A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority, 1967

Here is some historical background for understanding today's military
resisters, such as Lieutenant Watada.

A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority

reprinted in The University Crisis Reader, Volume I: The Liberal University
Under Attack

Edited by Immanuel Wallerstein and Paul Starr

Random House, New York, 1971

Ed. note. Statement signed initially by over 100 intellectuals, issued by
Resist, 1967.

A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority

To the young men of America, to the whole of the American people, and to all
men of good will everywhere:

1. An ever growing number of young American men are finding that the
American war in Vietnam so outrages their deepest moral and religious sense
that they cannot contribute to it in any way. We share their moral outrage.

2. We further believe that the war is unconstitutional and illegal. Congress
has not declared a war as required by the Constitution. Moreover, under the
Constitution, treaties signed by the President and ratified by the Senate
have the same force as the Constitution itself. The Charter of the United
Nations is such a treaty. The Charter specifically obligates the United
States to refrain from force or the threat of force in international
relations. It requires member states to exhaust every peaceful means of
settling disputes and to submit disputes which cannot be settled peacefully
to the Security Council.

The United States has systematically violated all of these Charter
provisions for thirteen years.

3. Moreover, this war violates international agreements, treaties and
principles of law which the United States Government has solemnly endorsed.
The combat role of the United States troops in Vietnam violates the Geneva
Accords of 1954 which our government pledged to support but has since
subverted. The destruction of rice crops and livestock; the burning and
bulldozing of entire villages consisting exclusively of civilian structures;
the interning of civilian non-combatants in concentration camps; the summary
executions of civilians in captured villages who could not produce
satisfactory evidence of their loyalties or did not wish to be removed to
concentration camps; the slaughter of peasants who dared to stand up in
their fields and shake their fists at American helicopters;--these are all
actions of the kind which the United States and the other victorious powers
of World War II declared to be crimes against humanity for which individuals
were to be held personally responsible even when acting under the orders of
their governments and for which Germans were sentenced at Nuremberg to long
prison terms and death. The prohibition of such acts as war crimes was
incorporated in treaty law by the Geneva Conventions of 1949, ratified by
the United States. These are commitments to other countries and to Mankind,
and they would claim our allegiance even if Congress should declare war.

4. We also believe it is an unconstitutional denial of religious liberty and
equal protection of the laws to withhold draft exemption from men whose
religious or profound philosophical beliefs are opposed to what in the
Western religious tradition have been long known as unjust wars.

5. Therefore, we believe on all these grounds that every free man has a
legal right and a moral duty to exert every effort to end this war, to avoid
collusion with it, and to encourage others to do the same. Young men in the
armed forces or threatened with the draft face the most excruciating
choices. For them various forms of resistance risk separation from their
families and their country, destruction of their careers, loss of their
freedom and loss of their lives. Each must choose the course of resistance
dictated by his conscience and circumstances.

Among those already in the armed Forces some are refusing to obey specific
illegal and immoral orders, some are attempting to educate their fellow
servicemen on the murderous and barbarous nature of the war, some are
absenting themselves without official leave. Among those not in the armed
forces some are applying for status as conscientious objectors to American
aggression in Vietnam, some are refusing to be inducted. Among both groups
some are resisting openly and paying a heavy penalty, some are organizing
more resistance within the United States and some have sought sanctuary in
other countries.

6. We believe that each of these forms of resistance against illegitimate
authority is courageous and justified. Many of us believe that open
resistance to the war and the draft is the course of action most likely to
strengthen the moral resolve with which all of is can oppose the war and
most likely to bring an end to the war.

7. We will continue to lend our support to those who undertake resistance to
this war. We will raise funds to organize draft resistance unions, to supply
legal defense and bail, to support families and otherwise aid resistance to
the war in whatever ways may seem appropriate.

8. We firmly believe that our statement is the sort of speech that under the
First Amendment must be free, and that the actions we will undertake are as
legal as is the war resistance of the young men themselves. In any case, we
feel that we cannot shrink from fulfilling our responsibilities to the youth
whom many of us teach, to the country whose freedom we cherish, and to the
ancient traditions of religion and philosophy which we strive to preserve in
this generation.

9. We call upon all men of good will to join us in this confrontation with
immoral authority. Especially we call upon the universities to fulfill their
mission of enlightenment and religious organizations to honor their heritage
of brotherhood. Now is the time to resist.

From a second statement issued by Resist, 1969

A New Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority

Opponents of the Vietnam War have worked to end it in many ways, some
through conventional politics, some by supporting draft resistance or
attacking university complicity in militarism. Others have carried
resistance further, destroying draft files and developing opposition within
the armed forces.

We believe that resistance to many forms of illegitimate authority is
necessary to bring health to this country and make it a constructive force
instead of a terror in the politics of nations. Therefore, we support those
who resist by

* refusing to register for the draft or submit to induction

* impeding the operations of draft boards and induction centers

* expressing anti-war views while in the armed forces, or refusing to obey
illegal or immoral orders, or absenting themselves without leave

* conducting rent and workers' strikes, boycotts, and similar direct
actions aimed at ending exploitation in the fields, in factories, in housing

* organizing against harassment by police, by the FBI, by the courts, and
by Congress

* organizing sit-ins, strikes, and any principled actions at schools and
universities, to end racist practices and direct complicity with
militarism....

Two years ago, the first Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority focused on
the war and the draft. But we cannot oppose the war without opposing the
institutions that support and maintain it. Imperialism, militarism, economic
exploitation, undemocratic power, racism: though the words may seem stale,
they describe he exercise of illegitimate authority in the United States
today. Again, we call upon all to join us in the struggle against
illegitimate authority. Now is the time to resist.

Posted By Sylvie K.