25 October anti war demonstration in Noordwijk
stopwar - 18.10.2007 10:13
On Thursday 25 October, at twelve o'clock at noon, during the NATO summit in the west coastal village of Noordwijk in the Netherlands, there will be a demonstration against the war in Afghanistan.
Afghan children suffer from the war
This video is called Afghan Woman Loses 8 Family Members.
On Thursday 25 October, at twelve o'clock at noon, during the NATO summit in the west coastal village of Noordwijk in the Netherlands, there will be a demonstration against the war in Afghanistan.
This is a context when there is much pressure by the US Bush administration on the Netherlands to prolong the stay of their soldiers in Uruzgan province in Afghanistan, which was supposed to be only temporary; and even increase the number of soldiers. Other NATO countries are not really enthusiastic to replace the Dutch troops to join George W. Bush.
Most Dutch people want an end to the military mission in Afghanistan.
This is also in a context when the Dutch radio program Argos has just found out that Dutch soldiers already in 2002, when they had no mandate to be present outside Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, were illegally fighting alongside US special forces, far away from Kabul, without the Dutch Parliament or people knowing anything about that.
This demonstration is organized by the Dutch Platform against the 'New War', including over 200 organizations; by the Dutch Stop the War Coalition; by the biggest opposition party, the Socialist Party; and by the Green Left party.
Bart Griffioen of the Dutch Stop the War Coalition says: 'The growing number of civilian casualties by NATO bombs shows the Afghan people that this military mission is about war; not about reconstruction of the country. To prolong that mission would even make the war worse, with more dead, and more misery and bitterness among the Afghans. Also, sharper polarization within the whole region would be a threat then. That is why we call on people to come to Noordwijk, and to let NATO hear there that they should get out of Afghanistan. This open ended war should stop.'
From a number of cities, there will be buses to Noordwijk. You can download the PDF's of the flyer and/or the poster for the demonstration from here.
During the evening of that same day, 25 October, there will be peace vigils and other actions in various cities in the Netherlands.
Local addresses in various cities in the Netherlands, see here.
In the same week - on Saturday 27 October - in Canada and the United States, people will demonstrate to get the troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq.
For Canada, see here.
For the USA, see here.
Source (in Dutch): Indymedia in the Netherlands.
If the Dutch government, maybe in a few weeks' time, will propose to Parliament to continue to send Dutch soldiers to Afghanistan, there will be a demonstration against that proposal on the Plein square in The Hague.
 Website: http://dearkitty.blogsome.com
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