Nonviolent Action Sparks Commitment and Questions

The Nonviolent Activist (NA) Editor's Note: Betsy Williams has been a tax
resister for ten years and has been involved with the Colrain action since it
started. She lives in Westminster West, Vermont, and is a member of the
"Grimke's" affinity group, named after the Grimke sisters, abolitionists in
the 1800s.

Randy Kehler and Betsy Corner were evicted from their home in Colrain,
Massachusetts, by the IRS in December 1991 for refusal to pay war taxes. 
Local supporters moved in the next day, and a constant presence at the home
has continued since with "waves" of affinity groups from New England and
around the country signing up for weekly stays. In February 1992 the IRS
auctioned the home, and it was purchased for $5,400 by Danny Franklin and
Terry Charnesky, a young couple from the area.  On April 15, 1992, the couple
surprised the resident affinity group by bringing supporters of their own and
moving into the house.  Since then, the War Tax Refusers Support Committee
has continued a vigil outside on the property through rain, snow, sleet and
hail.  The Nonviolent Activist has covered this action in previous issues.
This article discusses the various pressures and concerns involved in this
sustained nonviolent action.

Eighteen months later we are still coming back. The support for this stand of
resistance comes mostly from New England, but with representation from all
over the country.  The numbers of people involved represent a tremendous
solidarity within the tax resistance and peace and justice community, but
there is also a diverse collection of individuals whose motivation stems from
personal beliefs and experiences.  At a rally marking one year of vigiling
one long-time supporter said, "I have no strategy to change the world.  I am
under no illusion that Betsy and Randy can even put a tiny dent in the war
machine.  But I do, very deeply, respect their stand of conscience.  It
affects me in a most personal way.  You see, my family was saved by people in
Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland during World War II.  They were hidden
and protected by ordinary people who proved to be extraordinary precisely
because they obeyed their consciences instead of the law, for the law made it
a crime to shelter Jews from the Nazis.  I would not be alive today were it
not for those people acting on their consciences."

The driving force behind the War Tax Refuser's Support Committee (WTRSC) and
this affinity group wave action is an unwillingness to supply the U.S.
government's war machine with tax dollars.  WTRSC supports those who make
that choice and persistently and nonviolently protests the government's
punishment of people who don't believe in paying for war.

The nonviolent occupation of Randy and Betsy's property continues because we
do not recognize the legitimacy of the IRS seizure and/or sale.  The
occupation has challenged us in many ways.  Attempts to communicate with the
buyers, Danny Franklin and Terry Charnesky, have to date been unsuccessful. 
Harassment of vigilers and destruction of vigil property by members of Danny
and Terry's family and some of their supporters have been an on-going
challenge to individual vigiler's commitment to nonviolence.

Legal action has been taken on both sides: trespassing charges have been
served against Randy and Betsy and long-time tax refuser and neighbor Bob
Bady.  Four vigilers are facing trial for "malicious destruction of property"
after being arrested while repairing the kitchen roof one year ago.  Danny
Franklin faces legal action on two different charges: a civil suit brought by
the Valley Community Land Trust seeking an eviction order based on
illegitimate lease transfer by the IRS, and the other an assault charge
brought against him by a vigiler from California.

Staying Focussed
All the violent exchanges and legal ramifications notwithstanding, the
purpose for this ongoing vigil and witness for peace continues to be what it
has been since Randy and Betsy refused to pay their taxes sixteen years ago. 
A flyer by the War Tax Refuser's Support Committee restates that purpose: "We
are here to maintain a nonviolent witness to the insanity and immorality of
this country's addiction to war making and weapons building.  We are here to
affirm ... that killing is wrong; that war, far from solving problems,
creates them ... that conflicts must be resolved through nonviolent means ...
that our precious resources should be used to help people rather than kill
them, to protect the environment rather than destroy it.

We are here to speak to the connection between killing, paying for killing,
and confiscating a home to force payment for killing.

Transfer of the title to a private citizen is but another link in the chain
of violence.  Acceptance of such maneuvers enables the government to lay
waste to lives, homes and land all over the world.  When action is
destructive, then every phase of its enforcement is destructive and to be
vigorously confronted.

As we resist this official violence, we reflect on our own part of it and
explore ways to reduce our complicity."
 
This statement represents the deep resolve and commitment to conscience
underlying the WTRSC's work, but it is important to acknowledge that the
maintenance of this action has been an ongoing struggle.  Because so many
people have been involved - with long vigiling hours for discussion - there
have been many perspectives on how we should proceed. WTRSC has at times
sponsored large meetings calling for input from all the affinity groups to
air differences.  Mailings and articles spark written responses from people
around the country and around the world.  The Occupation Sub-Committee, a
group of up to two dozen of the most involved participants, forms the core
decision-making body and takes input into account.

After Danny and Terry moved into the house, opinions on how we should act on
our convictions have been markedly diverse.  Some felt we should back away
from the house, respecting Danny and Terry's privacy and avoiding the
potential publicity that this was now a conflict between two families. 
Recognizing them as a working class family struggling to make ends meet and
not able to afford a home drew our sympathies.  Danny's father was a Vietnam
veteran who committed suicide upon his return home, perhaps adding some venom
to his approach to us.

Some felt that if we really meant that we were willing to "accept the
consequences" of our actions, then we should be willing to let the house go
and take our protesting elsewhere - like to the IRS office.  Others felt that
Danny and Terry were simply acting as part of the machinery of government
that we have been opposing all along, so their presence should not affect
ours.  The fact that they cannot afford to buy a home under normal
circumstances does not make the seizure and sale of this house any more
legitimate.  And the willingness to maintain one's resolve of conscience,
even in the face of unpleasant consequences, does not mean an acceptance of
those consequences as right or just.

As violence has erupted on various occasions, opinions differed as to what
responses are acceptable within our consistent commitment to nonviolence. 
Whether the police should be called and whether it is appropriate to use the
legal system against these people and their supporters continues to be hotly
debated.  There is a parallel project to develop affordable housing units in
Greenfield with diverted tax dollars, a project which some feel is an
appropriate place to be channelling our energy, and others feel is sapping of
our energy and getting us off track.  As the action has progressed over these
many months, there continues to be an ongoing debate about whether it should
be a "support action" for Randy and Betsy or should make the transition into
being a "community action."

Finding our way
The road has not been easy.  An action which brings together strong-minded
people, each rooted in their commitment to follow their perception of truth
and personal conscience is bound to struggle in the areas where these
perceptions differ.  That the nonviolent witness has persisted through all
the struggle attests to the fact that it is not only a conglomeration of
strong-willed individuals, but also a group committed to a solidarity of
intention and vision.  Although the road has been hard with differences which
at times seemed insurmountable, the result has been an increasingly
thoughtful, efficient and creative process by those most intimately involved
in the ongoing vigil.  As is true in other areas of our lives, it is the
diversity (and the struggles resulting from it) which provides us with the
greatest strength.

We are not travelling an already worn path.  There are no roadmaps, no
precedents to follow. Unlike many civil disobedience actions, we cannot
predict the immediate results of our actions.  We are not blocking gateways
or crossing police barricades to elicit swift action on the part of the
authorities.  The authorities here disavow any responsibility.  The "Feds"
have effectively passed the buck to the state, and the state seems to be
stalling for time.  For many of us it has been a constant challenge to not
lose sight of why we are here and why we persist.

But we do persist. In the midst of a culture promoting fast food and quick
solutions, we search for the patience to sit in persistent nonviolent
witness.  The peaceful facade of this rural setting overlays the struggles we
have, individually and as a group, as we strive to resist the violence of our
government, the substructures it has created, and the people whom it has
disenfranchised.

A house in Colrain has been stolen and resold to a young family for $5,400. 
Like any stolen property, what may seem like a "good deal" actually bears a
hidden price.  As Betsy Corner said recently on a television talk show, "If
you buy a house for $5,400 you know there must be strings attached.  We are
the strings."

NA Editor's note: Just before we went to press, Randy and Betsy were found
guilty of trespass before a judge (a charge from July 1992).  They have
appealed this decision and await a date for a jury trial.  A decision is
pending on a permanent injunction against the vigil.  By the time you read
this, the injunction could be in effect. Organizers have plans for such an
occasion and need continued to support to carry on if local authorities begin
to make arrests.
Betsy Williams,
War Tax Refusers Support Committee
c/o Traprock Peace Center, Keets Road, Deerfield, Ma 01342,  (413) 624-8858
or (413) 774-2710
From the July/August 1993 (Vol.10 #4) issue of the Nonviolent Activist,
publication of the War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY,
10012; (212)228-0450. e-mail: wrl@igc.org.  Subscriptions: $15/year.

Comments
Harold Burbank, Collinsville, CT: The Colrain action is just the type of
movement inspiring activity which sets the almost glacially slow, but
required, effective and reformative historical processes in motion.

Karl Meyer, Chicago, IL: Colrain is not typical of the experience of
thousands of practical tax resisters, particularly those who work in the
unreported sector of our economy. The Colrain saga probably encouraged many
war tax resisters, especially in New England. However the overall national
publicity may have reinforced fears and myths about IRS enforcement that
keeps hundreds of thousands of American peace activists from ever giving
serious consideration to the possibilities of practical tax resistance. If
only we could get the same attention for quiet success, as is given to
titanic struggles.

Frances Schwab, Boston, MA: The whole war tax resistance experience with
Danny and Terry and their supporters has brought vividly back to me my own
experiences in South Boston... I had my own painful confrontations with
Southie people. But I did learn a little of the pain and oppression behind
the "unacceptable" behavior; I did learn to love and respect them, and to
leave them to their own consciences. It was not my job to convert them.

Karen Marysdaughter, Monroe, ME: Colrain activists demonstrate how to seize
an opportunity set up by the IRS and use it to organize locally, to link war
tax resistance to broader issues, and reach out to a wide community both
geographically and beyond war tax resisters per se. This action and Bill
Ramsey's case in St. Louis are both excellent examples for all organizers.

Ed Agro, Jamaica Plain, MA: The goals of the war tax resistance movement, as
I see them, are: 1) to raise the consciousness of the general public about
the connection between taxpaying and militarism and its attendant ills; 2) to
provide workable examples for those who decide to resist war taxes; and 3) to
provide meaningful support for our comrades who suffer because of their
resistance. The Colrain actions have fulfilled these goals admirably, but I
believe that the actions have now reached a point of diminishing returns as
every action must.  I propose that the support committee adopt the following
course: 1) Admit the loss of the house, 2) leave the Franklin faction to
their own consciences, and 3) take care of our own.
from Network News,
newsletter of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee,
via the Pegasus conference nonviolent.action