Indian nationalists are tweeting support for Israeli bombing of Gaza using the hashtags #IsraelUnderFire, #IsraelUnderAttack & #IndiaWithIsrael. Meanwhile Palestinians are grieving the deaths of at least 34 people, including small children. Terrorism is no more a problem in Gaza than it is in Kashmir. Genocide is the issue.
These are family members of 25-year-old Zaki Ghanama who was among those killed in the bombing.
#StandWithPalestinians #StandWithGaza
(Photo from Middle East Eye)
An investigative report done by a European group shows that India has 265 fake media houses in 65 different countries pumping out propaganda. That’s almost as many as Russian state-owned media houses which double as Syrian propaganda houses. The US doesn’t need so many propaganda venues since it deploys troops to nearly a thousand military bases. Deception & repression are the weapons of war, colonialism, & genocide. There’s nothing new about that.
“Breaking News: 4000 years old Iyengar bakery found under KFC outlet.”
–tweeted by Liberal Indian @Lib_Ind in mockery of Hindutva claims that a Hindu temple was found under Babri Masjid
While grooming & bathing my dogs today, I saw that Rocky has an enflamed testicle. He is one of my only two male dogs not yet neutered & those male dogs who are neutered have on several occasions attacked their genitals. It must be some sort of sexual pheromone thing. Before paying out $200 to a vet, I decided to try treating him with canine penicillin which I could get affordably at a vet pharmacy in Mexico about one hour away.
Before leaving, I checked with a Mexican friend who assured me the pharmacies stayed open until 7 or 8 pm. I was feeling urgent for Rocky’s sake & It’s quite cold today so instead of parking my car in the US & walking the bridge into Mexico, I drove over, not realizing that the cost for a car is $3 & not fifty cents if you walk. When I arrived at 4:30, all the pharmacies & the vet clinic were closed. I looked for an ATM to get cash to pay Mexican border patrol on the way back & discovered there are no longer ATM machines on the Mexican side. The toll is $1.60, not 35 cents if you walk. How the hell could I have known that!? Playing the old lady card, I tried to persuade the Mexican border patrol to skip the toll but he made several cars back up so I could back out of line. After several attempts at markets to use my bank card & get cash back failed, I stopped an American guy & asked him for the toll money. It was dark by now & I hope too dark for him to ever remember my face. Begging certainly beat spending the night in my car in deserted downtown Progreso.
It was rush hour time now & to avoid the expressway traffic I took a back road mostly traveled by 18-wheelers between the US & Mexico. It was uneventful until we hit the zone with miles of road work & detours. I became hopelessly lost & didn’t find road signs pointing in the right direction. Finally, in a busy area I pulled off at a gas station to get directions. It was dark & unlit so I missed the driveway into the gas station & drove into a ditch with a foot of water. The police, the gas station guys, the tow truck guy, & a few guys getting gas were so damn sweet, asking if I was okay & assuring me that it’s actually a common accident in unlit areas. My car will need some repairs but is driveable. I have no injuries but I would say, all in all, the day sucked even though I’m laughing about it now.
“I cannot drink water
It is mingled with the blood of young men who have died up in the mountains.
I cannot look at the sky; It is no longer blue; but painted red.
I cannot listen to the roar of the gushing stream
It reminds me of a wailing mother next to the bullet-ridden body of her only son.
I cannot listen to the thunder of the clouds It reminds me of a bomb blast.
I feel the green of my garden has faded Perhaps it too mourns.
I feel the sparrow and cuckoo are silent Perhaps they too are sad.”
–anonymous Kashmiri poet
The one stolen by the monsters?
Where should I return home now?
everything has been taken away in the storm
Everyone has been turned into a prisoner
in the walls of their own homes
There’s wailing in the air
and poison spread in the weather
It’s just water for you
this blood of our children
We have only seen injustice
in the scales of your tyranny
–Amir Wani, Kashmiri poet & filmmaker
The photo (on left) of Faris Odeh was taken October 29, 2000. Faris was a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in Gaza protesting the Israeli occupation. Ten days later on Nov 8th, young Odeh was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in another stone throwing incident. Thousands of Palestinians attended his funeral. Captured in this iconic moment, he remains a symbol of courage & resistance not just to Palestinians but to all who struggle for justice. We commemorate his memory & martyrdom for Palestinian freedom.
Kashmiri photojournalist Showkat Nanda had the image of Faris Odeh in mind when he took the photo (on right) of a small Kashmiri boy facing off with stones against an Indian armored vehicle in 2009. In a very moving account, Nanda described how Indian paramilitary forces were shooting at unarmed protesters in the town of Baramulla. Young boys carried the body of an injured boy shot in the chest away from the scene & handed him to Nanda as he died. As gunfire cleared the scene of protesters, this small boy came running toward the paramilitaries “as if from nowhere” to stand defiant & fearless against the armored vehicle.
For his fearless defiance against occupation, young Odeh has been called an “adolescent daredevil.” Islamophobes claim his martyrdom is due to “Islamization” & the “culture of death” of Palestinian resistance even though many Palestinians are Christian. Some say stone-throwing is a distraction for children who do not understand the danger. Did the unidentified Tank Man of Tiananmen Square who stood defenseless against an army tank not understand the danger!? Did Rachel Corrie, mowed down by an Israeli bulldozer, not understand the danger? Is it conceivable that Odeh & this young Kashmiri boy stood in front of 60-ton vehicles without grasping the danger? Or is it more likely that commentators underestimate the ardor & commitment of young people, don’t have a clue about fearless commitment to justice & about the willingness to brave all against oppression & occupation?
We should take a moment to honor Faris Odeh on the 19th anniversary of his death & to honor this Kashmiri boy & all Palestinians & Kashmiris who have lost so much & stand so fearlessly against military occupation & colonialism.
Our fullest respect & solidarity.
(Photo on top of Faris Odeh from Laurent Rebours/AP; photo on bottom of Kashmiri boy by Showkat Nanda)
(Reposted & updated from 2017)
A useful article about the Indian Supreme Court ruling in favor of Hindutva nationalists over the 1992 mob demolition of Babri Masjid (a 470-year-old Muslim mosque) in the Indian city of Ayodhya. The article is about how that mob & demolition are related to the Modi regime & how this ruling fits into further Hindutva nationalist plans for India.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/world/asia/ayodhya-supreme-court-india.html?
On the electricity outage in Kashmir:
“The entire Kashmir is without electricity since last four days now. In my many years outside home, I have never heard my mother cry on phone. She is a strong woman who didn’t cry once during the ongoing siege. Today, she finally gave up. “Zulum chu bardaasht nyebar gomut.” The oppression is beyond our limits of endurance now. There is no water, no electricity, no phones, no internet. Nothing. Nothing. The people of Kashmir are put to this test for what? Why, I ask?
My sister said it’s only us Kashmiris who can survive this harsh winter without any basic necessities available. We have nothing and we are still going on. If there is an electricity outage for just an hour anywhere else, people start losing their mind. We have been eating food under candle light since last four days now. She is seventeen.
My cousin who has his class X board exams going on doesn’t know how to study under such conditions anymore. There is no heating arrangement. There is no electricity. There is no water. How do we expect our children to study under such conditions and then score well enough to compete with the “outside” world? He is sixteen.
My frail grandparents who live in the outskirts of the city have no phones, no electricity, no water, no heating arrangement. I have no idea how they are surviving, if they are at all. Who is responsible if something happens to them? Which court should I go to for justice if anything happens to them?
I can’t be here and focus on my work when all hell has broken loose on my people back home. I ask you why are my people put through this hell? Why? Tell me fucking why? Why isn’t anyone talking about the electricity outage in Kashmir? Has the world already accepted it to be a forgotten land? Is it truly the graveyard of your conscience?”
–an unidentified Kashmiri
No Friday prayers have been allowed at Jama Masjid in Srinagar since August 5th, 2019. That parallels what Israel is doing to Palestinians at the Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem because denial of religious freedom is fundamental to genocide.