Edinburgh Stop the War Coalition (ESTW)

EDINBURGH STW MEETINGS: the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month at 7.30pm in the Friends Meeting House, Victoria Terrace.

We meet regularly to plan activities and actions. Edinburgh Stop The War Coalition meetings open with a discussion, film, report on one of a range topical STW themes:

Next Meeting 6 February 2008 - Talk by Zahid Ali on 'Islamophobia - the new racism'
20 February 2008 - Talk by Eileen Cook on 'Missile Defence'

Stalls are held:

Saturdays from 1pm to 3pm at the East End of Princes Street beside the Wellington Statue. Please come along whenever you can.

More events on our Diary page!

IN THE EVENT OF AN ATTACK ON IRAN

In case of an attack on Iran the Stop the War Coalition is calling for immediate countrywide protest action. Edinburgh Stop the War and School Students Against War are calling for people to assemble at the Mound Precinct on Princes Street from 5pm on the day of an attack or the next day if the attack is in the evening. On the following day we are asking for walkouts from schools, colleges and workplaces – assemble at the Mound Precinct at midday.

IN THE EVENT OF THE 100th BRITISH SOLDIER BEING KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN

Meet at 5.30pm at the Mound precinct (next to the Art Gallery in Princes Street) on the same day if the news breaks in the morning, or the next day (if the news breaks in the afternoon) . Bring candles, placards, etc.

The major arms company Lockheed Martin is bidding to run the UK 2011 census.

The major arms company Lockheed Martin is bidding to run the UK 2011 census. LM also contribute to the Trident programme in the UK.

There is a Downing Street petition here to stop them getting the contract.

STOP MILITARY RECRUITMENT IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

Following the overwhelming vote at the EIS conference, school students and teachers in Edinburgh met last week to step up the campaign.

FINANCIAL APPEAL

After the Manchester Demonstration ‘Change Policy not Just the Leader’ at the end of June to which Edinburgh Stop the War (ESTW) send a bus full, ESTW finances are dwindling.

Please consider making a donation, or better still setting up a direct debit, to Edinburgh Stop the War Coalition. Please click in the link to find details http://www.edinburghstw.org.uk/donations/

If every ESTW contact were to send in £1 or take up a direct debit of £1 a month that will help ESTW greatly. ESTW will be able to keep producing material, public meetings, etc. In short, ESTW will keep the pressure in our politician and will keep informing the public with facts that the mass media does not show.

1) You can send a cheque, made payable to Edinburgh Stop the War Coalition, to:

Edinburgh Stop the War Coalition
c/o Peace and Justice Centre,
Princes Street ,
Edinburgh
EH2 4BJ

2) YOU CAN COMPLETE A STANDING ORDER FORM (download here)

FOR ONGOING ANTI-WAR ACTIVITIES, WE WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL IF SUPPORTERS COULD MAKE REGULAR SMALL (OR LARGE) DONATIONS USING THE DOWNLOADABLE STANDING ORDER FORM WHICH IS ATTACHED TO THIS EMAIL.

Thanks to all those who have generously supported the campaign up to now, and to all those who respond to this appeal.

Troops Home from Iraq
Don't Attack Iran

Reasons to protest against the war...

	Iraq is suffering - the occupation has cost more than 100,000 lives with no end in sight. Iraqis want our troops to go.
	British troops are dying in Blair's war - nearly 100 so far, with hundreds more badly injured.
	The US and Britain are plotting new aggression - against Iran above all. The war could spread and it could become a nuclear war.
	We were lied to about the attack on Iraq - it is time Blair was held to account for his decisions, which have undermined democracy.
	Blair's foreign policy is making Britain a terror target, as the atrocities of July 7 last year proved.
	Freedom is under threat - civil liberties are being torn up by the government because of the so-called "war on terror".
	British Muslims are under threat. We must stand together to protect communities being targeted by Islamophobic racists.
	Billions are being wasted on the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan which could be used for pensions and public services in Britain.
	March 18 is an international day of action against the occupation. Protests are already planned across the world, including in Iraq.
	The world will be watching - let's show friend and foe alike that the British people are opposed to the Iraq occupation and the threats to world peace and our freedom.

AFGHANISTAN: NEW LEAFLET AND LINK TO USEFUL RESOURCES
The war there is exacting a growing toll and is increasingly unpopular with the Afghan people. Six years after the US attacked that country, thousands of Afghanis are dead (being 'unpeople' in the words of writer Mark Curtis they are as uncountable as the Iraqi dead), 370 US soldiers and 170 other 'Coalition troops have been killed. President Karzai is living in his own 'Green Zone' protected by foreign mercenaries because he dare not trust his own compatriots whilst the rest of the country is either back under the control of the Taliban or given over to the Northern Alliance (notorious war lords and poppy growers) who preside over that crops harvest that increases exponentially as each year passes. The cost of all this to NATO is $188 per annum whilst next to nothing is spent on reconstruction - ostensibly the reason our troops are in the country.

Documents on Afghanistan are available from the Stop the War Coalition Office.

Useful resources relating to Afghanistan from the Canadian Peace Alliance can be found at

http://www.acp-cpa.ca/en/AfghanistanResources.htm

Top Ten War Profiteers of 2004

7) Halliburton

10) Qualcomm

NEW CAMPAIGN BROCHURE TO CHANGE FOREIGN POLICY
The Stop the War Coalition has a new brochure containing the resolutions passed at the People's Assembly in March and a letter to Labour MP's and party officials as part of our campaign to pressurise the new prime minister to change foreign policy.
See: http://tinyurl.com/2bxh86

You can also download the letter to the new Prime Minister as a petition: http://tinyurl.com/2ohkg5

www.g8alternatives.org.uk

All the speeches at the 10th February Conference can now be downloaded in MP3 format from

http://www.archive.org/details/StopTheWarConference07