Joe Glenton was released from jail in August after refusing to return to Afghanistan. He is now speaking across the country to build support for the 'Afghanistan – Time To Go' demonstration in London on November 20th (see http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/2045/27/). This is the first time he has spoken in Bristol and is an unrivalled opportunity to hear about the war in Afghanistan from an ex-serving soldier.

“Afghanistan – Time To Go”

Speakers: Joe Glenton (Soldier jailed for refusing to go to Afghanistan)
Andrew Murray (National chair Stop The War Coalition)
Paulette North (Bristol Defend Asylum Seekers Campaign)

Date: Tuesday 9th November

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Malcolm X Centre, 141 City Road, St Pauls, Bristol, BS2 8YH
Map: http://streetmap.co.uk/postcode/bs28yh

Last year Joe sent a letter to Gordon Brown explaining why he wouldn't go back to Afghanistan. See http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1390/27/

For further information email bristolstopwar@hotmail.com

The situation in Afghanistan, for both its people and the invading NATO armies, continues to deteriorate. 2010 is already the worst year for death tolls and violence since the war began.

You wouldn't know it from the mainstream media, which – aside from a couple of days reporting the killing of British hostage Linda Norgrove -- rarely mentions the war.

As the war entered its tenth year, the Red Cross reported that civilian casualties are soaring in Southern Afghanistan -- as a direct and indirect result of the escalating violence. (SEE http://bit.ly/92lg2z).

October has been one of the worst months this year for the NATO forces, with over 30 killed in the first 13 days. The number killed for the year is approaching 600, and already surpasses the 2009 figure, which was the previous worst year for the US and its allies.

Of course, none of this was mentioned in Parliament, when David Cameron, followed by new Labour leader Ed Miliband, read out the names of five British soldiers killed in recent weeks.

Both of the party leaders are equally committed to continuing the war and maintaining the fiction that it is keeping Britain safe, a view clearly rejected by three quarters of the British public, who say all British troops should be withdrawn "immediately" or "soon".

The gap between our elected representatives and the public they are meant to serve was obvious in the recent parliamentary vote, when all but 16 MPs (SEE http://bit.ly/cHovH9 ) either voted for the war to continue or didn't bother to turn up.

Not one MP mentioned that the current annual cost of the war is five times what the government plans to "save" by cutting £1 billion a year from universal child benefits and nearly three times the planned cuts in housing benefit for the poor.