[OPIRG-EVENTS] Action:NOWAR/PAIX Saturday March

[nowar_paix@flora.org]

The NOWAR/PAIX marches on the market continue. 
When: Saturday, April 13th, 12:00-1:30
Where: We meet at the corner of Sussex and York

As the war in the Middle East worsens, the CONTINUING war in Afghanistan goes 
relatively unnoticed, the war in the Philippians accelerates,...feeling 
overwhelmed?  

Citizens must demand alternatives from their government and also from each 
other!  I will shamelessly paraphrase someone else’s words regarding Israeli 
and Palestinian people – People need to know that they can’t wait for their 
politically minded leaders to make peace – indeed let me add that if people 
waited for politicians to act of their own conscious alone, I would be 
waiting to vote. Saturday is an opportunity for you to interrupt the budding 
shopping day with the message that must penetrate society – there is 
something ‘amuck’ right now and no, you can’t just change the channel!  Bring 
your signs and your outrage – let people know this government has COMBAT 
TROOPS in a war in Afghanistan.  (While we vote against UN human rights 
observers even going to the Middle East.)  

 Also paraphrasing: The desire to live, enjoy our families and friends free 
from military and economic oppression is universal – what is Canada doing in 
this war? “According to UNICEF officials, more than 100,000 Afghan children 
will likely die from war-related causes by the end of winter.” (READ MORE 
BELOW) What is Canada doing in this war? Do you know?


This week we will also be trying to get some information out about April 
20th – an international day of action against war and racism, called by 
ANSWER, (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism). If you are interested in this day 
or how to get involved please come on Saturday – or email 
nowar_paix@flora.org 

There will be – confirmed as of yet – actions on April 20t against the war in:
Tabasco, Oaxaca, and Mexico City, Mexico 
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 
San Salvador, El Salvador 
Santiago, Chile 
Managua, Nicaragua 
Buenos Aires, Argentina 
Basque Country 
Madrid, Spain 
Montréal, Canada 
Copenhagen, Denmark 
Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand
And now: Ottawa, Canada
************************************************************************
From ANSWERS PAGE : http://www.internationalanswer.org/

QUESTION: Is the U.S. bombing campaign
directed against “terrorists” or the people of
Afghanistan?

ANSWER: A terrible crime was committed against innocent civilians
on September 11. But this is a war against the people of
Afghanistan. The U.S. and Britain are dropping thousands of
bombs and firing missiles on homes, schools, mosques, hospitals
and villages throughout the country.
Thousands of 5,000-pound and 1,000-pound bombs are deliberately
targeting every major town and rural area. AC-130 planes
filled with 70,000 pounds of ammunition are firing huge Gatlingguns
on the population in a steady stream of bullets.
When Wazir Akbarhan hospital in Kabul was bombed on the
first day of the U.S. bombing, 13 women were killed in the gynecology
department. Some 200 people were killed in a hospital in
Herat. Red Cross facilities have been bombed twice.
Cluster bombs—one of the most terrifying and deadly of the
U.S. weapons—are now being used as bombing intensifies. Cluster
bombs are prohibited by international law because of their
highly destructive nature against humans and other living things.
Hundreds of small bomblets packed with razor shrapnel are dispersed
at high velocity over a wide area, ripping into people with
devastating damage.
The Sydney Morning Herald quotes Dan Kelly, head of UN
mine clearing in Afghanistan, as saying, “These bomblets can explode
if the villagers so much as touch them. It is a very violent
death. You don\'t get arms and legs blown off like you do with antipersonnel
mines, you get killed.” Another proof that civilians are
targeted is the U.S. method of repeat bombing to kill rescuers as
well. In Jalalabad, the Sultanpur mosque was bombed during
prayer. As neighbors dug out the 17 victims who were trapped, the
plane returned to bomb minutes later, killing 120 people.
Cluster bombs, depleted-uranium ammunition, 5,000-pound
bombs, fuel-air explosives: this is the terror being unleashed by the
biggest military power in the world against one of the poorest and
most underdeveloped countries in existence.

QUESTION: What is the current state
of the Afghan people?

ANSWER: The average life expectancy in Afghanistan is 43
years. Per capita income is $180 per year. Only 13 percent of the
population has access to drinking water. Barely 12 percent of the
population has sanitation coverage. Literacy is about 20 percent.
The infant-mortality rate is a shocking 247 deaths per 1,000 live
births. On average, 16,000 mothers die in childbirth every year,
one out of every 17 births, the second worst maternal mortality rate
in the world.
It\'s not just the bombs that are killing people. The dislocation
and chaos of the war itself means huge numbers of Afghan people
will die from hunger, cold and disease. According to UNICEF
officials, more than 100,000 Afghan children will likely die from
war-related causes by the end of winter.



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