While the corrupted antiwar movement limps into oblivion after betraying the Syrian Arab Spring uprising with ‘war on terror’ rhetoric, a Syrian academic powerfully describes the crimes of the Assad dictatorship against Syrian women, including rape, torture, incarceration.
All posts by BabakJoy2014
An Australian politician’s statement on the mosque massacre which shows the scale of hatred Muslims are up against & why “Islamophobia” is such an inadequate term to describe it. Either we rise up as one & drive this movement back or fascist forces will attempt to devour humanity, as we see so clearly in Syria, Burma, Palestine, Kashmir, & elsewhere.
World leaders may not be marching like after Charlie Hebdo, but many decent people do care. Just as an example, I stopped for lunch & a middle-aged woman got up from the next table saying to me “Those mosque killings are so upsetting.” The young waitress passing by agreed as did a man nearby who turned around to join in. It’s about being human.
“Mehbooba Mufti didn’t flinch when she spearheaded the mass blinding and killing of Kashmiris in 2016. Instead she aced the art of genocide cheerleading by blaming the deceased for dying. Now that she remains out of power, she has self appointed herself as a Messiah of humanity. Her comments and comments of Omar Abdullah on New Zealand attack have no moral value. They’re criminals, terrorists , sadists who consume human flesh and create human suffering. For me there’s no difference between Brenton Tarrant, the lead suspect in the Christchurch mosque terror attacks, and that of Omar, Mehbooba and their ilks in occupied Kashmir, only that Omar and Mehbooba are unlikely to be prosecuted for their war crimes. Let that sink in.”
–Reposting this comment by Zachriah Sulayman because it is said so much more powerfully than I ever could.
Former Kashmiri chief ministers Omar Abdullah & Mehbooba Mufti both condemned the New Zealand massacre as terrorism. But neither ever condemned the Indian occupation or the use of pellet guns as terrorism. In fact, Abdullah was the guy who introduced pellet guns against unarmed Kashmiri protesters. Treachery & fake outrage!
A Muslim friend reports that her local mosque issued a statement urging members not to be afraid to come to Friday prayers. But unless there are defense guards at the entrance, they should be. Better yet, if there is a worldwide movement against persecuting Muslims, they need not be.
The Christchurch terrorist streamed his massacre of 49 innocent worshipers live on Facebook. He wanted to glorify & immortalize his monstrous crime. He learned that from media & cinema who vilify Muslims & Arabs & glorify war, occupation, persecution, & genocide against them. Recently, there was a protest to Netflix for a demeaning, dishonest portrayal of Trotsky. We need to organize & coordinate protests to all media & cinema outlets against their racist, hateful portrayals of Muslims & Arabs.
Wish I could share all of the powerful protest posts of my friends, especially my Muslim friends, about the New Zealand mosque massacre. Brilliant, incisive, outraged. Maybe I will try to gather them to counter all the hate coming from nationalists, Islamophobes, racists, white supremacists, & other boneheads. Although white supremacy was directly involved in this massacre & although it remains one of the most malignant scourges to humanity, it should not be emphasized over hatred for Muslims. It is much harder to organize politically against white supremacy than it is against the pogroms, legislation, wars, occupations, genocide, & persecutions against Muslims that are the political gestalt of our times. Social media presents opportunities to organize internationally in defense of Muslims—black, brown,& white—& we should take full advantage.
The mosque massacre in New Zealand isn’t the first time & it won’t be the last time until we internationally organize ourselves against all initiatives to discriminate against or persecute Muslims & Arabs, including all attempts to outlaw the veil in public places. It means rejecting the ‘war on terror’ rhetoric justifying war, occupation, genocide. It is not overstatement to say that the rhetoric portraying the Syrian Arab Spring uprising as “Wahhabi jihadi terrorism” & promoting Syrian, Russian, Iranian, & US-coalition military aggression as liberation from ISIS & terrorism is directly implicated in every violent attack on Muslims. The pogroms against Muslims in India, the occupations of Kashmir & Palestine, the genocide against Rohingya, the mosque shoot-ups in the US, the media & cinematic portrayals of Muslims & Arabs as monsters & terrorists, legislation against the veil, the Muslim ban in the US, & now this massacre in New Zealand are on a continuum of persecution that must be politically organized against. As Zachriah Sulayman says, “Until and unless, the root cause of this problem is grabbed by its throat, incidents like these are bound to happen. It’s time to live as one race or perish as fools.”
May our Muslim sisters & brothers in Christchurch Rest In Peace while we fight like hell to end persecution of others that they may all live in peace.