Protesters demand ‘Troops out’

Local organisations and political parties rallied at Sydney Town Hall last Friday against the war in Afghanistan.

More than 200 people attended.

The community speak-out was in response to the highest recorded casualty rate of Australian troops since the country’s involvement in the Afghan war.

With 10 Australian lives claimed since June this year, the total death toll mounts to 21.

This marks a more than 90 per cent increase in the fatality rate of Australian soldiers over the past months.

Pip Hinman from Stop the War Coalition said that bipartisan support on the war neglects anti-war sentiments and the rally was held so that voices of ordinary Australians could be heard.

“To that end, Stop the War Coalition is there to give a chance for the community to voice their concerns,” she said.

She pointed towards the latest Essential Media poll that reveal that more than 60 per cent wanted the troops’ withdrawal.

Sylvia Hale, a former NSW Greens member said that parliamentary debate on the war scheduled in November would be a milestone for examining Australia’s involvement.

“What we have done here is establish a precedent. Whereby after nine years, we can finally allow for full public scrutiny,” she said.

The activists proposed that peaceful aids, such as an increase in foreign aid and greater acceptance of refugees from war-worn countries in Australia are more viable means than military aid.

Graeme Dunstan from Stand Fast, veterans against the Afghan and Iraq wars, agrees.

He said that the current situation is a Pyrrhic victory whereby, “more soldiers are expected to die and the situation for ordinary Afghanistan will only deteriorate as war continues.”

Riz Wakil, an Afghan refugee now an Australian citizen acknowledges the difficult situation the coalition forces are in.

He welcomes the parliamentary debate on the war but said that the government has to go further in acknowledging refugees from those war-torn counties.

“I certainly believe that the government can help… and that is by treating refugees more humanely,” he said.

by Bonnie Yiu