Ilhan Omar’s statement on Kashmir: not the strongest statement since she should have called for the withdrawal of troops rather than “deescalation” but it’s the start of her education on the struggle for Kashmiri self-determination.

This video is in Urdu but even those who don’t speak the language will be struck by the images from the Soura neighborhood in Srinagar which has made itself a no-go zone for Indian troops with barricades & ditches & which calls itself “Kashmir’s Gaza.”

A troubling report from a Kashmiri just returned from spending eight days there:

“After spending eight days in different parts of Kashmir, I managed to reach back Delhi alive today. Everyone back home knows that the Governor and his administration are economical with the truth. They are avoiding facts and spreading lies. They are untruthful thugs. Please do not trust them. The situation is in a perilous and frightening state. According to locals thousands of people, including children, have been arrested and dozens injured. Life saving drugs are fast disappearing from the medical stores and essential food items are not available. Everyone I met is emotionally broken and psychologically distressed. God save Kashmir.”

–Sheikh Fayaz Ahmad

India is refusing to issue death certificates for those they are killing in Kashmir so they can continue to claim there are no casualties. Are there words in any language strong enough to denounce this savagery & deceit?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/kashmir-india-death-certificates-jammu-protests-violence-modi-a9079371.html?

“Leaving aside Kashmir’s centuries-old struggle against colonial invaders and occupiers, this much should be evident to those who have known the news since 1947: Kashmiris have been fighting the Indian State all these years because of the consequences of being a Muslim-majority people living under the rule of a Hindu-fascist system that calls itself a constitutional democracy. India could at least try to be as civilised towards Kashmiris as British Raj was towards Indians, but it is incapable of that level of human decency because of the Brahminism in its soul.

“PS: I must accept British Raj as a role model of being civilised, for otherwise I wouldn’t have printable words to describe the occupier of Kashmir. This allows me to get away by just saying that India lacks the British level of decency. If I were to call out British Raj for the brutish system it was, what would I call Indian rule in Kashmir? From the known facts, it is easy to say there was greater space for democratic rights under the British Raj than in Kashmir even during Nehru’s time. And today this is not even a question — BJP rule is definitely worse than British rule. There was also greater support for Indians among British people than for Kashmiris among Indian people. The Britishers at least acknowledged that they were ruling an empire; most Indians, including even the majority of those fighting against the Indian State for democratic rights, insist that the Republic of India, including Kashmir and the Northeast, is their nation, not a colonising empire. #StandWithKashmir #EndTheOccupation”

–Indian activist Satyadeep Satya

An update on the Jenab Sahib Soura neighborhood in Srinagar which residents have made a ‘no-go zone’ for Indian troops. An extraordinary story of popular resistance to colonial occupation.

https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/day-23-india-s-kashmir-siege-we-want-our-sleep-back-29235?

We should take a moment to grieve the children of Idlib sustaining now months of Syrian & Russian carpet bombing, including with barrel bombs & incendiary weapons.

The Assadist & Stalinist cult that has replaced the antiwar movement claims there are no civilians living in Idlib, only terrorists, when photographic documentation of the slaughter of children is irrefutable. They’re dividing their time now between denouncing the Syrian Arab Spring as terrorists & denouncing the Hong Kong protesters as violent proxies for US aggression against China. May they rot in hell as we determine to rebuild the antiwar movement rooted in principles & not in hatred for the oppressed standing up against dictators & tyranny.

(Sketch by artist Marc Nelson from an eyewitness photo in a protest against the bombing of Idlib)

Things are so oppressive in Kashmir that the UN Human Rights Office said it was “gravely concerned”. If this blockade goes on any longer, they’ll progress to hand-wringing & then all hell will break loose with their whimpering protests.

According to Assadists & Stalinists, this would be a White Helmet terrorist harvesting the organs of an “al-Qaeda affiliated Salafi-jihadi” terrorist since they claim there are no civilians in Idlib. But to the rest of us, this is a rescue worker treating the injuries of a small child who was bombed by Syrian & Russian war planes.

(Photo via Life in Syria)

Israel, which calls itself ‘the most moral army in the world, routinely manhandles & assaults children & just shot a small boy in the leg on his way to school.

Once again, children are not accidental victims, but the intended target of occupation in Palestine, as in Kashmir.

(Photo via Basem Naim)