Demonstrate At The Labour Party Conference
out | 07.08.2008 08:50
TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER ASSEMBLE 12.30PM
ALL SAINTS, CAVENDISH STREET, MANCHESTER M15
The Stop the War Coalition is calling on all its members and supporters to turn
the Manchester Troops Out demonstration on Saturday 20 September, (the eve of
the Labour Party annual national conference), into the biggest possible protest
against this government's continuing participation in the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
The Iraq war remains a disaster. Politicians and generals talk up the success
of the 'surge', but Iraqis are still dying in large numbers every week.
People
lack clean water, electricity, and a working health system because the country
has been wrecked by occupation. The majority of Iraqis want foreign troops to
go, but the US and its allies are insisting on permanent military bases and the
US control of Iraqi oil.
Meanwhile we are told Afghanistan is ‘the good war’. The facts tell a
different story. Aid agencies announced last week that violence in Afghanistan
has reached its worst level since 2001. This is reflected in the rising death
toll of British troops, now averaging two per week.
The media hardly mention the number of Afghan dead, but it is rising fast
partly because bombing raids have been stepped up. As the joint NGO statement
from ACBAR, released last week, says: NATO air strikes are up 40 per cent on
last year and "searches conducted by Afghan and international forces have
on
some occasions involved excessive use of force, extra judicial killings,
destruction of property and/or mistreatment of suspects". SEE
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The UN also reports that the violence is making aid efforts almost impossible
at a time when drought and high food prices are forcing thousands into
life-threatening poverty. While supporters of the war in the west talk of
reconstruction, on the ground the few schools and clinics that have been
functioning are being threatened with closure by the violence caused by
occupation.
It is a disgrace that New Labour is still supporting these wars. Gordon Brown
has promised to schedule getting the troops out of Iraq, but there are still
thousands there and the government has increased its war budget this year. The
billions being spent on war could be used to invest in housing, pensions and
services.
For all these reasons Stop the War is calling for the widest possible support
for the demonstration at Labour's conference on 20 September. Please tell
your
friends and workmates about it. Transport details and a leaflet publicising the
demonstration are available on the website, SEE
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HELP FUND THE OPPOSITION
In order to finance the mobilisation for the Manchester demonstration, and to
reorganise our databases, Stop the War has launched an appeal for money. Last
week we raised over £3,000 pounds but we urgently need more. Please give
generously by phone, letter or on the website. For details, SEE
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