On
Friday evening, the Peace Abbey presented it's Courage
of Conscience Award to Frances Crowe, who was attending our
war tax resistance weekend.
Pacifist
and peace activist Frances Crowe of Northampton, Massachusetts, received
the award for her lifelong commitment to peace. She staffed the Western
Massachustts office of the American Friends Service Committee for many
years, and her numerous acts of civil disobedience have brought her
national attention. Frances told many stories of her activism and ended
talking about what led her into war tax resistance after many years
of activism. She has been working to change her lifestyle to lessen
her carbon footprint on the planet. "I can control my behavior,"
she said.
Photo:
Frances speaking. Peace Abbey founder Lewis Randa seated.
Saturday,
May 5
We
watched the Video
Contest Winners,
discussed how to use them, and talked about what people want to
see in a new "introduction to war tax resistance" film.
Everyone
enjoyed the shorts. It was a great way to connect with students.
The WRL website was referenced in some of the videos because of the
thought that the war tax pages on that site are more "youth
friendly"
than NWTRCC's. We'll reconsider this with the next contest - and see
how to make NWTRCC's site more "youth friendly." Other
comments:
* connect with the peace studies movement; publicize to the association
and teachers (Michael True; New England Peace Studies Assoc. is located
at Peace Abbey; P&J Studies Assoc. has a new directory of programs).
* include more explicit info about our economic war against the world.
* can they be shown at independent film festivals? (Craig has a contact
in Somerville)
* make DVD's available to people doing WTR workshops (in-the-works....)
* approach film schools.
* good to use for cable TV ads. try to get on local cable stations.
Also ask Deep Dish to use on their uplinks. See if Amy would use on
Democracy Now.
* can these be added to any of the lefty documentaries being produced?
ask if you have contacts.
* NWTRCC has the rights to the contest winners' videos.
Use locally as an intro to presentations; for use with gatheirngs of
young people/Young Friends; in regularly scheduled video showings;
at house parties.
Comments
on the intro to wtr video that we are hoping to produce:
* add the human dimension, not just facts
* 30 minutes is most usable length
* show people that "you can survive"
* make it joyous - the healthy aspect of doing the right thing
* include CO veterans
* important to catch interest right up front
* MUSIC
* show us taking care of one another
* emphasize the benefits of wtr
* represent a variety of motives
* have a head-sticking catch phrase that people remember when they
leave
* empahsize choice
* do a comedy-drama with a story and character development
---------------------------------------
Talking
about our personal War Tax Resistance. Three
speakers offered short presentations on different topics and
we broke into small groups for discussion.
Larry Rosenwald on public/private aspects of wtr:
He and his wife file, send IRS a letter explaining their nonpayment,
redirect, adn then eventually are collected from in various ways.
They widely publicize collections. Larry has discussions with people
at the school where he teaches about salary levies when they come.
He likes not hiding things, likes dialogue even if confrontational.
Being public makes him feel less isolated and alone. Thoreau talks
about "friction"
and letting "your life be a counter-friction to the machine."
Public wtr is an attempt to increase the amount of friction.
Peg Morton on money:
We need to break the taboo on talking about money. We need to share
with each other non-judgementally our relationship with money: where
do I get it? How do I use it? Peg struggles with living off an inheritance
- investing in the capitalist systems and living off that system.
But also is able to give contributions to good things.
Juanita Nelson on life choices:
Juanita talked about living simply, without running water, electricity,
her & Wally's "rags to rags" story., by reading us
her poem "Outhouse Blues - the less money I have, the less I
have to buy." We will eventually add the text here or on the
website. Meanwhile, here is a picture of her reading the poem....
Peg, Sallie, Juanita, John, Frances, and Rick.
Here's a bunch of us at the end of the day on Saturday. Be sure to
check out the Peace Abbey website,
and visit if you are in the area.
