This is a remarkable story about the escape of a young Rohingya refugee from Australia’s Manus Island concentration camp for refugees. In his prison memoir from Manus titled “No Friend But the Mountains”, Behrouz Boochani describes a Rohingya man who traveled on the same boat with him to Australia (which was sinking & had to be rescued) & was sent to Manus with him. One wonders if this is the same man. The escape is worthy of a movie like those about escape from Alcatraz. Except that 27-year-old Jaivet Ealom is not a criminal. He was given asylum in Canada. May his life be blessed from now on.
Daily Archives: February 24, 2020
Not what you would call a flattering article about Modi or Trump, by Pankaj Mishra:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/opinion/trump-india.html?
Many years ago, when I studied US slavery in college courses, I learned that most so-called scholarship on slavery prior to the US Civil Rights Movement had to be trashed because of the unspeakably racist portrayal of slaves as happy to serve their masters & incapable of higher aspirations. When I took up the study of Kashmir, I found that a good share of the available scholarship was US State Department-type analysis of little use in understanding the popular movement for self-determination. But when it comes to studying US wars, in particular the problems of fundamentalist militias (like the Taliban, al Qaeda, ISIS), one has to plow through a mountain of war mongering & Islamophobic rubbish to understand the complexities–& that’s without ceding an inch to the horrific politics of those groups. The so-called ‘war on terror’ has corrupted scholarship as racism, & misogyny always have–or rather as a continuation of that white & male supremacist tradition.
The dope who runs the Irish airline Ryanair claims terrorists “will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion”. Apparently he has six-degrees of separation from the same imputation against the Irish Republican struggle, an imputation that showed up frequently in films, if not as frequently as against Muslims in contemporary films, novels, TV shows.
This is a lovely tribute to a food vender in Kashmir known for his kindness to children, by Aahil Asif:
“Situated in Aali kadal, one of the corners in the heart of Kashmir where I lived my boyhood, here like every other locality in Kashmir, you would find carefree kids chuckling around, giggling, trespassing in-between the typical fence-free lawns of Kashmiri homes breached only by a leap or two from a kid. Their voices filled with joy. These rare happiness pulses were probably the only exceptions that tried to disturb the persistent gloomy ambience around.
This Gentleman, who I rated the most kind hearted person I had ever come across, often offered fried snacks free to kids, who could barely afford such delicacies in those days. I would often stand in front close to him. The richness of heart is far beyond the riches of the people of the throne. Honestly! these people are a class of its own and always remain envy of my heart.”
Yesterday, the US & Afghan Taliban signed a temporary truce, ‘setting the stage for a peace deal next week aimed at ending the over 18-year war & bringing US troops home’. File that under ‘fat chance’. Or better yet, ask the Iraqis what they think about US announcements of withdrawal. Remember the last time the US announced it was withdrawing from Afghanistan? Or the several times it announced withdrawal from Iraq?
In rereading “Taliban” by Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, it’s clear how important Afghanistan is in international politics for the US-NATO coalition, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, the Saudis, & others. It isn’t just some podunk backwater from which the US-NATO were trying to rout Osama Bin Laden or ‘save’ Muslim women, as it claimed. Bin Laden has been dead for several years now, killed in Pakistan, & Muslim women are not ‘saved’ by bombing their homes, schools, mosques, fields, or by that single nail salon in downtown Kabul.
US-NATO forces are unlikely to withdraw from Afghanistan without a massive, international antiwar movement but will continue to occupy, imprison, torture, & bomb in Afghanistan as they do in Iraq. As problematic as the Taliban are, the political leadership of their country is up to the Afghan people to resolve, not for US-NATO bombers to negotiate. A principled international antiwar movement must be rebuilt to demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of US-NATO forces & mercenaries from Afghanistan.
This photo of an Afghan refugee child in Pakistan was taken by Muhammed Muheisen in 2014. This little girl is now nearly a teenager, born & come of age as a refugee. Meanwhile, Europe & the US refuse to accept Afghans for asylum.
US-NATO out of Afghanistan!
A brief tutorial on the occupation & lockdown of Kashmir.
JUST DON'T BLINK! #IndianOccupiedKashmir#200Days
Posted by Saqib Nazir on Friday, February 21, 2020
I woke up to 5,001 friends this morning. How did that happen? And why aren’t you all allowed to be my friends? Or is ‘followers’ a category where hostile forces can gather who don’t feel the slightest affinity or warmth toward my views?
I do not take my friends & readers for granted but am honored & humbled that you want to work with me to make this world suitable for human beings to live in.
Scorched earth bombing combined with sub-zero temperatures are killing Syrian children. They are children who are dying, not terrorists.
(Photo from Amnesty)
Mushtaq Ul-Haq Ahmad Sikander on the once amicable social relationships of Muslims & Pandits in Kashmir:
“As my father started calling his childhood Pandit friends, that included his colleagues and acquaintances to greet them on Shivratri that is locally known in Kashmir as Heraath and second day is called salaam, I could feel the warmth of their relationship that youth of my age missed as Pandit minority had left as we were born. From the conversation of my father who is a practising Muslim and his Pandit friends one could not guage their religious Identity. His Pandit friends used words like Khuda, insha’Allah and my father responded with terms like Dayii(God) and Naaneyy(meat). He asked them if they had cooked meat and fish on this festive occasion. Some responded with yes while others said that meat markets are too far from their places where they reside. So they missed cooking fish. It was a sad part that Heraath has lost its charm for Pandits who have left their home and hearth due to political turmoil. My mother added that government in Kashmir used to make special arrangements for Pandits to make fish available for them. Kashmiri Pandits unlike North Indian brahmins are not vegetarian. Parents informed me that Muslims and Pandits would buy mutton from the same muslim butcher and used to eat it halaal. Also Kashmiri Muslims respected Pandit tradition by not eating beef.
Also on this occasion walnuts that were soaked in water previously for few days were distributed by Pandits among their muslim friends and neighbors. These traditions are now a nostalgic memory even for my parents. Our rich tradition lost immensely due to the exodus of Pandit minority. The shared spaces, syncretic culture and indigenous tradition are alien to the new generation of Pandit and Muslim youth of Kashmir. Given the alienation from the past in next few decades if Pandit and Muslim unity, dialogue and people to people contact is not initiated, the indigenous rishi tradition will die a silent death that will be mourned by none.”