Rita Pal, who’s on top of these things, is reporting India ended the internet ban in Kashmir. Is that true?
Better for India to call “uncle” sooner than later since tech savvy Kashmiri youth weren’t doing that tough-guy fascist image any good.
(Even I knew enough to ask my 7-year-old neighbor kid how to work a new cell phone.)
Occupied Kashmir or occupied West Bank? The scenarios of occupation all look the same: military violence & unarmed resistance.
This Palestinian in Hebron in the occupied West Bank is throwing back a tear gas canister lobbed by soldiers against unarmed protesters standing in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike.
Honor the cultural & economic boycott of Israel. Buy nothing with barcode beginning 729. International solidarity is the best way to “arm” the oppressed.
(Photo by Nasser ShiyoukhiAP)
Hebron, West Bank: a Palestinian kid, not even in his teens, lobbing a stone at the occupying Israeli army trying to stop protesters from standing in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike.
Where are his parents? Maybe in jail. Maybe murdered by occupation forces. Maybe showing him how to stand fearlessly against oppression.
Build & honor the cultural & economic boycott of Israel (BDS); buy nothing with barcode beginning 729 & check every label.
(Photo by Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP)
Once again in defense of stone throwers:
This is an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron (on Thursday) lobbing a tear gas grenade & attempting to stop protests in solidarity with 1,500 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails.
There are about 6,500 Palestinians currently serving time in Israeli jails, 500 of them held under administrative detention (which means indefinitely without charges) & including 250 Palestinian children & teens (mostly for stone throwing).
According to Middle East Children’s Alliance, Palestinian children are subject to violent attacks by the occupying forces & Zionist settlers “on an almost daily basis.” Hundreds have been killed at the rate of one every three days for 13 years with almost complete impunity for the soldiers. Palestinian children who throw stones get longer jail sentences than Israeli soldiers who execute incapacitated Palestinians lying on the ground. Gideon Levy said, “There is nothing more Israeli than a court that gives a soldier who killed a Palestinian in cold blood a sentence fit for a bicycle thief.” It’s what he calls “Israeli army justice.”
If you were a child, if this were your reality squeezing the life energy right out of you to ethnically cleanse you & your entire community, a rock is the least of your defense.
International solidarity provides the “rockets” necessary to end the occupation & fight for a democratic secular state where Palestinians & Jews can live as brothers & sisters. Build & honor the cultural & economic boycott of Israel. Buy nothing with a barcode beginning 729 & check every damn label on every product.
(Photo by Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP)
Pope Francis has his own vision of how to stand for human rights–making his commitment somewhat doubtful. There should not be any affable state visits with General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Egypt whilst human rights groups are denouncing him for political repression & for forcibly disappearing, incarcerating, torturing, executing tens of thousands of political opponents to military rule.
There would much less ambiguity if Pope Francis would stand on the balcony in St. Pater’s Square denouncing the general & military junta for its crimes.
To some it may look all ecumenical & diplomatic to go to Egypt & meet with Muslim & Christian leaders & visit with the general but to others it looks more like playing both sides of the street. If you’re a spiritual leader & moral teacher, straightforward support for human & democratic rights is the only thing that cuts it. So which side is Pope Francis on?
(Photo is Pope Francis meeting General al-Sisi on his recent trip in photo released from President’s office via Reuters)
http://www.firstpost.com/long-reads/muslim-women-do-not-need-saving-3392516.html
This is a very creative & cogent discussion about the misogyny & politics of Islamophobia. It’s long but insightful & well worth the read.
It’s a remarkable work actually & extremely valuable to activists for understanding & explaining the complexities & dynamics of Islamophobia which now reigns supreme as the ideological basis of war, genocide, & hate-mongering. Hating on Muslims, especially on Muslim women, portraying Islam as hateful & Muslims as potential terrorists is the battle cry of reactionary politics & must be politically defeated. This article will contribute to that struggle.
The authors are Afrin Firdaus Idris & Heba Ahmad.
Am still seeing posts lauding the writer Alice Walker for supporting the Palestinian struggle. Since she publicly associates & defends her commitment to the worldview of David Icke, she should not be regarded as an ally but as persona non grata.
Icke believes reptilian Jewish bankers run the world. His is the obscurantist rendition of fascist ideology & in its essence does not differ from Adolph Hitler, David Duke, or the Hands Off Syria Coalition led by Eva Bartlett.
It was some years ago I was talking on the phone to a guy who was gaga for Hugo Chavez. Head over heels gaga. Being a name-dropper as well as a windbag, he told me he couldn’t talk at me long because Hugo Chavez was on the other line for a consultation.
Our man is now a honcho in the Hands Off Syria Coalition. Probably taking calls from Assad.
There’s no moral to the story. And no purpose. I just had to get it off my chest. Kind of like a revenge thing.
When I want to get my hate on I watch “Undercover Boss.” Those nimrod bosses are so damn patronizing to their workers who all seem to know they’re being played. My hate exhausts itself fast but it’s so much better than watching Fox News or MSNBC.
So for years all we hear about India is information technology hotspot of the universe. Then Modi’s regime imposes a social media ban on Kashmir & they’re outwitted by kids on their smartphones.