Attendees at the Media Workers Against the War fringe meeting heard a discussion of the British military position in Afghanistan.

By Stephen Fothergill and Julija Jegorova.

Speaking at the meeting were photographer Guy Smallman, who recently returned from Afghanistan, Nahella Ashraf, who chairs the Manchester branch of Stop the War, and Sue Glenton, mother of British soldier Joe Glenton.

Sue Glenton

Sue Glenton is the mother of British soldier Joe Glenton, who refused to go back to war in Afghanistan on a matter of principle and ethics.

She said: “When Joe was sent to Afghanistan he believed he would be helping to liberate women, stop the opium trade and bring down the warlords. Instead he found himself in a war of attrition which has led to the death of countless innocent people.”

She added that until he sent his letter to Gordon Brown on 30^th July 2009, he was up on charges of being Awol, which allows sentencing of up to two years in prison.

He is now up on the more serious charge of desertion which carries a maximum life sentence. She said: “We’re supposedly fighting in Afghanistan for democracy, really I think we should be fighting for our democracy over here.”

Guy Smallman

Guy Smallman spoke about his time in Afghanistan during the recent November elections. He expressed his dismay with Afghan democracy by saying: “I couldn’t find a single Afghan person who is happy with politics. They believe that their President was elected earlier in the White House.”

He went on to say that he believes that the war is doing nothing to help the Afghan people. Many people are far worse off than before the war started. He said: “Some people have to sell their children to feed their families.”

Stop the War

Nahella Ashraf, Chair of Manchester Stop the War, began her speech by reminding the audience of the main reasons Britain had gone to war.

She said: “We were told that we were looking for Osama Bin Laden dead or alive and to end Al-Qaeda’s movement.”

Other justifications for the war were to promote democracy and to fight for the rights of women in Afghanistan. She argued that this had not happened and in fact in many cases people were far worse off.

She said: “The support for the Taliban is growing. This doesn’t mean that the Afghan people support them, but rather they support anyone who fights against the people who are killing young men, woman and children.”

Links (open in new windows):

http://www.mancsagainsttanks.org/

www.stopwar.org.uk