Lal Chowk, where this protest against Modi took place, is a city square in Srinagar that is a traditional place for political meetings. It is said Lal Chowk, which means Red Square, was named by socialists inspired by the Russian Revolution. It has historic importance to Kashmiris because it was in Lal Chowk in 1947 that Jawaharalal Nehru said “The fate of Kashmir will ultimately be decided by the people” & where Kashmiris were promised a referendum to choose their political future. So it is more than appropriate that Kashmiri activists, defying the curfew & shutdown in Kashmir, chose Lal Chowk to protest Modi’s visit today despite the heavy deployment of Indian troops the length & breadth of Kashmir.
This is a billboard in Srinagar with a picture of Indian prime minister Modi which has been torn down. He is on a one-day visit & to make sure Kashmiris weren’t out in massive numbers to protest, he shut the whole of Kashmir down, including the internet. Most of us never heard of Kashmir or knew about their 70-year freedom struggle or the brutal 30-year military occupation because of a systematic news blackout. That was only changed when Kashmiri activists took advantage of social media to present their case for self-determination. The fact that there is more news coverage in media is only a result of the work Kashmiri activists continue to do to educate & build active solidarity with them–so that media can get ahead of the narrative presented by Kashmiri activists.
Closing down the internet in Kashmir is frequent & only to silence the voices of resistance. One of the most inspiring things about the Kashmiri movement is the solidarity they express with the oppressed around the world. There is hardly a day without hunt to kill operations, protests, civilian arrests & deaths. But still Kashmiris protest for Palestinians, Rohingyas, Syrians, West Africans, & others. So on this day when they are silenced, we should stand with those who teach us so much about the meaning of human solidarity with the oppressed.
New York City stands with Palestinians: gone are the days of the 1970s when Palestinian protesters & their supporters were charged by mounted police & beaten because there were so few. Today Palestinian solidarity is an international movement mobilizing hundreds of thousands, over a million in 2014, to stand against Israeli apartheid, colonialism, genocide.
If you buy the #FakeNews against the White Helmets in #Syria, you stand with the fascists who support Israel’s #Gaza massacre.
#FreeSyria
#FreePalestine
“Killer Modi has arrived & is hiding from civilians in Kashmir.
Those suffering from his tyranny are now caged in homes so he can show the world his fake welcome.” #ModiIsNotWelcome
(Caricature & comment from IRidaRubabSayed on Twitter)
Navajo members of the Red Nation stand with Palestinians: they held up the flag of Palestine at Window Rock, in the state of Arizona–because if anyone understands the brutal extermination & expropriation of indigenous Palestinians, it is the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is a genocide that has not ended in the Americas though it has been excised from history as if the thousands of wars of extermination never happened. The model of genocide in the Americas is that consciously used by Hitler & now by Israel.
Stand with Palestinians. Stand with the struggle of Native Americans.
(Photo is screenshot from video circulated by Palestine Observer)
This is Aleppo after Syria & Russia ‘liberated’ it by barrel bombs & carpet bombing in late 2016. This photo was released by the Russian Defense Ministry after it entered Aleppo with tanks & ground troops. Now of course Assad propagandists claim all this destruction was done by armed militias. But with satellite imagery these days, the powers that be know exactly whose bombers wreaked this carnage. The obfuscation is intentional.
There is no liberation through carpet bombing. Not when the lives of thousands of civilians are at stake. If we learn nothing else from the apocalypse that is Syria, it is to oppose militarism, not for pacifist reasons but to protect the lives of unarmed civilians. If this be the price of protecting the national sovereignty of Assad’s dictatorship, that is indictment enough. If this be the price of defending the Syrian Arab spring uprising from Assad, he has already won the counterrevolution.
The only principled demands are for the immediate cessation of Syrian, Russian, & US coalition bombing of Syria & the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Syria.
(Photo is from Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
Behind the extraordinary resistance of Palestinians is the grief & loss they have endured for 70 years. It’s overwhelming just to witness but there is a concrete way to stand with them & that is to commit to honoring & building the economic & cultural boycott of Israel. Check the label on every product to make sure its country of origin is not Israel. That initiative is from Palestinians as a peaceful & powerful way to bring apartheid & genocide to its knees.
