See how Indian democracy works in Kashmir?

For those who would prefer me more temperate in my criticisms of Assad propagandists & their fellow travelers, rightwing nationalists, Islamophobes, anti-Semites, & other such dirtballs, diplomacy is not my schtick. In my political life, from trade unions to the social movements, my observation is that those who insist on diplomatic temperance are equivocators & dissemblers. I speak as one of the oppressed, not as a movement diplomat. That’s just the way it is.

This is a merciless, brilliant excoriation of British journalist Robert Fisk who traveled in Syria the same way as fascist propagandists Bartlett & Beeley–embedded up the ass of the Syrian army. Fisk once criticized journalists who embedded with the US army in Iraq so he knew exactly what he was doing & how compromised that made his journalism on Syria. His corruption as a journalist became overt & boldfaced during the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, & elsewhere where his contemptuous attitudes toward Arabs and Muslims were expressed in neon. Because he’s such a lowbrow racist & Islamophobe, he was incapable of seeing the monumental power & importance of those uprisings, including in Syria where he openly sided with the Assad regime against the revolution for democracy. He is no longer a reputable journalist but an apologist for dictatorship in the Arab world. Color him decayed.

https://pulsemedia.org/2016/12/03/robert-fisks-crimes-against-journalism/

“Indian occupying forces don’t need to give any reason to kill Kashmiris as they are armed with impunity provided by the draconian law called AFSPA. So why do they give a reason? To throw breadcrumbs at collaborators to play with their assurances of “impartial enquiry”, to give their media a day or two to create more frenzy against Kashmiris, and to play victim internationally by painting the struggle of freedom in Kashmir as terrorism.”

–by Mir Laieeq who has previously addressed attempts to portray political resistance by Muslims as terrorism. Such vilification has reached its lowest levels of racism & malignancy in Kashmir, Syria, & among the Rohingya in Burma with the “Saudi-backed head-chopping jihadi” crap.

This is Kashmir. It could be Palestine. The censorship on social media against Kashmiri & Palestinian activists is intended to hide this daily aggression against civilians, especially little kids. If the occupying armies can intimidate & terrorize children, they can end resistance, because in the end they are terrified children will continue the tradition of resistance until freedom is won. There are analogs in US history in the treatment of Black, Latino, & Native American children reflected most powerfully in what is called pickaninny “art”–a deranged cartoonish genre ubiquitous until the civil rights movement which focused on Black infants holding by one arm to a twig suspended over an alligator pit. It’s malignancy can only be explained by its terror of Black youth resistance to oppression, That’s why children are directly targeted in Kashmir, Palestine, Syria, & elsewhere.

Stand with Kashmiri & Palestinian kids & demand the end of occupation & self-determination for Kashmir.

(Photo by Faisal Khan)

Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) hold monthly protest in Srinagar.

Kashmiri activists, including Parveena Ahangar, Khurram Parvez, Parvez Imroz, have given international leadership to the issue of forcible disappearance which is used by many governments around the world to silence & demoralize political activists. It is one of the most extreme & monstrous political weapons used to silence dissent & punish family members & other civilians.

Stand with Kashmiris in opposing this despicable human rights crime.

Please take a moment to read & sign this appeal by Bhopal justice activists. Dow Chemical & Dupont merged late last year, making it the world’s largest chemical company, but still with no provisions for the now third generation of those devastated by the poison gas explosion in 1984.

https://www.facebook.com/BhopalMedicalAppeal/videos/10155005676892877/

Not that anyone has asked, but let me explain why I would not touch Cindy Sheehan’s planned October march on the Pentagon with a ten-foot pole. Sheehan has misanthropic, rightwing Fox News politics & is indistinguishable from them. She ridiculed the 2017 & 2018 Women’s Marches of upwards of 4 million women on every continent as “pussy parades” & counterposes this march to them with breathtaking elitism & sectarianism. She has ridiculed every protest against Trump policies, including those against the Muslim ban. But mostly, she is an ardent supporter of Assad & Putin & ardently promotes fascists Bartlett & Beeley. You cannot call yourself antiwar if you support Syrian & Russian bombing of civilians & spend no time examining the role of US coalition bombing in Syria but only sputtering against liberals.

The only endorsers she has garnered for this march so far are leading US Assad supporters, including the “retired” CIA, FBI, & military officials now leading the corrupted antiwar movement. Most of these people, including Sheehan, have never organized an antiwar rally, let alone one in Washington, DC, or are among those socialist activists who have kept the movement as small as possible if they cannot control it. It’s likely to be a grandstanding event showcasing the political corruption of Sheehan & the antiwar movement, especially because it is liberals of good will who have been the financial supporters & majority activists of the antiwar movement since it began in 1965.

Reposting this from March 9, 2017 because it is certainly among the most powerful images of children suffering war, occupation, persecution, genocide. His grief speaks for children from refugee camps to war & occupation zones & is a call to action for all men & women of good will:
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A boy mourns the deaths of young men killed by Indian occupying soldiers in Pulwama, Kashmir. May those who died Rest In Peace. Heartfelt condolences to those left to grieve.

There is nothing left to be said except building international solidarity & demanding India end the occupation is a political imperative. Kashmiris have stood alone in their historic struggle long enough.

End the occupation. Self-determination for Kashmir.

February protest in Srinagar for little Asifa: what a tragic world when children must protest the killing of children rather than celebrate their friendship.

#JusticeForAsifa