There are some very powerful images in this collage of the Kashmiri occupation, including images from the current siege:
What else is left?
Posted by Aabid Ibn Bashir on Sunday, August 18, 2019
This is one scary article. Nearly a million Indian troops in every nook & cranny of Kashmir & it looks like they’re all moving in for an extended stay because they know Kashmiri resistance is a massive, fearless, experienced counterforce.
This child is one of several killed by Syrian & Russian bombers last Friday in Idlib. The work of Kashmiri activists on social media, including expressing solidarity with the Syrian Arab Spring, generated the emergent international solidarity movement that will help stay the aggression of the Indian government. There has been no such movement for the Syrian Arab Spring because of the corruption of antiwar & progressive forces who instead used social media to support the Assad dictatorship & the bombing of civilians. This is a political catastrophe & betrayal of epic proportions.
As we stand with Kashmiris, they would not want us to be silent on the suffering & struggles of the Syrian, Palestinian, Rohingya, Uyghur, Yemeni, Afghan, Iraqi, & Somali people.
We demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all Indian forces from Kashmir & the immediate release of all political prisoners. We demand the immediate cessation of bombing & the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign forces from Syria & the immediate release of all political prisoners.
(Sketch from an eyewitness photo by artist Marc Nelson)
Fascist propagandist Eva Bartlett returned from Russia claiming “I did not see police brutality” against protesters. Actually, there has long been considerable video & photographic evidence of Russian police violence against protesters, including while she was there. Since Bartlett supports Russian bombing of Syria, including the murderous campaign in Idlib right now, she would not be the one to judge what constitutes violence against unarmed civilians or protesters.
This is how Indian media explains the telecommunications blockade in Kashmir: to prevent a ‘misinformation campaign’ by Kashmiris or images that could ‘trigger communal tension.” Playing us for stupid again.
Through Modi’s Twitter & FB walls titled “PMO India: Report Card,” the National Investigative Agency (NIA) of the Indian government is requesting “If you come across any social media post in any group, page, handle or wall containing propaganda, hatred for India or its Army on the issue of Kashmir or any other topic you may report to NIA.” & they attach a link to the NIA report form.
India, which calls itself the largest democracy, is turning fascist right before our eyes. Hundreds of thousands of Indians agree so anyone is free to report me for saying so.
Interview with Kashmir writer Mirza Waheed on India’s siege in Kashmir:
The Indian occupying army fighting terrorism in Kashmir: 5-year-old Muneefa Nazir in hospital after a paramilitary soldier hit her in the eye with a stone from a catapult.
(Photo from J & K Today)
It’s time to start an economic boycott of India. India exports approximately 7,500 commodities to about 190 countries. In 2018, those exports to the US alone amounted to $6.3 billion. We know all the arguments against economic boycotts; we’re heard them since the boycott of South African apartheid & are fighting legal & political battles over BDS against Israeli apartheid. Yap yap yap about hurting the working class from those who don’t understand how capitalism works or who gains from international trade. It sure isn’t sweatshop workers.
To my mind, it’s time to launch an economic boycott of all Indian products sold to consumers. Maybe we can’t impact the sales of petroleum products, iron & steel, machinery, ships & marine equipment, or biochemicals. But we can have a massive impact on thousands of products sold in shops in every city around the world. Spices, herbs, Ayurvedic medicines, emollients, & oils, perfumes, pharmaceuticals, foods, clothing, books, Bollywood films, jewelry, electronics, rice & grains, textiles, automobiles.
We shouldn’t just stop buying but should notify store owners that we are boycotting their products until India withdraws its troops from Kashmir & releases every single Kashmiri political prisoner. We have to mean business when it comes to this boycott because protests have to be backed up with economic pressure. Will we alienate Indians? Not those who support the Kashmiri struggle. They want support in building an anti-colonial movement. Israeli Palestinian supporters are among the most committed to BDS.
It isn’t economic boycotts that make the lives of Indian or Israeli workers miserable but the billions wasted on militarism. The US borrows from Social Security, steals from Medicare & Medicaid, reduces food stamps & social services, & lets its roads & bridges collapse to pay for its constant & many wars. Israeli & Indian soldiers, who are mostly working class, return to civilian life suffering PTSD from the hell they’ve inflicted on Palestinians & Kashmiris. US antiwar veterans have written the book on what their involvement in war, occupation, & genocide has done to them.
If you care about the working class, that should include the Kashmiri working class who have fought for over 70 years against colonialism & occupation. If you’re going to cry crocodile tears for the working class, cry for them. Meanwhile, it’s time to support them & Indian workers against militarism by boycotting all consumer goods from India & making sure the export shops, health food stores, Amazon know that the boycott will prevail until India withdraws its troops from Kashmir & releases all Kashmiri political prisoners.
At least 4,000 were arrested just in the first 13 days of the military onslaught, held under the Public Safety Act which allows imprisonment up to two years without charge or trial. Most have been flown out of Kashmir to prisons in India & none have been identified by name or where they are imprisoned.
India is out to mercilessly crush the resistance in Kashmir with the assistance of Israeli, Russian, French, & US arms. Protests demanding India’s immediate, unconditional withdrawal & the immediate release of all political prisoners must continue or one of the most important freedom struggles of our time will be set back & the scorched earth model of genocide (used against Kashmiris, Palestinians, Rohingya, Uyghur, Syrians) will become the model for all humanity struggling against tyranny.