“Every Indian child is brought up on a super-greasy diet of lies about Kashmir. S/he is trained in homes, schools, neighbourhoods and cinema halls to hate ‘terrorism’ — i.e. the Kashmiri’s fight for her birthright to Azadi. Indian children are told there are some good Kashmiris too — those who love Indian rule and are, therefore, victims of Pakistan-sponsored and Islamist terrorism, which robs them of all their human rights. And they are told many Kashmiris have been brainwashed by Pakistan to hate India, and that they carry out acts of terror threatening Indian lives. No wonder they feel great when Kashmir is put under siege, as they see it as a continuation of India’s struggle for freedom, to protect the lives and wellbeing of Indian citizens from those who hate India.”
Relatives of those forcibly disappeared in Syria protested outside the Russian embassy in Berlin to demand the Assad regime disclose the whereabouts of those held in prisons & demand their release. In recent years, hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Syria learned that Syrian authorities registered their missing family members as dead, mostly from sudden heart attacks while in custody.
In the political tradition used around the world by family members who have lost someone to forcible disappearance, the protesters hung photos of their beloved, many of whom were tortured to death in Assad’s gulag.
(Photo from Action Group for Palestinians in Syria)
It’s meant to humiliate & disempower the Rohingya when they are left out of negotiations for repatriation in Burma & it becomes all about diplomacy between Burma & Bangladesh. It’s meant to humiliate & disempower Kashmiris when their struggle for self-determination against colonial occupation is left out of the discussions & it is addressed solely as a territorial dispute between India & Pakistan. Active solidarity strengthens their demands to be the heart of any resolution.
This article reports there have been multiple #StandWithKashmir protests in Sydney & Melbourne, Australia before this one in Perth. Any photos from Sydney & Melbourne?
