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By Timothy Godshall
At a spring, 2003 anti-war rally in Harlem, New Yorker Neena Das had the chance to talk to her city council representative, Bill Perkins. Das wanted to know if Perkins would sponsor a resolution of support for the Peace Tax Fund in the New York City Council. About a year after that initial conversation with Das, Perkins did just that!
On May 19, 2004, Perkins, who represents Harlem and the Columbia University area, introduced Resolution 367 in support of the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill in the New York City Council. Resolution 367, initially cosponsored by Council Members Miguel Martinez, Margarita Lopez, and Charles Barron, is the first such resolution to be proposed in the United States.
In conjunction with the resolution effort, Das, a member at Riverside Church,
has worked with other Riverside members, Quakers from Morningside Friends Meeting,
and members of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship to put together a coalition called
the New York City Peace Tax Fund Working Group. Beginning in the early part
of 2004, the Working Group set up a website, created brochures, planned several
forums, and began assembling a contact database. Our office sent out
mailings to over five hundred people and organizations in NYC informing them
of this work.
On March 25, Marian, Kelsey, and I traveled to New York to meet with Perkins
and others interested in this campaign. In the afternoon, Perkins joined Marian
and Shulamith Koenig, winner of the UN Award for Human Rights Education, in
a panel titled "The Human Right Not to Pay for War". Marian presented
information on the Peace Tax Fund Bill, after which Koenig talked about the
importance of conscience as a human right. Perkins then talked about his decision
to introduce
the resolution, citing the fiscal crisis in New York City and the need to make
the connection between the increase in military spending and the decrease in
social spending. He referred to lessons learned from the '60s and '70s, when
the "war on poverty" was abandoned to fund the war in Vietnam.
Perkins also met with the Working Group to talk strategy. Perkins was instrumental in recent Council resolutions against the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act. Both of these resolutions passed in New York, as did similar ones in many other cities. Whether or not Res. 367 is approved, Perkins and Working Group members agree on the importance of using the resolution as an educational tool with which to speak about the problem of excessive military spending and the need to protect freedom of conscience.
As a city that experienced the terror of the 9/11 attacks, New York is an especially significant place for this work to be happening. The movement in New York is exciting news for the Peace Tax Fund for several other reasons as well.
1) As the first of its kind, it provides a new method to organize support for a Peace Tax Fund. If Res. 367 passes, it will be a huge boost to this campaign with the largest city in the U.S. officially endorsing H.R. 2037! If it does not pass, this is still a great opportunity to educate New Yorkers on how their taxes are being spent. Most people have no idea that nearly 50% of their federal taxes pays for war.
2) This is a local initiative. When Das and Perkins contacted our office last fall to express interest in working toward a Peace Tax Fund, we were surprised and delighted to provide whatever support we could for their work. The initiative has been primarily driven by the New York City Peace Tax Fund Working Group.
3) This movement has the potential to take the Peace Tax Fund idea to a wider audience than the one it typically reaches, due to the NYC campaign's emphasis on the drain of dollars from social spending in New York. Many people become conscientious objectors (COs) or choose to support CO's when they learn how military spending directly impacts a community's standard of living. For instance, according to Perkins, unemployment is over 50% for African American men in New York City, and the public school system is deteriorating. "The Peace Tax Act, by requiring that there be an annual report to Congress on the amount of taxes transferred to the Fund, will give governments at all levels, and the public, some idea about the depth of Americans' opposition to war and to the militarization that devours resources that could be used to meet human needs," said Perkins.
The Working Group is focused on adding peace groups, clergy and congregations, as well as others, such as labor and housing movement activists, as endorsers of Res. 367. They are planning an educational event on August 22 to raise awareness of the resolution and military spending. A hearing on Res. 367 is tentatively scheduled for September.