A #StandWithKashmir sit-in of over 40,000 people from Azad Kashmir now going on at Hajira near the Line of Control to denounce the occupation of Kashmir & demand unification of Jammu & Kashmir.
I fail to understand why international media is not covering this march towards LOC in #AzadKashmir. More than 40 thousand people are doing a sit-in at Hajira near LoC from past 24 hours to denounce occupation of Kashmir and to demand implementation of UN resolutions and unification of Jammu & Kashmir. Where is the international media?#StandwithKashmir#Freekashmir#Unitednations#AmnestyInternational
Not to be a know-it-all, but we should be scrupulous about distinguishing the detestable actions of Arab or Muslim political figures in support of India in Kashmir from the Arab peoples themselves. The Arab Spring uprisings, particularly in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria are among the most glorious political events & advanced the most progressive democratic ideals of our times–not to mention, the Palestinians. That they have been so violently repressed, including by foreign military force, speaks to their power. Any reckless formulations that identify government figures repressing these movements with those who so courageously fought them should be edited in tribute to those thousands of Arabs who died fighting for freedom or still fight on.
The Palestinian & Kashmiri flags fly at the Oldham, UK #StandWithKashmir rally, September 7th, 2019: a unity in action has emerged between two of the most important anti-colonial struggles of our times. This unity will be advanced considerably by joint actions to support BDS & #BoycottIndia. A new day dawns for Palestinians, Kashmiris, & Rohingya who are also boycotting Burmese products.
Oldham, UK #StandWithKashmir protest, September 7th, 2019. A Palestine solidarity group was part of the rally & the Palestinian flag, held here by Kashmiri activist Mehran Khan, was part of the protest for Kashmir. A unity in action that will strengthen the Palestinian & Kashmiri struggles.
The Print, an Indian media source, has published an article titled “20 Kashmiri youths ‘missing’ since Article 370 move, role of terror headhunters feared.” The article cites Indian Army intelligence sources that ‘terrorists’ have been sighted ‘moving around & conversing’ with villagers in ‘far-flung villages’ trying to ‘indoctrinate impressionable & vulnerable youth’ & recruit them. How do they know they were ‘terrorists’? Maybe they were just young guys chatting with their neighbors. Who fingered them as terrorists? Why weren’t they arrested?
The article says: “Security agencies are said to be anticipating a rise in local recruitment by terror groups following the Narendra Modi government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 & bifurcate the state into two union territories. Since 5 August…terror groups are said to have become active, eager to tap the alleged resentment among Kashmiris at losing their special status.” There you have India’s justification for continued occupation. The twenty missing young men are far more likely to have been forcibly disappeared by the Indian Army than they are to have found a terrorist cell under occupation conditions of curfew, lockdown, telecommunications blockade, & soldiers every few feet.
(File photo of security personnel at Anantnag district in Kashmir | PTI from The Print article, August 30, 2019)
Facebook archives remind us that two years ago there were massive protests all over the world in solidarity with the Rohingya fleeing genocide in Burma–protests of thousands even in countries where Muslims are extremely persecuted or in war & occupation zones, including Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, India, Philippines, & several in Kashmir. The Rohingya continue their struggle for full human, democratic, & civil rights in Burma.
This photo from the protest in Srinagar also has a banner for Gaza.
When we think about that ‘First they came for the Muslims & refugees & I did not speak out…’ analogy, we should keep in mind that the terrorism scare first became used against Palestinians, blaming Palestinian youth for the colonial violence against them. It proved so effective, that it was deployed against Black youth, calling them ‘narco-terrorists’ to justify martial law & violations of the Bill of Rights in the Black community.
It is relevant that when I first wrote about that in the early 1990s & again in 2007, those who most ridiculed me for saying the violence was against, not by Black youth, are now part of the Stalinist & Assadist cult promoting the ‘war on terror’ against the Syrian Arab Spring. Almost to the person. The most elementary thing in politics is being able to distinguish who is the oppressor & who the oppressed. If you blow that distinction, God save your sorry ass.
