Has opposed every American involvement in war since its inception
Blames flawed American policies for motivating the 9/11 attacks
The War Resisters League (WRL) is one of the oldest anti-war organizations in America. It was founded in 1923 by the socialist suffragette Jessie Wallace Hughan and others who "believed that if enough people stood in total opposition to war, governments would hesitate to go to war." Since its inception, WRL has protested every war in which the U.S. has been involved. Hundreds of League members were arrested for refusing to serve in the military during World War II.
"Believing war to be a crime against humanity," says the WRL website, "the War Resisters League … advocates Gandhian nonviolence as the method for creating a democratic society free of war, racism, sexism, and human exploitation.. .. The pacifist does not deny conflict exists, but we believe nonviolence achieves social change with the least injustice and suffering because we focus on the evil of institutions rather than seeing individuals as evil."
Currently a member organization of the Abolition 2000 and United for Peace and Justice anti-war coalitions, WRL claims to have been the first organization to call for an end to American military intervention in Vietnam.
Simon Harak is the Anti-Militarism Coordinator at WRL's national office in New York City. Harak is also a co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness, a group that violated the mandates of the U.S./United Nations economic sanctions against Iraq for five years.
WRL was perhaps the first major anti-war organization to blame America for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. On that very day, WRL released a statement saying, "The policies of militarism pursued by the United States have resulted in millions of deaths. … [M]ay these profound tragedies [of 9/11] remind us of the impact U.S. policies have had on other civilians in other lands."
Regarding the Iraq War, WRL has stated the following: "The U.S.-led occupation of Iraq is an ongoing crime against humanity. … And [it] can only be maintained through violations of human rights on a massive scale, as the U.S. and its allies commit daily atrocities to enforce an illusory security and keep a fictitious peace. Routinely, coalition soldiers are invading homes, destroying farms and kidnapping families. The occupying forces disfigure the Iraqi's human dignity -- and their own -- as they kill civilians, detain and torture individuals without charging them or affording them due process, seize personal and public treasure, … criminally neglect the civilian infrastructure."
WRL has established a War Tax Resistance program, which encourages Americans to "refus[e] to pay some or all of those federal taxes that contribute to military spending."
To "expose and stop corporations' war making and war profiteering," WRL joined forces with several other anti-war organizations (including Veterans For Peace, Alliant Action, and Nukewatch) to co-sponsor a "strategic conference for grassroots activities" titled "Stop the Merchants of Death." The purpose for this event was to provide "nonviolent direct action training" for all in attendance. Invited as guest speakers were American Indian activist Winona LaDuke; Medea Benjamin, founder of Global Exchange and Code Pink; and history professor Howard Zinn.
WRL has also developed a Youth and Counter Militarism Project (YCMP) to "provid[e] youth with the resources and training necessary to agitate against military recruitment in their schools and communities." Toward this end, the YCMP produces written materials, conducts trainings, and works in a number of national anti-war coalitions.
