STOP THE WAR COALITION
NEWSLETTER
No. 1101 24 June 2009
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Tel: 020 7801 2768
Web: http://www.stopwar.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk
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STOP THE WAR WEBSITE: IMPORTANT UPDATE. Please note that the
Stop the War website is now fully restored after having been
hacked over the weekend. Many thanks for the messages of
support and patience.
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LAUNCH MEETING: DEFEND THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
FRIDAY 26 JUNE 6.30PM BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE
BISHOPSGATE, LONDON EC1 (Map http://bit.ly/1sDev)
Speakers include:
GEORGE GALLOWAY MP, DAUD ABDULLAH, ANAS ALTIKRITI, SEUMAS
MILNE, LOWKEY, ISMAIL PATEL, LINDSEY GERMAN
Full details here: http://bit.ly/Cee4i
The Daily Express front page of 24 June (http://bit.ly/3ykkI)
calls for a ban on the burka in Britain. The Express has long
been prominent in stoking prejudice against Muslims.
But it is far from alone. The unlamented Communities Minister
Hazel Blears tried to demand the removal of Daud Abdullah from
the Muslim Council of Britain leadership. Gordon Brown's
government has continued its bidding war to introduce ever
more draconian anti-terror laws.
Many Muslims in Britain are increasingly anxious at these
developments and are understandably fed up with being on the
sharp end of police stop and search policies, anti-terror
legislation, and a high level of anti-Muslim prejudice and
racism in the media and from politicians. The recent BNP
election victories clearly benefited from this climate of
Islamophobia.
A new campaign to counter attacks on the Muslim community will
be launched at a public meeting in London on Friday 26 June,
organised by a range of organisations including the Stop the
War Coalition. Muslim and non Muslim speakers - including
George Galloway, Daud Abdullah, Lowkey and Lindsey German --
will join together to oppose the attacks on Muslims and argue
the need for a campaign to oppose them.
A draft founding statement for the campaign is available to
read and download here: http://bit.ly/Cee4i
Please attend the meeting if you can and publicise as widely
as possible.
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FOLLOW STOP THE WAR ON TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/STWuk
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STOP THE WAR COALITION
22 June 2009
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Tel: 020 7801 2768
Web: http://www.stopwar.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk
STOP THE WAR'S WEBSITE HAS BEEN HACKED
Unfortunately our website has been hacked. While we fix it we have set up a
temporary method to enable access to the website and a temporary email address
for you to use to contact us.
TO ACCESS THE WEBSITE:
http://stopwar.org.uk
(This is the same as the old address with the www. removed)
TEMPORARY EMAIL ADDRESS:
ukstwc@gmail.com
TWITTER USERS
If you are following Stop the War on Twitter, you will have received tweets for
all updates to our website since we were hacked, as updates are always tweeted
to our followers. Anyone wishing to join us on Twitter can do so here:
https://twitter.com/STWuk
Our apologies for any inconvenience while we sort out the technical problems
due to being hacked.
Stop the War Coalition National Office
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STOP THE WAR COALITION
NEWSLETTER
No. 1100 21 June 2009
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Tel: 020 7801 2768
Web: http://www.stopwar.org.uk ;
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1) IRAQ INQUIRY: PROTEST: CONTACT YOUR MP
2) LAUNCH MEETING: DEFEND THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
3) THE IRAN CRISIS: STATEMENT FROM STOP THE WAR
4) FOLLOW STOP THE WAR ON TWITTER
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1) IRAQ INQUIRY: PROTEST PARLIAMENT WED 24 JUNE
The scandal over Gordon Brown's decision to hold the Iraq war
inquiry in private has united in condemnation the most
unlikely people, including MPs, peers in the House of Lords,
military leaders, former civil servants, bereaved families and
even Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain's US ambassador at the
time the decision was taken to go to war.
The anger over this appalling decision has intensified with
the revelation that Tony Blair was behind Brown's decision to
have a completely secret inquiry (SEE http://bit.ly/oun55).
A motion calling for a public inquiry is to be debated in
parliament on Wednesday 24 June. Stop the War has called a
protest for
public inquiry, and not the whitewash Brown has planned,
prompted by Blair.
Stop the War is also asking all its local groups and
supporters to contact their MPs as a matter of urgency, by
letter, telephone, email or fax, and urge them to support the
call for a full public inquiry. A letter from Stop the War to
MPs can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/GqK1P
There is every chance that Brown will have to make at least a
partial U-turn, but -- as Sir Christopher Meyer says -- there
is no reason why the whole inquiry should not be held in
public. We also need an inquiry with the power to subpoena
witnesses under oath and it needs to be broadly based, rather
than comprising the five establishment toadies appointed by
Brown to produce a cover-up.
Time is short but we need to do all we can to maximise the
pressure on Brown to reverse his scandalous decision. The need
for a full public inquiry has been highlighted yet again by
the leaked government memo from January 2003, which reports on
a meeting between George Bush and Blair, at which they plotted
in secret to commit the supreme crime of an unprovoked act of
aggression. (SEE http://bit.ly/SvSFd)
PROTEST: PARLIAMENT
WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE
Please publicise as widely as possible.
CONTACT YOUR MP AND URGE HIM/HER TO PRESS
FOR A FULL PUBLIC INQUIRY
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2) LAUNCH MEETING: DEFEND THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
Muslims in
based campaign is being launched at a public meeting on Friday
26 June to confront the growth of racist attitudes towards
Muslims and rising governmental and state harassment. It is
supported by Muslim organisations, MPs, trade unionists,
church representatives, members of the legal profession and
prominent figures from the world of arts and media. SEE THE
FOUNDING STATEMENT HERE: http://bit.ly/vXlJ8
LAUNCH MEETING: DEFEND THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
FRIDAY 26 JUNE 6.30PM
BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE, BISHOPSGATE, LONDON EC1
(OPPOSITE LIVERPOOL ST TUBE)
SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
George Galloway MP, Daud Abdullah, Diane Abbott MP, Anas al
Tikriti, Ismael Patel, Lindsey German
FULL DETAILS AND TO DOWNLOAD LEAFLET: http://bit.ly/Cee4i
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3) THE IRAN CRISIS: STATEMENT FROM STOP THE WAR
The crisis unfolding in Iran must not become the pretext for
renewed intervention by the USA or Britain in the region, nor
for a whipping up of further tension around Iran's nuclear
programme.
The responsibility of the anti-war movement is first of all to
oppose the role of the British government in the region, and
to prevent its posturing being used as a pretence to justify a
would have catastrophic results for the whole
the Iranian people in particular.
READ THE FULL STATEMENT HERE: http://bit.ly/3pzXZL
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4) FOLLOW STOP THE WAR ON TWITTER
If you are on Twitter, you will have received links to much of
the content in this newsletter already. If you are not and you
would like to receive our daily updates, you can join here:
https://twitter.com/STWuk
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STOP THE WAR COALITION
NEWSLETTER
No. 1100 18 June 2009
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Tel: 020 7801 2768
Web: http://www.stopwar.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1) IRAQ INQUIRY BUCKET OF WHITEWASH
2) NEW CAMPAIGN TO DEFEND MUSLIM COMMUNITY
3) SELLING WAR: ARMED FORCES DAY
4) LIFE FOR WOMEN IN "LIBERATED" AFGHANISTAN
5) FREEDOM FOR TAMILS DEMONSTRATION
6) STOP THE WAR STUDENT CONFERENCE
7) THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TWITTERED
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1) IRAQ INQUIRY BUCKET OF WHITEWASH
Stop the War organised a protest outside parliament on 15 June
as Gordon Brown was announcing his inquiry into the Iraq war.
It is to be held in secret by a committee of house-trained
toadies (four Sirs and a Baroness) and have no power to make
recommendations or hold to account the warmongers who took us
into an illegal and immoral war.
Even army chiefs are calling Brown's inquiry a cover-up, with
Air Marshal Sir John Walker, summarising its real purpose:
"There is only one reason that the inquiry is being heard in
private and that is to protect past and present members of
this Government." (SEE http://bit.ly/INXF6)
Rose Gentle, from Military Families Against the War, whose son
was killed in Iraq in 2004, says Brown's inquiry is a waste of
time and the pressure is building to get it made public, even
by warmongering newspapers like the Daily Mail, which called
Brown's plan a "joke" (SEE http://bit.ly/Es4hz) .
Stop the War has long called for a full public inquiry and
will be campaigning to overturn yet another bucket of
whitewash after the Hutton and
devised to hide rather than reveal the truth of an illegal war
which has cost over one million lives. (SEE
http://bit.ly/Dsle2)
EMERGENCY PROTEST:
It seems likely -- with the Conservatives and Liberal
Democrats, plus Labour rebels, calling for the inquiry to be
made public -- that there will be a debate on the issue in
parliament next week. Stop the War will call an emergency
protest outside parliament when we have timings for the
debate, which we will publicise through email, our website and
Twitter. Do join us if you can.
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2) NEW CAMPAIGN TO DEFEND MUSLIM COMMUNITY
A broad-based campaign to confront the growth of racist
attitudes towards Muslims, not least in the mass media, and
their harassment by government, police and other state
agencies, is being launched in London on Friday 26 June.
The election to the European parliament of the BNP -- a
fascist party which targets Muslims in its propaganda -- has
added to the urgent need for such a campaign.
The campaign's founding statement has already been endorsed by
Muslim organisations, MPs, trade unionists and prominent
figures from the world of arts, journalism and the legal
profession.
Stop the War is asking its local groups to collect signatures
for the statement, which can be downloaded here:
http://bit.ly/13fcOO
LAUNCH MEETING: DEFEND THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
FRIDAY 26 JUNE 6.30PM
BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE,
BISHOPSGATE, LONDON EC1
(Opposite Liverpool St tube)
Speakers include:
GEORGE GALLOWAY MP, DAUD ABDULLAH, DIANE ABBOTT MP, ANAS AL
TIKRITI, ISMAEL PATEL, LINDSEY GERMAN
For more details and to download leaflet go to:
http://bit.ly/13fcOO
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3) SELLING WAR: ARMED FORCES DAY
There is a concerted government publicity campaign to glorify
the armed forces, not least to distract attention from the
disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to stimulate
recruitment among the young, who are sent to kill and be
killed in foreign lands.
Parades in high streets around the country, slick recruitment
campaigns in the media and in schools and colleges, "Action
Man" style army toys etc are just some of the methods being
used to change perceptions about the armed forces.
The publicity barrage will intensify on Saturday 27 June,
which has been designated Armed Forces Day. Stop the War has
asked its local groups to organise SUPPORT THE TROOPS: BRING
THEM HOME events on that day, for which a leaflet for
downloading will be available on our website:
http://stopwar.org.uk.
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4) LIFE FOR WOMEN IN "LIBERATED" AFGHANISTAN
When Tony Blair made his now notorious "we will not walk away
from Afghanistan" speech he highlighted the lives of Afghan
women as a priority for the countries "liberators".
Malalai Joya, member of the Afghan parliament, has described
how life for women in
so bad that some "would rather set themselves on fire than
endure the hell of life in our liberated country".
TO READ MALALAI JOYA'S ARTICLE GO TO http://bit.ly/14yhee
TO SIGN STOP THE WAR'S TROOPS OUT OF AFGHANISTAN PETITION, GO
TO: http://bit.ly/ft6BP
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5) FREEDOM FOR TAMILS DEMONSTRATION
The recent onslaught on Tamils by the Sri Lankan government
left tens of thousands of civilians dead and there are now
hundreds of thousands in internment camps, from which an
estimated 13,000 have "disappeared".
organised very large demonstrations, including outside
parliament, has called a FREEDOM FOR TAMILS demonstration in
support by non-Tamils.
FREEDOM FOR TAMILS
NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION
SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2009
ASSEMBLE 1PM HYDE PARK CORNER
MARCH TO TEMPLE - EMBANKMENT
More info: http://bit.ly/OWLfD
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6) STOP THE WAR STUDENT CONFERENCE
Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, George Galloway MP, Iraqi
activist Sabah Jawad, poet and rapper Lowkey, are among the
keynote speakers at the Stop the War Student Conference on
Saturday 19 September.
The conference will be an opportunity for anti-war students to
meet, discuss and plan future anti-war activities in colleges
and schools.
The event will be held in
Street
For more information and to book a place at the conference,
contact Stewart at the national Stop the War Office; email
stewart@stopwar.org.uk, tel 020 7801 2768
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7) THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TWITTERED
If you're already twittering, you will know that Twitter has
played a central role in getting news out instantly about the
election upheaval in Iran, with even the mainstream media
using it as a prime source for information.
In the past month, over 700 people have opted to follow Stop
the War on Twitter to get our daily updates.
If you haven't joined Twitter yet and want to know what the
fuss is about, have a look at Stop the War's Twitter, where
you can also sign up: http://twitter.com/STWuk
