Marty Jezer (November 21, 1940 – June 11, 2005) was a well-known activist and author. Born Martin Jezer and raised in the Bronx, he earned a history degree from
Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...
. He was a co-founding member of the Working Group on Electoral Democracy, and co-authored influential model legislation on
campaign finance reform that has so far been adopted by Maine and Arizona. He was involved in state and local politics, as a campaign worker for
Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
, Vermont's Independent Congressional Representative, and as a columnist and Town Representative.
Writer and activist
Jezer had been an influential figure in progressive politics from the 1960s to the time of his death. He was editor of WIN magazine (Workshop In Nonviolence), from 1962-8, was a writer for
Liberation News Service
Liberation News Service (LNS) was a New Left, anti-war underground press news agency that distributed news bulletins and photographs to hundreds of subscribing underground, alternative and radical newspapers from 1967 to 1981. Considered the "Asso ...
(LNS), and was active in the
nuclear freeze The Nuclear Freeze campaign was a mass movement in the United States during the 1980s to secure an agreement between the U.S. and Soviet governments to halt the testing, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons.
Background
The idea of simply ...
movement, and the organic farming movement (he helped found the Natural Organic Farmers' Association). In 1968, he signed the "
Writers and Editors War Tax Protest
Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse of ...
" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. More recently he was active in progressive causes in Vermont, including the universal health care movement. In 1968 Jezer co-founded, with
Verandah Porche
Verandah Porche (born November 8, 1945) is a poet living in Guilford, Vermont.
Biography
Porche (born Linda Jacobs) attended public schools in Teaneck, New Jersey, graduated from Teaneck High School in 1963, and went on to Boston University, grad ...
, Richard Wizansky, and
Ray Mungo
Raymond Mungo (born 1946) is an American author, co-author, or editor of more than a dozen books. He writes about business, economics, and financial matters as well as cultural issues.
In the 1960s, he attended Boston University, where he served ...
, "Total Loss (Packer Corners) Farm" in
Guilford, Vermont. After moving to Guilford, he continued writing for WIN magazine, as well as ''Green Mountain Post'', and the NOFA newsletter. His main political outlet from 1998 to 2005 was as a writer of a weekly column for the ''
Brattleboro Reformer
The ''Brattleboro Reformer'' is the third-largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Vermont. With a weekday circulation of just over 10,000, it is behind the ''Burlington Free Press'' and the ''Rutland Herald'', respectively. It publishes six d ...
'' that often appeared on the web sites
Common Dreams
Common Dreams NewsCenter, often referred to simply as Common Dreams, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, U.S.-based news website with a stated goal of serving the progressive community. Common Dreams publishes news stories, editorials, and a newswire of cu ...
and
TomPaine.com; his columns were frequently reprinted in the periodical ''
The Progressive Populist
''The Progressive Populist'' is a magazine in tabloid newspaper format published twice monthly. Founded in 1995, the magazine is based in Storm Lake, Iowa, with editorial offices in Manchaca, Texas. The editor is James M. Cullen, managing editor ...
''.
Jezer was a lifetime
stutterer and wrote a memoir about his condition. He was an important figure in the self-help community for people who stutter, and received the "Member of the Year" award from the
National Stuttering Association
The National Stuttering Association (NSA) is a United States support group organization for people who stutter. Its headquarters are in New York City.[Rachel Carson
Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose influential book '' Silent Spring'' (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental ...]
: Biologist and Author'' (Chelsea House Publications, 1988).
*''
Abbie Hoffman: American Rebel'' (1992; Rutgers University Press, 1993).
*''Stuttering: A Life Bound Up In Words'' (1997; Small Pond Press, 2003). (website with six downloadabl
chapter excerptsplus an article about stuttering, authorized by Jezer)
*''Opening of the Western Frontier'' (Bluewood Books, 2000), in The Making of America series.
*''The Civil War'' (Bluewood Books, 2001), in The Making of America series.
References
External links
at
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU, MSU, or Minnesota State) is a public university in Mankato, Minnesota, United States. It is Minnesota's second-largest university and has over 123,000 living alumni worldwide. Founded in 1868, it is ...
website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jezer, Martin
1940 births
2005 deaths
American tax resisters
Lafayette College alumni
Writers from the Bronx
20th-century American non-fiction writers