The Stop the War Coalition Sydney held a picket outside ALP MP Tanya Plibersek’s office on August 5 to call for an end to Australian support for the war in Afghanistan.
The STWC has condemned the Australian government’s purchase of 18 unmanned spy drones and training packages worth $175 million.
Spokesperson Marlene Obeid said: “The drones are part of an offensive weapons system that, almost certainly, will be linked to US systems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In other words, Australia will be subsidising US assault operations, which will kill more Afghan women and children.”
The last federal budget allocated $1.1 billion in upgraded “protection measures” for Australian soldiers.
Obeid said the best way to protect Australian troops is to bring them home. Instead of spending money on war, Australia should be directing such funds to reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.
On August 6, anti-war and anti-nuclear activists commemorated the US bombing of Hiroshima, at an annual Hiroshima Day event in Belmore Park, Sydney, where they called for the abolition of nuclear weapons.