War Resisters annual dinner

WRL Annual Dinner and
42nd Annual Peace Award

H O N O R I N G: Karl Bissinger & Ralph DiGia

Friday, June 10, 2005
6:30 p.m

Cyril & Methodius Hall
502 West 41st St., New York City
(at 10th Avenue)

"Every year, the War Resisters League Annual Dinner and Peace Award presentations lift the morale of the antiwar community by honoring extraordinary efforts for peace. This year's award is extra special, going to two of WRL's own: Karl Bissinger and Ralph Di Gia, lifelong activists who both turned 90 in 2004. Karl is an internationally respected photographer who gave up a flourishing career to become a draft counselor during the Vietnam War. Ralph spent World War II in prison as a conscientious objector and came out of prison to become a champion of the burgeoning civil rights movement. Both men have continued to work for an end to all wars.

At the Dinner itself and in the Dinner Journal, people who have known and loved Ralph and Karl, including friends, family members, colleagues and admirers like Dan Berrigan, Connie Hogarth, Hanon Reznikov and Judith Malina, David McReynolds, Lisa Miller, Grace Paley, Toshi and Pete Seeger, Bill Sutherland, Gore Vidal, Vera Williams and other surprise guests will be offering their tributes to the two honorees.

The value of an evening with Ralph and Karl, former peace award recipients and longtime WRL members cannot be quantified, but we are charging a small fee for tickets. We are offering tickets on a sliding scale, from $25 for low income to $45, with a third category for donations. As has always been true of the Annual Dinner, no one will be turned away for lack of money. Please call the office if you can't afford $25.

War Resisters League Peace Award was begun in 1958 to honor an organization or person whose work represents the League’s radical nonviolent platform of action. Jeannette Rankin was the first recipient and received the award from Tracy Mygatt, one of WRL’s first members and a later recipient with Frances Witherspoon. Past recipients of the Peace Award include: A.J. Muste, Bayard Rustin, Norman Thomas, Barbara Deming, Daniel Berrigan, Grace Paley, The Resistance (1968), Gulf War Resisters, Children of War, The Living Theatre, Bob Moses, Movement Music and David McReynolds.

War Resisters League
339 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 228-0450
fax (212) 228-6193