Remember this 2017 photo from the occupation of Kashmir? Another picture worth a thousand lies.
(Photo by Faisal Khan)
A beautiful poem worth reading again & again by Kashmiri Zafar Iqbal:
-a poem (my mode of resistance)
my mode of resistance is silence.
silence, silence and silence.
far i know silence lies
on the opposite lane of
revolutions.
so , in all probability,
my mode of resistance is to count.
count, count and count.
far i know count will
include
dead and
martyred children of
revolutions.
so, in all probability,
my mode of resistance is to escape.
escape, escape and escape.
to high mountains and deep valleys.
for i know high mountains and
deep valleys are
all occupied by the tyrants.
So, in all probability,
my mode of resistance is to pray.
pray, pray and pray.
for I know
God will never help,
God helps those
who help themselves.
so, in all probability,
my mode of resistance is to write.
write, write and write.
for I know
they will never understand
my poetry.
So, in all probability,
my mode of resistance is to educate.
educate, educate and educate
for I know
my tyrant is snared
in the sewer of baser minds.
Evil lunatic is its king.
hate and killing is the objective
so, in all probability,
my mode of resistance is to educate
educate, educate and educate.
Pardon me for saying so, but the Icelandic group Hatari performing at Eurovision 2019 is blowing smoke up our asses when they say they’re for BDS, describe Israel as apartheid, & challenge genocidaire Netanyahu to a trouser-wrestling contest. They deny they’ll make any political statements supporting Palestinians during the performance but it wouldn’t matter if they did. When Hatari defied the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel & crossed that picket line, they took a stand with Israeli apartheid & genocide against Palestinians. When they reduce political opposition to genocide to a trouser-wrestling contest with Netanyahu, they don’t just mock & belittle the scale of oppression faced by Palestinians but flip the bird to justice. In politics, you can’t play both sides of the street. You cross the cultural boycott picket line, you become the soundtrack to genocide. There’s no two ways about it.
(Photo of Hatari holding a rehearsal at the expo center in Tel Aviv by Thomas Hanses/EBU)
According to civilians in Idlib, Syrian & Russian bombers are only targeting civilian areas, especially homes & hospitals. Does Assad claim civilians are hiding terrorists in their closets & doctors are hiding them in their operating rooms?
Hospitals are inoperable, schools are closed down, & tens of thousands are fleeing for their lives. The numbers of civilians killed is not yet known but several children are among them.
Demand Syria & Russia stop the bombing & demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Syria.
(Photo of child in Idlib from White Helmets, May 10, 2019)
Syrian refugee life. Or what Assadists call “liberation.”
(Undated photo by unidentified photographer)
These young Palestinian men are scaling the apartheid wall today at Al-Ram town just outside Jerusalem so they can attend Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque. This is despite Israeli authorities barring men under 40-years-old from praying in the mosque while Israeli settlers are allowed to enter the mosque under Israeli police protection.
(Photo by Issam Rimawi/AA)
Exuberant Kashmiri children.
(Photo by Aasif Shafi)
Saw the Tyler Perry movie “A Madea Family Funeral” yesterday. Perry must spend too much time with white people in Hollywood because the film is a cornucopia of Black stereotypes that make Black culture look positively foolish. It seems impossible to go lower, but this film is a step down from Black exploitation films. One could say Perry is squandering his talents but it’s likely he would be unable to make films if he did not produce such a mockery of Black life.
Omar Abdullah, the official who authorized the use of pellet guns in Kashmir, called stone pelters “goons.” By which he meant young, unarmed fearless freedom fighters, not these guys with AK-47s throwing rocks at protesters.
Despite being in treatment for cancer, Irish human rights activist Micheal Clinton continues to admin several human rights groups for Palestinians, Kashmiris, Rohingya, Uyghur, Syrians, & any sustaining war, occupation, genocide. Please keep him in your thoughts & prayers that he recover fully & soon.