(http://lh4 NULL.ggpht NULL.com/-pyn8xIMby8Y/TpKEuf3wvnI/AAAAAAAAFag/yO3Ow1m4sh0/PA080001 NULL.JPG)To mark the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, anti-war protestors will gather at Town Hall at 12 noon this Saturday (October 8th) to hear from speakers before marching through city streets to Martin Place. Their message is that the troops must leave.
Much publicity accompanies the deaths of each of the 29 Australian soldiers that have been killed in the war, along with crocodile tears and tired excuses for continuing the war by Julia Gillard and others in the Labor Government.
While it is lamentable that soldiers die fighting this pointless war, protestors will draw attention to the deaths of countless Afghan civilians, whose brutal endings seldom receive any attention in most coverage of the war.
All this despite the fact that the UN has reported (http://www NULL.reuters NULL.com/article/2011/09/28/us-afghanistan-violence-idUSTRE78R2TJ20110928) 1800+ deaths and more than 130,000 displaced people in the first 7 months of this year alone.
In particular, attention will be drawn towards Afghan civilians killed over the last few years during “kill or capture” mission by Australian SAS forces (as detailed recently in a Four Corners expose (http://www NULL.abc NULL.net NULL.au/news/2011-09-05/questions-over-australian-strategy-in-afghanistan/2870104)).
The rally will be addressed by lawyer and human rights activist Kellie Tranter, who has written several opinion pieces about the war, including most recently (http://www NULL.onlineopinion NULL.com NULL.au/view NULL.asp?article=12469) a piece uncovering the use of chemical weapons (white phosphorus and depleted uranium) by US/NATO forces in Afghanistan.
“We can’t trust anything our government says about this war,” Kellie says.
“Already public gullibility has been tested and found reliable – geopolitically, the war will produce the exact opposite of what is wanted; individually it indiscriminately results in the suffering and death of large numbers of innocent civilians,” she continues.
For Kellie, protests – like the one this Saturday – are important because they “keep the issue alive for governments but more importantly in people’s minds; as citizens become more informed they will see the futility of this war and demand an end to it.”
Joining Kellie on the platform will be Sonia Qadir, from the Pakistan Justice Project. She is an anti-war activist and human rights lawyer, having worked with the Human Rights Commission, and now defending those on death row.
As the Afghanistan war increasingly becomes the Af-Pak war, with ongoing predator drone bombing of tribal areas along the border, and accusations by Admiral Mike Mullen (chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff) of Pakistan’s responsibility for a recent attack on the US embassy in Kabul, the opinion of a Pakistani on these issues is overdue.
Greens MP Jamie Parker (http://www NULL.jamieparker NULL.org NULL.au/) will also be addressing the rally. The Greens are the only parliamentary party to support the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Protestors will also be addressed by Graeme Dunstan, member of Australian war veterans’ anti-war group Standfast, and recent participant in protests against “Talisman Sabre,” the biennial joint US/Australian military exercises in Queensland.
As the so-called “war on terror” continues to reach new lows, with the US President authorising the extra-judicial killing of US citizens (http://politics NULL.salon NULL.com/2011/09/30/awlaki_6/), it is unsurprising that support for the war amongst Australians continues to erode, with 59% of Australians (http://www NULL.lowyinterpreter NULL.org/post/2011/06/27/2011-Lowy-Poll NULL.aspx) opposed to Australia’s continued military involvement.
Majority public opposition to the war will be central in protestors minds on Saturday, as they demand the Labor Government pull the troops out of Afghanistan, instead of wheeling out the same old tired excuses that have seen ten years of chaos and misery for the Afghan people.
When: Saturday October 8, 12 noon
Where: Town Hall, Sydney marching to Martin Place
Why: To mark 10 years since the invasion of Afghanistan and for all the war dead
Organised by Stop the War Coalition
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