From India to the US: We Say NO to Anti-Muslim Bigotry!
Speech by Meredith Aby-Keirstead, member of the Anti-War Committee, on September 22, 2019 at Rally Against Human Rights Violations in India organized by CAIR MN
The Anti-War Committee stands with you today as a part of a global movement of concerned people demanding human rights in India for Muslims and other religious minorities. We have seen the evils of anti-Muslim bigotry first hand here in MN and are greatly disturbed by how President Trump’s message of white nationalism has given a green light to bigots not only in the US but to leaders like India’s Prime Minister Modi to target Muslims. It’s important for Americans to know that Modi, who is also known as the “Butcher of Gujarat”, was denied a visa to the US in 2005 for his responsibility in the mass murder of Muslims during the Gujarat riots in 2002.
Since 9-11 the US has targeted Muslims but President Trump’s Muslim Ban and high profile bigotry has taken Islamophobia to another level. This has imbolded Modi and his Hindu nationalist party to have no shame in their rhetoric and policies which target Muslims in Kashmir and throughout India.
As Palestine solidarity activists, we are particularly concerned with the way the Modi government has emulated the policies of Israeli occupation in their crack down on Muslims. Torture, rape, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and extra-judicial killings are widespread. The Indian government has imposed a total security lockdown in Kashmir, with orders to shoot-to-kill Kashmiris on sight if in the streets, and imposed a communications and media blackout, shutting down landlines, mobile phones, and internet. These conditions are similar to what I witnessed in Gaza in 2002. These human rights violations are intricately linked to the denial of political sovereignty for Kashmiris.
The New York Times in August reported that “More than four million people in India, mostly Muslims, are at risk of being declared foreign migrants as the government pushes a hard-line Hindu nationalist agenda” and that “State authorities are rapidly expanding foreigner tribunals and planning to build huge new detention camps.” As people of conscience we cannot be silent about the concentration camps on the US-Mexico border OR in India. And we need to understand that when we let Trump cage children on the border we are sending a message internationally that this is acceptable!
As international solidarity activists we call on both governments – the government of the US and India – to stop their repressive policies targeting Muslims. We demand human rights for Muslims across the world and stand with our sisters and brothers here to demand human rights for Mulims in India!
Today Trump and Modi are together in Houston. Let’s send them a message right now! Hey hey ho ho; Islamophobia has got to go!