As the world suffers more from natural disasters and the devastating results of wars, along with the ravages of poverty created by corporate capitalist greed, we need to allow people freedom of movement as they try to survive these horrors. No one can be illegal, borders can’t be a death sentence, we are one.
We no longer have a political party system, it is a corporate state. No matter what party you elect and no matter the different and wonderful manifesto promises, after the election it is just as before with perhaps a little plus or minus this way or that. The smile on the face of the new messiah may look more radiant than the last, but the price of bread still goes up. The few over privileged parasites that have control of all the institutions in our society have bought the political parties and are in bed with the military. Big business is all, and war is big business, so we will have war, bloating the coffers of the corporate greed machine until they bleed us all dry. To the corporate world people are dispensable, profit is the name of the game.
Turning to this or that political party creates the myth of democracy and the results prove that it is no more than a myth, an illusion spun by the media, another institution, which is hardly likely to speak against its master and owner corporate world.
If we want a better world where we see to the needs of all our people then we have to break the hold of that corporate beast. Communities have to take control of all those institutions and run them in federation with each other based on sustainability. We have to eliminate the profit motive from all we do, and create for the benefit of all, mutual aid being the key. No matter how you try to shape capitalism, no matter how green you think you can make it, it is unsustainable and will never work for the benefit of all, it is an elitist and exploitive system that works for the privileged few parasites who own those corporations.
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
As Ossie the toff prattled on about his necessary and very fair cuts you probably noticed that there were no cuts announced for the Ministry of War’s budget. I call it by it proper name since all it ever seems to do is send our troops to kill and maim people in other countries. Countries I might add that have never attacked us. He could have saved us £45 billion by scrapping trident and not replacing the beast, but some how he feels the need for our country to have these illegal weapons of mass destruction skulking about deep in the Atlantic pointing at our enemies. Who are our enemies? We don’t know and if we did we couldn’t fire these weapons of mass destruction, for though we bought and paid for them, we can’t use them without America’s permission, and they are unlikely to grant that permission unless it is somebody they don’t like, so we would be doing them a favour and taking the blame. At a running cost of £5 billion a year, these weapons of mass destruction do however allow our ministers to prance about on the international stage with the label “Super Power” pinned to their chest. That must make them feel good!! Let’s try to imagine how that £5 billion a year works out in schools, hospitals, cheap homes and/or an excellent public transport system.
Though Ossie the toff didn’t cut our Ministry of War budget you would imagine that there was a wee bit wiggle room there, as, for the year 2009, the financial crash year, we managed to spend more on warfare than Russia. As a matter of fact we were the third largest spender on warfare on the planet, We were only beaten into third place by the mighty war machines of the USA and China.
Our democratic welfare state managed to spend for the year 2009 approximately £45.8 billion on war. How would that translate into health, education and pensions? Of course we have to think what would the state be without its war machine? How could it make those land grabs for the corporate world, how could it seize other people’s oil for the oil giants? Yes, we need that mighty war machine to protect and increase the assets of the corporate world, so you and I will just have to pay up, grin and bear it.
We could of course organise to change society so that it sees to the needs of all its people and works in peace and co-operation with all other ordinary people across the planet. A society where the need to protect the greedy profit seeking parasites is a distant memory from the dustbin of history.
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