What becomes more apparent as the issues of war, occupation, genocide, refugees become more imperative & pervasive is that public protest must become coordinated internationally, not left to hope & chance. When a crisis happens–like another Israeli bombing siege of Gaza or hunt to kill operation in Kashmir–we need to have a coordinated emergency response like the international antiwar movement has had in the past. We have to begin thinking out how to do that, including primarily using social media to put out the calls for action. The levels of human suffering require that of us.

“The rain continues. It is rebellious rain, a revengeful rain, a strange and piercing rain; it is a downpour of tears, a fall on the old wrenches, a drenching of the underlying wounds, an inundation of the immortals; it is a rain to flood the remembrance of all other rains. a rain to drown me in the sadness of rain.

PS: I live in Kashmir, rain will be angry anyway.”

–Zafar Iqbal

Resuming posting after my Facebook suspension with this illustration by Rollie Mukherjee for a newsletter some months back. Rollie says about this work, “This work I did on the intrusion of private spaces…the disproportionate policing & surveillance of Muslim community……….criticizing the CVE policies worldwide.” With the US Supreme Court decision upholding the Muslim ban, discrimination against Muslims is now embedded in law & we can be sure Islamophobia will be whipped to fever pitch in justifying war, occupation, genocide. Responding to it & defeating its malignancies remains a pivotal political responsibility of our times.

Watching nightly news only, without social media, one would think the latest idiocy from Trump was alone noteworthy of comment, the greatest tragedy little American kids crying because they couldn’t get a teddy bear for cheap after waiting in long lines. Now to return & find that Israel is bombing Gaza to smithereens, again targeting children. Not a mention of that on nightly news. No wonder they’re censoring activists on social media–it’s part of keeping us ignorant & passive. Believe me, after so much time off FB & Twitter, I now appreciate its importance more than ever–not just in reporting news but in collaborating with others around the world in ending these monstrous crimes against humanity.

July 16th

From a surprising source, this is a moving account of life for Rohingyas in Arakan state. It profoundly resonates with accounts by American Blacks under US apartheid (known as Jim Crow law) before the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

http://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2018/6/5af99df74/life-ive-known-five-minutes-peace.html?

I have not fallen off the ends of the earth nor been cowed by Facebook censors. My new move has been difficult since the new landlord did not have the house prepared for habitation & I am cleaning, putting in lights, clearing out rubbish to unpack. Not a big deal when one considers the suffering of others but still keeping me from Facebook posting & reading. I hope to be back & will be delighted to be back in just a few days. It will be lovely to be connecting with you all again.

July 13th

Central to the military occupation of Palestine (& Kashmir) is the disfigurement, disability, & death of rebellious youth who refuse to bend the knee to violence against them.

Long live Intifada. Free Palestine. Free Kashmir.

(Photos are butterfly explosive bullets used by Israeli snipers against unarmed protesters. They are most often used to shoot protesters in the legs.)

Today (July 5th), I’m off my 30-day Facebook ban for merely linking the struggle of Palestinians with that of Kashmiris. There was nothing at all inflammatory about the two comments Facebook censors found objectionable so there is no way to avoid being banned again. It’s a free speech issue but I was unable to find a single international law firm willing to take a look at civil liberties litigation for social media. The search for such a firm goes on.

It was disorienting to be locked out of Facebook & it will take me a few days to get back chugging since I am also setting up in a new apartment. Just in the past 30 days, the human rights news is like a drunk reeling from pillar to post where children are kidnapped from their refugee parents & their parents jailed & where it is now the legal norm in the US to discriminate against Muslims. We have a lot of work to do. Thank all of you who stood by me & made the isolation less disorienting.

This is an analysis well worth reading with the exception of its naive conclusion about the role of the US.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-in-syria-putin-and-netanyahu-were-on-the-same-side-all-along-1.6134931

An apologist for Assad claimed he’s being demonized because he was a trained eye doctor before he took hereditary power from his dictator father Hafez al-Assad. Does the name Dr. Joseph Mengele ring a bell?

June 4, 2018