Mary Scully Reports

A video about the remarkable resistance in the Soura neighborhood of Srinagar making it a ‘no-go zone’ for Indian occupying troops:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywapzv/inside-the-resistance-fighting-indias-occupation-of-kashmir?utm_campaign=sharebutton&fbclid=IwAR3P8UuD8NiTxPVpdr6LKVidFCtcutiz9_YSoJpk0QT7Hm0L7vVuXvU1FTU

This is not an endorsement of Bernie Sanders since his support for Palestinians is entirely equivocal, but at a convention in Houston, Texas, he spoke out forcefully against India’s siege & blockade of Kashmir. He only fell short in not demanding the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all Indian troops, the immediate release of all political prisoners, the cessation of pellet guns against unarmed protesters. His is a strong voice added to the ever-growing #StandWithKashmir movement.

A moving almost poetic protest contrasting the beauty of Kashmir to the ugliness of the occupation:

London #StandWithKashmir rally, Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019: a movement whose time has come & will not be stopped.

It’s difficult for non-Kashmiris to talk about psychological problems caused by the occupation because we never want emotional sensitivities to brutal oppression to make Kashmiris appear like they’re sick in some way, although much of mental illness everywhere is caused by humiliation or oppression. But there are also physical health problems caused by the Indian occupation, health problems directly related to PTSD. A friend has sent me articles on the crises of infertility, miscarriage, hormonal disorders among young Kashmiri women attributed by medical research to PTSD.

War, occupation, genocide are not just antiwar, anti-colonial, & human rights issues. They are also feminist & child welfare issues. In building this new international Kashmiri solidarity movement, we should be talking to women’s groups, church social action groups, social justice groups of every kind to tell them what is going on & to ask them to join the boycott of India until it withdraws all it troops & releases all Kashmiri political prisoners. When India has done that, Kashmiris can make their claims for reparations for the irreparable harm India has done to millions of their men, women, & children.

There are hundreds of photos going back years of Kashmiri women protesting the occupation & also holding weekly rallies against forcible disappearances. This protest of women is from August 23rd, just eight days ago. So maybe when India claims the situation in Kashmir is ‘normal’, what they mean is that moving in nearly a million troops, arresting thousands of activists, abducting children on nighttime home invasions, threatening rape & sexually assaulting women, shooting pellet guns at unarmed protesters, starving out the population, denying them medical care, & the telecommunication blockade have not stopped those damn protesters. They just keep coming & the one-million war-equipped Indian soldiers cannot daunt them.

Boycott India! Call for the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all Indian troops, the immediate release of all political prisoners, & the immediate cessation of pellet guns in Kashmir.

(Photo from Getty Images)

#Azaadi rang out on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles at the #StandWithKashmir rally, August 31st, 2019.

Jammu Kashmir TV reports that one-million British Kashmiris have already started boycotting Indian goods without waiting for a formal call. When products don’t sell, shopkeepers lower the price to unload them, & then they stop importing them. Like this Indian rice in a UK shop.

We don’t have to wait for a formal call (while that option is being pursued) to stop buying all Indian products which are ubiquitous in health stores, supermarkets, speciality & gift shops, clothing, fabrics & textiles, beauty products, foodstuffs, especially rice & grains, pharmaceuticals, electronics, Bollywood films. Consider how much economic power can be brought to bear on India to fortify Kashmiri resistance. Bring that boycott on!

(Photo from Jammu Kashmir TV)

India calls this resistance to their colonial onslaught ‘normal’ when it looks more like a revolution.