Anarchoblogs in English

KABUL CONFERENCE SHOWS THE WAR AT AN IMPASSE

The Kabul conference discussing the war in Afghanistan has only served to
demonstrate the impasse which the war has now reached. Even the US
administration has conceded that talks with the Taliban – so far resisted by
Obama – are going to happen. The recognition that the war is losing contradicts the statements, still reiterated by foreign secretary William Hague, that there is a gradual improvement in the situation in Afghanistan.

The much-touted date for withdrawal in 2014 shows the desperation of the Nato governments, faced with defeat in Afghanistan and growing unpopularity of the war domestically. The fact that they are talking about a withdrawal date reflects the growing costs of the war, in human life and in billions of dollars. The death rate of British soldiers now stands at similar levels to those of Russian soldiers just before their withdrawal 20 years ago. The death rate of Afghans has increased over the past year. The Afghan army, supposedly being trained to take over the war from the Nato forces, has a 25% desertion rate.

But the conference today answers nothing. Why is fighting continuing in Helmand and the south when a likely outcome of negotiations to end the war will be to  hand over that area to the Taliban? How can western governments claim the war is about human rights when it backs a government ranking among the most corrupt in the world? Why are these same governments ignoring public opinion, which is for rapid withdrawal of troops and an end to the war?

The role of the British government in this war has been shameful, from John Reid’s claim four years ago that the troops might be able to leave Helmand without a shot being fired in anger, to Hague’s current increasingly desperate justifications for the war.

How many more people will die before the proposed withdrawal date? How many billions will be spent on an unjustifiable war while the welfare state is
slashed by the Coalition government. And which government minister will have to tell the families of the dead what exactly they were fighting for?

We are asking all our supporters to redouble their efforts campaigning to bring the troops home. Now is a moment when the movement can really make a difference. Our timetable for withdrawal starts now, with campaigning in every locality, involving military families, trade unions, school students and students, faith groups and anti war campaigners. We are aiming for a big national demonstration to coincide with the next Nato summit on November 20th saying it’s time to go –bring the troops home.
Please start spreading the word about the demonstration – leaflets will be
available on Monday and get in touch with your local group or check the website for local activities.

‘AFGHANISTAN: TIME TO GO’.

PUBLIC MEETING MONDAY 26TH JULY

7pm, Monday, 26th July
Conway Hall
25 Red Lion Square
London, WC1R 4RL

Joe Glenton, jailed for refusing to fight in Afghanistan, speaks out against
the war. With Caroline Lucas, Jeremy Corbyn and Mark Steel.

The war in Afghanistan is in crisis. The strategy is crumbling, with Obama’s
sacking of General McChrystal and an increasingly corrupt Karzai government. The violence is intensifying with No clear goals and even fewer results. Thousands of Afghan civilians are dying every year and very little rebuilding is being done.    Despite the 77% of people being opposed to Britain’s involvement in Afghanistan, this government continues to send troops to kill and die in a war that is being lost.
web;  http://stopwar.org.uk

twitter; http://twitter.com/STWuk

ann arky’s home,

        300 British troops killed in Afghanistan, it is working out at 1 killed every other day, 300 British families devastated, all in the name of –WHAT–? This does not take into account the number of young people coming back from that imperial expedition with limbs missing and other horrific injuries, then there are those who come home mentally scarred and broken. The bulk of those killed and damaged in this imperial affair are from the working class, the class that has nothing to gain from this endless slaughter. When it comes to why we are there we get a myriad of answers from, making us safe here in the UK, to building a true democracy in Afghanistan, of course we haven’t even started to build a true democracy here in the UK. 

    Recently we have been getting little hints of what could be the true reason for our government sacrificing so many of our  working class youth, (and they are young, the average age of UK deaths in Afghanistan is 22 and among the 300 deaths, 31 were teenagers) In some of the financial papers there has been talk of the mineral wealth of Afghanistan as being in the £3 trillion region. Now the Western corporate world is not going to let that fall into the hands of of any other power group. So they call on their minders, the Western states to get in there and lay claim to that wealth by setting up a compliant government. A government that will let the Western corporate greed machine rip, rape and plunder that unfortunate land to feed their ever hungry shareholders. We the working class of the world bleed and the corporate world gains.  

ann arky’s home.

         There never has been a more critical time in humanity’s history, we are at the point of no return, if it is not already too late. We the ordinary people must create the next revolution which must be a revolution of consciousness. We have to break the mind set moulded by state power and corporate greed. A mind set that sees war as a means of progress, war as a means of sorting out international problems. War has never been to the advantage of the mass of ordinary people who are called upon to sacrifice their lives. The plunder always goes to those who advocated war but never see the front line at the time of conflict. They call on the people to make the sacrifice while they themselves walk the corrupt corridors of power, safe while they wait for the glory and the gold. It is time to see state organised violence at the behest of corporate greed abandoned as the last vestiges of our darkest hour, an era when we lost our humanity and allowed acquisitiveness to run rampant across the world.

             We have to realise that to allow the festering marriage of state power and corporate greed to exist is to continue the rape of the planet, the exploitation of its people and the spiral of violence and corruption. We have to come together to undermine the state and all it stands for, remove its strangle hold over our lives and take control of our own lives and the environment. The corporate world must be transformed by the workers into organisations controlled by those who work in them and for the benefit of all the community. We don’t need kings, presidents, prime ministers or boards of directors and their sweaty palmed shareholders to tell us how to live our lives. Their records can’t stand scrutiny, it’s a catalogue of arrogant cronyism, corruption, self centred greed, exploitation and violence.

            There is an alternative in spite of the established pack of rapscallions trying to preach “free market capitalism” as the only way. Control and decisions must come from the bottom up, we must take control of our communities and work in confederation with other communities to create a society based on free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid. Anarchism points the way, its the tool to create that better world of peace and justice for all. Only we, the ordinary people, can create a diverse and colourful world free for all our diverse and colourful human family to enjoy. We have to wake up to the fact that it is their world or it is our world, there can be no compromise, no half measure, tomorrow is ours or there is no tomorrow, and time is running out.

ann arky’s home.