Spanish War Tax Resistance Propagandists Cleared of Vandalism Charge

Some news out of Spain concerning the war tax resistance movement there (translation mine):

“Retallem la despesa militar, fem objecció fiscal” (“Let’s cut military spending, let’s resist taxes.”)

Eight Antimilitarist Activists Acquitted of Vandalism in Tarragona

Tarragona, 10 November (EFE) — The eight activists accused of antimilitarist graffiti in the New Avenue of Tarragona have been acquitted today in a criminal trial held in Tarragona, as the judge ruled that the issue should have been taken up as an administrative rather than a criminal case.

The eight activists had been charged by the Troopers and by the Tarragonian consistory for having vandalized the street of the New Avenue last June 19^th in order to incite tax resistance against military spending.

An interesting article in the latest edition of The Wilson Quarterly looks at the team that Gandhi assembled to help him carry out his satyagraha campaign in India. The Gandhi myth is all about a charismatic, saintly individual making change with his idiosyncratic gestures of integrity and conscience. The real story has a lot to do with a well-managed organization of talented and savvy people acting with determination and making deliberate and thoughtful tactical decisions.

One of the bugbears in the debate over military spending is the idea that such spending represents some sort of Keynesian miracle drug that boosts the economy. The classic argument is that the massive explosion of military spending by the United States during World War Ⅱ pulled the country out of the Great Depression.

David Henderson asks, well, then, how do you explain the great post-war economic boom when the U.S. government cut spending by 75%, largely military spending? What happened was an economic boom that even comfortably absorbed all of the workers who were shed from the military and from war industries.

There are lots of bad reasons to spend zillions on armaments and overseas bases, but don’t let anyone try to sell you on the idea that it’s some sort of economic panacæa.