The ‘war on terror’ has made everybody an expert on denominations within Islam. Exegetists of the Quran (they’ve never read) abound. All this reached its highest level of farce with Assad apologists like the hapless Ben Norton, Max Blumenthal, & Rania Khalek. Beware lest in following their lead you end up like them: spawning podcasts because no reputable news venues will touch your work with a ten-foot pole.
There needs to be a thorough investigation of the murder of 29-year-old Irish journalist Lyra McKee. She was gunned down in Derry, Northern Ireland during a protest & police immediately blamed the attack on dissident Republicans. McKee was going to be speaking in a few weeks at a public World Press Freedom Day event about the murder of journalist Marie Colvin in Syria & the dangers of reporting violent conflicts. The Assad regime had directly ordered Colvin’s assassination. Assad propagandist Eva Bartlett spoke as an honored guest at an event in Derry about a year ago because Assad has strong support among a current of Republicans. There may be no connection between those who murdered McKee & Assad supporters in Derry but it is absolutely a link that must be investigated.
(Photo of Lyra McKee from Jess Lowe Photography/Agence France-Presse–Getty Images)
Before posting articles from Mint Press, it would be wise to vet the information. It has questionable funding sources which appear to be associated with the Iranian government, is rabidly Assadist, including leading the campaign to deny Syrian chemical weapons attacks on civilians, & it is anti-Semitic under the guise of anti-Zionism in the same way all Assadists are. It has a veneer of being progressive but that is the schtick of many fascist currents. It’s how so many get sucked into their vortex.
“Yesterday a pepper gas shell exploded near my home and plumes of smoke started eminating from it, and few people put a wet cloth to douse it but by then my 3-years old daughter started coughing violently the cough was so severe that she vomited and was literally gasping for breath. Fearing for her life I picked her in my arms and took her away from home to a safer place where she could breathe in fresh air.
“While I was running, the pictures of the victims of chemical attack in Syria swam in front of my eyes. I was always emotional regarding the war victims but yesterday I could feel the pain, sufferings and helplessness of the Syrian parents in real.”
–Tahir Khan Hamidi from Kashmir
The indomitable Kashmiri freedom fighters.
(Photo by Faisal Khan/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Two Uyghur mosques recently demolished by Chinese government.
“‘Talaq’ is not a valid term for Kashmiri rejection of india as we were never ‘married’ to india (yuck!), no one took our consent, it has always been a relationship of subjugation executed by cunningness and brute force.”
–Mir Laieeq, April 17, 2017
Excoriating racism wherever/however it manifests, & even where it lurks, is imperative. Racism is one of the most malignant & divisive political weapons on the planet. But talking about white privilege, separate from how racism manifests, is nothing but guilt-baiting & leads to a political dead-end. It’s observable that those who most engage in it are Brahmins or their class equivalents. There are other inequalities like gender, but especially class, that have a controlling impact on our lives. So that a Brahmin has opportunities & privileges in life that a white working class kid cannot even dream of. There’s nothing to be gained from white-baiting & I don’t say this as some sort of puny-assed defense of caucasian ethnicity. It puts the political emphasis on the wrong damn thing & makes being white a problem when the problem is racism. You can’t do anything about being white. But you can act politically to end racism. And that’s the difference.
FB just banned British far-right groups Britain First, the English Defence League, & the British National Party from posting.
Anyone who posts in support of these groups will also be banned.
FB officials said the decision was taken against users who “proclaim a violent or hateful mission or are engaged in acts of hate or violence.” Since FB censors decide what constitutes a “violent or hateful mission”, this signals an escalation of censorship & political repression. They are intentionally & publicly targeting the extreme rightwing to legitimize censorship while all along they have been massively censoring Palestinians & Kashmiris & those who post in support of their struggles.
It is elementary to the principles & fundamental concepts of freedom of speech that we oppose censorship. Not because we give a rat’s ass about freedom of hateful speech for Britain First but because we know they are coming for us like gangbusters after they get us to cheer the banning of rightwing groups. Those who stand for democracy oppose this abridgment of free speech on social media.