Solidarity with Kashmir

Rooted in the Black Radical Tradition, Project South is dedicated to connecting local to global struggles. Project South opposes the Indian occupation of Kashmir and recent attempts by the Indian government to strip Kashmir of its limited sovereignty through the abrogation of Article 370 and through the use of violent military repression, forced disappearances, and mass killings.

Background

Kashmir, located between Pakistan and India, has been deprived of the ability to properly govern its own affairs for centuries. But since the Poonch massacre 70 years ago, and the mass expulsions and killings of Muslims in Kashmir, and the ensuing wars and the Indian occupation, Kashmiris have been up against not only the Indian state that has deprived them of sovereignty, but also the right-wing extremist and chauvinist movements that have taken hold throughout India.

Sectarianism and racism have been encouraged and institutionalized in India since the days of British rule. India sought to project a veneer of equality between Muslims and Hindus with its integration of Kashmir, and Article 370 was one of the few concessions that suggested that India would accept the inclusion of a Muslim-majority state in a supposedly secular state. But since its earliest days and through successive Indian governments, they have all but ignored and downplayed Kashmir’s independence — arresting political leaders, murdering dissidents, and of course, manipulating elections.

And since 1989, when the Kashmiri people rose up to say enough to their colonial occupiers, India has killed tens of thousands and locked up many more through its counter-insurgency efforts. It has brutalized a population while claiming they are equals. Indian soldiers targeted Kashmiris indiscriminately and barely tried to hide the anti-Muslim invective that they used to justify it. And now India seeks to strip Kashmiris of one of the only limits on the Indian state’s authority to use its military and colonize Kashmir along ethnic and sectarian lines, all while enforcing house arrests, arrests of political leaders, a communication blockade, and shootings of demonstrators.

This history of violence and military occupation has also been punctuated by the wholly unjustified periodic sectarian violence and backlash against Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists in Kashmir, and the infiltration and co-optation of the Kashmiri liberation struggle by outside agents and the Pakistani state.

Settler-colonialism Around the World

The process by which India is attempting to subjugate Kashmiris is not unique. As in the Americas and throughout much of the world, the process involves settling a dominant ethnic group in the place of marginalized communities that are forcibly displaced. This is happening alongside the global rise of far-right movements, including in India, where this move is being carried out by the far-right Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the racist and ultranationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

We have nothing to gain from standing with right-wing chauvinism, but we have everything to gain from standing with the liberation of all oppressed peoples, including the people of Kashmir.

We reject any efforts by civil society organizations, governmental actors, elected representatives, or businesses in our own communities to engage with or have normalized relations with the Indian government until Kashmiris are granted self-determination.

Project South is dedicated to building an intersectional movement against racism, colonialism, and other forms of oppression. We believe that oppressions based on race, class, religious background, gender, and sexuality reinforce and sustain one another. A broad-based movement that connects struggles against various forms of oppression is essential to building the power of the most marginalized and advance everyone’s freedom. In the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free!”

How to Support the Kashmir Freedom Movement

Check out resources from Kashmiri community members on how to show solidarity with the Kashmir Freedom Movement.

https://www.standwithkashmir.org/

Additional Resources

Azad Essa, “India’s Annexation of Kashmir is Straight out of the Israeli Playbook” https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/indias-annexation-kashmir-straight-out-israeli-playbook

Hafsa Kanjwal, “India’s settler-colonial project in Kashmir takes a disturbing turn”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/05/indias-settler-colonial-project-kashmir-takes-disturbing-turn/