A lot of people don’t get what solidarity is. They think it’s a noblesse oblige thing or a sentimental pang you get when you see human suffering. In fact, solidarity is an understanding that no human being is alien to us; it is the recognition that we stand together in fighting war, occupation, genocide, that the only way to make this world a beautiful place to live & love is working together as brothers & sisters to strengthen the political power of the oppressed. It’s practical, concrete, an action verb. It means doing something educational, polemical, or agitational. Solidarity is the iron law of social transformation.
This infant girl named Omaia Alriz was identified by Syrian & Russian bombers as a ‘Wahhabi jihadi terrorist’ & bombed to death in Idlib yesterday. The corrupted antiwar movement, constipated with Assadism, thinks her gruesome death ‘worth it’ for defending Assad’s national sovereignty–just as Madeleine Albright considered the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children ‘worth it’ for accomplishing US policy goals.
Principled antiwar activists consider baby Omaia’s death a war crime of monstrous proportions & demand the immediate cessation of Syrian & Russian bombing of civilians in Idlib as well as the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Syria.
(Photo of baby Omaia from Asaad Hanna on Twitter)
Kashmir Journalist Association, Kashmir Working Journalist Association, Kashmir Press Photographers Association & Kashmir Press Videographers Association protesting in solidarity with Aasif Sultan in Srinagar today. Given the level of repression against journalists under the Indian occupation, it is extremely tough-minded of these journalists to not only do their reportage work but also to protest the repression. They are often enough criticized for cowardice but to those who do not live under military occupation, this looks pretty damn courageous to protest the arrest of a fellow journalist.
Please like & share this Facebook wall to broaden international solidarity with Aasif Sultan & with other Kashmiri journalists: https://www.facebook.com/freeaasifsultan/
(Photo from Free Aasif Sultan on Twitter)
Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan was arrested by police in a night raid on his home last Monday, September 1st. His laptop, mobile phone & other documents were confiscated. He has been sent to central jail in Srinagar on judicial remand until September 22nd. Judicial remand allows Sultan to be held in custody longer than is legal under police remand so they have time to figure out something criminal to charge him with.
So far, police haven’t been able to cook up any actual crimes but he was arrested on charges of “complicity” in “harboring known terrorists”, for writing against Indian occupying forces, & for glorifying militancy by writing about Burhan Wani, the man whose funeral in July 2016 was attended by an estimated 600,000 Kashmiris but whose name & photo cannot be shown on FB without censorship & suspension. While being shifted to jail, Sultan was beaten by police for wearing this t-shirt which was then confiscated by police. As evidence for a crime?
Kashmiri journalists have protested for his immediate release & the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has taken up his defense. The CPJ Asia program coordinator said “Police should immediately release Aasif Sultan from jail & halt efforts to pressure him to reveal sources or become an informer. By reporting on militant activity, Sultan is performing an important public service, not committing a crime.”
Facebook page Free Aasif Sultan: https://www.facebook.com/freeaasifsultan/?
Twitter page for Free Aasif Sultan: https://twitter.com/FreeAasifSultan
(Photo of Sultan from several Kashmiri sources)
“india has lost its Kashmir plot completely. their groping in the dark policy is only worsening the sufferings of Kashmiris. more blood, blindings, wounds, incarcerations. tough and tougher times seem ahead. the most powerless will suffer. the most marginalized will suffer. all regional and international solidarities should push for demilitarization and self-determination. an unending occupation is not the way.”
–Ather Zia
Irish singer Mary Black is one of 140 artists, including five Israelis, calling for a boycott of the 2019 Eurovision in Israel to honor the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions (BDS) to end the “whitewashing” of Israel’s military occupation & apartheid through art. This is one of Black’s most beautiful songs.
Open letter from 140 artists calling for boycott: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/sep/07/boycott-eurovision-song-contest-hosted-by-israel
Video of Israeli sniper assassinating 16-year-old Ahmad at the Great Return March last Friday. For those who want to indict him as a terrorist for pelting stones at the apartheid barrier several yards away, such moralizing is beneath contempt. Rocks against snipers with assault rifles are not terrorism but a desperate self-defense against genocide.
May sweet Ahmad, who died as a freedom fighter, Rest In Peace.
https://www.facebook.com/basem.naim.980/posts/154648318795585
Mine would not be the Facebook wall to argue against open borders for immigrants & refugees. Neither me nor most of my friends want to hear arguments against human rights for refugees–whether from war, occupation, genocide, or economic plunder–because none of the arguments ever rise above racist banalities. Some people think that creates an echo chamber effect where we only hear one side of the story. Is there a problem with that when there is almost a complete news blackout on the refugee crises affecting millions of people all over this planet? Why should we subject ourselves to disputations with racist pinheads when there is important work to do for refugee rights? If you’re one of those who want to engage in debate with racists about refugee rights, just let me know & I’ll give you directions to their Facebook walls. Me? I just want to slap the crap out of them. Don’t color me tolerant on that score.
From September 10th, 2017 at the height of the Rohingya flight from genocide, Kashmiris under military occupation stood in solidarity.
(Photo from Documenting Oppression Against Muslims (DOAM))
The redoubtable Maung Zarni, a Burmese dissident in exile & champion of the Rohingya people:
https://www.facebook.com/RBNewsEnglish/videos/260087821303237/?f