Ninth anniversary of Afghanistan War remembered in Melbourne with a Flashmob protest

Dr Richard Tanter on Australia's military involvement in Afghanistan.

Nine years of Australian defence forces in Afghanistan was remembered by three flashmob die-ins: on the steps of Flinders street station, outside the old GPO, and at the State Library steps today.

The last die-in was followed by speakers including Greens member for Melbourne Adam Bandt, and Richard Tanter, Professorial Fellow in International Relations in the Research and Innovation Portfolio, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and Senior Research Associate, Nautilus Institute.

The war in Afghanistan is not liberating anyone from terrorism. A reported 971 Afghani's were killed in fighting during August. 22 Australian troops have been killed, almost half this year. Documents just released through Wikileaks expose how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, and that the Taliban are becoming increasingly deadly.

While 61% of Australians think we should withdraw from Afghanistan -- on the whole we've been a very silent majority.

This video shows some of the die-in outside Flinders Street Station and the full speech by Dr Richard Tanter.

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Tags:

• antiwar
• flashmob
• protest
• melbourne
• 2010
• afghanistan
• Australia
• tanter