Press Release: - For Immediate Release

Joan Humphries's grandson, Kevin, was killed in Afghanistan in 2009; one of a total 300 British soldiers now killed since the start of the occupation. No one is even counting the numbers of Afghan civilians killed.

British troops are killing and dying to protect one of the most corrupt governments in the world: a government that condones marital rape, tortures its own citizens and was elected by massive fraud, and their presence there increases, not decreases, the risk of terrorism to us here in the UK..

Cost of War

The occupation of Afghanistan is costing £4 billion per year, while ordinary people in the UK are facing savage cuts to jobs, services and pensions.

What difference could a share of that £4 billion a year make to the people of Lewisham? How many of us will lose our jobs and services while no commitment is made to bringing the troops home?

Racist Backlash

The majority of British people favour a withdrawal from Afghanistan, but the main political parties are united in creating a climate of fear to justify attacks on our civil liberties and continuing an unjust occupation which is actually putting us more at risk of terrorist attack.

They don't seem to care that this has resulted in a significant rise in anti-Muslim racist attacks a rise in support for the Fascist English Defence League, and the election of the first ever MEPs for the BNP.

Letters to MPs and Councillors and Replies

We have written to all locally-elected representatives about Afghanistan and encourage others to do the same, just as many of us wrote to our MPs about Gaza earlier in 2009. We have a catalogue of them at the new MP and Councillor Letters page.

PAST EVENTS

Budget Day Protest Against Cuts

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Lewisham Stop the War took part in a protest against the vicious cuts in jobs, services and pensions that are being made against a background of billions being spent on wars and occupations. Photos by Owen Liddle.

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At the Albany Theatre, Deptford, the Lewisham Young Mayor, with Lewisham Peace, Justice and Solidarity, presents

Sunday 7 March 2010

Download the leaflet

Music

from 7.30 pm

Falling Embers	band	alternative/punk/rock
Tony Lording	singer songwriter	country/blues/folk
Shiikane	band	R & B/Gospel
Paul Moody	singer songwriter	rock/soul
Jim Radford	singer songwriter	folk
Bruise	duo	folk
Damusia	singer songwriter	blues/jazz
Strawberry Thieves	socialist choir

Food and Bar

from 6.30 pm Caribbean food, including vegetarian dishes, from the Albany café

Discussion and Films

from 4 pm

Seventy years of struggle against racism in fascism in London	The next steps with local anti-racist campaigner
Greener Cities and Saving the Planet	by green activist Jim Jepps
Pictures of Afghanistan and Eyewitness Account	by photo-journalist Guy Smallman
Everyday Life in Palestine and the Relief Convoy to Gaza	Pauline Collins and Leah Levane talk about their experiences

There will also be stalls from the campaigning groups participating in Peace, Justice, Solidarity.

The Albany is in Douglas Way, off Deptford High Street, walking distance from Deptford and New Cross railway stations, Deptford Bridge DLR and buses 47, 53, 177, 188, 199, 225 and 453.

See www.thealbany.org.uk/infopoint/12/Your-Visit for map and more details.

Vigil for 100th British Soldier Killed in Afghanistan in 2009

1700 - 1900 Wednesday 9 December 2009

National Demonstration 24 October 2009

Pictures by Owen Liddle

Joe and Clare Glenton at the front of the march (see local Afghanistan meeting)

The Lewisham banner on the road

Lewisham Stop the War and CND banners in Trafalgar Square

Afghanistan: The Unwinnable War

Tuesday 8 September 2009, 1930, Lewisham Methodist Church Hall, Albion Way.

Speakers were

Lindsey German

National Convenor, Stop the War Coalition

Clare Glenton

Wife of Joe Glenton, facing court martial for refusing to return to Afhanistan

Lindsey German (left) Stewart Halforty and Clare Glenton

For more information, see the link to the Stop the War site at http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1400/1/

Also, a South London Press report at http://www.southlondonpress.co.uk/tn/news.cfm?id=36069&searchword=afghanistan

Vigil and Naming the Dead 22 August 2009

Following the announcement of 200th British soldier being killed in Afghanistan, on the following Saturday we held a vigil near Lewisham Clocktower. Names of British soldiers and Afghan civilians were read out.

Owen Liddle

Bruce Levy

Owen Liddle

Report taken from the New Worker Newspaper.

"Stop the War campaigners gathered around Lewisham Clock Tower in South London last Saturday to mark the death toll of British troops serving in the futile and illegal war in Afghanistan passing 200.

Those present - individuals and representatives of a wide spectrum of progressive organisations - took turns to read out the names of the 206 dead British troops and a similar number of dead Afghan civilians.

The casualty rate among Afghan civilians is far higher than among the invading troops but it seems that no one is keeping records and the numbers and names of the dead are hard to find. Most British reporters in the country are embedded with British troops and rarely get to interview the victims of British and American bombing raids..

A lot of information has been supplied by a London reporter, Guy Smallman, who has travelled to Afghanistan to make his own independent investigation. Even so, information about many of the dead is patchy; some are known only as "Amin's mother" or "Khan's baby son".

The ceremony attracted a number of passers by and shoppers who stopped to listen to the list of names being read."

Peace, Justice, Solidarity at Lewisham People's Day 2009

Lewisham Stop the War was one of many organisations involved in a special marquee at People's Day with theatre, music, videos and discussion. We hope to do the same in future years.

For more details of the programme and the organisations involved and pictures from the day, see www.lewishampeacejusticesolidarity.org.uk.

Public Meeting 26 March 2009

7.30 pm St Andrews Centre, Brockley SE4 2SA, corner of Brockley Road and Wickham Road

· Solidarity with Gaza

· End the War on Terror

· Build the G20 Demonstrations

Speakers

Stewart Halforty Lewisham Stop the War convenor, recently returned from Gaza http://www.theroadtogaza.org/

Kevin Ovenden from the Viva Palestina convoy, just returned from delivering a lifeline to Gaza

Souheir Turkmani from south London, also on the Viva Palestina convoy

Nearest stations Brockley, Crofton Park; buses 171, 172 (484 very near). See map below, but note that the embedded map gives the correct area but may put the arrow in the wrong place. If you click on "View larger map" it seems to be correct.

View Larger Map

Songs for Gaza, Wednesday 18 February

Fundraising Event for Palestine Overwhelmed by Support

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Rajai Ayyad (oud), Fadi Rumman (orgue) and Dr Abdullah Abu Hilal (singer) receive applause from the audience

Some videos are now available. See the Videos Page.

"Songs for Gaza" was a fundraising event for Medical Aid for Palestinians which was held in the foyer of Lewisham Town Hall in Catford.

There was so much local support for the people of Palestine that much of the potential audience would have had to be turned away on health and safety grounds.

Thanks to the support of Lewisham's directly-elected Mayor, Sir Steve Bullock, who also introduced the event, the town hall staff pitched in to make sure that the event could be moved to the main Council Chamber before the main performances.

As well as the lively musical acts, which were greatly enjoyed by the audience, local members also put on a moving performance of Caryl Churchill's ten-minute play "Seven Jewish Children" with less than a day's preparation.

In the light of the situation in Gaza, about forty local people had been involved in an organising meeting on 20 January 2009. One of the suggestions that came out of it was to try to contact the Palestinian musicians and organise a musical event. To go from that suggestion to putting on such a successful event by 18 February is an amazing example of local teamwork and cooperation.

A total of £1175.34 was raised from ticket sales, raffle and bucket collection. Funds and donations were also raised through stalls and refreshments.

The main musical acts were

The Camden Band from Abu Dis, Palestine

Featuring Ahmed Eriquat (oud)

Rajai Ayyad (shebatech)

Dr Abdullah Abu Hilal (voice)

Fadi Rumman (orgue)

Velvet Fist

women's a cappella singing group Listen to Velvetfist

Organised by Lewisham Stop the War Coalition

Lewisham and Greenwich Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Sydenham and Forest Hill Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

South East London Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Britain-Palestine Twinning Network

Sound Equipment provided by the Lewisham Young Mayor's office.

Lewisham Centre Saturday 31 January

Following the Lewisham Centre's refusal to allow a collection on behalf of a charity working to alleviate humanitarian suffering in Palestine, despite allowing collections for similar charities working elsewhere, it was decided that Lewisham Stop the War, Lewisham and Greenwich CND and South East London PSC would hold a collection in the Centre, without permission, on behalf of behalf of the Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal for Gaza (please follow the link if you want to contribute).

About ten people went into the Lewisham Centre, with nothing other than leaflets promoting the DEC appeal and collection buckets; no banners or placards. We were asked to leave almost immediately. We explained to the staff, who were generally quite reasonable, that we had no choice in the light of the management's decision to bring politics into the issue of charity collections by specifically refusing a collection for a charity working in Palestine.

Unfortunately, the duty manager became threatening and abusive and we had no choice but to retire to the stall outside. Nevertheless, while we explained the situation, members of the public continued to donate, and we made a total of £186.22 for the DEC Gaza Appeal.

Pictures Below.

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Collecting inside the Lewisham Centre

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The stall outside

Lewisham Lloyds TSB Protest Saturday 31 January

Straight after the collection in the Lewisham Centre we went to Lloyds TSB to protest at the closure of Interpal's bank account. Interpal is a respected UK charity which helps alleviate the agony of Gaza. It has been thoroughly investigated by the Charities Commission and given the all-clear. For full details of the protest in Bristol that inspired our action, see the Bristol Protest Page.

Although the main purpose was to protest at the unethical decision by Lloyds, a bank which is now 43% owned by the taxpayer, we also had a collection bucket and made £31.28 for Interpal.

Pictures below.

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Dolls were used to represent babies murdered in Gaza

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Gaza Local Vigils 14 and 15 January 2009

The vigils in Greenwich and Lewisham were very successful; David Leal's excellent lanterns were very effective, as were the flags and banners. We got hoots of support from car drivers and a lot of interest from staff and students at the college in Greenwich, as well as free food from the sausage man in Lewisham. Some pictures below from Lewisham.

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Naming the Dead: Thursday 20 November 2008

With over 300 British soldiers now killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the calls are getting stronger for the troops to be brought home. In line with events around the country, there was a naming the dead ceremony at the war memorial in Lewisham Way on Thursday 20 November.

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Ex-serviceman Jim Radford give a moving speech referring to way that troops are having to risk their lives, not to protect this country, but to attack countries which have never threatened the UK. He mentioned how, far from it bringing freedom and democracy to Afghanistan, conditions are worse than before the occupation, including the treatment of women.

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Ex-serviceman Jim Radford and ex-councillor Gurbash Garcha

Names of British servicemen were read out, along with the names of innocent Afghan people, including many elderly people and children, killed at wedding parties or indiscriminately by other bombings.

Activists' Meeting in Lewisham with Andrew Murray

Andrew Murray, national Chair of the Stop the War Coalition, came to our organising meeting on Tuesday 11 November at Ladywell Leisure Centre. This was a very successful meeting which discussed a number of ideas, the most urgent of which is the Naming the Dead Ceremony on 20 November.

We organised a coach to get the demonstration in Manchester on Saturday 20 September 2008.

See the Manchester demonstration page for pictures.

President George W Bush Visits Lewisham

President George W Bush visited Lewisham on Saturday 13 September 2008 and met several local people. They were pleased to hear that a lack of oil in the area means that they are unlikely to be bombed in the immediate future.

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The president tries to recruit some local people for the military

Lewisham Stop the War Coalition provided security and used the visit to promote a message that we are sure the President would approve of.

The President in Lewisham High Street

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George W Bush has never been shy of talking to the camera, although he did not appear to know what he was saying or who he was talking to.

The President's security team struggle to keep him on course as he rushes to greet more potential recruits.

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President George W Bush stops off for a drink at the Goldsmith's Tavern.

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