June 3-8, 1984 – Anniversary of Operation Blue Star

Indira Gandhi’s Invasion of the Golden Temple and Massacre at the Sikhs’ Holiest Site

Original Akal Takht, Darshani Deori and surrounding area prior to Operation Blue Star.

April 13, 1919 – Anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in Punjab

At the festival of Baisaki, the Sikh New Year, on April 13, 1919, the British opened fire on men, women and children in Amritsar, massacring more than 1,000 and injuring many more. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre went down in history as one of the most heinous crimes of British rule. Today the site commemorates all those who were murdered there under British orders.

Commemorations at Jallianwala Bagh, April 13, 2019, honouring the 100th anniversary of those martyred by the British colonialists.

Border stories: Anglo-European chauvinism and racism in dealing with Ukrainian refugees

Foreign students in Ukraine brutalized and terrorized at borders. Germany asks Poland to stop sending refugees. Oligarchs, MPs, neo-Nazis flee for their lives | Press review by TONY SEED*

African students await evacuation from Ukraine.

“Civilized” Europe is not only Russophobic but anti-Black and colonial.

Amid a deluge of reports and footage of racial discrimination in Ukraine, representatives from the Caribbean and Africa spoke to the unjust treatment of Ukrainian refugees of African origin during the debate on the UN General Assembly resolution concerning Ukraine. Videos showing Africans being pushed back from trains and border crossings have gone viral on social media (for example, here), causing an uproar and sparking statements of concern by African politicians and officials.

All-India Strike/Bharat Bandh – Support the just struggle of the Indian farmers!

An All-India shutdown will take place on Monday, September 27 to mark the first anniversary of the three controversial farm laws passed by Parliament. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) called for the All-India shutdown, supported by trade unions, farmers’ associations, youth, teachers, labourers and others, as well as opposition political parties and many state governments.

Indian farmers’ mass democracy stands firm

Sea of humanity at the farmers’ Mahapanchayat in Muzzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, September 5, 2021.

By J. Singh

On September 5, 2021 a Mahapanchayat (mass rally) took place in Muzzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh (UP). Some news channels reported that more than 1.5 million participated. Others doubled that estimate. It was an ocean of humanity spread out for tens of miles. Save the Farmers, Save the Country was the slogan of the Mahapanchayat. More than 5000 langurs (community kitchens) were organized on the roads to Muzzaffarnagar. It is reported that 3,000 of these langars were stationary and 2000 were on wheels. The government cancelled trains, blocked roads and jammed internet and cell phone services. Farmers pointed out the betrayal by the BJP and government of all the promises made to farmers and people. They also pointed out that in the last 75 years all the governments and parties have made all kinds of promises and betrayed them. A handful of agents provocateur tried to disrupt the Mahapanchayat.

India: Farmers’ fight for the rights of all continues unabated

Farmers hold their Kisan Sansad (Farmers Parliament) in Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

By Jaspal Singh

The fight of the farmers in India to repeal three anti-farm laws and for their rights continues unabated with more and more initiatives being taken by the farmers, while the government’s attempts to defeat them meet one failure after another.

August 15, 1947: 75th Anniversary of the Independence of India

Farmers mark Indian Independence Day with tractor rallies and protests. Photo above of arrival at the Singhu border in Delh

August 15 is the 75th anniversary of the Independence of India which the ruling class is celebrating with pomp and ceremony, but not in the spirit of the people.

Hardial Bains – A Man of Revolutionary Action

82nd Anniversary of the Birth of Hardial Bains, August 15, 1939

Hardial Bains

On August 15, we celebrate the birth, life and work of Hardial Bains, founder and leader of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist). Hardial Bains was, above all else, a man of revolutionary action. He came to Canada as a youth from India in 1959 and immediately integrated with the life of the working people in British Columbia and took up the struggles of the student youth with whom he shared weal and woe.

• Hardial Bains – A Man of Revolutionary Action

• A Biographical Sketch

Against the genocidal British partition of 1947: At the farmers’ encampments in India

June 5, 2021. Farmers marching in Amritsar, Punjab.

(June 10) – On June 3, farmers at the encampments surrounding Delhi marked the 74th anniversary of the proclamation of the partition of India by the British. On June 3, 1947, the last British Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, declared that India would be partitioned into two dominions. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the All-India Muslim League, spoke after him and accepted the partition of India and creation of the Dominion of Pakistan. Then came Jawaharlal Nehru whose acceptance of partition made him the first Prime Minister of India. So too, Baldev Singh claimed to represent the Punjabi Sikh community in the processes of negotiations that resulted in the Partition of India in 1947, for which he became the first Minister of Defence of India. The Congress laid claim to secularism but nonetheless demanded that Punjab and Bengal also be divided on the basis of religion. Leaders of the Communist Party of India had already accepted partition and all the parties conspired with the British against the peoples of India. June 2 marks the date when Mountbatten presented the plans for the partition of India to all these people and they accepted it. Mahatma Gandhi, who had been saying, “partition over my dead body,” told Mountbatten that he had vowed to maintain silence and would not oppose it.

June 3-8, 1984 – Anniversary of Operation Blue Star

Use of force to quell the people

Massive damage sustained by the Golden Temple during Operation Blue Star.

Thirty-seven years ago, from June 3-8, 1984, on Indira Gandhi’s orders, the Indian army launched a devastating assault and massacre of innocent Sikhs at the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab. Other Gurdwaras were also attacked.

Protesting Indian farmers harvest a bumper crop while continuing the fight

By Jaspal Singh

Indian farmers hold Black Day protests against the Modi government, May 26, 2021.

Farmers in India continue to fight

Farmers at the Ghazipur border with Delhi take part in the country-wide Black Day Protests, May 26, 2021. At many protests, effigies representing the Modi government are burned.

Farmers and workers throughout India are observing Black Day to mark six months of encampments surrounding Delhi and the 7th year of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government that has enacted many anti-worker, anti-people and anti-social laws and mercilessly attacked the rights of the people. Twelve opposition parties and Indian residents abroad are also supporting the call of the farmers and workers to withdraw the anti-farm laws.

Demonstrations, webinars, teach-ins and other manifestations are being held across the world. Some young people are holding online discussions with U.S. farmers who have suffered and lost their lands as a result of anti-farmer laws similar to the ones in India.

Stand with Indian farmers! Increase use of dirty tricks to suppress farmers’ movement

The power struggle between the movement of Indian farmers and the elites in power in India continues. The farmers have the support of the working people of all India as well as abroad. They are demanding the repeal of three neo-liberal farm laws which will dispossess them due to their aim of serving narrow private interests. The Indian ruling elites are now adopting dirty tricks of all kinds to defeat the farmers. These go from misuse of laws which target individual farmers to break their ranks, and the dirty tactics of political police to threaten and discourage the farmers.

Striving of Indian farmers to decide what happens to their produce

January 26 March on Delhi: Indian farmers valiantly organize to affirm their rights

By J. Singh 

Farmers in India are continuing their struggle without letup. They continue to demand the repeal of the three farm laws which favour agribusiness at their expense.

January Events in Canada: Stand with Indian Farmers

Vancouver

Monday-Friday, 11:00 am-2:00 pm
Indian Consulate, Unit 201, 325 Howe St.
Organized by Sikh Motorcycle Club of Canada

 

Daily, 4:30-6:00 pm
Clearbrook Rd South of Fraser Way

 

Daily, 5:30-9:00 pm
King George and 88th

 

Daily, 6:00-9:00 pm
Scott Road and 72nd

 

Monday-Friday, 11:00 am-3:00 pm
Indian Consulate, Unit 700, 365 Bloor St. E.
Organized by Sikh Motorcycle Club of Canada

 

Monday-Friday, 11:00 am-2:00 pm
Indian Embassy, 10 Springfield Rd
Organized by Sikh Motorcycle Club of Canada

 

Farmers Protests Panel Discussion

 

Richmond

2:00-6:00 pm
Highway No. 5 and Steveston Hwy

 

Car and Truck Road Show
11:00 am
Gather at Abbotsford Stadium, drive to Vancouver Art Gallery

Vancouver

Voices of the Oppressed, Standing in Solidarity
1:00-4:00 pm
Vancouver Art Gallery

Abbotsford

Tractor Rally
10:00 am
Mann Farms Corn Maze (McKenzie and Vye Road)

 

Kisaan Rally and Peaceful Demonstration
1:30 pm
Gather at noon, H Lot, UBCO

Vancouver

Protest Republic Day
1:00 pm
Indian Consulate, 325 Howe St

 

Kisaan Rally
12:00 noon
Meet Strawberry Hill Parking Lot, Cineplex
Destination; Indian Consulate
325 Howe St, Vancouver

 

Kisan Republic Day Car Rally
3:30 pm
Gather at Westwood Mall
5:00-7:00 pm
Rally at Square One

Saturday, January 30

 

2:00-6:00 pm
Highway No. 5 and Steveston Hwy

This day in 1945: On Holocaust Memorial Day

Red Army doctor attends to Auschwitz prisoner after its liberation on January 27, 1945

In this seminal essay originally published on this website in 2009, Dr Hakim Adi challenges the false narrative around Holocaust Memorial Day. January 27, the day of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army in 1945, is commemorated as Holocaust Memorial Day internationally.

At the Line of Control in Kashmir – Civilians not allowed on the Indian side

Indian Occupation forces continue to target and kill civilians across the LOC in Kashmir with increasing intensity and frequency. In contrast to the silent acquiescence of the Trudeau Liberals, a Canadian delegation of human rights activists led by Zafar Bangash, director of the Toronto-based Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, visits the region on an independent fact-finding investigation.

Villagers warmly greet Canadian delegation | Crescent international

The road from Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), snakes through some of the most breath-taking scenic areas toward Chakothi, the check point on the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir. To the left of the road is the Neelum River, its clear blue flowing majestically toward Muzaffarabad where it meets the Jhelum River at a point called sangam (meeting point). To the right are towering mountains of the Himalayan range where rock falls are common. Some drivers are quite reckless and it is a miracle that vehicles do not plunge into the river below or get into accidents on the twisting road.

China in the crosshairs of Halifax War Conference

By TONY SEED

(November 23) – On November 22, the opening day of the 11th annual Halifax International Security Forum (HISF), “a new year-long initiative focused on China” was announced by HISF President Peter Van Praagh via press release.

Halifax International Security Forum: Attempts to recruit women for aggression and war will fail

By TONY SEED

The Sunday November 24 session of the Halifax International Security Forum (HISF) is on “Security Solutions, Women’s Contributions,” with the speakers depicted in this screenshot:

Toronto rally and march defends the rights of the Kashmiri people

More than 250 people participated in a rally and march at the Ontario legislature on October 19, to affirm the right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination in the face of a brutal military occupation and lock-down by the Indian state which has lasted for more than 80 days. The action was held on the eve of the federal election to demand that whichever party comes to power, it must speak out and condemn the Indian government’s brutal campaign of state-terror and violence in Kashmir. India launched this assault after Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, giving Kashmir a degree of autonomy, was rescinded, on August 5 by the Modi government.

Kashmiri people persist with their demands for self-determination

The Pakistani authorities blocked thousands of protesters who began a march to the de facto border which divides Indian- and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, known as the Line of Control (LoC).

159th Anniversary of the First War of Indian Independence

By JASPAL SINGH, May 10, 2016

Engraving from the 1860s of scene from the First Indian War of Independence (Click to enlarge)

Today is the 159th anniversary of the great Ghadar or the first war of India’s independence. On May 10, 1857, soldiers in Meerut Cantonement revolted and marched to Delhi to overthrow the colonial rule. This spark from Meerut soon engulfed the whole country as a prairie fire with the slogan of Firangi Ko Maro. I have visited these sites in Meerut Cantonement many times and one can not help but be in awe of these fighters, listening to their tales of valour. The freedom fighters raised the slogan Hum Hain Iske Malik, Hindustan Hamara (we are the masters of India, it belongs to us). It expressed the demands and aspirations of farmers, artisans, intellectuals, patriotic Zamindars who vowed to throw the British in the sea and establish a new political power which would be people-centric.

‘For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on The Western Front 1914-18’ by Shrabani Basu

Shrabani Basu is well-known for her book Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, the story of heroic sacrifice and courage as an SOE agent in occupied Paris in the war against fascism and her cruel execution in a Nazi concentration camp in 1944. Subsequently Shrabani Basu founded the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust and successfully led a campaign to erect a bust of Noor in Gordon Square, London.

For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on The Western Front 1914-18 tells the stories of Indians in the service of the Crown in a very different war, in the appalling mass slaughter of millions as the Great Powers sought to redivide the world with crass disregard for the human cost.

Stephen Harper loves the smell of napalm in the morning

By MICHAEL HARRIS*

GOING after the Ukrainian vote in Canada is one thing. But sending troops, even as trainers, into Ukraine’s “fratricidal” civil war and confronting Russia is quite another. If this thing goes sideways, he may wish he had sent diplomats instead of military advisors.

Has anyone told the PM that these are not toy soldiers he is dispatching — by the hundreds no less — but flesh and blood human beings?

This is an old story. From his opposition days, this leader has exhibited a fatal instinct to take it to the parking lot. The itchy trigger finger initially showed up in the second Iraq War. Cooler heads in the Chretien government scuppered his ill-informed bellicosity. Canada refused to join President George W. Bush’s coalition of the misguided.

US-NATO’s drive into Asia

ASIAN NATO CONCEPT FLAG | Pnyxblog

A global military bloc | RICK ROZOFF

(January 29, 2009) – With the sixtieth anniversary summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to occur jointly in the French city of Strasbourg and and the German one of Kehl on April 3-4, the world should take note of how far from its original area of operations this, history’s first international military bloc has expanded in the interim since its creation in 1949.