International protests against the planned war
18.09.2001 17:27
The backlash against US-spearheaded war plans has been gathering pace as peace campaigners around the world have called for an end to the cycle of violence. In Portland, Oregon (USA) over 2,300 people held an unpermitted demonstration and took over the streets of the city to remember the victims of Tuesday's attacks and to demand that authorities do not unleash the US military might on the people of the Middle East. In the UK hundreds of people have been holding a series of actions across the country demanding an end to war and while an online petition against the war effort is building signatures. Fashion designer Katherin Hamnett wore a t-shirt during the filming of a BBC news programme with red lettering which read: "NO WAR" and "STOP AND THINK" while criticising Blair and the Conservative Party for their support of US war mongering. A former Pakistani diplomat has also revealed that the US had been planning an attack on the Taleban even before the attacks on the US.
In the USA, Nigeria, UK and Australia there have been confirmed attacks (some fatal) on people believed to be muslims - many have cited flag-waving patriotism from much of the mainstream media as being partially responsible for this blind rage. An Afghan-born cab driver from west London has been left in a coma after he was attacked while a 19-year-old muslim woman from Swindon has sustained head wounds after two men beat her with baseball bats.
For many there is a strong feeling that the poverty-stricken people of Afghanistan have had to endure suffering on a vast scale for the last 30 years and that further warfare would not assist their plight in any way. Aid agencies have explained that Afghinstan already has the largest refugee population in the world.
A further blow to the war effort came when CNN was forced to issue an apology after it had incorrectly reported the identities of 2 suicide pilots - along with photographs. Adnan Bukhari - who has been ruled out as a suspect - has been found alive in Florida while Ameer Bukhari died a year ago.
There has also been widespread condemnation of the Israeli government after they launched attacks on Palestinian territory killing tens of civilians. The relationship between arms-dealing nations such as the UK and Israel has been addressed by writers from Brighton-based Schnews magazine which links the relationship between increasingly lucrative arms industry and the current state of global instability.
In the USA, Nigeria, UK and Australia there have been confirmed attacks (some fatal) on people believed to be muslims - many have cited flag-waving patriotism from much of the mainstream media as being partially responsible for this blind rage. An Afghan-born cab driver from west London has been left in a coma after he was attacked while a 19-year-old muslim woman from Swindon has sustained head wounds after two men beat her with baseball bats.
For many there is a strong feeling that the poverty-stricken people of Afghanistan have had to endure suffering on a vast scale for the last 30 years and that further warfare would not assist their plight in any way. Aid agencies have explained that Afghinstan already has the largest refugee population in the world.
A further blow to the war effort came when CNN was forced to issue an apology after it had incorrectly reported the identities of 2 suicide pilots - along with photographs. Adnan Bukhari - who has been ruled out as a suspect - has been found alive in Florida while Ameer Bukhari died a year ago.
There has also been widespread condemnation of the Israeli government after they launched attacks on Palestinian territory killing tens of civilians. The relationship between arms-dealing nations such as the UK and Israel has been addressed by writers from Brighton-based Schnews magazine which links the relationship between increasingly lucrative arms industry and the current state of global instability.