WRL

Yesterday, I joined the annual Tax Day protest coordinated by the Rockland Coalition for Peace & Justice -- it was one of dozens of such vigils being held around the country. For a day, I was a "celebrity." An article had been published on the front page of the day's regional newspaper, "Money Talks for Peace Activists -- Taxes: Residents Say They Won't Pay for War" -- and my spouse and I were featured in the piece.

March 17th is celebrated as a holiday in many U.S. communities, and as the descendant of Irish immigrants -- and having been named after an ancestor who was a renowned Irish-American patriot during the Revolutionary War, Ethan Allen -- normally I'd like to feel a measure of pride in our nation.

Ralph Di Gia and Tobias DaloisioRalph Di Gia, a conscientious objector imprisoned during World War II who worked with the War Resisters League (WRL) for more than 60 years, died on Friday, February 1st. He was 93. Matt Daloisio, a member of WRL's advisory board (with whose son Ralph is pictured here), writes:

"When Ralph DiGia got his notice to report to the Army for induction after Pearl Harbor, he went to the U.S. Attorney's office to say he wasn't reporting because he was a conscientious objector. The U.S. Attorney sent him to a WRL lawyer for advice, but in those benighted days, the armed services did not recognize conscientious objection that was not religiously based. Ralph therefore spent the war years in Federal prison, going on hunger strikes to integrate the prison dining hall (an effort that succeeded). When he got out of prison, he headed straight for WRL, and has been there ever since."