Fri29Jan - WILTS - Lance Corp Joe Glenton's Court Martial

[Frazzel]

Protest at Joe Glenton's court martial hearing 29 January 2010
Joe appears before a judge for a preliminary hearing of his court martial on 29 January 2010. Stop the War will organise a picket of the court in support.
The army has decided that the hearing will be held at Bulford Camp, about 10 miles from Andover, probably because it thinks holding it in Wiltshire will diminish media coverage.
Stop the War will be organising transport to go to Bulford to give support to Joe.

If you would be interested in going, please inform the Stop the War office: Call 020 7801 2768
020 7801 2768

or email office@stopwar.org.uk

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[Disco_Destroyer]

Dear All,

At our last organising meeting, Monday, we discussed ways in which we will be building Stop the War and demonstrating our solidarity with Joe Glenton. Below are the details of what was agreed. Please try to make as much of it as you can so that we can show how much widespread public support Joe Glenton has for his brave stance. Please either forward this email to any others who would be interested, or let them know about upcoming events.

Saturday 27th March - 11:30-1:00 - Meet Eld Lane, outside Baptist Church In line with the national day of action called by Stop the War we will be leafleting in town. Leaflets (Kate will produce) will state what has happened to Joe, why he deserves public support and how that support can be shown, i.e. a fortnightly solidarity gathering on Sundays outside the Military Corrective Training Centre. After the leafleting, some activists expressed their desire to go down to the MCTC and deliver cards to Joe, please bring these cards with you on the day.

Sunday 28th March - 1:30pm - The first solidarity protest outside the MCTC, Berechurch Hall Road. Please encourage as many people as possible to attend. Please bring placards, banners etc, things to attract the attention of the press. Raph to ask Bri if he might be able to make some banners. From then on we will meet same time, same place fortnightly on Sunday. We want to make every effort to build these as big as possible, including inviting people from across the region to these events. Weekday protests were discussed, and it was agreed we would assess this in about a month's time.

Other ideas:


A Joe Glenton Day - Venue tba. Sometime after the election, late May/early June. John W to approach a possible speaker. We had the idea of a day of speakers, films, food etc to publicise Joe's case. Kate to find out when a Glenton family member might be able to speak. Maybe an exhibition celebrating history of war resisters, everyone to help research this please. The idea of a 'monster card' for all to sign to Joe at this event was deemed a good idea. Any volunteers to make this?
An open letter to all forthcoming candidates in the general election on their position on Afghanistan to be sent to the press (before the ban on politics before the election!) Raph and Sarah to draft, me to send out to activists before I send to the press on behalf of Stop the War.

Look out for these:

I will send out to all 2 emails after this one. 1. An email from Stop the War asking if we would like to have the chance to be part of a national speaking tour. In late April the grandmother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan is taking part in the national tour. Would we like her to speak in Colchester? I assume the answer is yes, but I will forward the email to the group and if no one has major objections then I think we should go ahead.

2. An advert for a meeting (kindly sent by Tim) at the University of Essex about how to apply to attend a debate on the war there on 25th March. Please let me know if anyone manages to get in and we will publicise it.

We are going to need money to build our campaigns and, before setting up a formal Stop the War bank account, we elected Sarah to act as treasurer. All cheques to 'Sarah Pigott' please.

Please let me know whether you are able to attend on Sat or Sun or both!

Many thanks
Katherine Connelly - 07834 218 711
Colchester Stop the War

[Disco_Destroyer]

Dear All,

The Armed Forces minister, Bill Rammell, is speaking at the University of Essex tomorrow. This man has continued to defend the war which has taken countless Afghan lives and more and more British soldiers' lives every year.

The people who are conducting this war should be tried for war crimes. They went ahead despite knowing that the vast majority of people in this country were opposed to the war (as they continue to be), they lied to us about the reasons for going in and we are now finding that in places like Fallujah women are being advised not to have children because of the horrendous rate of birth defects caused by the weapons used on the town.

A Stop the War protest has been called outside to let the minister know that there is still widespread opposition to the war.

Tomorrow, Thursday 25th March
2:00pm
Outside the Ivor Crew Lecture theatre, University of Essex, Colchester Campus

I don't know if there are tickets avaliable still but the number to call to get inside is 01206 872 807

Thanks
Katherine Connelly - 07834 218 711