On pellet munitions by Freny Manecksha

Pellet xray

Often I am awed by the impressive human rights work & writings done by many activists among my FB friends. This important article is by Freny Manecksha titled “Lethal injuries from ‘non-lethal’ weapons” about India’s use of pellet munitions in Kashmir. Their use is so destructive, including to small children, that we must help educate far & wide about this monstrous human rights crimes.

Pellet guns are also used against protesters in Bahrain. If we don’t campaign to stop them in Kashmir & Bahrain you can count on it that they will be introduced as “non-lethal” weapons against protesters around the world. This really is an illustration that “an injury to one is an injury to all.”

http://indiatogether.org/kashmir-human-rights

(Photo is x-ray of pellet damage to body)

Drifting by Rollie Mukherjee: in solidarity with Kashmir

Drifting by Rollie Mukherjee

This drawing is titled “Drifting” by Rollie Mukherjee. Whilst Kashmiris mourn their dead & tend to thousands seriously injured, our minds should never be far from them. Whilst they stand firm against the brutal occupation, we should never turn away a moment from standing with them nor especially be distracted from rendering solidarity.

Drumpf enters the campaign with quite credible sexual assault charges against him by three different women. Clinton’s husband has parried such charges for years from several women, including unsavory associations with a convicted pedophile.

It’s beyond dispute that the ruling elite has a crisis of leadership. It’s quite clear media & the Department of Justice will continue to protect both men. But what is the impact of such imputations on young people? Will it suggest to girls that their bodies have no rights to integrity? Or to boys that one can do violence against girls & still rise to great stature?

Disappointed in Tim Kaine as Clinton’s running mate? Hoping for something more dynamic than another conservative hack? Wait till she appoints her cabinet & advisors.

When Obama was elected, I spent hours vetting the resumes of each of his appointees. They were, to a person, establishment, old-guard, reactionary minions of the ruling elite, beginning with Larry Summers. Wall Street all the way. And those will be Clinton’s choices also, as they were her husband’s before her, Bush’s, & Obama’s.

Presidents don’t run the US. They are not free agents. Their function is to administer the policies of the ruling oligarchy who like to remain hidden behind their minions so we think we really do live in a democracy.

Media is really trying hard to link Orlando, Nice, & Munich to “Islamic terrorism” but it’s very clear the gunmen were apolitical, socially isolated, depressed & deranged macho men into militarist gun culture.

A CBS report actually noted that the Munich mall was only a short distance away from the 1972 Olympics venue where Palestinians took Israeli athletes hostage. That’s like saying the Iraq war is 3,000 miles from my shoe laces. It’s a political non sequitur to identify derangement with terrorism & pretend it has nothing to do with militarism.