Why I Stopped Paying Taxes QuakerSpeak
Joseph explains the act of conscience that led to his weekends in county jail.
Speaking & Discussion
Join Joseph Olejak in a conversation about justice, peace, and human dignity.
Joseph joins groups (in person or by webinar) for conversations about his book, Quaker witness, war tax resistance, his experiences in jail and life after, economic justice, and the human beings caught inside systems of punishment.
An act of conscience
Joseph’s refusal to pay for war led him inside the machinery of racism, poverty, and punishment.
Joseph’s refusal began as a matter of conscience: he would not willingly fund war. The sentence that followed did not end that witness. It widened it, bringing him face to face with the routines of jail, the people held there, and the systems of punishment and abandonment his journal would later name.
Who this is for
Conversations for communities wrestling with conscience, justice, and repair.
Quaker & Interfaith meetings
Communities centered on peace witness, discernment, conscience, and the practice of seeing that of God in every person.
Unitarian Universalist congregations
Congregations exploring conscience, justice, public witness, and moral responsibility across a diverse religious life.
Book clubs and reading groups
Readers looking for a direct conversation about the book, the jail experience, and the questions the story opens.
Peace and justice groups
Groups working around war, prison reform, restorative justice, economic justice, and nonviolence in public life.
Campuses and classrooms
Students and faculty engaging civil disobedience, incarceration, moral injury, public policy, and ethical action.
Churches and interfaith communities
Faith communities that want a conversation about testimony, compassion, suffering, and the dignity of people inside systems of punishment.
Restorative justice groups
Practitioners and organizers working to move from punishment toward accountability, repair, and community care.
Community organizations
Local groups hosting conversations on incarceration, family impact, poverty, addiction, and the conditions that shape survival.
Media and interview hosts
Podcasts, interview series, and public conversations looking for a plainspoken voice on conscience and witness.
Speaking topics
Topics Joseph can address through the lens of the book.
Each gathering can be shaped around the needs of the group, but these are some of the central questions Joseph can help open.
26 Weekends in County Jail
The story behind the book, how it was written, and what changed as Joseph kept returning to the jail each weekend.
War tax resistance and conscience
Why Joseph refused to fund war, how conscience became public action, and what refusal can cost.
Quaker witness and the Inner Light
How Quaker practice shaped the way Joseph saw the men around him and the responsibility to bear witness.
Jail, poverty, addiction, and punishment
What county jail reveals about untreated pain, debt, low-wage work, addiction, and the machinery of punishment.
The men inside and human dignity
What Joseph learned by listening to the men inside and refusing to reduce them to their charges.
Economic justice and the prison-industrial complex
How jail connects to debt, work, bureaucracy, profit, and the broader systems that keep people cycling through harm.
Moral courage in a violent society
What it takes to refuse violence, endure pressure, and keep choosing conscience when systems reward compliance.
Building communities of peace and accountability
How communities can hold harm seriously without surrendering compassion, truth, or the possibility of repair.
Conversation formats
In person or via webinar, join Joseph for a talk, a discussion, a classroom visit, or a community conversation.
The format can be simple. Joseph can join a group to speak about the book, answer questions, participate in a discussion, or help open a more focused conversation around conscience, peace, jail, and justice.
Book talk
A prepared talk about the story behind the book and what Joseph saw during 26 weekends in county jail.
Q&A
An open question-and-answer conversation with room for the group’s concerns and priorities.
Book club discussion
A conversational format for reading groups, libraries, and other readers who want to explore the text together.
Meeting or congregational conversation
A faith-centered discussion shaped around conscience, witness, listening, and communal reflection.
Classroom visit
A focused conversation on civil disobedience, incarceration, public policy, and moral responsibility.
Interview or podcast
A media conversation about the book, peace witness, tax resistance, Quaker faith, and human dignity.
Workshop-style discussion
A more participatory format for groups that want to move from listening into reflection and action.
Start the conversation
Have a gathering in mind?
Share a few details about your group, event, or classroom, and Joseph can follow up about what kind of conversation would fit.
Invite JosephInvite Joseph to speak
Joseph speaks with Quaker meetings, Unitarian Universalist congregations, book clubs, peace and justice groups, campuses, churches, interfaith communities, restorative justice circles, prison reform groups, and community organizations.
Invite him to speak about 26 Weekends in County Jail, war tax resistance, Quaker witness, the men he met inside, economic justice, addiction, punishment, and what it means to keep seeing that of God in each person.
Invite Joseph
Use this form to ask about book talks, interviews, classrooms, spiritual or religious communities, peace and justice gatherings, prison reform groups, or community conversations.