University of Virginia Library

Moratorium Group Calls
Tax, Peace Demonstrations

The Vietnam Moratorium Committee
will conduct Taxpayers' Rallies throughout
the nation today, as it concludes an
April Peace Fast that started Monday.

"We are being income-taxed and
sales-taxed and excise-taxed until there is
nothing left to be squeezed out of us,"
the Committee said. "There is going to
take place a nationwide taxpayer's
protest against the war in Vietnam, and
for an end to military overspending."

The major rallies will be held today in
Boston, New York, Chicago, Des Moines,
Denver, and Houston.

"(The tax money) is being used to pay for
war - past, present, and future," the
Committee said. "The military-industrial establishment
is like a giant tapeworm that is sucking
the nourishment out of the body of America.
We cannot let this go on."

A Peace Fast for April 13-15, endorsed by
over 212 student body presidents and campus
newspaper editors, also being conducted.

David Hawk, a coordinator of the Moratorium
Committee, explained the purpose of
the Fast: "We will fast for peace for two
reasons. The first is to demonstrate our moral
opposition to the continuing and expanding
war. The second is directly related to the April
15 Taxpayer rallies. Because the government
spends $201 million a day on war and the
weapons of war, we are asking people not to eat
for three days and to send the money saved
while not eating to aid the victims of the war.

"Proceeds from the Peace Fast Fund will go
to the American Friends Service Committee
Vietnam Relief Program, the National Welfare
Rights Organization, and the United Farm
Workers of America. The Fast represents our
commitment to improve the quality of our
common life and to alleviate human suffering."

Local activity will be sponsored by Charlottesville
Citizens Concerning About The War.
They have requested a fast all day today with
the money that would normally be used to
purchase food to be sent to the American
Friends Service Committee in Quang Ngai
Province in Vietnam. In addition, a vigil is
scheduled in Lee Park in Charlottesville
between noon and 2 p.m. today, with William
Harbaugh, Professor of History, and John
Israel, Associate Professor of History, speaking
on the war.