The Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia is a Seattle-based organization which uses nonviolent action to create political and social change. NACC acts to interrupt and transform militarism and other forms of violence, and to build a society based upon community, economic justice, environmental awareness, personal empowerment, and feminist, queer-positive, and anti-racist principles.
NACC uses creative war tax resistance, grant-making, public education, nonviolent direct action, and coalition-building towards these ends, creating community and developing empowerment and conflict-resolution skills in the process.
NACC issues periodic updates and notices via e-mail, as well as snail-mailing two newsletters and a fundraising appeal annually. To be added to NACC's e-mail list, simply e-mail your name and e-mail address (also tell us whether you live in or near Seattle) to us. If you'd also like to receive items through the snail-mails, include your mailing address (and, optionally, phone number) as well.
• The Conscience and Military Tax Campaign Escrow Account The nation's largest fund of resisted War Taxes. For more information, see the NACC flyer "Conscience & Military Tax Campaign Escrow Account for Resisted War Taxes". Copies are also available from the NACC office.
• Counseling, Workshops, Literature, and other information to support War Tax Resisters and their allies. Get in touch with the NACC office to set up a presentation for your organization or group of friends, to speak with a WTR counselor, or with any questions regarding Tax Resistance or the CMTC Escrow Account.
• An annual Grant Cycle, allocating most of the interest generated by the CMTC Escrow account to local, national, and international Peace & Justice organizations. To be added to the notifications list for upcoming dates of significance regarding the next grant cycle, pass your e-mail address along to the NACC office. For a list of the most recent recipients, see here.
• The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, a national coalition of local War Tax Resistance organizations; with a very helpful full-time staffperson, excellent literature, a newsletter, and a national contacts and counselors list. NWTRCC, P.O. Box 150553, Brooklyn, NY 11215; (800) 269-7464.
• 2008 War Tax Boycott: A People's Campaign To De-Fund The War.
• The War Resisters League in New York City recently celebrated its 75th anniversary. The WRL publishes War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military, a highly recommended, 130-page basic War Tax Resistance handbook (also available for $15 from the NACC office), as well as the annual "Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes" pie-chart leaflet. War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012; (212) 228-0450.
• The War Tax Resisters Penalty Fund. Established in 1982 to spread out among the entire WTR community the costs of penalties and interest imposed by the IRS. Each member of the fund generally ends up paying less than $20 per year. WTRPF, P.O. Box 25, North Manchester, IN 46962; (260) 982-2971.
• The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund "advocates for U.S. federal legislation enabling conscientious objectors to war to have their federal income taxes directed to a special fund which could be used for non-military purposes only." National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund and the Peace Tax Foundation, 2121 Decatur Place NW, Washington, DC 20008; (202) 483-3751; (888) PEACE-TAX.
Note: All of the following literature was most recently updated in April of 2005. Feel free to download, print, photocopy, and distribute any of the flyers' PDFs. If you'd like us to e-mail you a customized PDF, with your organization's local contact info, of any of the flyers, just let us know!
NACC's 2008 granting cycle has finished, with grants having been awarded to the following organizations. Difficult choices, as always. We were unable to fund many very worthy organizations, and (presumably) many more worthy organizations did not apply. You can help us out on both counts. Firstly, the more money NACC has, the more it can grant. See the fund appeal below to either open a CMTC escrow account (the interest from which would accrue to NACC) or make a donation. Secondly, if your organization (or one that you're aware of) is a suitable fit, drop us a line letting us know you'd like to be informed when the 2009 granting cycle gets underway. We'll then add you to our grants notification list. Those considering applying for a 2009 grant are welcome to check out the general information and application from 2008. While these will undoubtedly undergo minor changes for 2008, they should remain largely consistent.
Congratulations to the following grant recipients!
Jobs disappearing. Environmental destruction accelerating. Military spending increasing in "peace" time while money for food, housing, and education is gutted by federal, state, and local governments alike. Homelessness skyrocketing. Health care unaffordable. Prisons sprouting like mushrooms. Politicians offering racism, queer-bashing, corporate giveaways, and the scapegoating of immigrants and the poor as solutions. What to do?
People concerned about social justice and peace often spend so much time on one or another pressing issue that it's hard to remember that these issues are all connected -- and even harder to find a way to act as though they're all connected. That's what we try to do in the Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia (NACC).
Begun in 1979 as the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign (CMTC), NACC was founded by war tax resisters intent on refusing to allow their tax dollars to be spent on warfare and killing. NACC still administers the CMTC Escrow Account, one of the largest funds of resisted tax dollars in the U.S. We reinvest Escrow Account money in the sorts of socially responsible projects governments should fund, but too often do not.
NACC has since expanded its focus to include a broad range of anti-militarism and social justice issues. In a world of finite resources and enormous violence, these issues are all linked. We believe grass roots activism and nonviolent direct action, uniting the vast numbers of us not represented by corporations and their political allies, are the best ways to work to build a better future for ourselves, each other, and all of humanity.
NACC is not a political party. We come together from different backgrounds and ideologies not to seize power, but to create community, have fun, challenge the politics of militarism, greed, fear and scapegoating -- in Seattle and around the world -- and build nonviolent alternatives.
NACC makes decisions by consensus, and shares leadership roles. We have an office staffed part-time on the third floor of University Baptist Church. We meet monthly -- all comers welcomed (contact the office for the date and time of the next meeting).
Please join us! We welcome new members.
NACC is the local chapter of the War Resisters League and an affiliate of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.
At its core, NACC continues to focus on war tax resistance. This form of direct action exerts a powerful tug as peace activists see the U.S. engaged in warfare, even though we know the government chooses guns over people's welfare every day. We continue to administer the CMTC escrow fund for refused tax monies, the largest escrow fund in the U.S. and the source of about half our yearly income. We also provide WTR counseling and resources for newcomers, as well as veteran WTRs who face new questions. We do this work on a volunteer basis, different NACCers taking care of the office administration, counseling, training, coalition engagement, and other tasks. Most of us at NACC are currently or formerly WTRs, and as we personally have chosen this direct action, we also choose to build our collective resistance with our support work.
Several years ago NACC decided to greatly curtail its organizing of local direct actions while at the same time to begin providing grants to help other groups organize. We are happy to be entering our 3rd cycle, and hope that you take a moment to let groups you work with know about our grant program. Another action you can take to help support this great organizing work is to give a donation to NACC. We have faced the dilemma of wanting to fund more projects than we are able to. If we receive a slightly-more-than-average response to this appeal, we would be able to fund an additional group working to educate and activate people toward a more just and peaceful world.
Please consider a donation to support our work and through the grant program the work of other creative and inspirational activists. We know that $5 for some is generous, comparable to $50 for others. In these times of peril, we hope you continue your actions for peace and justice, and obtain some encouragement from the great resistance works being performed all over the United States and the world.
Donations to NACC can be tax-deductible! Simply make the check out to the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute, our fiscal sponsor, while noting in the memo that the funds are for NACC.
Additionally, while the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign (CMTC) Escrow Account is both billed as and functions primarily as a fund for resisted war taxes, those not ready to take the plunge, but nonetheless wishing to lend a hand to the movement, might consider opening an account from your existing savings. While war tax resistance is a form of civil disobedience, the Escrow Account itself is perfectly legal (eat your heart out, IRS). So, while CMTC has never surrendered resisted deposits to the IRS, there's nothing the IRS could even say about non-tax-resisted deposits.
The interest from the account accrues to NACC, and is then passed on through its grant program. But the account is also helpful in another way: CMTC funds are held in progressive lending institutions, which offers a double-benefit for depositors. First, they lend to community (especially minority) interests that often cannot otherwise obtain loans; and second, they are not invested in places such as those nasty, icky World Bank Bonds, those nasty, icky multinational death corporations, or other nasty, icky financial actors.
Donations and/or Escrow Account deposits can be made using this form. Thanks bunches!
For more information regarding the CMTC Escrow account (including the Conscience Penalty Fund referenced in the form), please feel free to pay a visit to NACC's website, or to contact the office.