TWEETS NOT WAR: LEARNING FROM THE ARAB SPRING

STOP THE WAR COALITION	 
Newsletter No.1219   
20 September 2011   
Email office@stopwar.org.uk   
Tel: 020 7801 2768   
Web: http://stopwar.org.uk   
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk   
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stopthewarcoalition

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:   
1) TWEETS NOT WAR: LEARNING FROM THE ARAB SPRING   
2) 10,000 WATCH COST OF WAR FILM: ARE YOU ONE OF THEM?	 
3) PLEDGES FOR 8 OCTOBER POURING IN   
4) ANDREW MURRAY STANDING DOWN AS StWC CHAIR

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1) TWEETS NOT WAR: LEARNING FROM THE ARAB SPRING

ANTI-WAR SPEAKOUT/TWEETOUT   
7:30PM UNIVERSITY OF LONDON UNION   
MALET STREET LONDON WC1E 7HY   
For more details, see: http://bit.ly/n9X9qz

Whether you attend the Antiwar SpeakOut/TweetOut in person in	
London, or you watch the live stream on the Stop the War website,   
this is an event not to be missed.

You will see poets, rappers and spoken word artists (see below)   
performing at a Twitter convention in which everyone can   
participate.

Don't worry if you are not a Twitter user yet. This will be an	 
event in which you can learn how it works and why it has become   
such an important tool for activists and campaigners, not least   
as was shown in the Arab Spring uprisings. It is today enabling   
instant eyewitness reports of the brutal crackdown on the Yemen   
democracy movement.

Stop the War has taken the idea of a TweetOut from the Egyptian   
democracy movement, which used them to spread the word about   
their protests.

As well as enjoying the brilliant cast of spoken word artists	
performing for Stop the War, the aim will be to publicise as   
widely as possible in the Twittersphere the Antiwar Mass Assembly   
in Trafalgar Square on 8 October, marking the tenth anniversary   
of the war in Afghanistan.

If you're coming to the SpeakOt/TweetOut in person, come armed	 
with your mobile! Or your laptop, if you want to be really   
ambitious (there will be a WiFi link).

If you're not a Twitter user yet, you will be able to text your   
messages which Stop the War will turn instantly into tweets for   
display on the Tweet Screen and publish directly to Twitter.

The performers in the SpeakOut include author Michael Rosen, who   
was until recently the Children's Poet Laureate, poets Michael	 
Horowitz, Michael Powell and Sanasino Al-Yemen, rapper Jimmy   
Jitsu, and many more.

Twitter users at the event, and those following it on the live	 
stream, are asked to use the hashtag #8oct (non Twitter users	
will learn what a hashtag is on the night!).

Tweeters will also be reacting to the spoken word artists,   
whether watching them in the audience or the live stream, and	
instantly communicating with their Twitter followers about the	 
performances.

The aim is to make SpeakOut/TweetOut as interactive as possible   
and as much a collective event as we can. Join us in person if	 
you live in London, or online if you don't.

ANTI-WAR SPEAKOUT/TWEETOUT   
7:30PM UNIVERSITY OF LONDON UNION   
MALET STREET LONDON WC1E 7HY   
For more details, see: http://bit.ly/n9X9qz

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2) 10,000 WATCH COST OF WAR FILM: ARE YOU ONE OF THEM?

In less than a week, over 10,000 people have watched the film,	 
"The True Cost of War in Afghanistan" -- narrated by Tony Benn,   
with music by Brian Eno -- and we've been flooded with positive   
comments, such as this from the United States:

"Thank you! Most effective 2:32 of activism, I've ever	 
encountered in my 68 years. Please do a version exactly like   
this, only with numbers for the USA. Brilliant!"

Many thanks to everyone who has publicised the film through their   
emails, Facebook, Twitter etc. Please keep doing this as widely   
as possible, as the film has already had an big impact in   
building support for the Antiwar Mass Assembly in Trafalgar   
Square on 8 October (see below).

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3) PLEDGES FOR 8 OCTOBER ANTIWAR ASSEMBLY STREAMING IN

Steve Chandra Savale from the highly rated band Asian Dub   
Foundation is among the latest to pledge for the Antiwar Mass	
Assembly in Trafalgar Square on 8 October. There is now a steady   
daily stream of new pledges, given a particular boost by the Cost   
of War film.

If you haven't signed yet, do it now (HERE:   
http://bit.ly/o10L6p), and leave a message saying "Why I Will Be   
There" for posting on the website.

We have already posted on the website a number of short "Why I	 
Will Be There" videos, including from Tony Benn, Jemima Khan,	
Jeremy Corbyn MP and actor Roger Lloyd Pack. (SEE   
http://bit.ly/nvjwaB)

TRANSPORT ON 8 OCTOBER	 
Coaches are now being booked around the country to bring people   
from outside London, and have been announced for Bath,	 
Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry, Merseyside, Norwich, Plymouth and   
Yeovil. Details will be published on the Stop the War website	
soon.

If you want to discuss transport from your area on 8 October,	
contact the Stop the War office: 020 7801 2768,   
office@stopwar.org.uk

*************************************	
4) ANDREW MURRAY STANDING DOWN AS StWC CHAIR

Andrew Murray is standing down as National Chair of Stop the War   
Coalition, a position he has held since our organisation was   
founded ten years ago, and in which he has been a linchpin of our   
organisation and a consistent inspiration to the anti-war   
movement. His letter below explains his reasons and welcomes his   
successor, Jeremy Corbyn MP.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I advised the Steering Committee of the Coalition last Saturday   
that I had decided to stand down as National Chair after ten   
years in the post.  The Coalition unanimously elected Jeremy   
Corbyn MP as the new Chair of Stop the War.

Jeremy's record in the anti-war movement has been an outstanding   
one, inside Parliament and outside, from the start of our   
campaign in 2001.  He will make an excellent Chair and will play   
a key part, alongside the other national officers, in building	 
our campaign for a rapid withdrawal of British troops from   
Afghanistan and for an end to the "war on terror" and its   
offshoots.

I have been honoured to serve as the Coalition's Chair and would   
like to make it clear that my decision to stand down has been	
entirely a result of the pressures of my responsibilities at   
Unite the union (my 'day job') and the sense that ten years may   
be about the right period to hold such a leading position, and	 
not because of any political difference with the work of Stop the   
War.  Indeed, I hope to continue to assist the Coalition in any   
way I can in the future, including speaking at meetings when   
possible, and am grateful to the Steering Committee for agreeing   
that I can serve in the more honorific post of Deputy President.

There may be a time in the future for a more detailed reflection   
on the experience of the last ten years, but for now I would only   
wish to place on record my thanks to all the activists and   
officers of Stop the War, and Lindsey German in particular, for   
their support throughout, and to express a degree of satisfaction   
that in my last week as National Chair I was able to help   
persuade the TUC to at long last come out for an end to the   
Afghan war and, indeed, the whole "war on terror".

Yours,

Andrew Murray

A video of the speech Andrew made at the TUC proposing British	 
withdrawal from Afghanistan and Libya can be watched here:   
http://bit.ly/oaIM5h