Talking about peace, thinking about war‏

STOP THE WAR COALITION
NEWSLETTER
No. 1115 26 September 2009
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Tel: 020 7801 2768
Web: http://.stopwar.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1) TALKING ABOUT PEACE, THINKING ABOUT WAR
2) OCT 24 DEMONSTRATION DETAILS & MOBILISATION
3) PROTEST EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY OF AFGHAN INVASION
4) NATIONWIDE PUBLIC MEETINGS ON AFGHANISTAN
5) STOP THE WAR PRINTED NEWSLETTER: NO.2
6) STOP THE WAR'S SONG OF THE WEEK & OTHER LINKS

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1) TALKING ABOUT PEACE, THINKING ABOUT WAR

Much is being made of UN calls for nuclear disarmament this
week. Every missile nuclear or otherwise that is scrapped
is welcome. Anything which reduces tension between big
powers is to be applauded.

But the cuts proposed will leave enough nuclear weapons in
play to destroy the planet many times over and the changes
taking place amount to a shift to new military priorities
not a move away from intervention.

Long range nuclear weapons, even aircraft carriers and big
tanks may be de-prioritised because of the kind of wars the
west will be fighting.

The new British Chief of staff General Richards outlined
the new thinking last week. Afghanistan was a "signpost"
indicating the nature of wars in the future -- "asymmetric"
conflicts with less need for traditional military hardware
like tanks and warplanes.

"Future conflicts are more likely to involve non-state
actors and failed states, like Afghanistan, rather than
traditional wars between states... How we deal with the
threat posed by violent extremism, often embedded in
dangerously radicalised states, will be an issue that will
dominate our professional lives."

In reality the big powers will keep enough nuclear weapons
and hi-tech hardware to continue to intimidate potential
rivals, but they are clearing the way to spend more on
targeted, infantry-led interventions round the world.

General Richards also made clear the military sees no
choice but to fight to the end in Afghanistan - whatever
that is -- and he explained why defeat is not an option.

Imagine he said, the "enduring grand strategic impact on
the UK's authority and reputation in the world of the
defeat of the British Armed Forces, and its impact on
public sentiment here in the UK."

The war in Afghanistan is not about the well being of the
Afghan people, economic, social or political, it is about
the projection of American and British power abroad.

And we are reminded again by Barack Obama's latest threats
against Iran that little has changed from George Bush's war
policies under the new White House administration.

Seven years after Bush cited alleged weapons of mass
destruction as justification for attacking Iraq, we have
Obama issuing the same threats in the same language with
the same lack of evidence, as a prelude to waging war
against Iran, which is what "crippling" sanctions will be,
whether or not they are accompanied by military assault.

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2) OCT 24 DEMONSTRATION DETAILS & MOBILISATION

The national Bring the Troops Home demonstration on
Saturday 24 October will assemble at Hyde Park at midday.
It will be lead by anti-war military families, army
veterans and soldiers and will march to Trafalgar Square
for a mass rally.

There is a huge debate on both sides of the Atlantic about
the future of the occupation, with the growing casualty
rate among Afghan civilians and invading troops -- against
the background of the corrupt elections -- creating a
popular revulsion at the whole exercise. There are
majorities against the war in most countries across the
world.

We have a great opportunity to mobilise anti-war public
opinion on a huge scale. Our aim is to ensure that no one
can say after 24 October that they weren't there because
they didn't know there was a demonstration.

To help us achieve that, we are asking all our supporters
to do everything they can to publicise the demonstration.

Please email, text or tweet as many of your friends and
contacts as possible with information about the
demonstration and encourage them to do the following:

1 Order some leaflets from the Stop the War office to
leaflet their street and/or workplace or college. Call 020
7801 2768;
2 Order a few demonstration posters from the office for
display in a home window, ask a few local shops to display
etc;
3 Arrange with friends, colleagues or the local anti-war
group to leaflet a tube, train or bus station, or a local
High Street.
4 Make a donation to the Bring the Troops Home appeal, to
help us fund the cost of the demonstration, publicity
materials, etc (see below for how to donate).

DEMONSTRATE: BRING THE TROOPS HOME
SATURDAY 24 OCTOBER
ASSEMBLE HYDE PARK 12 NOON
MARCH TO TRAFALGAR SQUARE

TRANSPORT DETAILS FROM OUTSIDE LONDON:
Coaches are being organised round the country to bring
protestors to London for the demonstration. See here for
details so far: http://bit.ly/FGook We will update this
information as we get more details.

HOW TO DONATE:
* Online: http://bit.ly/APlKX
* By credit / debit card: Phone 020 7801 2768
* By cheque: Made out to 'Stop the War Coalition' and sent
to Stop the War Coalition, 231 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London
SW1V 1EH

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3) PROTEST EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY OF AFGHAN INVASION

Many local Stop the War groups will be organising street
protests between the 7th and the 10th of October. These
will help to spread the anti-war message and publicise the
demonstration on 24 October. If you would like to be
involved in these events, please call or email the national
Stop the War office for details of a your group in your
area: office@stopwar.org.uk, 020 7801 2768

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4) NATIONWIDE PUBLIC MEETINGS ON AFGHANISTAN

Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, facing court martial for
refusing to return to the Afghan War; MPs George Galloway,
Paul Flynn, Neil Gerrard and Jeremy Corbyn; writers Tariq
Ali, Ghada Karmi and David Edgar; Guardian journalists
Seumas Milne and Simon Tisdall; Mohammed Asif, President of
the Scottish Afghan Society, and Tony Benn, are just some
of the keynote speakers in Stop the War meeting taking
place across the country in the weeks leading up to the
national demonstration on 24 October.

To find out if there is a meeting in your area, go to
http://bit.ly/3cPI3i

Meetings are still being added, so look out for updates on
this webpage.

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5) STOP THE WAR PRINTED NEWSLETTER: NO.2

Stop the War now has a regular printed newsletter. The
latest issue No.2 can be previewed here:
http://bit.ly/10Sbkr

Paper copies can be purchased through the Stop the War
office, 020 7801 2768 office@stopwar.org.uk. Orders of 10
or more newsletters are charged at the reduced rate of 30p
a copy.

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6) STOP THE WAR'S SONG OF THE WEEK & OTHER LINKS

Our song of the week is Bob Dylan's "John Brown":
http://bit.ly/41RZm2 , which was suggested by Stop the War
supporter Stephen Fisk.

Dylan's song is particularly relevant to an article about
the devastating injuries suffered by troops in Afghanistan,
which can be read here: http://bit.ly/18FlMM

All the speeches from the highly successful national Stop
the War students conference on 19 September are now online,
including the contributions from Israeli historian Ilan
Pappe, musician Lowkey and George Galloway MP:
http://bit.ly/heofB

Anyone unsure as to whether western troops should be
withdrawn from Afghanistan should read how a 7-year-old
Afghan child learned to hate when her whole family was
slaughtered by a US bombing raid: http://bit.ly/gKLfy

Ann Jones, just back from Afghanistan, explains why Gordon
Brown's "exit strategy" of building an Afghan army to take
the place of British and US troops in never going to
happen: http://bit.ly/2xOJBo

If you want notification of new articles and links as they
are published on the Stop the War website, join us on
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk

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