feel good to know that all our leafleting effort is at least piquing people's interest.
Ruth also reported that the NWTRCC website received a second surge of hits on July 27, when news broke that the U.S. Justice Department is suing the Quaker organization Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. The purpose of the suit is to recover the resisted taxes of one of PYM's employees, Priscilla Adams. The government seeks to collect about $42,000 in taxes, interest, and penalties, and in addition asks the court to impose a penalty of 50% of that amount on PYM for refusing to garnish Pricilla's paycheck. The Yearly has decided to defend itself, saying in a September 24 press release that its "principles require it to support the action of a member when the member's witness is demanded by conscience and faith consistent with historic Friends principles." The Quaker organization sees itself as defending freedom of religion and freedom of conscience -- not just for itself, but also for all those who desire to be both good citizens and people of faith.
From what I understand, the circumstances leading up to the IRS suit have been developing for a long time. However, I can't help but consider the fact that it is John Ashcroft¹s Justice Department that has decided to pursue this action with such severity.
Finally, the NACC office has received some calls from WTRs who've received "frivolous return" fine letters from the IRS. In the past, the "frivolous" penalty has been imposed on resisters who've made unconventional modifications or claims on the tax return (such as claiming all the children of the world as their dependents, for example). For many years, we've recommended that people file a legally correct return (if they're going to file one at all), and write a separate letter to convey their reason for acting upon their conscientious beliefs by resisting. This year, for the first time, some resisters who did just that have received "frivolous return" fine notices. They've been notified that they need to re-file a corrected return or else a "frivolous return" fine will be imposed.
The problem, of course, is that their initial returns were filled out correctly in the first place! It now appears that a phone call and determined conversation with a tax representative can resolve the problem. If this happens to you, you need to make sure that the IRS staff person actually looks at the original return, point out that all the information on it is correct, and ask him or her to agree that the "frivolous return" fine letter is in error and needs to be corrected.
-- Carolyn Stevens
Nonviolent Action is published biannually by the Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia (NACC), formerly the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign.
NACC, 4554 12th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98145, (206) 547-0952, nacc (at) drizzle (dot) com, http://seanacc.org/.
The Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia is a Seattle-based organization which uses nonviolent direct action to create political and social change. NACC acts to interrupt and transform militarism and other forms of violence, and to build a society based upon community, economic justice, environmental awareness, personal empowerment, and feminist, queer-positive and anti-racist principles.
NACC uses creative nonviolent direct action, war tax resistance, public education, grants to activist groups, and coalition building towards these ends, creating community and developing empowerment and conflict-resolution skills in the process.
NACC has an office staffed part-time by Geov Parrish, Scott McClay, and Eddie Tews. We welcome new members. For more information, contact us at the address, phone number, or e-mail address above.
NACC is an affiliate of the War Resisters League, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, and the Northwest Disarmament Coalition.
The Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia
P.O. Box 85541, Seattle, WA 98145. An affiliate of the
War Resisters League and NWTRCC
Tel: (206) 547-0952, Fax: (206) 547-2631. E-mail: nacc (at) drizzle (dot) com