All posts by BabakJoy2014

Al-Jumhuriya journal of Syrian journalists, writers, academics in exile

Al-Jumhuriya is a journal of Syrian journalists, writers, & academics operating from exile in Turkey who provide analysis of the Assad regime, the social revolution against his dictatorship, & many other issues related to the war in Syria. Syrian revolutionist Yassin Al Haj Saleh is one of its writers.

The intellectual level & understanding of Syrian politics & culture exposes Assadist propaganda for the drivel it is. Once you read one Assadist diatribe against the little girl Bana & the White Helmet rescue workers you’ve read them all & can skip all the other thousands since it’s a broken record of intellectual horse manure. When they start in on the panegyrics for St. Man of the People Assad only the most servile dare to follow.

But judge for yourself: http://aljumhuriya.net/en/

Israeli troops attack Palestinians during Friday prayers

Ras Al-Amud attack (Ammar Awad:Reuters) July 21 2017

This is the scene yesterday in Ras Al-Amud, often described as “a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem.” That’s the language of occupation since all of East Jerusalem is supposed to be under Palestinian control but after Israel occupied it in 1967 it has been building & expanding Zionist settlements.

Palestinians are refusing to accept the new Israeli restrictions over Al Aqsa mosque & in protest are praying outside in the streets–something they are used to doing since Israel began a few years ago banning all men under 50 from praying in the mosque.

Yesterday, Palestinians were just finishing Friday prayers in Ras Al-Amud when Israeli police attacked them with stun grenades & tear gas. These unarmed worshippers are clearly running from an attack but that did not stop media from describing it as a “clash” with Israeli troops. Incidents like this took place all over East Jerusalem, sending nearly 400 Palestinians to the hospital with injuries from live ammo, rubber bullets, beatings, tear gas inhalation. Three Palestinians were killed: 17-year-old Mohammed Sharaf & 20-year-old Mohammed Abu Ghannam of gunshot wounds, & 18-year-old Mohammed Lafi. May they Rest In Peace.

Our fullest solidarity with Palestinians in their defense of Al Aqsa mosque & their right to religious freedom & worship. It is not a coincidence that the Indian army is creating the exact same havoc & violence at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, Kashmir.

End the occupation. Self-determination for Palestinians.

(Photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters)

On the deceitful language of military occupation in Palestine

This is an article from May 2014 (a couple months before Israel’s murderous seven-week bombing siege over Gaza) by Charlotte Silver about media’s use of the word “clash”–as in “clashes broke out at the Al Aqsa mosque between Israeli police & Palestinians.” This is how media uses language to mask the character of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, colonialism. It is to make it appear not just that the violence is two-sided but to subtly, through linguistic deceit, impugn Palestinians as aggressive, irascible, violent terrorists.

It is not “clashes broke out” but rather Israeli soldiers armed to the teeth attacked unarmed Palestinians in order to protect settlers & expand colonial sovereignty over Palestinian lands & holy sites.
Language matters in the imbalance of power between oppressed & oppressor & in telling the truth about the character of colonialism.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/05/palestine-israel-there-are-no-c-201452162725921210.html

Hold fast to dreams

Hold fast to dreams montage

Been seeing an eruption of abandon hope posts directed at Kashmiris, Palestinians, Syrian revolutionists, & Rohingya at a time when they are under sustained violence. According to the hopeless who call themselves realists, it’s all over but the requiems.

Let the hopeless sit it out on the sidelines crying in their beer. Forging through the obstacles in struggle & standing undaunted against extremes of violence is not the same as burying your head in the sand. If you fetishize & focus on the obstacles to freedom, you will not be able to realistically assess them & find strategies around them nor see the possibilities to advance the struggle. If we learn nothing else from those freedom struggles, we should at least learn how to steel ourselves against demoralization. As they have.

(Montage created by Satyadeep Satya)

Israel does not return the bodies of Palestinians it has gunned down so that forensics cannot show they were mostly executions but also to assault the dignity of the deceased & the need for families & friends to grieve & give their beloved proper burial.

This wrenching video is Palestinians fleeing with the body of Muhammad Hassan who was killed by Israeli soldiers in Al Aqsa mosque protests so that Israel will not abduct the body & he can be given respectful burial.

https://t.co/AzBxLUnrMe

Today Indian troops in Kashmir killed an elderly man, a young man, & a small boy. Does anyone have photos of them before they were gunned down? We should remember them not just wrapped in funeral shrouds but for the life taken so brutally from them.

Israel’s concept of religious freedom for Palestinians

Chumps

Israeli concept of religious freedom for Palestinians:

The media caption to this photo said Israeli troops “clashed” with Palestinians who in protest refused to enter the occupied Al Aqsa mosque compound & prayed outside in the streets.

We need to get terminology straight when it comes to occupation & military violence against unarmed worshippers & protesters & not be confused by the obfuscations of language. This is a brutal assault, not a “clash.” This is military occupation, not new security measures.

Our fullest solidarity with Palestinians. End the occupation. Self-determination for Palestine.

(Photo from The Independent)

Palestinians protest occupation of Al Aqsa mosque

Palestinians protest security measures at Al Aqsa (DOAM tweet) July 21 2017

Palestinians are protesting Israel’s new so-called security measures at Al Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. Although Israel has no rights of sovereignty over East Jerusalem & no rights to control or desecrate a Palestinian place of worship, they have armed troops patrolling within the compound & installed metal detectors at entrances & surveillance equipment as if Palestinians were the source of the violence. Israeli authorities claim three Palestinian gunmen smuggled weapons inside the mosque compound, necessitating the metal detectors, but if the surveillance cameras had been operating it would more likely have shown the summary execution of those three young men by Israeli troops.

Border police are deploying tear gas, stun grenades, water cannons against unarmed protesters. Seventeen-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Mahmoud Sharaf was shot in the neck & killed by an armed settler during these protests. Was the gunman arrested & hauled in for assault with a deadly weapon & for murder? Almost certainly not.

Palestinians refuse to go through the metal detectors not because they’re carrying concealed weapons but to protest Israel’s attempts to control the mosque compound. Instead they are holding prayer vigils in the streets outside the mosque. Israel long ago imposed age restrictions on men under 50 entering for prayer services so they are accustomed to praying in the streets.

Our fullest solidarity with Palestinians. Our condolences to the family of young Mohammed; may he Rest In Peace.

End the occupation. Self-determination for Palestine. Build the economic & cultural boycott of Israel (BDS). Buy nothing with barcode beginning 729.

(Photo from Documenting Oppression Against Muslims (DOAM)