March 2009
Dear Friend,
WRL has been around a long time-though not, of course, nearly as long as war on a large scale. While some see the persistence of war as an invitation to merely shrug shoulders and occasionally lament, the War Resisters League is one of the few enduring institutions that takes nonviolence seriously enough to actively oppose war as a matter of principle. That's why I'm writing to you today to ask you to help it keep up the good work.
The first time I can remember seeing material from WRL was in mid-April 1967, at the big antiwar march through downtown Manhattan. I was 15 years old. The literature offering to help young men to resist the draft and refuse induction was memorable; so was the symbol of the broken rifle. During the four decades since then, I've met WRL organizers countless times: at marches and meetings and conferences and sit-ins. Without flashy rhetoric or religiosity, WRL activists have continued to challenge the warfare state with steady commitment.
I'm not sure when I first saw WRL's chilling pie chart on the U.S. military budget, but I've encountered it many times. The simplicity and immensity of its representation of just how large a proportion of U.S. resources feeds the military machine seem more poignant and tragic than ever.
It's clear that now, in 2009, we need WRL-it may be a cliché but it's true - more than ever. With the latest edition of the pie chart in front of us, exceedingly grim questions stare at us yet again. We see the U.S. government's priorities. What are ours?
I hope that your priorities this year will include renewed support for the War Resisters League-challenging the causes of war, developing nonviolent ways to counter the institutionalized violence of poverty and injustice, exploring the terrain of human solidarity that is love in action.
Today, the U.S. Treasury and domestic silence are fueling such horrors as the slaughter in Gaza, the continuing occupation of Iraq, and the escalating war effort in Afghanistan. Martin Luther King Jr. called this kind of status quo "the madness of militarism." WRL is a precious institution that runs counter to the madness.
Norman Solomon
Author, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.
