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Events/Announcements
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Saturday, September 15, 2007 6:34 AM
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STOP THE WAR COALITION 14/9/07 |
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NEWSLETTER No. 1016 IN THIS NEWSLETTER: DEMONSTRATION 8 OCTOBER: NOT ONE MORE DEATH ********************************** General Petraeus’ ‘progress report’ to the US Congress, and George Bush’s subsequent speech, were quite simply a scam aimed at pacifying public opinion at home, where two thirds of the American people want US troops withdrawn. Bush and Petraeus claim that the ‘surge’ of increased troops numbers is ‘working’ and where it isn’t, this is due to ‘malevolent’ intervention by Iran, which the Pentagon says – without producing a single shred of evidence– is directly implicated in the deaths of dozens of US soldiers. Every indicator of reality in Iraq shows an endless downward spiral of devastation and mass slaughter, caused largely by the bombs and bullets of the occupying forces. A new poll just published suggests that up to 1.2 The verdict of Iraqis on the occupation, as expressed in authoritative polls published recently by the BBC, is hardly surprising. They show that the Iraqi people are more opposed to the occupation, more in support of an immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops and far more negative about their lives than at any time since the invasion four years ago (see tinyurl.com/2fbsrb). Gordon Brown plans to keep British troops in Iraq solely as a favour to George Bush, who made clear this week that he is still intent on a permanent US occupation of the country and control of its resources. British troops are now serving no purpose other than to provide Bush with political cover. And Brown showed that, while the troops are there, this political cover will be extended to supporting any provocative or belligerent threats against Iran, as was clear this week when 350 British troops were sent to the Iraq/Iran border, just as America’s ambassador in Iraq was claiming to the US Congress — once again without evidence — that Iran was fighting a “proxy war” in Iraq (SEE tinyurl.com/28oeyd). Stop the War has called a demonstration for Monday 8 October. The demonstration will be at Parliament, on the day it reconvenes, and will insist on NOT ONE MORE DEATH of either Iraqis or of British soldiers (see below for details). Please join the demonstration, publicise it as widely as you can and encourage your friends, relatives, work colleagues, fellow students etc to join us. ********************************** 2) NOT ONE MORE DEATH DEMONSTRATION The Stop the War demonstration on Monday 8 October, the day Parliament re-assembles, will begin with a lunchtime rally in Trafalgar Square, at which the speakers will include Tony Benn, Mark Steel, ex SAS soldier Ben Griffin, NUS President Jemma Tumelty, Stop the War’s National Convenor Lindsey German and Billy Hayes, General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union. TO GET COPIES OF THE NEW POSTCARD AND STICKERS PUBLICISING THE DEMONSTRATION, CALL THE STOP THE WAR OFFICE ON 0207278 6694 DEMONSTRATE: PARLIAMENT MONDAY 8 OCTOBER NOT ONE MORE DEATH – BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW ASSEMBLE FOR RALLY 1.0 PM TRAFALGAR SQUARE Speakers include: TONY BENN MARK STEEL, comedian and writer BEN GRIFFIN, ex-soldier who served in Iraq JEMMA TUMELTY, president, National Union of Students LINDSEY GERMAN, national convenor, Stop the War BILLY HAYES general secretary, Communication Workers Union For more details, see: www.stopwar.org.uk/ ********************************** 3) STILL TIME TO SIGN GORDON BROWN LETTER Brian Eno, Iain Banks, Miriam Margoles, Bob Crow, Suzannah York and Adam Price MP are just some of the hundreds of people who have signed and donated towards the cost of publishing our open letter to Gordon Brown in The Guardian newspaper. The letter, in conjunction with the demonstration at Parliament on 8 October, is aimed to help maximise pressure on Gordon Brown prior to his speech on Iraq in the House of Commons. There is still space for some more names on the full page advert. Names will be included on a first come first serve basis. Go to the Stop the War website to see the text of the letter and how you can add your signature and help fund its publication with a donation: www.stopwar.org.uk/ ********************************** 4) FROM SCHOOL TO DEATH IN AFGHANISTAN Four British soldiers have been killed over the last week in the so-called ‘winnable’ war in Afghanistan. It certainly won’t be winnable for Ben Ford from Chesterfield, just 18 years old and recently arrived in Afghanistan for his first tour of active duty. He was one of the four British soldiers who were killed. Ben is more than a statistic. As always, the army and the media humanised him with comments from his family, friends and commanding officer. No such treatment for the hundreds of Afghan civilians who have been killed this year and who are dying in ever rising numbers, largely from the bombs and missiles of US and British planes. The US and British forces are it seems able to state each day the exact number of Taliban fighters they have killed but insist there is no way they can calculate any “collateral damage”. And we certainly don’t get any details which would humanise Afghan deaths — no name, biography or comments from family and friends for them. It is clear that Gordon Brown has promised George Bush that the British deployment in Afghanistan will be intensified. Once again, Brown is refusing to reflect the views of the British people, only 18 percent of whom believe the war in Afghanistan is winnable (SEE tinyurl.com/2366dw). This is why Stop the War’s NOT ONE MORE DEATH demonstration at Parliament on Monday 8 October (see above) applies as much to Afghanistan as to Iraq. Parliament is meant to be the voice of the people, except it seems when it comes to George Bush’s wars. ********************************** 5) ANOTHER MUSIC DOWNLOAD EXCLUSIVE Another high profile artist is following Ian Brown (ex-Stone Roses) in giving an exclusive to the Stop the War website. Slovo, the band fronted by Faithless guitarist Dave Randall, will from Monday 17 October make available for 48 hours on the Stop the War website, a free download of the anti war track ‘Flag’, taken from Slovo’s soon to be released and already critically acclaimed new album. ‘Flag’ includes a contribution from award winning novelist and political activist Arundhati Roy and has backing vocals by Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini. Also available as a download will be an interview with Dave Randall from Slovo and Faithless, who speaks about opposing the war in Iraq through music. ********************************** 6) WORLD AGAINST WAR CONFERENCE The Stop the War Coalition believes it is of paramount importance for Britain to end its support – almost alone in the world – for the global war-mongering of the Bush administration. We demand a British foreign policy which reflects the people’s desire for peace and social justice and we seek to align ourselves with all those around the world opposing the US drive to global domination. To this end, Stop the War is proud to host the World Against War conference in London on December 1, which aims to bring together all those fighting for peace, self-determination and social justice around the world today. Speakers already lined up include former UN officials in Iraq, Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck. Peace and anti-war groups from South America, the Middle East, USA, South Asia, Africa, Canada and across Europe have been invited to send representatives. The World Against War conference will take place at Westminster Central Hall, adjacent to the Houses of Parliament. Booking forms will be available soon but you can reserve your place by calling the Stop the War national office on 020 7278 6694. ********************************** 7) STOP THE WAR COALITION ANNUAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE The StWC National Conference will be held on Saturday 27 October at Friends Meeting House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ. The conference, at which perspectives and policies for the coming year will be discussed and voted on, is open to all current Stop the War individual members and to delegations from all affiliated organisations. Details on the submission of resolutions, the agenda and the fee will be available soon on the Stop the War website: www.stopwar@office.org.uk ALL AFFILIATED ORGANISATIONS ARE REMINDED THAT IN ORDER TO SEND DELEGATES |
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