We must hold Blair to account

Tony Blair will appear at the Chilcot inquiry in London, probably for a full day, one day betwen 25 January and 5 February. The Stop the War Coalition has confirmed it will call a major protest outside the inquiry - at the QE2 Conference Centre - to co-incide with Blair's appearance, with details publicised as soon as the date is announced by the inquiry team. Representatives of Military Families Against the War will be joining the protests, which will include a 'Naming the Dead' event to commemorate those killed in Iraq.

In Tyneside we are organising a local protest and vigil to co-incide with Blair at the inquiry - see the Facebook event HERE.

Stop the War has also confirmed a protest at Gordon Brown's international conference on Afghanistan, in London on 28 January, with details to follow when the conference venue is announced. Hillary Clinton, Hamad Karzai, Nicolas Sarkosy and Angela Merkel are all expected to be at the conference. Stop the War's new statement, inviting people to join the protest, says:

'The western backed Karzai government - already discredited by the farcical presidential "election" - is in utter disarray, following the rejection of Karzai's new cabinet by the Afghan parliament. This has made a mockery of Gordon Brown's slogan for the conference on 28 January: "Afghan leadership, international partnership". We are told the purpose of the ever mounting death toll is to counter the danger of terrorism. But it is clear that far from combating terrorism , the 'war on terror' has created more enemies for the west and al-Qaeda has spread across the Middle East to Somalia, Yemen and beyond.'

Details of two upcoming meetings are now available:

Stop the War Activists' Meeting - to plan for both the above demonstrations
Tuesday 12 January, 6.30-8.30pm
Forum room, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8EP

Gaza One Year On: public meeting
END THE SIEGE OF GAZA - BRING ISRAELI WAR CRIMINALS TO JUSTICE
Tuesday 19 January, 7pm
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL
Organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and British Muslim Initiative.

SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Dr Karma Nabulsi (Oxford University) Bruce Kent (Vice President Pax Christi), Sir Gerald Kaufman MP (just returned from Gaza), Phyllis Starkey MP, Lowkey, Hugh Lanning (Deputy General Secretary, PCS), Daud Abdullah and Jeremy Corbyn MP.