This ANZAC day Radical Youth will be holding a vigil at the Dawn Parade in Auckland. The vigil is in response to New Zealand's ongoing troop deployments to Afghanistan, the Solomon Islands and East Timor . Radical Youth is calling for the New Zealand government to honour the dead by not sending any more of our young men and women to fight in needless wars on foreign soil.

Radical Youth acknowledges the bravery New Zealand troops have shown and recognizes the enormous numbers of New Zealanders killed in war. However we are taking a stand against the current wars of imperialism currently being fought in the Middle East and in the Pacific. We ask how our politicians can on the one hand speak of the terrible loss of life in World War 1 and II while they are still sending young people overseas to war.

The New Zealand government spent $1.662 billion last year on "defense spending". This is money which could be spent remedying New Zealand's atrocious child poverty figures or dealing with the effects of climate change throughout the South Pacific. If our politicians were serious about honouring the dead they would not be sending our troops to take part in unnecessary wars for big business interests and they would not be fostering war in the Middle East through unjust invasion.

ENDS