Headline in The Kashmir Monitor: “Highway closure: Anantnag family gets permission to use road but wedding party will be frisked first.”
Monthly Archives: April 2019
Doing the tango is the least of bird charms. They are an intelligent, emotional animal meant to fly & never should be held captive in a cage.
This article is about Indian occupying forces closing down a main highway in Kashmir on Sundays & Wednesdays to facilitate the movement of troops & materiel. Kashmiri activists have plenty to say about this because it egregiously violates the free movement of Kashmiris for commerce, emergency vehicles, funeral & wedding processions, traveling, visiting.
A rebel song from the Irish struggle against English colonialism.
In April 2018, the Syrian American Council (SAC) issued a press release thanking Trump, UK prime minister May, & French president Macron for airstrikes in Syria, urging them to continue bombing but to protect & prioritize the safety of civilians. It staggers the mind how those who deign to speak for the Syrian Arab Spring could make so many colossal political mistakes in just one brief message. Just like the corrupted antiwar movement has been unable to mobilize thousands to defend Syrian & Russian bombing of civilians, organizations like the SAC have been unable to mobilize thousands to defend US, UK, & European bombing of civilians. What doesn’t the SAC understand about US militarism? What don’t they understand about war when bombing civilians is fundamental to it? What don’t they understand about the counterrevolutionary role of the US, UK, & Europe in Syria to crush the Arab Spring? With the US bombing Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, what makes SAC think the US will intervene on the side of revolution?
The SAC does not represent a defense of the Syrian Arab Spring but a capitulation to US militarism. They don’t have the political sophistication of an American teenager who couldn’t find Syria on a map but knows that bombing civilians is not the way to bring peace.
An image tweeted by Free Syria Media Hub in response to Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza praising Assad for his “experience, wisdom & advice for resistance, victory & peace.” It portrays those thousands who have been tortured & murdered, including by hanging, in Assad’s gulag–for which there is considerable photographic documentation. Is this Arreaza & Maduro’s vision of justice?
White Helmet rescue workers rescuing a child killed in Syrian & Russian bombing of civilians: is this what Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza meant when he said of Assad: “So much experience, wisdom & advice for resistance, victory & peace”?
Despite the corruption of the Venezuelan government, we stand steadfast in opposing any US or foreign intervention in Venezuela. We do not have to solidify with the Maduro regime to oppose military intervention & stand with the Venezuelan people.
(Photo from White Helmets)
Jorge Arreaza, Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, made a state visit to Syria on April 5th & 6th. While there, he laid a wreath at the Unknown Soldier monument paying homage to Syrian soldiers killed while slaughtering Syrians of the Arab Spring uprising. He tweeted this photo of himself with the butcher Assad along with the message: “Immensely honored to have been received by the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, brother Bashar Al-Assad. So much experience, wisdom and advice for resistance, victory and Peace. We transmitted the embrace in solidarity from President @NicolasMaduro. Long live Syria!”
Would those who claim they support the Syrian Arab Spring & oppose Assad but also promote the Maduro regime as a bastion of popular democracy care to explain how the Venezuelan government can stand for democracy in Venezuela & counterrevolution in Syria at the same time?
This is a quite useful article about Italian Deputy Minister & Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. Salvini, who like many fascists began his political career as a Stalinist, is leading the campaign against Syrian, Iraqi, & African refugees & against the Roma & Sinti communities in Italy. The article describes his role in forging links with European nationalists & fascists & with Steve Bannon to create an international network or movement of anti-immigration, anti-Muslim, racist & fascist ideologues.
(Time cover photo by Marco P. Valli/Cesura)