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By Palestinian BDS National Committee

Below is a detailed guide to our targeted consumer boycotts, divestment and pressure campaigns. Help us spread the word to maximize our impact!

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian society that is leading the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, salutes activists, organizations and institutions worldwide that have expressed meaningful solidarity with our urgent struggle to stop Israel’s unfolding genocide in Gaza by escalating boycott and divestment campaigns. The spreading boycotts of complicit Israeli and multinational corporations can be effective if done strategically.

Ending all state, corporate and institutional complicity with Israel’s genocidal regime is more urgent than ever. Our lives and livelihoods literally depend on it.

Targeted Boycotts vs. Non-Targeted Boycotts:

People of conscience around the world are rightfully shattered, enraged, and sometimes feeling powerless about Israel’s #GazaGenocide. Many feel compelled to boycott any and all products and services of companies tied in any way to Israel. The proliferation of extensive “boycott lists” on social media is a result of this. The question is how to make boycotts effective and actually have an impact in holding corporations accountable for their complicity in the suffering of Palestinians?

The BDS movement uses the historically successful method of targeted boycotts inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the US Civil Rights movement, the Indian anti-colonial struggle, among others worldwide.

We must strategically focus on a relatively smaller number of carefully selected companies and products for maximum impact. We need to target companies that play a clear and direct role in Israel’s crimes and where there is real potential for winning, as was the case with, among others, G4S, Veolia, Orange, Ben & Jerry’s and Pillsbury. Compelling large, complicit companies, through strategic and context-sensitive boycott and divestment campaigns, to end their complicity in Israeli apartheid and war crimes against Palestinians sends a very powerful message to hundreds of other complicit companies that “your time will come, so get out before it’s too late!”

Many of the prohibitively long lists going viral on social media do the exact opposite of this strategic and impactful approach. They include hundreds of companies, many without credible evidence of their connection to Israel’s regime of oppression against Palestinians. Many do not have clear demands to the companies as to what we expect them to do to end the boycott, making them ineffective.

That being said, all peaceful popular efforts, including boycott and divestment, to hold all genuinely complicit corporations (and institutions) accountable for supporting Israel’s grave violations of Palestinian rights are justified and called for. It is perfectly legitimate, for instance, to boycott companies whose Israeli branch or franchisee has supported Israel’s unfolding genocide in Gaza, some of which we mention below in the grassroots organic boycott targets section.

Also, a company or product may make perfect sense as a boycott target in one context or city but not another. This context-sensitivity is a key operational principle of our movement. Regardless, we all have limited human capacity, so we’d better use it in the most effective way to achieve meaningful, sustainable results that can truly contribute to Palestinian liberation. We therefore call on our supporters to strengthen our targeted campaigns and boycott the complicit companies named on our website to maximize our collective impact.

As an intersectional movement that connects Palestinian liberation with racial, indigenous, social, gender and climate justice struggles, we also recommend boycotting companies that are involved in oppressing other communities as well. We also recommend adopting a universal human rights investment screen, to prevent investments in all companies complicit in human rights violations.

For more information on the selection criteria for new campaigns used by the BDS movement click here. The following are the current top priority boycott targets of the global BDS movement.

We have split these targets into four sections:

1. Consumer boycott targets – The BDS movement calls for a complete boycott of these brands carefully selected due to the company’s proven record of complicity in Israeli apartheid.

2. Divestment and exclusion targets – The BDS movement works to pressure governments, institutions, investment funds, city councils, etc. to exclude from procurement contracts and investments and to divest from, as the case may be, as many complicit companies as practical, especially arms companies and banks. We rely on the following authoritative sources:

• AFSC list of companies that have provided Israel with weapons and other military equipment used in its #GazaGenocide.

• AFSC Investigate database of companies enabling the occupation.

• UN database of businesses involved in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.

• WhoProfits database of Israeli and international corporations profiting from the ongoing Israeli occupation.

• Don’t Buy Into Occupation list of businesses involved in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise in the OPT in which European financial institutions have investments.

3. Pressure targets – The BDS movement actively calls for pressure campaigns against these targets. This includes boycotts when reasonable alternatives exist, as well as lobbying, peaceful disruptions, and social media pressure.

4. Organic boycott targets – The BDS movement did not initiate these grassroots boycott campaigns but supports them due to these brands’ complicity in Israel’s genocide and apartheid against Palestinians.

1. Consumer boycott targets:

Hewlett Packard Inc (HP Inc)

HP Inc (US) provides services to the offices of genocide leaders, Israeli PM Netanyahu and Financial Minister Smotrich. HPE, which shares the same brand, provides technology for Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, a pillar of its apartheid regime.

Chevron (including Caltex and Texaco brands)

US fossil fuel multinational Chevron is the main corporation extracting gas claimed by apartheid Israel in the East Mediterranean. Chevron generates billions in revenues, strengthening Israel’s war chest and apartheid system, exacerbating the climate crisis and Gaza siege, and is complicit in depriving the Palestinian people of their right to sovereignty over their natural resources. Chevron has thousands of retail gas stations around the world under the Chevron, Caltex, and Texaco brand names.

Siemens

Siemens (Germany) is the main contractor for the Euro-Asia Interconnector, an Israel-EU submarine electricity cable that is planned to connect Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory to Europe. Siemens-branded electrical appliances are sold globally.

PUMA

Since 2018, we have called for a boycott of PUMA (Germany) due to its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA), which governs teams in Israel’s illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land. In a major BDS win in December 2023, PUMA leaked news to the media that it will not be renewing its IFA contract when it expires in December 2024. Until then, it is still complicit, so we continue to #BoycottPUMA until it finally ends its complicity in apartheid.

Carrefour

Carrefour (France) is a genocide enabler. Carrefour-Israel has supported Israeli soldiers partaking in the unfolding genocide of Palestinians in Gaza with gifts of personal packages. In 2022, it entered a partnership with the Israeli company Electra Consumer Products and its subsidiary Yenot Bitan, both of which are involved in grave violations against the Palestinian people.

AXA

Insurance giant AXA (France) invests in Israeli banks financing war crimes and the theft of Palestinian land and natural resources. When Russia invaded Ukraine, AXA took targeted measures against it. Yet, Axa has taken no action against Israel, a 75-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid, despite its ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.

SodaStream

SodaStream is an Israeli company that is actively complicit in Israel’s policy of displacing the indigenous Bedouin-Palestinian citizens of present-day Israel in the Naqab (Negev) and has a long history of racial discrimination against Palestinian workers.

Ahava

Ahava cosmetics is an Israeli company that has its production site, visitor center, and main store in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory.

RE/MAX

RE/MAX (US) markets and sells property in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land, thus enabling Israel’s colonization of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli produce in your supermarkets

Boycott produce from Israel in your supermarket and demand their removal from shelves. Beyond being part of a trade that fuels Israel’s apartheid economy, Israeli fruits, vegetables, and wines misleadingly labeled as “Product of Israel” often include products of illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land. Israeli companies do not distinguish between the two, and neither should consumers.

2. Divestment & exclusion targets:

Though the BDS movement calls for divesting from and excluding from procurement/investment all the companies in the four authoritative databases listed above, we are focusing on the following targets:

Elbit Systems

Elbit Systems is apartheid Israel’s largest arms company. It “field-tests” its weapons on Palestinians, including in Israel’s ongoing genocidal war in Gaza. On top of building killer drones, Elbit makes surveillance technology for Israel’s apartheid wall, checkpoints and Gaza fence, enabling apartheid. The US and EU use Elbit’s technology to militarize their borders, violating refugee and indigenous peoples’ rights.

Intel

Intel has announced that it will invest $25 billion in apartheid Israel as Israel’s #GazaGenocide continues, signaling its commitment to bolstering apartheid. The company’s first development center outside the US was opened in Haifa in 1974. For decades, Intel has invested in apartheid Israel. Its plant at “Qiryat Gat” is built on Palestinian land within the boundaries of the Palestinian village of Iraq al Manshiya, which was ethnically cleansed and razed to the ground and then replaced by the Israeli settlement of Qiryat Gat.

HD Hyundai/Volvo/CAT/JCB

Machinery from HD Hyundai (South Korea), Volvo (Sweden/China), CAT (US), and JCB (UK) has been used by Israel in the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians through the destruction of their homes, farms, and businesses, as well as the construction of illegal settlements on land stolen from them, a war crime under international law.

Barclays

Barclays Bank (UK) holds more than £1 billion in shares of, and provides more than £3bn in loans and underwriting to nine companies whose weapons, components and military technology have been used in Israel’s armed violence against Palestinians.

CAF

Basque transport firm CAF builds and services the Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR), a tram line that serves Israel’s illegal settlements in Jerusalem. CAF benefits from Israel’s war crimes on stolen Palestinian land.

Chevron and Chevron-owned Noble Energy

US fossil fuel multinational Chevron is the main international corporation extracting gas claimed by apartheid Israel in the East Mediterranean. Chevron and Chevron-owned Noble Energy generate billions in revenues, strengthening Israel’s war chest and apartheid system as well as exacerbating the climate crisis.

HikVision

Amnesty International has documented high-resolution CCTV cameras made by Hikvision (China) installed in residential areas and mounted to Israeli military infrastructure for surveillance of Palestinians. Some of these models, according to Hikvision’s own marketing, can plug into external facial recognition software.

TKH Security

Amnesty International has identified cameras made by TKH Security (Netherlands) used by Israel for surveillance of Palestinians. TKH provides Israeli police with surveillance technology that is used to entrench apartheid.

3. Pressure targets:

The BDS movement calls for pressure against these companies, including boycotts, if reasonable alternatives exist.

Google and Amazon (US)

In May 2021, as the Israeli military bombed homes, clinics, and schools in Gaza and threatened to push Palestinian families from their homes in occupied Jerusalem, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud signed a $1.22 billion contract to provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military. By supporting Israeli apartheid with vital technologies, Amazon and Google are directly implicated in its entire system of oppression, including its unfolding genocide in Gaza. Join the #NoTechForApartheid campaign.

Airbnb/Booking/Expedia

Airbnb (US), Booking.com (Netherlands) and Expedia (US) all offer rentals in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land.

Disney

The Disney-owned Marvel Studios (US) is promoting in the next Captain America film a “superhero” that personifies apartheid Israel. Both companies are therefore complicit in “anti-Palestinian racism, Israeli propaganda, and the glorification of settler-colonial violence against Indigenous people,” as Palestinian cultural organizations have stated.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

Teva is an Israeli pharmaceutical company and the world’s largest generic drug manufacturer. Teva benefits from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands allowing the company to exploit the captive Palestinian market.

4. Grassroots organic boycott targets:

McDonald’s (US), Burger King (US), Papa John’s (US), Pizza Hut (US), WIX (Israel), etc. are now being targeted in some countries by grassroots organic boycott campaigns, not initiated by the BDS movement. BDS supports these boycott campaigns because these companies, or their branches or franchisees in Israel, have openly supported apartheid Israel and/or provided generous in-kind donations to the Israeli military amid the current genocide. If these grassroots campaigns are not already organically active in your area, we suggest focusing your energies on our strategic campaigns above.

Recently, McDonald’s franchisee in Malaysia has filed a SLAPP lawsuit against solidarity activists, claiming defamation. Instead of holding the Israel franchisee to account for supporting genocide, we are now witnessing corporate bullying against activists. For both these reasons, we are calling to escalate the boycott of McDonald’s until the parent company takes action and ends the complicity of the brand.

Remember, all Israeli banks and virtually all Israeli companies are complicit to some degree in Israel’s system of occupation and apartheid, and hundreds of international corporations and banks are also deeply complicit. We focus our boycotts on a small number of companies and products for maximum impact.

5 February 2024

Source: transcend.org

By Moncef Khane

Cutting funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees at this time means furthering the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

31 Jan 2024 – On January 26, the very day the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an interim ruling on South Africa’s case accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people, the Israeli government dropped a bomb. It was not the usual 900kg US-made bunker buster, but a much more lethal one: it accused 12 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) of having ties to Hamas or being involved in its October 7 operation. This immediately resulted in over a dozen countries cutting their financial support for the agency and UNRWA’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, firing nine of the accused (of other three – one is dead and two are unaccounted for).

Given the meagre aid trickling into Gaza and the looming starvation of its people, particularly in northern Gaza, defunding UNRWA now is worse than collective punishment –  it could be a death sentence for many destitute and hungry Palestinians.

UNRWA was established by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1949 to provide relief to all Palestine refugees originally defined as “persons whose place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as the result of the 1948 war”. The definition was broadened to include persons displaced by the “1967 and subsequent hostilities”.

Today, UNRWA has 30,000 staff, mainly Palestinian physicians, nurses, educators, relief workers, drivers, engineers, logisticians, etc who provide humanitarian relief, healthcare, education and other assistance to millions of Palestine refugees throughout the Middle East. In Gaza, UNRWA’s 13,000 staff have supported almost all aspects of Palestinian life, especially after Israel imposed a blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2007 with Egypt’s support.

Critics have pointed out that the UN has delegated to UNRWA important international legal obligations that would otherwise be incumbent on Israel as the occupying power. Under the Geneva Conventions, basic services such as shelter, healthcare and education in occupied territories are the responsibility of the occupying state. Thus, in effect, the UN has subsidised, and possibly prolonged, Israel’s occupation of Palestinians.

From Israel’s perspective, UNRWA is another enemy that has prolonged Palestinian resistance to its occupation. It is a “barrier” to solving the Palestinian refugee question by simply resettling Palestinian refugees in other countries, as it is now openly advocates. For all Israeli governments, implementing UN Security Council resolutions and international law on the inalienable “right of return” of Palestinians forced by Zionist militias and subsequently the Israeli army to leave their homes in 1948 is anathema to Israel’s existence.

The accusations against the 12 UNRWA staff should be seen in this context; it is also important to remember who is making them. Israel is an occupying power facing allegations of genocide deemed plausible by the ICJ. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked UN-protected facilities including schools and hospitals, killing thousands of civilians, mainly children and women seeking refuge on UNRWA premises, as well as 152 UNRWA staff. Israel also has a long history of unsubstantiated accusations against UNRWA employees and within the context of the current conflict, it has been caught lying repeatedly about alleged crimes by Palestinians (eg, the beheading of 40 babies on October 7).

Bolstered by the UN’s hasty decisions taken without establishing through an investigation a prima facie case, Israel now claims that 10 percent of Gaza-based staff have links to “militant groups”.

Under the UN’s internal rules, due process is compulsory when misconduct is alleged. When serious allegations backed by incontrovertible evidence against UN personnel are put forward, the UN’s secretary-general has the authority to order the summary dismissal of the accused staff. Such extreme cases are rare.

In all other cases, typically, a board of inquiry is established to investigate the most serious cases, or accusations are picked up by the UN’s internal investigatory department that may initiate a formal inquest based on preliminary evidence. In the interim, the staff member facing allegations of misconduct may be suspended.

In the case of the 12 UNRWA employees accused by Israel, summary dismissal is a surprising decision not least as the circumstances of the cases – an all-out war and possibly a genocide –  and the credibility of the accusing party should compel a cautionary approach.

Yet the UN leadership was quick to jettison the presumption of innocence of their staff. On January 28, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement to advise that of the “12 people implicated, nine were immediately identified and terminated by the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini; one is confirmed dead, and the identity of the two others is being clarified. Any UN employee involved in acts of terror will be held accountable”. In his statement, Guterres further states that “the abhorrent alleged acts of these staff members must have consequences”.

Already, the secretary-general has seemingly adjudicated the case and promised “consequences”. He has shown no such outrage or made calls for accountability for the murder by the Israeli military of his own staff – as if such war crimes are not abhorrent acts that call for consequences.

Firing staff at will based solely, as Guterres admits, on “allegations” is troubling and should be of concern to all staff members and staff unions of the United Nations.

But more alarming and consequential is the swift decision of the United States, Austria, Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Iceland, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania and the United Kingdom to suspend their funding to UNRWA during an all-out war on the people it was established to protect.

Worse, when Israel is in the dock of the ICJ facing plausible allegations of perpetrating a genocide, such decisions may even be deemed a breach by these states of their obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention. But this shouldn’t come as a surprise since some of the same governments choose to overlook the many war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel and continue their military support for its onslaught on Gaza, now in its fourth month.

In the end, even if the 12 accused staff are found guilty of grave crimes, this hardly justifies starving UNRWA of funding when it tries to save from starvation Palestinians in Gaza. Cutting down a septuagenarian olive tree because it might have 12 “bad” olives on it is not only collective punishment – it is furthering a genocide.

Moncef Khane is a former United Nations official who served as political director of the Office of the Joint Special Envoy for Syria (2012-2014), as liaison officer with the Party of Democratic Kampuchea (Khmer rouge) (1992-1993) and in the Executive Office of Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

5 February 2024

Source: transcend.org

By Rick Thomas

21 Jan 2024 – In 2011, the Great British Class Survey was conducted, in collaboration with academics from the University of Manchester, the London School of Economics, and the University of York. The British have always been obsessed with class, so it is not surprising that British academics would attempt something of this nature.

The survey polled 161,400 people, and in a fit of obviousness, they concluded,

“We demonstrate the existence of an ‘elite’, whose wealth separates them from an established middle class.”

They also concluded that class distinctions had broadened into a multitude of seven classes. This is an expansion of the Marxist model of class division of capitalists and workers that has dominated academic circles for at least a hundred years.

According to Karl Marx:

1. Capitalist bourgeoisie — If you control the means of production this is you.
2. Worker — Oppressed and exploited proletariat with no control of the means of production. Sells his or her labor for profit.

The survey included “unusually detailed questions based on social, cultural and economic capital.”

For the economic capital section, the survey asks how much money you make and how much money you have in the bank, plus the value of your house.

Secondly, to determine your cultural capital, it asks what kind of cultural activities you participate in. This is based on high brow culture—preference for interests such as classical music, historic architecture, museums, art galleries, jazz, theatre and French restaurants. And the other, for emergent culture—appreciation and participation in such activities as video games, social networking, sports, hanging out with friends, working out at the gym, and rap or rock concerts.

Thirdly, social capital was measured using the position generator originated by Nan Lin, an American sociologist, in 2001, which measures the range of social connections. People were asked if they knew anyone in several dozen occupations.

Seven Classes

The study found there are seven distinct classes:

1. a wealthy elite
2. a prosperous salaried middle class consisting of professionals and managers
3. a class of technical experts
4. a class of new affluent workers
5. an aging traditional working class
6. a ‘precariat‘ characterized by very low levels of capital and ongoing precarious economic insecurity
7. a group of emergent service workers

This is an incomplete list in my humble opinion, because it fails to mention the homeless who are a separate class of non-persons, comparable to the Dalit caste in India. Homeless people have virtually no rights and squeeze out a fragile existence as urban nomads.

The most interesting group #7, the precariat, are the working poor who often fall into homelessness, when things go sideways in the economy or in their personal lives. The word precariat is a neologism of the words precarious and proletariat, coined by economist, Guy Standing, in his book, The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class.

The survey claims that the Elite class has a “mean household income of £89k (152K CDN), almost double that of the next highest class, and the average house price is £325k (556k CDN), considerably higher than any other class.” However, this elite class is only the upper middle class. The real elites make far more money than a meagre £89k per year. Many of them make that much in a day.

Other sociologists have gone further to sub-divide the wealthy into several categories:

Millionaires or High-Net-Worth Individual (HNWI) – those with $1 million or greater in investible assets. There are approximately 15 million HNWIs in the world according to the World’s Wealthiest Cities Report 2023 by Henley & Partners.

Multimillionaires or Ultra-High-Net-Worth-Individuals (UHNWI) – those with $30 million or greater net worth. There are 211,275 UHNW individuals in the world, with a total combined net worth of US$29.7 trillion.

Billionaires – According to Forbes, there are 2,640 billionaires in the world who are collectively worth about $12 trillion. The number of billionaires has been doubling every 10 years. In 2013, there were 1426 billionaires, worth $5.5 trillion. In 2003, there were 476 billionaires worth just $1.4 trillion.

5 February 2024

Source: transcend.org

Washington, DC. February 4, 2024.

February 5th is observed as Kashmir solidarity Day all over the world. The Kashmiri Americans and Pakistan American community along with friend of Kashmir held a peaceful protest in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Participants were carrying the placards and banners which read: “Modi Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity in Kashmir” ” India : Guilty of Genocide in Kashmir” ”Kashmiris Reject Indian Occupation: UN Resolutions only Solution” “Kashmir Deserves World Attention” etc.

Dr. Imtiaz Khan, Professor at George Washington University Medical Center said today we are commemorating the sacrifices made by people of Indian held Kashmir in their struggle for independence. The people of this region for decades have been facing unabated atrocities inflicted by occupation forces, but flame of freedom continues to kindle in their hearts. Notwithstanding, the acts of barbarism committed by the occupation forces the yearning for attaining the right of self-determination becomes stronger with every passing day.

Dr. Khan added that Kashmiris cannot forget the brutal killing of human right activists like Jalil Andrabi who was kidnapped by an army major, brutally tortured, murdered and his body thrown on banks of Jehlum. Kashmiris will continue the remember the victims of Kunan pashpora village where 87 women were gang raped by soldiers of Rashtra Rifles. India is living in fool’s paradise if it thinks that by this continued horrific behavior Kashmiri population will be forced to submission and they will abandon their struggle.

“India is encouraged by the criminal silence of the international agencies on their human right abuses in the occupied Kashmir. Non-resolution of Kashmir increases that danger every day and conflagration between the two countries can lead to holocaust that will not only engulf the region but annihilate one third of world population. India has to be cognizant of these realities and realize that world should not and will not for long tolerate its irrational, stubborn and obstinate attitude, Dr. Khan warned.

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, World Forum for Peace & Justice said that the case of Kashmir is simple: a large country bullying a small nation into submission in violation of not only their right to sovereignty but international agreements and two dozen UN resolutions giving them the right to determine their own political fate. The purpose of hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in this small country is for no other purpose but blatant oppression. Their presences make Kashmir the largest army concentration anywhere in the world.

Dr. Fai added that for over 77 years, the people of Jammu & Kashmir have been peacefully struggling for their right to self-determination through a fair and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the U.N. While India has systematically enacted laws, like Domicile Law to integrate Kashmir into India. These laws are designed to change the demography of Kashmir which are in violations of 18 substantives United Nations resolutions adopted by the Security Council on Kashmir. India’s refusal to implement these resolutions calling for such a plebiscite is at the heart of the problem, and she has chosen the path of death and destruction, instead of negotiations and peaceful resolution to the conflict.

“The truth is that the people of Kashmir themselves have always been hostile to the presence of India’s troops on their soil and have resisted to such oppression, and over hundred thousand Kashmiris have died within the past 32 years alone. The U.N. has the ability to change this miscarriage of justice and to put an end to the violence,” Dr. Fai stressed.

Sardar Zarif Khan, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir and main organizer of the event said, “Peace has eluded Kashmir for more than 77 years ever since the partition of British India into India and Pakistan. Reason: The denial of self-determination that has been enjoyed by countless other peoples in comparable circumstances, most recently in East Timore, Montenegro, Southern Sudan, etc. The uncertainty over Kashmir will lead not only India and Pakistan to disaster but it will also destroy any possibility of bringing peace and stability to the region.

Sardar Zubair khan of KAWA said that India has reneged on her promise to allow the people of Kashmir to exercise their will. It has also unleashed a reign of terror on the civilian population that has been reported by reputable international BGO’s.

Sardar Shoaib Irshad Khan of KAWA said that human rights violations in Kashmir perpetrated by 900,000 Indian military and paramilitary troops with legal immunity dwarf in scale the violations that provoked international humanitarian action in Kosovo, East Timor, Southern Sudan: tens of thousands indiscriminately slaughtered and countless rapes, abductions, custodial disappearances, arbitrary detentions, arsons, and brutal suppression of peaceful political protest.

Sardar Aftab Roshan Khan said that the presence of Indian occupation forces have made Kashmir the hell for its inhabitants. People are not allowed to have peaceful protests. Those who do come to the streets are lodged under draconian laws and sent thousands of miles away in the jails of India.

Malik Hamid, a well-respected community leader urged the Biden administration to place Kashmir on its front burner, not the back burner, because of the American and international consensus is that Kashmir pinched between nuclear-capable India and Pakistan is the most dangerous place on the planet.

Dr. Maqsood Choudhary, a well-known, interfaith scholar urged the world powers to intervene in Kashmir to end the bloodshed and suffering there. He added that the involvement of world powers will have a direct positive effect on international security by eliminating regional fighting, national tensions, and the risk of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

Raja Liaqat Kayani, the President of Kashmir House said that it is in everyone’s interest to settle the Kashmir conflict peacefully without further delay. We don’t want to see the horrific nightly scenes from Kosovo and Bosnia replaced by an even greater catastrophe in Kashmir.

Mr. Shafiq Shah emphasized that the global community has a long and proud tradition of upholding the causes of human freedom and dignity. Kashmir calls urgently for initiatives in accordance with that tradition.

Zia Ul Hassan, leader of Pakistani American community said that Kashmiris will resist India’s colonial occupation for as long as necessary to enjoy their right to self-determination as prescribed by international law, and a long series of United Nations Security Council resolutions that were agreed upon by both India and Pakistan, negotiated by the United Nations, endorsed by the Security Council and accepted by the International Community.

Gul Sher Sai of Pakistan Farm House warned that India’s illegal military occupation of Kashmir has already sparked two wars between India and Pakistan, and a third could occasion a harrowing exchange of nuclear volleys between the South Asian nations.

Speaking at the rally, Javaid Kousar, a well-known journalist from Washington metropolitan area reminded the audience of the injustice, tyranny and inhumanity of the Indian military as it occupies Kashmir. However, he cautioned that at this moment in our historic struggle for self-determination, the Kashmiri people with poise, confidence and unity are taking their inalienable struggle in a new direction of peaceful agitation.’

Yamin Khan elaborated that we must mention here that even by today’s violent world, the behavior of the Indian occupation regime in Kashmir is singular in as much as it has enjoyed total immunity. Not a word of condemnation has been uttered at the important capitols of the world, not even in Washington, DC.

Maqsood Chughtai said that although the human rights situation in Kashmir is depressing but we must hail the resoluteness of the people of Kashmir in carrying forward their struggle for pursuing their cherished goal of freedom.

Waseem Zahid asked: Doesn’t the world community recognize the double standards? On one hand the world is consumed with human rights situation in Ukraine and genuinely so but when it comes to Kashmir, the world powers close their eye.

Khalid Faheem hoped that the world powers in general and the United States in particular will not continuance any attempt to ignore the wishes of the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and bypass the expression of those wishes.

Sardar Zeeshan Zarif Khan, youth representative said it beautifully that it is our collective responsibility to intensify our activities for peace and just that should lead to the lasting and durable settlement to the Kashmir dispute.

Other persons who participated in the rally included: Asif Manghat; Mnasar Kashmiri; Ashfaq Shah; Sheraz Hayat; Ilyas khan; Imran Aslam; Adnan Tahir; Farukh Shahand others.

Dr. Fai is also the Secretary General, World Kashmir Awareness Forum. He can be reached at: WhatsApp: 1-202-607-6435. Or. gnfai2003@yahoo.com www.kashmirawareness.org

By Junaid S Ahmad

As the world, and especially Muslims, correctly has been focused on the Zionist genocide in Gaza, we seem to have forgotten President Biden’s criminality in another part of the world. Indeed, just as Israel’s savagery has been wholeheartedly supported by the Biden Administration, the regime change operation in March-April of 2022 in Pakistan was also on Biden’s watch. More and more Pakistanis, especially in the largest and politically dominant province of Punjab, have come to recognize the venality of the military establishment. Though the other provinces of Pakistan had no illusion of the nefarious and violent role of the generals in Pakistani social and political life, people in Punjab had to experience the torturous wrath of the military top brass after the removal of former Prime Minister Imran Khan – to realize the cold-bloodedness of the military high command.

Khan has been languishing in prison since August of last year on various trumped up and farcical charges. And now, he and another senior member of Khan’s political party, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, have been sentenced to a ten-year jail sentence because of the ostensible cypher-gate scandal. The ‘cypher,’ a secret diplomatic cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington in March of 2022, stated quite explicitly the American desire to oust Khan from power. The task was left to Washington’s old Cold War friends in Pakistan’s praetorian guard to fulfill the mission. 

After Khan was removed from power by a military establishment-US embassy.in-Islamabad engineered vote-of-no-confidence in parliament, he made it very clear to Pakistanis that this was a regime change conspiracy involving the US on the one hand, and Pakistan’s generals and kleptocratic politicians on the other. At the time, sadly, those who had historically opposed the role of the military in Pakistan’s politics, refused to believe Khan – essentially considering him a conspiratorial nutcase. After more than a year after Khan’s ouster, the American online publication, The Intercept, confirmed that the official diplomatic cable that Khan referred to was in fact real, and that its content laid out in no uncertain terms the American insistence on removing Khan from power. By now, even the most ardent ‘cypher deniers’ have had to acknowledge the veracity of Khan’s claims at the time of the successful regime change operation in the country. The tragedy was that the big media houses in Pakistan acceded to state pressure to erase the name Imran Khan from any public discourse, and that it took a foreign publication’s stellar investigative journalism to expose the treacherous collaboration between Washington and the generals in Pakistan – in particular, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Gen. Bajwa – in subjecting Khan and his political party, PTI, to the most totalitarian forms of repression.

After two decades of the ‘War on Terror’ having created some friction between the American and Pakistani military-intelligence apparatuses, both came to realize that, ultimately, they will always be joined at the hip. The Pakistani military is one of the most vicious relics of colonialism. It transitioned quite smoothly in its neo-colonial relationship with Washington throughout the Cold War. Pakistan’s generals never lose sight of the fact that they make billions from American machinations in West and Southwest Asia. Other than excelling as a satrapy of the American empire, the powerful Pakistani armed forces are good for nothing but extreme levels of repression, torture, disappearances, and murdering its own population. 

However, throughout the past two years, Pakistanis have been somewhat bewildered at the extent of the vendetta and ferocious repression targeted at Khan and his political party. It seems to be the case that the military establishment has never felt as insecure as it has after Khan’s ouster and the subsequent massive outpouring of support for him and his party. The well-understood arrangement between any civilian government and the COAS and the military-intelligence establishment was that the former agrees to cede full control of ‘national security’ and foreign policy to the latter. The generals increasingly felt that Khan began to violate this ‘code of conduct’ by positioning himself as the one who would carve out the direction of the country on the world stage. In addition, the generals’ Western patron-masters saw Khan as a thorn in their control of Muslim despots in West Asia, most of whom were on the path of normalization with Israel, turning a blind eye to Hindutva fascism in India, and engineering a pro-Empire- friendly Islam. On the contrary, Khan spoke passionately about justice for Palestinians and Kashmiris, rejected the imperial categories of ‘moderate’ or ‘extremist’ Islam, and denounced the rise of Islamophobia and its dreadful social and political impact throughout the world. His popularity among, and keen desire to bring together, nations such as Malaysia, Turkey, Indonesia, Iran, and Qatar was correctly seen as a counter-hegemonic bloc to the Saudi domination of the Muslim world. And finally, Khan’s praise of China’s ability to lift more than 800 million out of poverty and the lessons it offers for developing countries like Pakistan, as well as remaining neutral in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, convinced the US national security state that this man must be eliminated.

It’s important to note that generals’ detestation of Khan was not because he was some revolutionary. But he did help to politicize significant chunks of the population, young and old, and especially in the military establishment’s base of support – the province of Punjab. Punjabis protesting en masse against the military establishment was something unforgivable for the generals. Punjabis were supposed to love or at least respect their military leaders, not despise them as they did following Khan’s ouster.

Comparisons are often made with the popular leader of Pakistan during the 1970s, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto – who certainly had a revolutionary character in his rhetoric. But two key differences are often overlooked. Bhutto came to power on the backs of Bengali blood, the genocidal campaign of West Pakistani generals against the population of East Pakistan – which became Bangladesh after winning its war of liberation. Bhutto’s party, the PPP, would have lost to the Awami League political party in East Pakistan had it not been for the merciless military assault on the future nation of Bangladesh. In a cynically transactional manner, Bhutto repaid the favor by effectively rescuing and rehabilitating a humiliated and defeated Pakistani military. In fact, Bhutto would go on to rely on that same military to target political opponents, especially in the provinces of NWFP (now renamed KPK) and Balochistan. Of course, none of this is to deny that Bhutto was a very popular leader. 

But secondly, Bhutto’s own shortcomings and political authoritarianism while in power ultimately led to disillusionment within his support base, resulting in a fairly reticent popular response to his ouster by the military dictator, Gen. Zia-ul-Haq – and, as in the case of Khan, a regime change completely supported by Washington.

One can claim that Khan also came on the backs of the military establishment’s very temporary squabble with the other two major dynastic political parties. But like Bhutto, no one can claim that Khan was not immensely popular. The major difference, of course, is the massive outpouring of support for Khan after his ouster, in rallies across the country sustained for more than a year until the barbaric military crackdown began in May of 2023. In fact, the surprise for many was that despite a rather lackluster performance in his period of governance, still Khan was popular as ever, if not more. 

The saga of the cases, charges, and convictions against Khan are seen by virtually all of Pakistan’s 240 million people as a politically motivated clown-show. Specifically, the recent convictions in ‘courts’ for which the term ‘kangaroo court’ would be way too generous, deferential, and respectful, are intended to further demoralize and terrorize the population before ‘elections’ to be held on Feb. 8th. Some think that these elections would give Saddam Hussain’s and Hosni Mubarak’s forms of elections good competition. 

While Pakistanis in and outside of the country continue to witness one travesty after the next, to see the totalitarianism of the generals and their favored political mafias reach newer and more ruthless heights, the hope remains that, just like in Gaza, the people’s resistance and international solidarity may be able to mount a serious impediment to Biden’s generals’ torture chambers imposed on the country. And the perennial palace intrigues and squabbles of the political and military elite have a tendency to derail all major plans of coordinated and disciplined perpetual punishment of the population.

Nevertheless, one underreported story during the past two years has been of the many officers and overwhelming majority of soldiers who’ve had nothing but revulsion for the shenanigans of the bloodthirsty high command, causing many of them to be ‘disappeared’ or forced to resign, or just resigning on their own, without pension. 

Absent the ability of the people to, at this point, initiate an effective and formidable challenge to Washington’s comprador military and political elite, a progressive officers’ coup may not be a bad idea.

Prof. Junaid S. Ahmad teaches religion, law, and global politics and is the Director of the Center for Islam and Decoloniality, Islamabad, Pakistan.

2 February 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Raqif Makhdoomi

It has been more than 100 days since Israel has unleashed a history of horror. Killing thousands of Palestinians especially Children & making millions homeless, making them refugees in their own land . In past 100 days At least 23,700 people in Gaza have lost their lives. Which means  1 in every 100 has lost his Or her life. 60 thousand people in Gaza have been injured in these 100 days. These include at least 8,663 children and 6327 women , which means 3 out of every hundred people in Gaza. More than 1000 children have lost their one or both legs. 2.2 million people in Gaza are suffering from crisis level food insecurity. 9 out of every 10 goes without food for 24 hours or more. 359000 Houses have been damaged or destroyed. Which means 6 out of every 10 houses in Gaza are damaged or destroyed. 1.9 million people have been internally displaced . Which means more than 8 out of every 10 people in Gaza. Nearly 1.72 million are sheltering in 155 UNRWA facilities. 100 journalists and media workers have been killed. Which means nearly one journalist everyday. This war on Gaza is proving to be deadliest for journalists. 625000 students are out of school. With 7 out of every 10 schools have been damaged in Israeli attack. 15 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza function partially. Israel’s bombardment have destroyed most of the hospitals. The hospitals face a dire shortage of Doctors ,  medical supplies , medicines and urgently needs fuel for life saving equipment. 5,500 women are due to give birth. More than 180 babies are born every day. Both mother and new born doesn’t receive proper care.

By Dr. A. K. Merchant

In a voice choked with sadness and emotion, two hours after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30^th January 1948, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India, while announcing the dastardly act to the nation through All India Radio, inter alia said: “…The light that has illumined this country for these many years will illumine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later, that light will be seen in this country and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable hearts…”

Seventy-six years ago, Mahatma Gandhi’s life was abruptly terminated.  Surely, he would have never thought that his end would be so unexpected, less than six months after he and the whole band of freedom fighters, many of whom had suffered greatly and sacrificed their lives, for India’s freedom from the colonial yoke.

Those who sacrifice their life and endure persecution for the benefit of humankind have a very high station in the sight of God. While none of us can fully fathom the mysteries of martyrdom and why so much innocent blood is shed, the history of humankind is replete with soul-stirring episodes of supreme sacrifice, such as that of Jesus Christ and his apostles; Imam Husayn and his entire family, massacred on the plain of Karbila; Guru Tegh Bahadur, who at the urging of his minor son, later Guru Gobind Singh, willingly offered his life, refusing to yield to the diktat of a tyrant; the assassination of Gandhiji, Father of the Nation, are just a few examples.

Today let’s reflect on the life of Gandhiji. What was the message of his death? What does he have to teach the world? With so much violence everywhere today, what is so significant about Bapu’s killing?  We can answer these questions with the word “yagna”. Yagna was the spirit of his life and the message of his death. Every breath of his life, including the last, was an oblation to his country, his principles and his faith in God. The theme of his life was truly sacrifice. He could have been a wealthy attorney. He could have had a life of relative ease and prosperity. However, he was man devoted to his country and to its freedom. Through his tireless effort and his simple piety, he showed the world how through principles of satyagraha, ahimsa and sarvodaya his fellow-country men and women could be inspired and motivated to achieve greatness.  However, in spite of national and international acclaim, he never lost his humility, his dedication and his spirit of sacrifice. Rather, the flames of his true yagna to Bharat mata seemed to only to grow until he, himself, was the poornahuti, or final offering.

Gandhiji’s spirit of nonviolence and sacrifice did not only pertain to overt actions. It was a quality of the spirit—a quality of humble love for all human beings. There is a story of a man travelling by train to Porbandar in the same coach as Gandhiji. However, the man did not know that the skinny old man in his coach was Mahatma Gandhi. So, all night long this man lay down on the seat, occupied the entire berth and pushed Gandhiji and put his feet on him and left Gandhiji with barely enough room to sit upright. However, Gandhiji did not fight, nor complain. How easy it would have been to shout and say, “I am Mahatma Gandhi; give me room in the coach.” But Gandhiji’s ahimsa was an ahimsa of the tongue and an ahimsa of the heart. So, he simply let the man use as much of the seat as he desired.

As the train pulled into Porbandar the man mentioned that he was going to see the famous Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji still remained silent. He had no need to stray from divine humility and disclose his identity. As Gandhiji descended from the train to a welcoming crowd of thousands, the man fell at his feet, begging for forgiveness. Gandhiji, of course, blessed and forgave him, telling him only that he should be more respectful of others, regardless of who they are. He taught the man the true lesson of sarvodaya, for the man learned that everyone must be treated with dignity and respect even those who are less fortunate.

Fully aware of his shortcomings, Gandhiji tenaciously clung to truth and virtue all his life. The Bhagavad-Gita was his closest companion and source of guidance. How unfortunate it is that today so many people claim that their lives and their work are “God’s”. Yet, they use this as an excuse to lie, to cheat and even to kill. And, at the end it is clear that they merely used God’s name in the service of themselves. Gandhiji remained pure and his death is the clearest example. Due to his commitment to ahimsa and complete surrender in God he refused to have bodyguards. Hence, on that fateful day as he climbed the four sandstone steps where people had gathered for the evening prayer meeting, a ‘stout young man in khaki dress’ made obeisance to him and the very next moment fired three shots from his pistol that was hidden in his pocket. Gandhiji collapsed on the ground and gasping for breath uttered “hey Ram,” “hey Ram.” It was 17 minutes past 5:00 pm.

Gandhiji would not have wanted to be only remembered in history books. He would not want to be remembered only as the freedom fighter who led India to independence. He would want his message to live on; he would want his yagna to continue burning, to continue bringing light and warmth to all the world. He was steadfast in his commitment to the law of nonviolence which he believed was the law of love and fervently wanted to make it the law of our species.

It is within the power of everyone, just as Gandhiji showed through his life to bring about positive change. When enough of us prioritize the well-being of future generation above our own instant gratification, the country will progress rapidly and every citizen will benefit greatly from positive and sustainable development. To this end, the words of Martin Luther King Jr., also a martyr, are so pertinent: “If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable…We may ignore him at our own risk.”

Dr. A. K. Merchant is a social worker, independent researcher working with some non-governmental organizations in the fields of education, environment and the interfaith movement.

30 January 2023

Source: countercurrents.org

By The Chris Hedges

Joe Biden relies on advisors who view the world through the prism of the West’s civilizing mission to the “lesser breeds” of the earth to formulate his policies towards Israel and the Middle East.

21 Jan 2024 – Joe Biden’s inner circle of strategists for the Middle East — Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan and Brett McGurk — have little understanding of the Muslim world and a deep animus towards Islamic resistance movements. They see Europe, the United States and Israel as involved in a clash of civilizations between the enlightened West and a barbaric Middle East. They believe that violence can bend Palestinians and other Arabs to their will. They champion the overwhelming firepower of the U.S. and Israeli military as the key to regional stability — an illusion that fuels the flames of regional war and perpetuates the genocide in Gaza.

In short, these four men are grossly incompetent. They join the club of other clueless leaders, such as those who waltzed into the suicidal slaughter of World War One, waded into the quagmire of Vietnam or who orchestrated the series of recent military debacles in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Ukraine. They are endowed with the presumptive power vested in the Executive Branch to bypass Congress, to provide weapons to Israel and carry out military strikes in Yemen and Iraq. This inner circle of true believers dismiss the more nuanced and informed counsels in the State Department and the intelligence communities, who view the refusal of the Biden administration to pressure Israel to halt the ongoing genocide as ill-advised and dangerous.

Biden has always been an ardent militarist — he was calling for war with Iraq five years before the U.S. invaded. He built his political career by catering to the distaste of the white middle class for the popular movements, including the anti-war and civil rights movements, that convulsed the country in the 1960s and 1970s. He is a Republican masquerading as a Democrat. He joined Southern segregationists to oppose bringing Black students into Whites-only schools. He opposed federal funding for abortions and supported a constitutional amendment allowing states to restrict abortions. He attacked President George H. W. Bush in 1989 for being too soft in the “war on drugs.” He was one of the architects of the 1994 crime bill and a raft of other draconian laws that more than doubled the U.S. prison population, militarized the police and pushed through drug laws that saw people incarcerated for life without parole. He supported the North American Free Trade Agreement, the greatest betrayal of the working class since the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act. He has always been a strident defender of Israel, bragging that he did more fundraisers for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) than any other Senator.

TO CONTINUE READING PLEASE Go to Original – chrishedges.substack.com

29 January 2024

Source: transcend.org