The indispensable WIkiLeaks has released a video showing the pilots of two US gunships murdering reporters and children in cold blood.

To usual form they claimed that it was only Iraqi Insurgents killed etc etc.

Another 27 innocent civilians killed in an airstrike in Afghanistan. There is one marked difference between this and previous attacks, there appears to be no immediate denial, claim it was the Taliban the hit, claim it was the Taliban who hit them etc etc.

The SSP are holding a public meeting on the war on Wednesday.

Wednesday at 7pm in the DVA Constitution Road Dundee.

A Canadian Anti-War group have pointed out a cruel repeat of history.

The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were boycotted in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. Then–U.S. president Jimmy Carter announced the boycott in February 1980, and Canada and dozens of other countries soon followed suit. In his state of the union address that year, Carter made the case against the Soviet war:

“The vast majority of nations on Earth have condemned this latest Soviet attempt to extend its colonial domination of others and have demanded the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops. The Muslim world is especially and justifiably outraged by this aggression against an Islamic people. No action of a world power has ever been so quickly and so overwhelmingly condemned. But verbal condemnation is not enough. The Soviet Union must pay a concrete price for their aggression.”

Now Canada is part of a coalition occupying Afghanistan whilst hosting the Olympics.

Read the rest of the article at the link for more information.

Dundee SSP are holding a public meeting about the continued war and occupation in Afghanistan on the 24th of February at the DVA.

Today’s Courier reported that a plaque for the Basque refugees from the Spanish Civil War in Montrose now has a permanent home.

Don’t forget to commemorate the Dundee volunteers to the International Brigade at Macmanus Galleries this Saturday.

We are holding a public meeting Axe war, not services on Wednesday 24th February at the DVA, Constitution Road, starting at 7pm.

The main speakers will be

• Colin Fox, SSP co-national spokesperson
• John McAllion, former MP and MSP for Dundee East
• Joan Humphreys, Military Families Against War

followed by Q&A and discussion time.

The current cold spell is making us all shiver, but as the major parties wind themselves up for a General Election this year, the money they’re spending will look positively balmy compared to the cuts and wage freezes that whoever wins will try to enforce in order to pay for the folly of the bankers.

The chilly blast of austerity will be felt by us all in the shape of cuts to public services and wage freezes.

However, the Scottish Socialist Party believes there could and should be some more welcome cuts made, including:

• Nationalisation of all banks, bringing the obscene bonus culture to an end.
• All MP’s and MSP’s to be paid an average skilled worker’s wage.
• Withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. These campaigns currently cost billions each year, and that’s without counting the appalling loss of life.

There is an anti-war demo in Edinburgh on November the 14th.

Bus from Dundee :-

Bus – 33 Seater booked – spaces still available, If you would like to book a seat please get in touch as soon as possible

To reserve seat contact: Karen Grogan, karen1grogan@hotmail.com.

Bus leaves Meadowside, opposite Post Office, at 8.30 a.m.

Returns to Dundee by 5.00 p.m.

£10 per seat (£5 concessions).

Assemble 10.30am East Market Street, Edinburgh, leaving at 11am

Troops Out of Afghanistan Now / No to NATO / Scrap Trident

The NATO defence ministers are meeting at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre the weekend of the 14th. The war in Afghanistan is waged under the NATO banner. Opinion polls make it clear that a big majority want the troops home now.

Joan Humphries, whose grandson Kevin Elliott was killed while on foot patrol in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on 31 August, will be speaking at the end of the march and there will be music from David Ferrard

Called by Stop the War Scotland, supported by STW UK, CND, SCNDSACC

Note: Apologies for the delay, holiday meant there was a backlog of e-mail to sort through and this slipped back a bit.

Dundee East and West branches of the Scottish Socialist party organised a public meeting in the city’s Queens Hotel on the evening of Wednesday, September 23, to protest at the continuing war in Afghanistan, and calling for the troops to be brought home.

It was a particularly poignant time to hold this meeting in Dundee, as two young soldiers from the area, one from Dundee itself and the other from nearby Monifieth, had lost their lives in the fighting in Afghanistan during the previous three weeks, in this pointless and senseless war.

Street stalls were held on the five days leading up to the meeting and the reaction from the public was overwhelmingly against the war and agreeing with the SSP‘s position.

Many of those signing our petitions and pledging support for our stance told us that they were either family or friends of service personnel currently on duty in Afghanistan.

In the two days leading up to the meeting, Dundee West member Angela Gorrie was interviewed on the two local radio stations, Radio Tay and Wave 102, giving her the opportunity to state the Scottish Socialist Party’s case against the continuation of the war in Afghanistan.

The meeting itself was well attended with around thirty members of the pbulic turning out to show their anger at Britain’s continuing involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

Speakers at the meeting were Colin Fox, national spokesperson of the Scottish Socialist Party; former MP and MSP and Scottish Socialist Party member John McAllion; and Mohammad Asif, of the Scottish Afghan Society.

First to speak was John McAllion, who highlighted the enormity of the lies and deceptions surrounding the war, while the next speaker, Mohammad Asif, told of the countless unnamed Afghan casualties who never seem to rate a mention as victims of a war being fought on their own soil.

In the final speech of the evening Colin Fox stated that on the run-up to next year’s general election the war in Afghanistan and the ongoing crisis of captitalism would be the main issues on which the election would be fought.

Following their speeches, the speakers then answered various questions from the floor of the meeting.

As regards further anti-war activity, it was agreed that we should use the time between now and the anti-war demonstration in Edinburgh on November 14 to build for the demo, and we should attempt to get the maximum number of people from Dundee through to Edinburgh for the event in order to keep up the pressure on the government.

Following on from the excellent SSP Public meeting in Dundee on the Afghanistan conflict (article coming soon), the SSP have booked a meeting in Aberdeen.

SSP Public meeting on Afghanistan – Aberdeen

Wednesday 28th November in Aberdeen Trades Council Social Club, 13 Adelphi, off Union Street

Speakers
Colin Fox, SSP joint national spokesman
John McAllion, Former MP and MSP
Mohammad Asif, Chairman Scottish Afghan Society

Bring the Troops Home! – Dundee SSP Public Meeting.

Wednesday 23rd September, 7.30pm, Queen’s Hotel.

Confirmed speakers include Colin Fox and John McAllion

Afghanistan Public Meeting Leaflet