There’s a military siege going on in Kashmir, one of extreme violence, one that involves lockdowns on the internet & cell phone communication; raids on newspaper offices to shut them down; assaults on ambulances & within hospitals on medical personnel & patients; tear gas, pellet guns, live ammunition against unarmed protesters, including women & children; many deaths & thousands of injuries, some of them permanent; prohibitions on prayer.

But if one looks at media coverage, nothing much is going on at all & what is reported reads with the blandness of a weather report. What emerges in the coverage is the political line being taken by media which mimics that of Indian propaganda. Whether reported in the LA Times, NY Times, Washington Post, or Guardian-UK, it’s all the same & in plagiaristic style: “Kashmir is divided between India & Pakistan, & most people in India’s portion resent the Indian troop presence & want independence or a merger with Pakistan.”

The problem is they don’t elaborate on that “Indian troop presence” thing. They don’t report there are 700,000 Indian troops & paramilitary death squads in the small geographical area of Kashmir or explain that Pakistan has no such occupation. They don’t mention that Kashmir is the “most militarized region in the world” because of the Indian occupation. They don’t report the thousands disappeared, tortured, jailed, murdered, raped. They only talk about insurrectionary Kashmiri “rioters,” about armed “terrorists,” & never about the Kashmiri Intifada, about the mothers who protest the disappearance & murder of their sons, about the human rights groups that detail & document the crimes committed by the Indian army.

In the midst of this murderous siege, the Guardian-UK reports in a desultory fashion every four or five days; the NY Times & LA TImes less. The Washington Post, that bastion of pro-Israel reporting, actually has a little coverage, albeit with the India-Pakistani divide thing.

This photo of a Kashmiri protester yesterday from Associated Press is one of the few about the current siege. The photojournalist named Dar Yasin has many photos of the Indian army & police assaulting Kashmiri protesters but this is one of the few to see the light of day in western media.

That leaves Kashmiri activists living outside Kashmir, Indian & other human rights activists on social media to tell the truth about what is going on. Censorship of any kind on FB & social media must be opposed because justice & solidarity demand the truth.

Long live Kasmiri Intifada, End the occupation. Self-determination for Kashmir.

(Photo by Dar Yasin/AP)
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#‎FreeKashmir‬

A little caveat to nationalists who can’t resist leaving their droppings on posts about Kashmir: Don’t bother. Because your comments, which are usually puerile & repugnant in their hatred, will be deleted & you will be booted.

There’s a curious thing about social hatred: it’s always chest-thumping stupid. Do you really want to expose your idiocies in a public forum? Do it on Modi’s wall where you’ll fit right in.

It could be said some are going overboard in supporting Erdogan as the “democratically elected” president against the military coup–as if he represented the voice of the Turkish people in their majority.

His August 2014 election was laden with controversies & charges of corruption. Umpteen serious charges of irregularities came not just from Erdogan’s political opposition but from international observers. It can hardly be said he’s democratically elected unless one claims that arrant corruption is part & parcel of modern electoral politics. To an extreme degree.

There are outright goofy analyses of Turkey’s “bourgeois democracy” under Erdogan versus a military junta. It’s one thing to stand with the Turkish people who fought back a military takeover because of the violence it would surely usher in. It’s quite another to pretend the violent, repressive Erdogan regime is any kind of democracy.

“The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives & him that takes.” –Shakespeare

If you substitute mercy with solidarity in this beautiful passage from The Merchant of Venice, the message is the same. Solidarity is not an act of charity nor noblesse oblige but one of the most powerful & reciprocal forces in the world.

It is recognition that as human beings our fates are tied together, that we are bound by economics, religion, culture, & politics–including occupation, colonialism, & war–& that social transformation is forged only by our unity as brothers & sisters to end tyranny & make this world suitable for children to live & love in. Solidarity is the iron law of social transformation.
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#‎FreeKashmir‬

The crisis on the left–however broadly or narrowly that is defined–is nowhere exposed more shamefully than in the silence about the siege in Kashmir. It is as barbarous as the Israeli occupation of Palestine. But only a handful of progressive intellectuals, other than Kashmiri & Indian activists, are raising banners of protest & solidarity. Tariq Ali (who I have disagreements with on other issues) is one of the few educating about Kashmir.

Some of them can quote Karl Marx chapter & verse but when it comes to war, occupation, colonialism, they are only capable of parsing distinctions between two-bit politicians. Power struggles are the only thing that interest them & the struggles for justice just too plebeian for their attention.

There’s a crisis on the left suggesting that the old guard no longer knows its ass from its elbow in politics. That means young activists must come to the fore who champion the oppressed & who stand steadfast with them knowing that “An injury to one is an injury to all” is the iron law of social transformation.

Long live Kashmiri Intifada. End the occupation. ‪#‎FreeKashmir‬

In a discussion about Kashmir, a rude nationalist (are there any other kind?) asked “who is this laughing bitch?” referring to me. Before he learned the other half of it, I escorted his ass to the block button. Why take away his manhood in public?

Kashmiri activists & supporters are calling on human rights supporters with Twitter accounts to participate in a twitter storm today to get the word out about the murderous siege going on involving indiscriminate killing.

This is my introduction to Twitter campaigning since I only opened it when I was locked out of FB & I can’t say it’s an entirely glorious experience. But it is useful for flooding news & building solidarity.

The internet is locked down in Kashmir so they won’t know that people around the world stand with them. Social media is breaking the news blackout. Kashmiris can no longer be allowed to stand alone.

The tweet hashtag being used is ‪#‎freekashmir‬.

Times:
8:00 am Pacific Time (US)
11:00 am Eastern Time (US)
3:00 GMT (UK)
8:30 PM Indian Standard Time
1:00 am (Sunday, July 17th Australia Eastern Time)

So glad Pope Francis is coming around to my view of capitalism. Though it’s hard to find many who don’t think it stinks. But he’s got a ways to go before he gets serious or comes close to socialism. His support for Israel & opposition to women’s rights are whoppers when it comes to politics & I for one don’t think it’s good enough to just dislike poverty. Bernie Sanders & Pope Francis are kindred spirits but their populism leaves me cold.

It’s not clear yet what the hell is going on with the attempted military coup in Turkey & it certainly isn’t possible to choose sides. One can hardly call Erdogan a democratically elected president. Not to mention that his rule is marked with extreme violence against democracy activists, against Kurds, & against Syrian refugees.

The US may actually be involved in the coup but whoever comes out on top–whether Erdogan or the generals–is a committed ally of the US. Turkey has an immense military commitment to NATO, second only to the US.

The fate of Erdogan is of no consequence. What matters is democracy in Turkey & the violence this coup will unleash against the Turkish people. What matters is the fate of tens of thousands of refugees. So what happens is important but only because the political movements are yet too weak to wrest power from Erdogan & the military to create the humane society the Turkish people desire & deserve & have fought so hard to achieve.

Media insists on calling the attack in Nice a terrorist assault when the evidence is overwhelming that the fellow was mentally unhinged. They’re looking like mad fools but cannot find any links to ISIS. Is the definition of terrorism now any crime where an Arab or Muslim is involved? Because that’s a problematic in France given its colonial history in north Africa.