[antiwar-van] Today! April 12 Picket Action: CANADA/NATO OUT OF AFGHANISTAN NOW!

[Shannon Bundock]

*Reminder*

Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO)
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THURSDAY APRIL 12
--Picket Action--
CANADA/NATO OUT OF AFGHANISTAN NOW!

3pm-4pm
Canadian Forces Recruitment Centre
1070 W Georgia St (@ Thurlow)
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---MAWO APRIL 11th STATEMENT---

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In Response to the April 8th & April 11th Deaths of 8
Canadian Soldiers and the Massive Killing and
Destruction of Afghanistan, 
We Demand: CANADA/NATO OUT OF AFGHANISTAN NOW!
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April 11, 2007 Vancouver, BC
http://www.mawovancouver.org/070411Statement.html

On April 11th, 2007, two Canadian soldiers died in
Afghanistan. According to the Globe and Mail, "Details
are scarce. A news blackout is in effect at Kandahar
Air Field, where reporters are based. More will
follow"

These deaths come on the heels of Canadian soldier
deaths last Sunday. On April 8th, 2007 Canada
experienced its heaviest troop loss in fifty years,
with the death of six Canadian NATO soldiers in a
roadside bomb attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It was
the heaviest single-day loss sustained by Canadian
forces since May 1953 during the Korea War.

The death toll for Canada has now reached 54. By this
time, people in Canada are beginning to realize
something that Afghans have known much too well for
the past 6 years: Canada is at war in Afghanistan. The
deaths of six Canadian soldiers are but a drop in the
bucket of death and destruction that Afghanistan has
suffered at the hands of this Canada/NATO war drive
since 2001.

Stephen Harper released a statement on April 9, 2007
lauding "the sacrifices that our men and women in
uniform have made and continue to make to defend our
country and their fellow human beings."

This so-called defense of Canada and "their fellow
human beings" means military suppression of a
resistance movement demanding their right to
sovereignty for their country. It means air strikes,
house raids, checkpoints, arrests and torture.

According to Minister of National Defense, Gordon
O’Connor, "[Canadian] troops have a clear mission - to
build security and stability in Afghanistan. And it is
because our soldiers are succeeding in this mission
that they came under attack."

We ask O'Connor what his definition of "security and
stability" is, and who is this so-called "security and
stability" for? For Afghan people, the "successful
mission" to "build security and stability" has
resulted in the plummeting of the life expectancy in
Afghanistan, which has dropped from 46 to 42 years old
since 2001. It has meant the skyrocketing of the
maternal mortality rate, which, according to the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,
is now the second highest in the world. Is has meant
that the literacy rate in Afghanistan, according to
UNESCO is 39% overall, and an appalling 21% among
women. It has also meant the wholesale destruction of
Afghanistan’s infrastructure, the murders of tens of
thousands of people and the maiming of hundreds of
thousands more. No wonder that Afghan people have
rejected this so called "successful mission" being
waged by the Canadian/NATO forces!

The government of Canada and NATO continue to maintain
that they are fighting a “Taliban insurgency” in
Afghanistan. Why? Because saying otherwise would mean
admitting the truth: that they are not fighting and
killing a small number of isolated rebels, but that
they are battling a popular resistance movement of
regular Afghan people who are fighting with sticks and
stones and everything they have against the
occupation.

According to a February 2007 Senlis Council report,
the grassroots resistance movement in Afghanistan is
large and significant and is driven "mainly by
economic incentives and by grievances held against the
government and the international community". With the
hundreds of bombings, civilians being shot for walking
down their own streets, and people dying from lack of
health care every day, it is little wonder that the
resistance to the occupation is growing in strength
and size every day.

Canada's war drive in Afghanistan is a brutal and
criminal drive, which must be opposed by all
peace-loving people in Canada and around the world.
For Afghanistan to have a chance to build a future
that will benefit the needs of Afghans, they first
need self-determination. Mobilization Against War &
Occupation (MAWO) calls for an immediate withdrawal of
all Canadian troops and NATO forces from Afghanistan,
and for an independent public inquiry into the
government of Canada’s war drive, which has been
launched, extended, and had its budget doubled without
the consultation of people in Canada, at the cost of
the lives of people in Afghanistan. 


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MOBILIZATION AGAINST WAR & OCCUPATION -MAWO-
info at mawovancouver.org
HTTP://WWW.MAWOVANCOUVER.ORG
ph| 604.322.1764
fx| 604.322.1763
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