Aug 03, 2006
4 CDN Soldiers Killed in 24hrs:
Vancouver anti-war activists hold emergency picket to demand
CANADA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN!
Call for an Independent Public Inquiry Into the Canadian War Drive!
ISRAEL OUT OF LEBANON and GAZA!
Picket Report | Public Statement | Photos
Picket Report >>
On Thursday August 3rd MAWO organized an emergency picket action, for the 17th time in the past year, to demand an end to the occupation of Afghanistan. August 3rd was a significant and precedent setting day in the Canadian war drive in Afghanistan with 4 soldiers killed within the last 24 hours and more than 10 wounded.
More than 25 picketters gathered on very short notice, at the Canadian Forces Recruitment Centre to voice opposition to Canada's bloody war in Afghanistan. Alongside the demands against the occupation of Afghanistan, protesters also raised demands against the Israeli siege on Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, highlighting the Canadian government's support of Israel's criminal attack.
Shannon Bundock, Co Chair of Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO), read a statement from the antiwar coalition demanding an end to the occupation of Afghanistan and an end to the Israeli siege on Lebanon and Gaza. "Who is responsible for the destruction, death and crisis facing the people of these countries? Who is the true “Axis of Evil” bringing hell on earth to millions of Afghans, Iraqis, Lebanese, Palestinians? US, Israel, and yes, Canada, have all earned themselves this title. The US, Israel and Canada are truly the “Axis of Evil” in this world today." She said to the print, TV and radio media that had gathered to cover the picket protest.
The protest continued into the afternoon with chanting and speakers. Two MAWO members spoke at intervals throughout the picket action. Nicole Burton, MAWO Organizer and Douglas College student expanded on Canada's crimes in the occupation of Afghanistan. Ivan Drury, MAWO organizer, condemned the Israeli military killing machine in Lebanon and Gaza.
MAWO plans to continue such protest actions, with a march and rally on Saturday, August 12, at 3pm at the Vancouver Art Gallery (Robson St & Howe St – Downtown Vancouver). August 12 demonstrations have been called by International ANSWER throughout the US, and Vancouver's protest has been organized by MAWO in collaboration with the Canadian Muslim Alliance. August 12th protest will demand DEFEND THE PEOPLE OF PALESTINE & LEBANON!
STOP THE U.S.-ISRAELI WAR!
Press Release >>
August 3, 2006
NEWS ITEM: For Immediate Release
Emergency Anti-War Picket Action
responding to Canada’s deadliest day in Afghanistan and
Israeli war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza
MAWO STATEMENT:
Four soldiers killed in Canada’s deadliest day in Afghanistan
while mass bombing of Beirut resumes – and in Vancouver Anti-War
picketers return to the Canada Forces Recruitment Centre:
CANADA, US, AND ISRAEL ARE THE AXIS OF EVIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST!
Before daybreak on the morning of August 3rd, Canadian Cpl.
Christopher Jonathan Reid died when a roadside bomb struck his
LAV-3 while carrying out his troops’ search and destroy mission
in Southern Afghanistan. Just hours later, three more yet
unnamed Canadian soldiers were killed in a rocket attack on the
outskirts of Kandahar City. Additional bombing attacks left at
least four more Canadian soldiers wounded. These deaths bring
Canada’s death toll in Afghanistan to 25, of which, 17 have died
in the last six months, since Canada’s deployment of 2,000
troops to Southern Afghanistan was carried out.
Also on August 3rd, just one day after Israel began a massive
10,000 ground-troop invasion of Lebanon, Israel resumed its
bombing of Beirut. And at the same time, Israel deployed 50
tanks and armoured bulldozers into Gaza, leveling homes and
vital civilian infrastructure while fighter planes fired
missiles at ‘targets’ that had not yet been destroyed by
targeted Israeli bombs.
“The savage war drive of Stephen Harper and Peter MacKay in
Afghanistan plus their unconditional support of Israel’s brutal
war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza has earned the a place for the
government of Canada along with the US and Israel as the ‘Axis
of Evil’ in the Middle East,” said MAWO Co-Chair Shannon
Bundock.
She continued, “Stephen Harper claims that Canada is waging a
‘war on terror’ in Afghanistan and supporting Israel’s ‘war on
terror’ in Lebanon and Gaza. In Afghanistan this ‘war on terror’
means air strikes, house raids, checkpoints, arrests, murder,
and torture. The results of this ‘war on terror’ are the deaths
of unknown and untold numbers of innocent Afghan people, and the
unnecessary deaths of four Canadian soldiers today alone. That
makes almost three Canadian deaths a month since Canada’s
Kandahar combat mission began just six months ago.”
On August 1st, in response to a world uproar against the Israeli
bombing in Qana, Peter MacKay, the Foreign Affairs Minister of
Canada, called Hezbollah a “cancer” and echoed the US and
Israel’s ‘ceasefire’ conditions as the destruction of Hezbollah
for a ‘lasting peace.’
Bundock continued, “In Lebanon this ‘war on terror’ means that
more than 900 innocent people have been killed, 3,000 injured,
and over 700,000 Lebanese have been made refugees since the
Israeli invasion began on July 12th. In Gaza, Israel’s ‘war on
terror’ means that more than 119 people have been killed since
the Israeli invasion of Gaza began a month ago. This is what
terrorism looks like.”
Bundock concluded, “We can name the source of the terrorism that
is costing thousands of lives and such tremendous human
suffering in Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Gaza – the US, Israel and
the government of Canada make up the axis of evil in the Middle
East. For an end to terrorism and a ‘lasting peace’ in the
Middle East, Canada must get out of Afghanistan, Israel must get
out of Lebanon and Palestine, and the US must get out of Iraq.”
-30-
|
|
![](http://www.mawovancouver.org/photos/060803picket1.jpg)
![](http://www.mawovancouver.org/photos/060803picket2.jpg)
![](http://www.mawovancouver.org/photos/060803picket3.jpg)
![](http://www.mawovancouver.org/photos/060803picket4.jpg)
![](http://www.mawovancouver.org/photos/060803picket5.jpg)
![](http://www.mawovancouver.org/photos/060803picket6.jpg)
![](http://www.mawovancouver.org/photos/060803picket7.jpg)
|