The barbaric use of human shields by Israel (on left) in Palestine & by India (on right) in Kashmir:

End the occupations. Long live Palestinian & Kashmiri Intifada.

Today is International Human Rights Day. On the one hand, a day for requiems & on the other, a day for renewed commitment to the international struggle for human rights & against war, occupation, persecution, genocide.

This is a sit-in protest today in Srinagar, Kashmir over the issue of forcible disappearances. Our fullest respect & solidarity.

(Photo by Basit Zargar)

What do you say to a Facebook friend who says you look older than Israel? I’ve bounced people for less but he’s a good guy. Should I teach him respect for old ladies & bounce him or give him a second chance to butter me up?

The caption to this photo read, “Kashmiri Shia Muslims burn an effigy of Donald Trump during protests about the US president’s actions over Israel.” That caption is fully in the Islamophobic spirit of the times, trying to generate religious factionalism within Islam where there is none. So much wiser to remember what Kashmiri human rights leader Khurram Parvez once said: “In the street protests in Kashmir, Sufis, Shias, Sunnis, Wahabis, Jamaatis, Sikhs, less religious, non religious–everyone is participating. Yet apologists of Indian occupation & violence say Kashmir problem is due to wahabization.” The same ecumenical spirit is almost certainly true for Kashmiri protests in solidarity with Palestinians.

(PS: Love the effigy burning, which is not part of US protest traditions.)

(Photo by Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images)

Countries where there have been protests in solidarity with Palestinians & against Trump’s provocation: Tunisia, France, Yemen, Bahrain, Turkey, Kashmir, Pakistan, Jordan, Finland, Somalia, Ireland, Indonesia, the US, Egypt, Malaysia, Lebanon, Israel, UK, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Algeria, Afghanistan, Syria, Morocco, Norway, Spain, Mexico, India.

Take Intifada international.

This is Roshid Jan, a Rohingya refugee holding her baby boy at their shelter in the in the camp area for orphans & widows near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. She walked for ten days with her five children after soldiers torched their village. She is weeping about her husband who is missing. He was the religious leader of their village but was accused of being a Rohingya militant & arrested eleven months ago. She has no idea what happened to him or whether he is dead or alive.

When you understand the suffering of others, you understand their humanity. You realize your own humanity through active solidarity with those who face persecution. The iron law of social transformation is “an injury to one is an injury to all.”

Stand with the Rohingya people against genocide & for full human, democratic, civil, & refugee rights. No forced repatriation.

(Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Another picture worth a thousand lies:

The media caption to this photo said: “Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian man during scuffles at Damascus Gate after Friday prayers in Jerusalem’s Old City, as Palestinians call for a “day of rage” in response to President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.” When it comes to Palestinians, media has a way of not always lying but never telling the truth.

Let’s clean that caption up so it reflects reality: This is a Palestinian teenager in occupied East Jerusalem being assaulted by an Israeli soldier. The young man was probably denied access to Friday prayers at Al Aqsa mosque because Israel bars males under 50 years of age from entry even though it has no legal jurisdiction over Al Aqsa or over East Jerusalem. The Palestinian teen probably knelt in the public streets to pray with other men & boys & then joined protesters in defense of the mosque compound & in opposition to the whole structure of occupation & colonialism.

Long live Intifada. End the occupation. Self-determination for Palestinians.

(Photo by Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

When you see the extremes of violence these young men are up against, you respect them even more as fearless freedom fighters. Armed only with stones & sling shots, they’re facing one of the best equipped & brutal armies in the world. These young, mostly working class stone pelters function as a civilian defense guard for unarmed protesters against tear gas, skunk spray, beatings, rubber bullets, & being mowed down with armored vehicles & mounted police.

These protesters are near an Israeli settlement close to the West Bank city of Ramallah. They are not just venting rage at Trump’s provocation but against the entire edifice of military occupation, colonialism, settlements, apartheid, ethnic cleansing.

Long live Intifada. End the Occupation. Build BDS.

(Photo by Mohamad Torokman/Reuters)

Today is the 30th anniversary of the First Intifada which lasted from December 9th, 1987 to September, 1993. It began in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza when an Israeli army truck drove into a passenger car, killing four Palestinians. Protests spread to the West Bank & became an uprising against the occupation in which women played a leading role. Palestinians were met with overwhelming Israeli military force but for nearly six years the movement employed unarmed tactics like general strikes, protests, boycotting Israeli products, refusing to work in the Israeli settlements, burning of ID cards. In some ways, it marks the birth of BDS although it did not become an international campaign until 2005.

Israel used live ammunition on protesters & even then was condemned for targeting children. At least 30,000 children were medically treated for injuries from beatings by Israeli forces. Ten thousand of the children were estimated to be under 10 years of age. At least 1,409 Palestinians were killed & 120,000 arrested. Thousands sustained injuries, house demolitions, crop destructions, & deportation.

The explosive emergence of Intifada marked a major political shift to collective political resistance against the occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing after a long ebb in the struggle. There are parallels in the Kashmiri struggle against occupation.

This very poignant photo of a Palestinian man in Gaza shows that the long struggle for freedom takes a toll, mostly in grief from loss & fighting alone against overwhelming odds. The BDS campaign has begun a new period where Palestinians no longer stand alone. Honor & build the economic & cultural boycott of Israel. Buy nothing with barcode beginning 729.

(Photo by Dieter Endlicher/AP)

Another picture worth a thousand lies:

Palestinians in Jerusalem being charged by mounted police. If anyone has ever been charged like this, you know how absolutely terrifying it is.

(Photo from DOAM, Documenting Oppression Against Muslims)