The first photo from May is a young boy outside the Jamia Masjid mosque in Srinagar when Indian paramilitary soldiers & police confronted & provoked youth. He was taking cover behind cardboard from military violence against worshippers. It shows the reckless disregard troops have for the safety of children & for freedom of religion. They’re creating conflict around the mosque in the same way Israel does around the Al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
The second photo is Zahid Shah (who introduced parkour to Kashmir) with the same boy.
Wonder if those who call for a US-imposed No Fly Zone in Syria have changed their tune since the US started dropping white phosphorous in Mosul, Iraq & Raqqa, Syria? Still see them as humanitarian war-makers?
The Philippines air force is now bombing Marawi, a city of 200,000 to 250,000 civilians–ostensibly to take out ISIS-allied forces. According to media, most civilians have fled but thousands remain trapped. Media reports they are fleeing ISIS but if that were the case they would have done so months ago & not waited until the Duterte regime was bombing the city to smithereens.
There should be no mistake about it: this military offensive is part of the international campaign to portray Muslims as terrorists & the US military is involved up to its eyeballs. Assadists support the Duterte regime, claiming Muslim guerrilla fighters in this region are terrorists trying to take down Duterte. If there is any nexus between ISIS & Muslim fighters in Marawi, rest assured it is a result of systematic work by the US military to create that connection.
We should demand the immediate cessation of the Philippines air force bombing of Marawi & the end of all US military aid to the Philippines.
The photo is an infant among the tens of thousands who have fled Marawi.
Trump issued a warning to Syria against another gas attack on civilians. Since the US is using white phosphorous in both Mosul & Raqqa, we know the warning is not based on concern for civilians.
There appears to be a shift developing in US strategy in Syria & this requires analysis. There has never really been a comprehensive analysis of US intervention in Syria since it entered the scene as part of counter-revolutionary forces to defeat the popular uprising against Assad. Rightwing Assadist forces see it as a regime-change operation whilst conservative anti-Assad forces believe the US can switch sides to the revolution & they call for a US-imposed No Fly Zone, which is an act of war.
This comprehensive analysis is long overdue & absolutely critical to supporting the Syrian revolution against Assad’s dictatorship. The only principled antiwar demands are the immediate cessation of Syrian bombing of civilians & the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces in Syria.
Modi did not get in & out of Washington, DC without protest–though there was no coverage in US media about it. Protesters called Modi a terrorist & butcher for orchestrating the Gujarat pogrom against Muslims in 2002.
As Kashmiri solidarity becomes organized he will not be allowed to enter the US or any other country without protests dogging him wherever he goes demanding the end of violence against Muslims, Dalits & other oppressed castes in India, & demanding the end of the occupation of Kashmir.
Washed up tennis player John McEnroe, known for temper tantrums on the court, said Serena Williams would rank 700 if she were ranked with male players & he refuses to back down from his stupid, misogynist claim.
In a similar situation in 1973, Bobby Riggs, a former world tennis champion, said “the best way to handle women is to keep them pregnant & barefoot,” called women’s tennis inferior, & said he could beat any woman player. Woman tennis champion Billie Jean King took him up on the challenge & faced off against him in a Houston arena. She eviscerated the punk in front of 30,000 people in the arena & millions of others on TV.
The greatest defeat of all time in tennis. So how about a match between McEnroe & the great Serena?
Reposting this brilliant “revolutionary manifesto” about Syria by poet Musab Iqbal from 2016:
*****
The “Revolutionary” manifesto of 21st-century Hypocrites
– Russian intervention is different from US/Nato intervention
– Russia has no imperial/colonial ambition (ever) unlike US and allies
– Iran-backed militias are not like US/Saudi-backed militias. Former unlike later is busy saving human lives with great empathy and kindness
– Assad is the most ideal democrat and any criticism of him and his power is sinful
– Assad army never shot or killed anyone, in fact Hama massacre never happened, there is no prison and torture center in Syria
– Syrian Army is personally trained by Gandhiji
– The world is made of binary. If you are not with us (Russia-Syria-Iran) then you are with them (ISIS-Al Qaeda- USA- Saudi etc)
– Celebrating death and torture is the most merciful and dignified revolutionary act
– Iran is defending Secularism and Democracy in Syria like it is doing in its own country
– Everyone is lying except PressTV, RT and journalists close to Assad regime
– Don’t criticize Syrian regime if you have not criticized all the violence in the world starting from Habeel and Qabeel (Adam’s son killing the other son)
– There is/was never political opposition in Syria, there were terrorists and there are terrorists.
The US Supreme Court, a confederacy of reactionary dunces if there ever was one, has ruled to allow most of Trump’s Muslim ban, including suspension of the US refugee program. Later this year, they will adjudicate the entirety of the ban. This is going to be a much tougher battle than we thought.
The Supreme Court tries to present itself as some kind of ex cathedra body drawing on the holy writ of the constitution & immune to political pressure. They can stuff that myth. They are as subject to massive political pressure as any other body of the US government.
If we are going to push this onslaught back–& we must because it endangers refugees, Muslims, & the Bill of Rights–then we must organize, agitate, educate, mobilize.