There have been protests all over India, especially in the state of Assam (where nearly two million Muslims have been disenfranchised), against the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) & the National Register of Citizens (NRC) which both marginalize & exclude Muslims & create a political environment of increased violence against them. It is such a significant step toward Hindutva fascism that five left parties (which in India are mass organizations) have issued a joint call for their chapters all over the country to organize popular protest actions against CAB & the NRC on December 19, 2019. Actually they should have included an international call for protests on that day since what happens in India will not stay in India when the Modi regime is in the vanguard of fascist forces worldwide.

Coalescing a national response to CAB & NRC is momentous but the protests should include massive banners demanding the end of occupation in Kashmir since the occupation & fate of Kashmiri Muslims is directly linked to the struggles in India. Since some of these left parties have organized protests all around India against the occupation in an ad hoc manner, we now know that coalescing a national movement against the occupation is as possible as it is imperative & that one reason it has not happened is because of political failures on the part of these mass parties.

You don’t have to live in India or be Muslim to understand their importance & want to participate in the December 19th protests. Those of us outside should consider ways we can rally on that same day to oppose CAB & the NRC & to incorporate a demand for the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all Indian troops from Kashmir & for the immediate release of all Kashmiri political prisoners.

All out December 19th!