Vijay Prashad, the “Marxist” who supports the Assad dictatorship, is writing about the Italian elections & hasn’t said a word about the carpet bombing of civilians in Eastern Ghouta. Tariq Ali, the same kind of “Marxist” & another guy who supports Assad, is posting about personnel shifts at the White House & about a 1968 conference in Berlin on internationalism. He’s had nothing to say about the carpet bombing of civilians in Eastern Ghouta. Neither would know the meaning of internationalism if it came up & bit them in the ass. They are owed no more respect than fascist propagandists Eva Bartlett & Vanessa Beeley or the wannabe lap dogs Rania Khalek & Jeff Mackler.

Shrouds for the children of Eastern Ghouta who Assad propagandists & their fellow travelers call actors, terrorists, or human shields for terrorists. There is no shame among fascists.

It was reported two days ago that the death rate in Eastern Ghouta from Russian & Syrian bombing was over 674 civilians, including children. May they Rest In Peace. Hamza Hassan, a surgeon who attends to the wounded, said “The situation on the ground is catastrophic. The regime is bombing hysterically”.

Stand with the people of Eastern Ghouta & demand the immediate cessation of Russian, Syrian, & US coalition bombing & the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Syria.

(Photo by Mohammed Badra/EFE)

Perhaps some think I should concentrate writing only about Syria or only Kashmir or Palestine or Afghanistan or the Rohingya struggle. But those struggles are all of a piece, yoked in the stranglehold of war, occupation, genocide by militarism under the battle cry of Islamic terrorism. Rebuilding the bonds of active & powerful international solidarity includes & strengthens all of those struggles. No freedom struggle is at odds with another.

The latest information from the Indian army’s rampage in the Shopian district of Kashmir is that seven young men have been killed & three are missing, possibly forcibly disappeared. But accurate information is difficult to obtain since India has snapped the internet in several districts & slowed it to a crawl in the rest of Kashmir. When Kashmiris know what is happening & who have been killed or disappeared, they will let us know. In the meanwhile, we must stand with them & help tell the world what the Indian government is trying to hide: the steady sustained slaughter of civilians in Kashmir under military occupation.

All Kashmiris are now designated “Over-Ground Workers” (OGWs) against India’s military occupation. The Indian military has adopted this new term to justify killing unarmed Kashmiri civilians. Steady sustained slaughter of Kashmiris continues at the hands of the Indian army.

Stand with Kashmiris in demanding the end of the murderous occupation, especially since India is trying to silence their voices by shutting down the internet.

Stand with Kashmiris against the extreme violence of occupation. Accurate information is difficult to get since India has snapped the internet in districts where they are on a rampage. Demand the end of occupation & the right of self-determination for the Kashmiri people.

#Azadi

(Drawing from Nazir Ahmad)

“Kashmir is a conquest! Killing is the game.

– Count and subtract.”

–Zafar Iqbal

Does Gary Oldman winning the Oscar for playing Churchill in “The Darkest Hour” mean we’re supposed to forget what a racist colonialist war criminal he was? Oldman is indeed a great actor but the award was of a piece with the Oscar tribute to movies glorifying US wars.

Kashmiri friends are telling me that the occupying army in the Shopian district actually executed six people, not four as has been reported. Those who lost their lives so barbarously should be properly identified & honored. Tomorrow I will get a clearer understanding of what happened as well as the names of those young men so that we may eulogize them as befits their lives. Thank you to Kashmiri friends for insistence on that.

Antiwar & socialist activists I’ve organized & marched with for over 50 years have not uttered one word against Syrian & Russian bombing of civilians in Eastern Ghouta. Because they support it. But then, despite their US regime change rhetoric, neither did they write a peep of protest about US bombing of civilians in Mosul or Raqqa. Nor for that matter have most of them ever had much to say about the Arab Spring uprisings, the occupations of Kashmir & Palestine, the genocide against the Rohingya people, or the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, & Libya. It’s not exaggeration to say that when political activists begin to fall apart, the first thing to go is a commitment to oppressed humanity whoever they are, wherever they live & instead a preoccupation with trade union activities within their national borders. It’s an iron law of political degeneration.