War Resisters To Block IRS Headquarters
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2008
11:47 AM
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CONTACT: War Resisters
Frida Berrigan 347-683-4928
Jim Martin 718-610-9810
Ed Hedemann 917-474-4380
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NEW YORK - March 18 - Tomorrow, March 19, a number of activist
organizations committed to peace and progress will stage a nonviolent
blockade at the national headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service
in Washington, D.C. The action is part of a day of protests on the
fifth anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Participants will assemble at McPherson Square (15th Street. N.W. and
K Street, N.W.) at 7 am, before marching -- with the Rude Mechanical
Orchestra -- on the IRS (1111 Constitution Ave., N.W.). The blockade
is set to begin at 8 am. Some demonstrators will block access to the
IRS building while others will pass out flyers explaining the intent
of the action. Signs, banners and props will be utilized to
illustrate the disparity between war spending and the needs of an
economy crippled by five years of war.
"Just as military recruiters supply bodies for the war, the IRS
supplies the funding," stated New York City WRL organizer Ed
Hedemann. "So, I'm doing my part in disrupting that relentless flow
of money by standing in front of the IRS entrance and by refusing to
send my taxes to the IRS."
More than 20 organizations are sponsoring the event, including: the
War Resisters League, Code Pink, United for Peace & Justice, Movement
for a Democratic Society, Ground Zero for Peace, Granny Peace
Brigade, and the Socialist Party USA. Members of the participating
organizations feel the need to engage in civil disobedience in order
to dramatize their vigorous opposition to United States government's
wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and President George W. Bush's "global war
on terror."
Ruth Benn, long-time War Resisters League activist, argues "The
bloodshed has already cost the lives of thousands of Americans,
Iraqis, Afghanis, and others, and is hemorrhaging vast sums of money
vitally needed to improve lives in this country and abroad. At the
same time half the people in the U.S. feel less safe while the
government has ignored calls from experts and activists for a foreign
policy that rejects war."
The blockade is part of a full day of creative, nonviolent actions
and civil disobedience in Washington, D.C., and across the country.
The protests are being coordinated by United for Peace and Justice in
an effort to disrupt the business of war as usual. The actions will
focus on the "pillars of war" -- the military, war funding, war
profiteering, the security state, and the mainstream media. Civil
disobedience participants will have undergone special trainings in nonviolence.
The War Resisters League is an 85-year-old secular pacifist
organization, headquartered in New York City, and is affiliated with
the War Resisters' International, which is based in London. WRL
believes war to be a crime against humanity, and advocates Gandhian
nonviolence as the method for creating a democratic society free of
war, racism, sexism, and human exploitation.
More details of this event can be found at
http://www.warresisters.org/IRSinDC.htm
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