Since Muslims are on the defensive all over the world, it isn’t surprising that so many support the transition of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia from a secular museum back into a mosque which it was for 481 years. It has a fascinating & complex political & religious history, including 900 years as a Christian cathedral. Its history is from paganism through the Byzantine to the Ottoman Empire & through the ruptures of World War I into a museum under Ataturk. It is certainly true that Erdogan’s decision to turn it back into a mosque is rooted in Turkish & regional politics & an attempt to pander to & foster rightwing political forces. It’s true that he’s being denounced all over the place by Christians & Jews, including by Pope Francis. But then again, Pope Francis has remained silent as a clam on Israel’s destruction of mosques all over the West Bank & in Gaza. If Hagia Sophia was being transitioned back into a Christian cathedral, would there be as much clamor?
Turkey under Erdogan has a repressive regime which has violently repressed protesters, attacked journalists & newspaper offices, & usually appeals to rightwing religious forces for support. It’s not politically advisable to strengthen their hands but it is a politically symbolic thing to turn Hagia Sophia back into a mosque. It is not politically symbolic when Israel razes mosques in the West Bank or Gaza. That is genocide & the distinction should not escape us.
It should not be surprising that now several non-Kashmiris write so much about the Kashmiri struggle. It is one of the most important freedom struggles in the world. What should be surprising is that many more are not yet writing about it. Our goal is to use our writing to increase the numbers who are.
There’s no date or place given for this photo & it doesn’t show up in an image search but the photographer is a Kashmiri so it is likely taken of Indian forces in Kashmir. You aren’t likely to find it in any propaganda portrayal of the glorious Indian Army in Kashmir. Are they cowering from stone pelters? Or from a protest of Kashmiri women? They aren’t so brazen when they’re not wielding bazookas, high-powered rifles, or pellet guns against unarmed civilians or when they aren’t beating a Kashmiri child to death.
Stand with Kashmiris & demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all Indian forces from Kashmir.
Far right British loudmouth Katie Hopkins has been forced to sell off her £1m home & rent a place to live in order to pay off a £500,000 libel suit. The detestable Hopkins has compared refugees in the Mediterranean to cockroaches & said she would use gunships to prevent them from entering Europe. She called the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir a ‘glorious’ thing & fully endorsed the lockdown as a fight against terrorism.
This is a racist, repugnant, & dishonest rant by Hopkins supporting Modi & the lockdown. Her reversal of fortunes has some Kashmiris on social media hoping a similar fate awaits rabid nationalist Aarti Tikoo Singh.
A paramilitary trooper in Lalchowk, Srinagar here enforces a complete five-day lockdown in areas they designated as red zones. It is the ‘lockdown within a lockdown’ that makes Kashmiris prisoners in their own homes. The problem is not a corona quarantine which is necessary but the military character of the lockdown which is not distinguished from the lockdown enforced in August 2019 making all of Kashmir a prison.
Stand with Kashmiris & demand the immediate, unconditional…
We should take a moment to honor the thousands of Palestinians injured, disabled, killed in Israel’s seven-week bombing siege of Gaza in July & August 2014. Israel used illegal munitions like flechette shells (small dart shaped projectiles clustered in an explosive warhead) & DIME weapons (micro shrapnel in rocket warheads) against unarmed Palestinians in densely populated areas. At least 2,300 Palestinians including 500 children were killed & 17,000 were injured, many permanently disabled. At estimated 200,000 were left homeless. Israeli bombers targeted schools, medical facilities, refugee centers. The UN & human rights organizations reported that Israeli bombers directly targeted children.
There are hundreds of photos from that siege that show the unbearable grief of families carrying their dying children to hospitals. There are countless photos of traumatized children & weeping medical personnel overwhelmed by the tragedy as they themselves were targeted by bombers. The photos of four Palestinian boys playing ball on the Gaza City beach being bombed to death by Israeli warplanes have become iconic condemnations of Israeli genocide.
During the siege, millions of people in small hamlets & major cities across every continent protested to denounce the siege & to stand with Palestinians. Since 2014, Israel & its allies have only escalated the genocide against Palestinians whilst active solidarity has not been sustained. There is a need for international collaboration & coordination that can sustain regular public protests & action to unify the struggles against genocide in Palestine & Kashmir, that can oppose the so-called ‘war on terror’, & defend Uyghur & Rohingya against genocide.
(Photo of children fleeing the bombing in Gaza in July 2014 by Sergey Ponomarev/NY Times)
We should take a moment to honor the thousands of Palestinians injured, disabled, killed in Israel’s seven-week bombing siege of Gaza in July & August 2014. Israel used illegal munitions like flechette shells (small dart shaped projectiles clustered in an explosive warhead) & DIME weapons (micro shrapnel in rocket warheads) against unarmed Palestinians in densely populated areas. At least 2,300 Palestinians including 500 children were killed & 17,000 were injured, many permanently disabled. At estimated 200,000 were left homeless. Israeli bombers targeted schools, medical facilities, refugee centers. The UN & human rights organizations reported that Israeli bombers directly targeted children.
There are hundreds of photos from that siege that show the unbearable grief of families carrying their dying children to hospitals. There are countless photos of traumatized children & weeping medical personnel overwhelmed by the tragedy as they themselves were targeted by bombers. The photos of four Palestinian boys playing ball on the Gaza City beach being bombed to death by Israeli warplanes have become iconic condemnations of Israeli genocide.
During the siege, millions of people in small hamlets & major cities across every continent protested to denounce the siege & to stand with Palestinians. Since 2014, Israel & its allies have only escalated the genocide against Palestinians whilst active solidarity has not been sustained. There is a need for international collaboration & coordination that can sustain regular public protests & action to unify the struggles against genocide in Palestine & Kashmir, that can oppose the so-called ‘war on terror’, & defend Uyghur & Rohingya against genocide.
(Photo of children fleeing the bombing in Gaza in July 2014 by Sergey Ponomarev/NY Times)
We should take a moment to honor the thousands of Palestinians injured, disabled, killed in Israel’s seven-week bombing siege of Gaza in July & August 2014. Israel used illegal munitions like flechette shells (small dart shaped projectiles clustered in an explosive warhead) & DIME weapons (micro shrapnel in rocket warheads) against unarmed Palestinians in densely populated areas. At least 2,300 Palestinians including 500 children were killed & 17,000 were injured, many permanently disabled. At estimated 200,000 were left homeless. Israeli bombers targeted schools, medical facilities, refugee centers. The UN & human rights organizations reported that Israeli bombers directly targeted children.
There are hundreds of photos from that siege that show the unbearable grief of families carrying their dying children to hospitals. There are countless photos of traumatized children & weeping medical personnel overwhelmed by the tragedy as they themselves were targeted by bombers. The photos of four Palestinian boys playing ball on the Gaza City beach being bombed to death by Israeli warplanes have become iconic condemnations of Israeli genocide.
During the siege, millions of people in small hamlets & major cities across every continent protested to denounce the siege & to stand with Palestinians. Since 2014, Israel & its allies have only escalated the genocide against Palestinians whilst active solidarity has not been sustained. There is a need for international collaboration & coordination that can sustain regular public protests & action to unify the struggles against genocide in Palestine & Kashmir, that can oppose the so-called ‘war on terror’, & defend Uyghur & Rohingya against genocide.
(Photo of children fleeing the bombing in Gaza in July 2014 by Sergey Ponomarev/NY Time.
