What is Conscientious Objection to Military Expenditures (War Tax Resistance)?
From the first Congress of Conscientious Objectors to Military Expenses (COME), 1989
Conscientious Objection to Military Expenses is a form of civil disobedience which aims to respect individuals’ right to conscientious objection and to achieve the following social goals:
• A progressive reduction of military expenses leading to their eventual elimination and the consequent elimination of the military.
• An increased awareness of militarism and the growing militarization of society.
• A public debate that reexamines the current model of defense.
• An expansion of the antimilitarist movement and its incorporation of new ways of participation and struggle.
• Collaboration with other movements that defend the rights of the individual and work towards the creation of a just society.
The campaign for war tax resistance began in Andalusia in 1983. There were 17 war tax resistors. In 1984, the campaign expanded throughout Spain and there were 97 resisters. Since then, the number has grown, but there are no reliable facts about this because there are many people who practice war tax resistance but do not actively participate in the other activities associated with the movement for conscientious objection to military expenses.
The War Tax Resistance Campaign is Active, Collective, Public, Nonviolent and Political.
From the COME Congress in Madrid in 2000
The campaign is active because we do not accept passive complaining or waiting for others to transform society. Our political values and activist work do not align with only one political party or representative.
The campaign is collective because we work together with women and men who practice disobedience to every form of militarization of society in barracks, schools, workplaces and elsewhere. These are the issues which concern all of us and bind us together as a movement.
The campaign is public because we want to be heard, because we know that it is easy to manipulate a society that does not listen. We publicly express our disobedience within our families and workplaces, in our free time and in our everyday life, showing that we do not agree with the ways that our taxes are spent. The public character of this campaign is extraordinarily important because our non-cooperation with the military matters only if we are prepared to state it publicly and transform ourselves into instruments for raising awareness about the injustices that the military produces. Spreading knowledge about people who resist war taxes, public appearances by these people and efforts to inform other groups and movements about war tax resistance are essential parts of our movement.
The campaign is nonviolent because it is based on an understanding that means are as important as goals. For us, those who oppose us are not our enemies. We believe that we are strengthened every time we positively and peacefully resolve a conflict.
The campaign is political because it aims to abolish the military and all laws that contribute to the militarization of society.
The campaign is guided by the principles of justice and solidarity; it is not based on institutions.
How is War Tax Resistance Practiced?
War Tax Resistance during the Annual Income Tax
Our stand as war tax resisters is best seen during the annual income tax period. War tax resistance means that one refuses to pay the state the percentage of one’s taxes that is earmarked for military expenditure. War tax resistance means the redirection of that money to alternative organizations and projects. When we pay the annual income tax, we change the amount that we pay to the Ministry of Finance (which collects income taxes) by withholding the money that is assigned to the military. Appropriate documents about this are included with the form that we send to the government. We write in a new line item named ‘for conscientious objection to military expenses’ and we record the sum which we set aside and we indicate to which alternative organization the money was redirected.
It is not only people who must pay the annual income tax who can choose this form of civil disobedience; everyone who completes income tax forms can write their demand for war tax resistance on them if:
• They believe that the best way to resolve conflicts is international dialogue, collaboration, and solidarity.
• They believe that creating justice is the way to achieve peace.
• They do not agree with the ways in which tax-payer dollars are spent. This applies to those who directly pay income tax and those who pay indirect taxes by purchasing fuel, paying for public transportation, buying cigarettes or alcohol or through the sales tax on most commercial transactions.
As we stated earlier, our campaign is public. We do not want to evade taxes or cheat the Ministry of Finance. We attach a copy of the check to the alternative organization to our income taxes to prove that we redirected our tax money to a project in keeping with our values. We also attach a letter to the Ministry of Finance in which we explain the reasons for our war tax resistance.
To which Areas Do They Redirect Their Money?
Alternative Projects
For 17 years, we have practiced war tax resistance and directed a national campaign for war tax resistance. During this time, we have had the opportunity to establish contact with numerous groups. In the beginning, we collaborated with humanitarian aid groups and psychosocial support groups. However, before long, we realized that it is essential for the projects that we support to have an antimilitarist orientation. In other words, it is easy to find money to build wells, hospitals, and libraries, but it is more difficult for groups and activists who want to demilitarize society to find money. Through these efforts, we met conscientious objectors from Paraguay, Guatemala, Turkey and Columbia and Women in Black—Belgrade and we have given support and help directly to them. In Spain, we collaborated in campaigns against the militarization of schools and against weapons testing grounds. Also, we have participated in some War Resisters International (WRI) and Balkan Peace Team projects. Currently, we are in the process of getting to know conscientious objectors in Russia.
A second type of project financed with the money collected from war tax resistance is campaigns and initiatives which we—in our group or as part of the wider movement— organize.
Additionally, it is important to emphasize that we do not believe that we should only collect money for activists with whom we agree on everything. We constantly work together to create critical opinions about the militarization of society. Our contacts are much more than ‘deliveries’ of the money collected through our war tax resistance campaign. We learn a lot from the processes, strategies and methodologies of the groups we support and from the conversations we share with them. We are constantly in contact. We visit each other. Most often, we form relationships of friendship and collaboration which cannot be forgotten. We support antimilitarist projects managed by the people from the country in which they work. We do this because we believe that those people best know their needs and the conditions in their own country.
How Many War Tax Resisters are there in Spain?
This question is asked because the number of war tax resisters is not equal to the number of conscientious objectors to military service. Among the differences which complicate this issue is the fact that conscientious objectors are younger and more willing to risk.
There is slow but steady growth in the number of war tax resisters. However, research shows that, even though the number is not large, the influence of war tax resistance is very large. Nearly 70% of people are potential war tax resisters because they support the reduction of military expenditures and the increase of expenditures for health, science, and culture.
During the first year of the campaign for war tax resistance, the number of resisters was around two thousand. Since then, it has constantly grown.
The number of conscientious objectors to military service and war tax resisters has grown because of positive changes in the cultural mentality. Primarily, this is because of the secularization of society and the adoption of a ‘postmodern’ values system. It is also due to the ‘hippie-activist’ work of the very small initial group of war tax resisters. (This work included panel discussions, debates, activities in schools, street actions and work with unions, political parties, associations and journalists.) That activism shook up society and coincided with society’s increasing sensitivity to the issue of conscientious objection to military service. In general, all antimilitarist work promotes the adoption of the values of peace, tolerance, and solidarity. Now, repressive measures against advocates of conscientious objection and war tax resistance would be considered unacceptable by most of society.
Our activism compelled the government to confront the issue of war tax resistance and include it in their agenda.
Could the Growing Number of War Tax Resisters Cause a Crisis in the Ministry of Defense?
It is highly unlikely that our war tax resistance will affect the budget of the Ministry of Defense. Since we are realists, we must be conscious that our non-collaboration and disobedience will not change economic and political ways from a quantitative standpoint. Consequently, civil disobedience is not effective from a quantitative standpoint and we cannot dream that the entire population will refuse to pay taxes for the military.
However, civil disobedience is effective from a qualitative standpoint because it offers a new and powerful vision which can produce cracks in the official discourse and official policies and prompt discussions about the values of our society and the justice of specific methods and actions.
Among the most important aspects of war tax resistance is that it encourages citizens to tell leaders what they think about the ways in which their money is spent, to hold the state accountable for its actions, and demand that state funds are not spent on unnecessary or useless things, such as military expenditures. We demand a real decrease in military expenditures. (They always say that the military budget is decreasing, but its reduction is always smaller than the reduction in other things.) and that state money be spent on that which is truly necessary.
From the qualitative standpoint, civil disobedience is a just political instrument which can change specific policies. Groups that express civil disobedience are not numerous. Civil disobedience allows individuals to take over responsibility for their own lives; civil disobedience is non-cooperation with military expenses.
(From: En legítima desobediencia. Tres décadas de objeción, insumisión y antimilitarismo, Madrid, MOC, 2002.)
