Palestinian Land Day
Salute the Palestinian Resistance!
Voice of Revolution extends an ardent salute to the Palestinian Resistance and joins the Palestinians and those worldwide in marking Land Day, March 30. We express our complete support for the national liberation struggle of the Palestinian people and their resistance to the Zionist occupation of their homeland.
Yom-el-Ard, the Day of the Land, is a symbol of Palestinian resistance. It marks the anniversary of the day in 1976 when thousands of Palestinians inside Israel and the West Bank staged a general strike against new orders to expropriate 60,000 dunams of their land in the Galilee. These lands were declared “closed military zones.” After years of military rule, Land Day 1976 was the first act of mass resistance by the Palestinians inside Israel against the Zionist policy of internal colonization. This systematic process of expropriation had reduced Palestinian land ownership from around 94 percent of all territory in pre-1948 Palestine to less than 3 percent in what is now considered to be Israel. Following peaceful protests, the Israeli army and police clashed with the protesters, killing six Palestinians, wounding hundreds more and jailing hundreds of other people.
Land Day reaffirmed the Palestinian minority in Israel as an inseparable part of the Palestinian nation. Since then March 30 became recognized as Yom-el-Ard or Day of the Land to highlight the systematic policy by the Zionists and state of Israel to grab Palestinian land.
This year, once again, Land Day is being marked in Palestine with week-long demonstrations and other actions as well as actions around the world to hold high the just demands of the Palestinian people, salute the resistance movement and demand an end to the crimes committed against the Palestinian people by the U.S.-Israeli occupiers. The U.S. is the one that guarantees Israeli aggression, occupation and genocide, not only by protecting Israel politically and blocking any United Nations action, but also by arming and funding the government with billions from the U.S. public treasury.
Today, it is more urgent than ever that the working class and all justice-loving people in the U.S. make every effort to stand in support of the just cause of the Palestinian people and their resistance struggle. Every effort must be made to smash all government attempts to blame the victims for their condition and isolate the Palestinian people so that the U.S.-Israeli final solution of eradicating the Palestinians can be imposed. Despite the crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people, their heroic resistance struggle proves beyond the shadow of any doubt that this U.S-Zionist project will never succeed. Let us together do whatever it takes to increase support for the Palestinian resistance and win the Palestinian homeland!
Salute the Palestinian Resistance!
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We Will Continue to Claim Our Land
On March 30, as Palestinians in our homeland and the diaspora, we remember Land Day and strengthen our struggle for Land, Justice and Return. In 1976, six Palestinians were killed and a hundred injured by Israeli forces as Palestinians went on strike against a massive land confiscation scheme in the Galilee. Land theft and colonization continues in the Galilee and Naqab today.
More than 30 years later, we will be again out in the streets and in the fields confronting the Occupation in dozens of protests and demonstrations, uniting the people in villages and cities across the West Bank in a week of continuous mobilization.
In the West Bank, including Jerusalem, the Apartheid Wall, settlements and their road system are de facto confiscating over half of our land and most of our water resources and agricultural fields. Israeli apartheid is creating something worse than Bantustans: open air prisons surrounded by 8-meter (26-foot) high cement walls and sealed by gates, checkpoints and terminals. Thousands of families are in danger of losing their homes to make space for Israeli colonization and entire communities are to be razed to the ground. Dispossessed farmers watch industrial estates growing on their land in a system designed to exploit and control.
Thanks to the unbroken resistance of the Iraqi people that has led the U.S. and its allies into an impasse, diplomacy of the unipolar world focuses again on Palestine. Our homeland and people have become the card, which might save global imperialism from drowning in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the U.S.-Israeli axis has never been willing to allow any of our rights to be implemented, the continuous presence in our region of U.S. and Western envoys and officials is aimed to pressure Arab leaders into:
1. Ending Arab support for the Right of Return, enshrined into international law (such as UN Resolution 194);
2. Reviving the vicious Oslo mechanism that asks the Palestinian and Arab nations to make the first step: recognizing the Israeli apartheid regime and the “righteousness” of its crimes. Once relations are normalized and international public opinion is appeased, the reality on the ground can be consolidated and the agreement broken by the oppressors.
Against concessions on our inalienable rights and our lives, we will continue to claim our land. We will rise up and put forward our demands, based on the principles of our struggle and the rights of our people.
We demand from the delegates to the Arab summit and its leaders:
No concessions over the Right of Return and no normalization with Israel until Israel:
• Recognizes its responsibility for the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948 (Nakba) and implements UN resolution 194 on the right of return
• Fully complies with the ICJ decision to remove the Wall and all associated constructions such as checkpoints, terminals and industrial zones, return all confiscated Palestinian land and grant due reparations
• Dismantles all settlements without exceptions
• Ends the isolation of Jerusalem and reverses its Judaization
• Ends the isolation of and stranglehold on the Gaza Strip
• Stops the discrimination of our people that carry Israeli citizenship and returns their confiscated property while recognizing their rights as humans and especially as indigenous people.
We demand from the Palestinian National Authority and all of its institutions:
A clear and strong position at the Arab summit representing our demands above.
Further, we ask to:
1. Stop any meetings with the Occupation as long as they continue to build the Apartheid Wall, confiscate our land and imprison our people via checkpoints and terminals.
2. Work at all levels to stop the ongoing expulsion and final destruction of 14 communities; in particular, Nu’man, Izbet at Tabib, Khirbet Zakariya, and Ein el-Juwezeh.
3. Immediately denounce and attempt to prevent the daily house demolitions. Over 4,646 houses are under destruction orders in the West Bank, with 3,800 in Jerusalem alone.
4. Stop abuse of our workers through middlemen and companies which steal part of the livelihoods of workers and their families, sharing the profits with Zionist employers.
Finally, the Occupation and the international community will receive our message via demonstrations and protests all over Palestine. It will be a message of continuing resistance and an uncompromising demand for our rights. Another popular Intifada is inevitably building up as long as our rights are ignored and our future confiscated.[TOP]
Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
40 Years of Occupation
Dear United Nations Secretary-General,
As Palestinian organizations dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights, we welcome your decision to visit the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) at this early stage in your tenure as UN Secretary-General. After 40 years of belligerent occupation, the current reality in the OPT is one of systematic violations of international human rights law, as well as serious breaches of international humanitarian law, which in many instances amount to war crimes. This situation gives your visit great importance.
We welcome your stated intention to hear first-hand from the people in the region about the problems and challenges they face. In this regard, we invite you to take the opportunity to speak with Palestinian civil society in order to better comprehend the ways in which the Israeli occupation has severe and long-term repercussions on the human rights of every Palestinian, and by extension contributes to an escalation of the conflict with repercussions on the prospects for regional peace and security.
We trust that witnessing the situation on the ground will bolster your expressed commitment to bring about a “just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on an end to the 1967 occupation and the creation of an independent Palestinian State living side-by-side in peace with Israel.” In this context, it is critical that any political agreement between Israel and the Palestinians be in conformity with fundamental principles of international law, most notably the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes of origin. Fundamental rights must not be ignored for the sake of political expediency or false compromises. Ignoring such rights only serves to obscure the reality of the Israeli occupation, creating an environment where injustice persists and progress towards meaningful peace cannot be achieved.
As you have correctly noted, Israeli military operations, severe movement restrictions, the withholding of Palestinian revenues and the socio-economic decline precipitated by these measures have resulted in a humanitarian crisis in the OPT, exacting a heavy toll on the Palestinian population. Continued settlement activity, particularly around East Jerusalem, further erodes the quality of Palestinian life. In this regard, we call upon you to reiterate that Israel must fulfill its obligations as the Occupying Power in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Importantly, Israel must immediately desist from all policies and practices that violate international human rights and humanitarian law or that alter the physical character or demographic composition of the OPT.
Insofar as the construction of the Annexation Wall in the West Bank is concerned, we request that you raise the legal obligations incumbent upon Israel regarding its construction, as outlined in the 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, with Israeli officials. In particular, Israel’s obligation to cease construction of the Wall, to dismantle those sections built to date and to provide reparation for the damages caused by such construction. Considering that the Register of Damage for the Wall operates under your administrative authority, we urge you to ensure that the Register, despite its inherent limits, is used to record damages in the most effective manner possible.
It is clear that without the respect for and implementation of international law by the international community, Israeli violations will continue with impunity, as they have for decades. Numerous UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions pertaining to the OPT, and a proliferation of special committees, sessions and Secretariat divisions and units, have had little meaningful effect on Israeli policies and have failed to ensure the fundamental rights of Palestinians. Accordingly, we call upon the UN, as an organization whose Charter has amongst its primary purposes the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms, to take effective steps to protect the rights of the Palestinian people. To do otherwise is to undermine the UN’s own commitment to human rights and rule of law and to condone governmental violations of international law.
As UN Secretary-General, you act as a spokesperson for the interests of the world’s peoples, particularly the vulnerable among them. We urge you to use your visit to Israel and the OPT as an opportunity to uphold the values and moral authority of the UN. Given the UN’s long-term commitment to the question of Palestine, we believe that it is time for it to take clear and effective actions that are commensurate with the challenge of ensuring a peace built on the respect for international law. As UN Secretary-General, you must use your unique position to clearly condemn the ever increasing breaches of international law in the OPT, regardless of the perpetrator. To fail to do so would be to betray the hope your visit holds, and render further distant the end of the occupation and a just and durable solution to the conflict.
Respectfully yours,
Al-Haq
Addameer
Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights Gaza
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
Badil - Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
Defense for Children International - Palestine Section
Ensan Center for Democracy and Human Rights
Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights
Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling
Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies
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UN to Probe Israeli Crimes in Palestine
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has adopted a resolution calling for two urgent fact-finding missions to inspect Israeli crimes in occupied Palestinian territory. The 47-member Council expressed concerns that previous attempts to investigate human rights abuses in Palestine had been hindered by Israel, noting that the regime had not cooperated with two previous resolutions which dispatched the missions. The UNHRC has also requested UN higher commissioner for Human Rights Louis Arbor to brief the Council in June 2007 on the UN verification of the regime’s compliance with the investigation.
A resolution in June 2006 had urged Israel to “end its military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory, abide by the provisions of international human rights laws, and refrain from imposing collective punishment on Palestinian civilians.” John Dugard, the Special Reporter on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, reported that he had not been allowed by the Israeli government to carry out his survey called for by a Council resolution last year.
The UNHRC voted last June to send an investigation team to the Gaza Strip, right after an Israeli massacre in Beit Hanoun city. On June 9, 2006, the Israeli army fired five tank shells on a Palestinian neighborhood in Beit Hanoun, killing 19 civilians including women and children from the same family. However, the team, headed by Nobel peace prizewinner, Desmond Tutu, was not allowed by the Israeli regime into the Gaza Strip.
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For Your Information
Dispossession of Palestinian Land
At the Halifax Forum held in April 2004 to commemorate Land Day and pay homage to the resistance struggle of the Palestinian people, Palestinian-Canadian student Nabil Hdeib stressed that the establishment of the state of Israel actually marked the third successive failure of the Zionist project to acquire land from the indigenous Palestinians. At the time of the British Colonial Mandate in 1921, systematic Zionist colonization, which had begun to unfold at the end of the 19th century, had succeeded in acquiring only 2 per cent of Historic Palestine. In the 30 years prior to World War I, the Jewish settlers were still under 8 per cent of the total population.
Despite 47 years of British imperial carrot-and-stick tactics under its Colonial Mandate, the Zionist project again failed. Even the poorest Palestinians farmers stood strong and refused to sell or abandon their land under the Zionist pressure. As well, the World Zionist Organization was unable to entice European or North American Jews to reconstitute a Eurocentric society of wealthy capitalists, wealthy professionals, industrial workers and farmers.
Statistics published by the British government reveal that the total area acquired by Zionists from 1920, when Land Registry Offices were opened, permitting transfer of ownership, until the dislodging of the Palestinian Arabs, was under 4 per cent of the total area of Palestine. Although they had no control over the immigration of Zionist colonists into Palestine, the Palestinians did have some control over the sale of individually owned land to those colonists. In fact, much of the land acquired by the Zionists was from absentee landlords, or transferred by the British government from the public domain, although it was supposed to be held in trust for the Palestinian people.
What the British called "public domain" began under Ottoman law as "public land," i.e., land kept aside from private ownership to be brought into use or production under exceptional circumstances such as extended drought. It was not to be alienated into private hands. Under the British Colonial Mandate, although this Ottoman category was officially recognized, the Land Office treated so-called common land as "public domain" available for private ownership. Private ownership could and did include appropriation or a hand-over of control to the "Jewish National Fund" (JNF), established in 1901 and part of the World Zionist Organization, deliberately designed to act as a private owner in the name of the "Jewish people." Land was taken from the collective of the Palestinian people, "nationalized" or "collectivized" by kibbutzim, but actually never turned over to individual Jewish property owners before 1948.
Monopoly Right Disguised as "Jewish Right"
Still, by 1947 the Zionists controlled not more than 5.6 per cent of Palestinian land. As a result of this failure, and with the Anglo-American imperial governments facilitating their moves, the Zionists ruthlessly used armed force to expel 780,000 Palestinians in "Nakba" (the Catastrophe), emptying the land of their rightful inhabitants, establishing what became the state of Israel on robbed Palestinian land, and thus forcibly depriving them not only of the right to self-determination but also of their elemental right to exist on their own land. Israel was opened for a well-organized and liberally financed new wave of colonization, speedily executed in order to create a seeming fait accompli, the reversal of which world public opinion would be reluctant to urge.
The fundamental Zionist principle of racial self-segregation originally outlined by Herzl in Der Judenstaat in 1896 of "land redemption" and "transfer" also demanded racial purity and racial exclusiveness in the land. As such, the Zionist credo of racial self-segregation necessarily rejected the coexistence of Jews and non-Jews.
Coexistence with the indigenous inhabitants in the territory in which Jewish colonists were to assemble was deemed a blemish on the image of pure Zionist racism. Outside Israel, the Zionists similarly criticized, from the same racist standpoint, continued Jewish residence in the lands of the Gentiles. On this basis, the State of Israel erected an entire legal order, including prohibition against the resale or lease of Jewish-owned land, a so-called Absentee Property Law (which in Arabic is called Qanoon Elhader/Gayeb) adopted in March 1950 along with other measures. It declared as "abandoned" any property temporarily vacated by Palestinians who were not present directly before, during or after the war of 1948, even if they took refuge within Palestine!
Through these measures, 90 per cent of the land was seized by the Jewish National Fund. No land transaction could take place except with a Jew or a Jewish entity. [1] The new state of Israel, established according to the conceptions of the European nation state, defends the property rights of the contending forces in the name of "Jewish right." In Europe and North America, Jews were excluded from many residential areas by the technique of adding special "covenants" to all property deeds in a given area or neighborhood, specifying that the property could not be sold to anyone of Jewish background. In Israel, exactly the same racist principle was applied with the backing of the state against the Palestinians. However, "Jewish right" was elevated by Zionist Israel to monopoly right. As a result, almost 100 per cent of the land is held "in trust" by the JNF, which is still technically an agency of an international body, the World Zionist Council, whose board consists of prominent Zionist millionaires and billionaires from around the world.
Of the 150,000 Palestinians who remained in the new Israeli state, approximately 25 per cent were displaced from their homes and villages and became internal refugees. That left less than 22 per cent of Palestine under Arab control. In 1967, Israel completed its expansionist colonial plan and occupied more Palestinian land while systematically dispersing its inhabitants. In the areas occupied in 1967, Israel used military orders to confiscate Palestinian land, of which over 1,300 have been issued so far, and which can be contested only with great difficulty. Since 1967 Israel has confiscated more than 750,000 acres of land from the 1.5 million acres comprising the West Bank and Gaza.
By 1993, over 80 per cent of the lands owned by Palestinian Arabs living within Israel had been confiscated and placed at the exclusive disposal of the Zionist state and movement. So the Day of Land became an occasion to remember these collective injustices and an opportunity to draw attention to the land grab policies administered by the Zionist entity of Israel up until this day.
The Significance of Land Day
Today the Palestinians are facing another major land grab threat embodied in Israel's Apartheid Wall. It is a land grab tool in the first place despite the official Israeli jargon of "separation" and "security." The only "separation" this wall is doing is separating Palestinian villages from their land and adding it to Israel, and the only thing Israel is securing by building the wall is a guarantee of maximum profits, more violence and an even weaker chance of peace.
Still in its early stages of construction, way before any "separation" has been achieved, the Apartheid Wall is causing immense damage. Two hundred ten thousand Palestinians are barred in enclaves, in severe violation of their rights under international law. Sixty-seven villages are separated from their means of livelihood. Twenty-eight hundred acres of Palestinian land were confiscated. Eighty-three thousand olive trees were uprooted. Thirty water wells producing 4 million cubic meters per year (more than 1 billion gallons) were confiscated. Thirty-five thousand meters of water infrastructure (almost 22 miles) were destroyed by the bulldozers. [2]
Added to the Apartheid Wall is the expansion of the infrastructure of military checkpoints (now more than 700) and segregated bypass roads built on expropriated land, and designed to contract and split the Palestinian space and facilitate illegal Zionist settlements.
While it is the Palestinians who continue to be dispossessed, it is the titans of international finance capital — concentrated in real estate and "property development" (including highways construction) and originating from the U.S., Canada and France as well as Israel -- who continue to be enriched in the name of "security" on the basis of increasing their stake in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
For instance, Canadian Highways International Corporation (CHIC)[3] which enriched itself through monopoly right in Canada — the Highway 407 Express Toll Route (ETR) in Toronto, Ontario (the world's first all-electronic highway); the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island; and the Cobequid Bypass (a toll highway) in Nova Scotia and part of the Trans-Canada Highway — is constructing the Cross-Israel Highway known as Route 6 in alliance with the most powerful real estate and construction interests within Israel. This monstrous, segregated, four-lane highway is rampaging through woodlands, deserts and villages and will stretch from the southern tip of Israel all the way up to its northern border with Lebanon. In part it parallels the Green Line or pushes it eastward into the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The consortium — Derech Eretz Highways (1997) Ltd. — is also made up of monopolies from Israel (Africa Israel Investment Ltd. and 36 other firms), France (Société Générale d'Entreprises), and the U.S. (Hughes Transportation Management Systems and Raytheon Company, the weapons manufacturer which supplied the dysfunctional Patriot missile system to Israel).
The Day of the Land is an occasion not only for Palestinians but for every people and nation that has had its land stolen and its inhabitants dispersed be that in Palestine or Canada, be it the indigenous and First Nations or the ordinary people themselves. The costly sacrifices and unyielding resistance of the Palestinian people has not been in vain. They safeguarded the Palestinian national rights and underscored the legitimacy of their claim to their national heritage. Rights undefended are rights surrendered. Not a single day has passed or is passing that the Zionist junta of Israel has not expropriated land for self-serving reasons. The Zionist settler-state, therefore, has remained a usurper, lacking even the semblance of legitimacy -- because the people of Palestine have remained loyal to its heritage and faithful to its rights.
Notes
1. "Palestinian Land Day -- Frequently Asked Questions," MIFTAH
2. GushShalom.org
3. In 1999 control of CHIC was acquired by the U.S. financial conglomerate CIT Group. The $3-billion contract, with 80 per cent of any potential losses, is guaranteed by the Israeli state. "Profits from the Promised Land," Dossier on Palestine, Shunpiking Magazine.
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Voice of Revolution joins people of conscience from around the world in denouncing the continued imprisonment of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, long-time defender of Palestine. Dr. Al-Arian has been repeatedly jailed, tried, and found innocent. A popular computer engineering professor from the University of Southern Florida and nationally prominent Muslim, Arab and Palestinian community activist, Al-Arian organized various educational institutions to provide information and an arena for discussion on Palestine and Islam, as well as speaking publicly in support of Palestine. He has stood firm in his resistance to U.S. crimes against Palestine and against the rights to free speech and association for decades.
Now, when he was to be released and deported to Palestine under an agreement with the government, the government is again breaking its agreement and keeping Al-Arian imprisoned. Voice of Revolution adds its voice to that of Al-Awda, the Palestinian Right of Return Coalition, and the National Council of Arab Americans (NCA) and many other organizations in demanding the immediate release of Dr. Sami Al-Arian and an end to all government efforts to silence and detain him. Free Dr. Al-Arian to return to Palestine Now!
The most recent example of the government’s terrorism against Al-Arian was a two-year long trial process in Florida, where he and two others were acquitted in December 2006 on all of the most serious charges, trumped up under the USA PATRIOT Act. On the handful of remaining charges, the jury was hung 10-2 in his favor. Rather than dropping the charges as would be customary, the government pursued them.
As an indication of the criminal nature of the government’s charges and continued detention of Al-Arian, when a juror was asked why he voted to acquit in the face of the government’s vaunted “secret evidence” brought against Dr. Al-Arian under the provisions of the PATRIOT Act the juror replied, contemptuously: “What ‘evidence’?!” The jury’s acquittal was all the more remarkable as Dr. Al-Arian defended himself against all the government’s “aiding terrorism” charges without testifying and citing simply his right under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to freedom of conscience and freedom of association. (Links to the details and developments of this case and how, like many other Muslim, Arab and Palestinian activists in Canada and the U.S. after 9-11, he came to be targeted by the authorities, are available on the Web at http://www.freesamialarian.com.)
Though repeatedly found innocent in the courts, faced with endless charges, jailing, harassment of his family and use of financial resources for the cases, Dr. Al-Arian finally accepted a plea agreement with the government. The plea enabled him and his family to return to Palestine to carry on the struggle there. The agreement specifically absolved Dr. Al-Arian from any further questioning and from being forced to give testimony in other government cases. The government refused to release him on the date required and instead insisted that he testify before a grand jury in Virginia. Taking a principled stand, Al-Arian refused and went on a water-only hunger strike for sixty-days.
Dr. Al-Arian is currently being held at a medical facility in North Carolina. He is in critical condition, having lost 53 pounds, over 25 per cent of his body weight. According to family members who recently visited him he is no longer able to walk or stand on his own. He has now decided to maintain his hunger strike but convert it to a liquid only fast so as to carry forward the battle with the government.
That the government is prepared to have Dr. Al-Arian die in prison can be seen in the recent response of officials in the North Carolina facility to Dr. Al-Arian’s inquiry of what ending his hunger strike would entail. It was suggested he could immediately simply order food from a vending machine down the hall. In fact, the response of the human body to attempted direct ingestion of food after being starved so long of nutrients can be fatal. Were his jailers, or those instructing his jailers, trying to “assist” Dr. Al-Arian’s unintended “suicide?” We say No! Free Al-Arian Now and charge the government for its crimes against Palestine and against all those unjustly imprisoned for voicing their views and resisting the government’s “war of terrorism” against the peoples!
To demand Dr. Al-Arian’s immediate release call, email or write:
Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530- 0001
Fax Number: (202) 307-6777
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126, (202) 225-0072 Fax
John.Conyers@mail.house.gov
Senator Patrick Leahy
433 Russell, Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224- 4242
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
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Do Not Pay War Taxes
As income tax day, April 15 approaches, (April 16 this year) people across the country are organizing to refuse to pay their taxes as an expression of their stand against U.S. wars of aggression. About 50 cents of every tax dollar now goes to the military. With Congress refusing to submit to the demand of the majority to end the war now and bring all troops home now, people are turning to their ability to limit war funding by refusing to pay their income taxes, or at least withhold the 50 percent known to go to war funding.
Organizations like the War Resisters League, who have organized tax resistance for many years, report that many more people are asking how to go about withholding taxes. Many people include a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) denouncing the illegal wars of aggression and stating the refusal to pay the taxes. Others simply withhold them and pay them to anti-war organizations instead. Some put them aside in the event that the government may demand them. In general, while the government commonly sends letters to people it has identified as not having paid taxes, fewer than 20 have been jailed for such resistance over the past 50 years.
As people nationwide organize to strengthen the anti-war movement and find additional means to intervene and be heard, broad refusal to pay war taxes is being identified as another means to refuse and resist the war.[TOP]
War Tax Resistance Grows
Fifty cents of every tax dollar goes to pay for wars and large numbers of Americans are refusing to pay up, including even more people in 2007. Increasing numbers of Americans say the U.S. government is involved in immoral and illegal wars around the world and they are refusing to support this with their tax money. The invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and the indiscriminate killing of civilians, for example, are outlawed by international law.
“Of every tax dollar paid, more than 50 cents goes to pay for past, present and future military expenses. The military budget for the Department of Defense alone for 2007 will be close to $500 billion. Our payment of federal taxes enables the government to carry on a continuing program of illegal military activities,” wrote Glen Milner, a member of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Wash., in a recent opinion piece in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “International laws and agreements support and encourage citizens to resist their government when it is engaged in illegal acts,” Milner added.
Under international laws, those who facilitate illegal wars and war crimes could actually be morally — if not legally — accountable, say proponents of resisting war taxes. Principle IV of the Nuremberg Principles states: “The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”
For example, a 1996 ruling by the International Court of Justice regarding the threat or use of nuclear weapons could be interpreted to mean that the United States’ deployment of depleted uranium weapons (DU) is illegal. [DU use has been widespread in Iraq]. The 1996 humanitarian measure prohibits the use of weapons or methods of warfare that are directed against civilians or cannot discriminate between military targets and civilians; cause unnecessary suffering to combatants; violate the territory of neutral states; cause long-term and widespread damage to the environment or use poisonous substances.
Most war tax resisters redirect their withheld federal tax funds to outfits such as the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign Escrow Account in Seattle. This way, the money is still on hand, if they should ever be forced to fork it over. Though getting a notice from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is likely, jail is uncommon for war tax resisters. Still, there are no guarantees.
IRS public affairs officer Ken Vargas of the Austin, Texas, office explains the collections office sends out “soft notices” first, followed by “harder notices” later. Vargas says the IRS does not keep a handy record of war tax resisters. He insists “normal collection procedures” apply to all subjects, regardless of whether they write letters stating their war tax resistance. In fact, the tax reform act of 1998 makes it illegal for the IRS to designate tax protesters as a special class.
Susan Quinlan, a Bay Area organizer for the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, pegs the number of war tax resisters who have seriously faced jail time at less than 20 over the past 50 years. It does not necessarily have to be your income tax that you use for protesting, either.
One of the first federal taxes to spark opposition was the federal phone tax. This tax has been in existence since 1914. Originally introduced as a “temporary” tax, after 76 years Congress made it permanent and set its level at 3 percent of your phone bill. Protesters simply include a note saying that they refuse to pay their federal excise tax for conscientious purposes and pay the rest.
Resistance to the telephone tax has a long and distinguished history, and most phone companies will put up no fight to customers who will not pay it. Perhaps they’re just as happy not to serve as unpaid tax collectors for the feds.
In any event, tax resister groups estimate that tens of thousands of Americans do not pay their income taxes in order to protest U.S.-backed war efforts around the world. And, they say, that number is growing every year.
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Say No to War Taxes
No Taxation Without Representation
I’ve about had it! The Bush Criminal Mob is asking Congress for $123 billion more dollars to fund their total demolition of Iraq and their future crime sprees in such places as Iran and perhaps, Syria. Despite the notable and courageous actions of such Congressional Representatives as Barbara Lee (D-Ca.), Lynn Woolsey (D-Ca.), Maxine Waters (D-Ca.), Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.) and John Lewis (D-Ga. ), it looks like the supplemental bill is going to sail through Congress with the backing of the Democratic leadership — who blocked any amendments reining in Bloody George.
The ungodly evil rhetoric of “supporting the troops” to defend their support of this new pile of blood money is immoral and insupportable — especially considering the fact that our Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals are falling apart and returning Veterans are committing suicide because they can not get the help they need to throw some water on the fire of their Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). And we know that Congress, better than anybody, knows who really gets these billions of dollars, because some of that money trickles down into many of their own pockets: the War Machine.
Besides the stranglehold that the War Machine has on our government and our lives, the weasly Democratic leadership is using the flesh of our flesh as political pawns in their high-stakes game of presidential politics. The Democrats are frightened by the fact that if they bravely bring our troops out of the mess that they are mired in, thereby “losing” the war in Iraq, that the Democrats will lose the presidency in 2008.
There are so many things wrong with that stinkin’ thinkin.’ First of all, there is not one hair breadth of difference between a Republican and someone who votes, talks, and acts like a Republican. Secondly, our troops should be treated like they are human beings, with tender loving care knowing that each and every one of them is precious to somebody. They should not be used as cold political calculations.
The last two reasons are obvious and I know that the Democratic leadership is as aware of these reasons as I am: the occupation of Iraq was lost as soon as the first tank rolled over the border and the first smart bomb was dropped on innocent people in Baghdad. It was fated to be a monumental failure because its foundation was feebly pasted together on lies, deception and greed and citizens of a country have more at stake to overcome occupiers and in the whole history of this planet an occupation has never been successful and always profoundly weakens the imperial occupiers.
If the Democrats would step out and lead out of their humanity and not with their greed for money/power like the Bush Mob, then there would be a landslide in 2008 and we Americans could revel in authentic and reasonable leaders, not mourn another administration of craven cowards. This supplemental funding bill will pass, and I believe that giving George Bush a blank check for more killing is reprehensible and I refuse to support these crimes against humanity with my own funds.
I urge every American with a heart, compassion, and a sense for justice and a return to moral based leadership to join me in withholding our money from this murderous and callous government. Give your money to peace or justice groups instead. Give your money to homeless shelters; grass-roots Katrina recovery efforts; create a “Peace Scholarship” at your local college to reward a young person who does not want to join the military to pay for college; give to Veteran’s groups who are advocating for better care for our veterans or a group like Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) which is a group of returning vets who are actively trying to stop the war; give to War Resisters to support legal aid for our active duty soldiers who refuse to go to war; give to Camp Casey; give to your local peace group.
I am sure there are thousands of places to put our money besides the pockets of the Military Industrial Complex. So many people and groups have been damaged because of our war economy. A lot of good could be done with our tax dollars instead of funding continued killing. Our elected officials have failed us miserably. We elected them to oppose George and his war, not support him. We are not being represented properly and I, for one, refuse to be taxed by them.
Think about it. Reflect.
Google: “War Tax Resistance” for tons of good information.
Cindy Sheehan is an organizer in the anti-war movement, co-founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and The Camp Casey Peace Institute. She is the mother of Army Specialist (Spc.) Casey Sheehan who was killed in Bush’s war of terror on 04/04/04.
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U.S. Federal Budget 2007-2008
Current Military: $727 billion • Military Personnel $136 billion |
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Past Military, $461 billion: • Veterans’ Benefits $85 billion (source: warresisters.org) |
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Youth and Soldiers Step Up Opposition
to War and Aggression!
Around the country hundreds of thousands are taking part in on-going anti-war actions, building on the momentum and firm stand of the March 17-18 demonstrations in every state, with tens of thousands marching in Washington, D.C., LA and San Francisco. The continued actions are letting Congress and the Democrats know, that the people demand: No Funds for War! All U.S. Troops Home Now!
One of the fronts where work is focused is the counter-recruiting drive at high schools and universities. Already, thousands of counter-recruiting actions have taken place over the last four years, often forcing recruiting offices to close and successfully informing the youth about the role of the military in Iraq and worldwide and enabling them to refuse to serve. Students and youth are rejecting the militarization of their schools and communities. One of the ways they are doing this is by organizing actions to keep recruiters off their campus or severely restrict the space and time made available to them. Parents and activists are also part of such efforts.
One recent example was on March 26 when parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, demanded that the county high school board forbid weekly and daily visits by the military to school cafeterias, hallways, and at sports events and to severely restrict the presence of recruiters in general. Parents wanted to know why college recruiters were not in the cafeterias recruiting on a regular basis.
Many schools around the country have also stopped or restricted the use of tests used by the military, such as the four-hour Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test, which is designed to generate leads for recruiters. More than 600,000 school children in public schools are required take the ASVAB test every year, almost always without the required parental permission.
Students, youth, parents, teachers, and school officials are also growing more conscious of the military recruiting provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (Section 9528), which requires schools to turn over to the military the names and addresses of the youth, or face losing federal funds. Many schools are taking steps to ensure that people are informed about how to “opt-out” of the recruiting process.
College students and youth are also stepping up efforts to oppose the war on Iraq. Not only are more student groups -being formed, they are increasingly working together. High school and college students are taking full advantage of the world wide web to mobilize people and organize actions, including producing many different video clips and films and then posting them on various websites. For example, students have posted many video clips of resistance to recruiters on campuses on the YouTube site. Along with this, dozens of campuses across the country have organized to host film events bringing out various aspects of the Iraq war.
Active-duty soldiers are also stepping up their opposition to the Iraq war. Recently, the military said that it had “revised upward” the number of what the military calls “desertions,” and what everyone else recognizes is a just stand to refuse to serve. The new figures show a faster acceleration in the rate of those refusing to go to Iraq. The Army said that a total of 3,196 active-duty soldiers had refused to serve last year, 853 more than previously reported. This figure does not include those from the National Guard and Reserve that have refused to serve in Iraq. Well over a year ago the Pentagon admitted on its website that more than 5,000 soldiers had refused to deploy to Iraq, while independent estimates put the number closer to 8,000.
In addition, 1,000 active-duty soldiers recently sent a petition—“Appeal For Redress”—to Congress demanding the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. soldiers from Iraq. A large delegation of these active-duty soldiers joined with Iraq war veterans and military families in the anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C.
Military Spends Millions to Send Youth to War
In addition to the hundreds of billions spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military is spending millions to increase its advertising, add more than 1,000 recruiters, and provide “bribe money” for signing bonuses and re-enlistment bonuses. It is targeting undocumented youth with the bribe of citizenship.
To increase enlistment numbers, the military has significantly lowered its enlistment qualifications and lowered its monthly quotas. The Army in particular is dramatically lowering the bar for enlisting. For example, the percent of all Army recruits without a high school diploma has risen to 18.8 percent, the highest level since 1981. The Army has also relaxed the minimum scores necessary on the standardized Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). In addition, the percent of soldiers who have been granted waivers for alcohol or drug abuse, criminal misdemeanors, and various medical conditions has been raised from 10 percent to 15 percent. The Army has also increased its maximum age for enlistment from 35 to 42.
The recruiting crisis is so deep that military officials have repeatedly said that the military is a “broken force” and greatly “overstretched.” General Richard Cody, the Army vice chief of staff, told Congress in testimony on March 15 that with the demands of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army does not have the time or the resources to prepare for other wars of aggression. Equipment shortages are particularly severe. The lack of new soldiers also means the military has repeatedly extended soldiers’ tours using “stop-loss” orders, and returned them to battle without the rest mandated by military standards.
There are approximately two million personnel in the active and reserve armed forces. The Army has about 500,000 active-duty troops. By June 2007 there will be 160,000 U.S. troop[TOP]