#south asia peace

[beenasarwar]

Curtain raiser: ‘The Next Wave’ - Exploring social movements shaping Southasia’s future

An online discussion hosted by the Southasia Peace Action Network on Sunday will explore the catalysts for change in the region with activists and scholars from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, and India, sharing vital insights on people’s movements. By Pragyan Srivastava / Sapan News Desk What causes a people to rise up? What makes a movement go beyond a moment and become a revolution?…

[arc-hus]

Cabin in Diyathalawa, Sri Lanka - Damith Premathilake Architects

[dailystreetsnapshots]

Arang Kel, Pakistan

[ambisun]

An illustration of the folklore Liurai of Ossu from Timor Lorosae.

We made an illustrated book filled with folklore and tales from South East Asia, check it out here.

[zibah-ho]

getting your period and a migraine is so evil you will literally wake up and cry about that time shahrukh and priety bought out humayun saeed and reema to dance together fucking insane

[gregor-samsung]

" President Nixon's chief foreign policy aide, Henry Kissinger, was also bathed and frustrated by the Communists during his secret negotiations with them. Kissinger had tried above all to avoid a repetition of the Inconclusive Korean war armistice talks, which had dragged on for two years because, he believed, America had not stiffened its diplomacy with the threat of force. He calculated that the North Vietnamese would compromise only if menaced with total annihilation—an approach that Nixon privately dubbed his "madman theory." But, like his predecessors, Kissinger never found their breaking point. His later claims to the contrary, the Communists agreed to a cease-fire in October 1972 only after he had handed them major concessions that were to jeopardize the future of the South Vietnamese government. The real pressure on the Nixon administration to reach a settlement in Vietnam came from the American public, which by that time wanted peace at almost any price—for reasons that Kissinger himself had perceived four years before. Early in 1968, on the eve of Tet, the Asian lunar New Year, the Communists had launched a dramatic offensive against towns and cities throughout South Vietnam, which Kissinger saw as the "watershed" of the American effort in Vietnam: "Henceforth, no matter how effective our actions, the prevalent strategy could no longer achieve its objectives within a period or with force levels politically acceptable to the American people." Americans had been prepared to make sacrifices in blood and treasure, as they had in other wars. But they had to be shown progress, told when the war would end. In World War II, they could trace the advance of their army across Europe; in Vietnam, where there were no fronts, they were only given meaningless enemy "body counts"—and promises. So the United States, which had brought to bear stupendous military power to crack Communist morale, itself shattered under the strain of a struggle that seemed to be interminable. An original aim of the intervention, first enunciated by President Eisenhower, had been to protect all of Southeast Asia, whose countries would presumably "topple like a row of dominoes" were the Communists to take over Vietnam. Ironically, as Leslie Gelb of The New York Times observed, the real domino to fall was American public opinion. The public, distressed by mounting casualties, rising taxes, and no prospect of a solution in sight, turned against the war long before America's political leaders did. "

Karnow Stanley, Vietnam - A History. The First Complete Account of Vietnam at War, Penguin Books, 1985 [1983]; pages 19-20.

[mukuharakazui]

my parents being weebs but for france is all fun and games until i remember the only french foods i like are crepes and çrěmë brůlēə. this is why i'm going to become a weeb but for italy, gi problems be damned.

[jetsetteralerts]

My Thai Adventures

If you have never been to Thailand, you must go! I truly can not say enough about the people, culture, food, cost of living and it’s sheer truly breath taking beauty!

I love this place so much, I will be moving there in 1.5 years to leave life in the USA behind and go to a place where I truly feel free!

Follow along for my random adventures!

“We travel not to escape life, but to make sure life does not escape us”

[musiqjukebox]

The World Culture Festival here in DC was beautiful 😍

[whatisonthemoon]

How has the Moon network played a role in the post-9/11 U.S. Imperialist strategy?

We often think about how the Moon network played a role in anti-communist efforts that ended up murdering thousands from the 70s into the 80s, but in what ways has the Moon network played a role in post-9/11 international policies around surveillance and security?

We should more deeply examine post-9/11 counterinsurgency work that the UC has taken up, especially consider the millions of deaths that have come out of the so-called “War on Terror.”

A recent study shows that, apart from the million direct casualties of the War(s) on Terror, over 3,000,000 people died from the conditions created by those wars.

How has Moon’s Universal Peace Federation played a role in this, including through the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP), Podgorica Club, South Asia Peace Initiative (SAPI), and other UPF-initiated groups?

We know bits and pieces of how the UC’s organizations have been used for international relations and policies, including in Nepal, the DPRK, the Philippines, a number of Southeastern European countries, etc., in the past decade... but there’s still so much more to be exposed. 

We also know that the Washington Times was used during the Bush years to validate his election win, claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and other claims around foreign governments that have been proven false or were  intentionally released in an effort to support Bush’s administration’s war efforts. We know how often Moonie Bill Gertz played a role in these efforts. 

Read the full study from Brown University (Watson Institute) - HOW DEATH OUTLIVES WAR: THE REVERBERATING IMPACT OF THE POST-9/11 WARS ON HUMAN HEALTH

Related links

Brief Summary of the UPF’s Podgorica Club

Those Spared in Duterte’s “War on Drugs” May Go to Moonie Rehabilitation

December 2021 Kathmandu Post article on Hak Ja Han

Nepal Prime Minister criticised for accepting FFWPU award

Moon’s Vision: A New Pan-Asianism

Anti-communist Moonie podcast - with Bill Gertz

PM raises 0.1 million dollar ethical question

Some words on the Moonies’/Hak Ja Han’s Relationship to the “Revisionist” Maoists of Nepal

People’s Review: Prachanda afraid of pro-Hindu campaign; silent on Unification Church (2018)

UPF Played Major Role in Republic of Korea-Nepal Relations

On the Nepal Pariwar Dal

Grapple with Imperialism. Come to Terms with Yourself

The Complex, Dynamic, and Opportunistic Relationship of Moon and the DPRK’s Kim Family

[feminariden]

Apparently the ceasefire is having a problem with Isreal's war cabinet because some ultranats don't want the war to end, WW2 Japanese war goverment 2.0 all over again

They are going to assassinate Netanyahu bro

[beenasarwar]

Ahead of Sri Lanka presidential elections, ‘Democracy in Debt: Sri Lanka Beyond the Headlines’ documentary goes global

Screened at several venues in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and USA, the film is now crossing more borders, its universal relevance highlighted with a series of ‘Global Community Screenings’ in a dozen countries around the world, with major cities like London, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Vancouver among them. Those interested in joining may submit an online form By Pragyan Srivastava | Sapan News |…

[terrorismvictimsday]

Trends in Terrorism.

Deaths from terrorism are now at their highest level since 2017. However, they are still almost 25 per cent lower than at their peak in 2015. The largest falls in terrorism since 2007 have occurred in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. In Iraq, total deaths from terrorism have fallen 99 per cent since 2007. The epicentre of terrorism has shifted from the Middle East and North Africa into sub-Saharan Africa, concentrated largely in the Sahel region. This region now accounts for almost half of all deaths from terrorism globally. Terrorism has become more concentrated over the past decade. The number of countries recording at least one death from terrorism fell to 41 in 2023, down from 44 in 2022 and 57 in 2015. In the West, terrorist incidents dropped to their lowest level since 2007, down by 55 per cent from 2022, with 23 attacks and 21 deaths recorded in 2023. Attacks in the west peaked in 2017 with 176 attacks recorded in that year. South Asia has the highest regional average impact from terrorism, although it improved over the past year. Over the past decade the average impact of terrorism has only increased in two regions: North America and sub-Saharan Africa. Every other region has recorded a decrease in the average impact since 2013. Total deaths from terrorism are now considerably higher in sub-Saharan Africa than any other region. Sub-Saharan Africa has recorded the most deaths from terrorism for the past seven years. Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia have far more deaths from terrorism than any other regions. Collectively they accounted for just under 94 per cent of deaths from terrorism in 2023. In 2023, 98 per cent of terrorism deaths occurred in countries experiencing some level of conflict. Most of these occurred in countries at war, but the number of deaths in countries involved in minor conflicts has been steadily rising. In the US since 2007, there have been 60 politically motivated attacks compared to 14 religiously motivated attacks. Five out of seven attacks in 2023 were linked to people with far-right sympathies or connections.

[rhk111sblog]

A Frigate of the Vietnamese Navy went to China to participate in a Naval Exercise there; China helped Indonesia build the largest Solar Power Plant in South East Asia (SEA) and will also help Indonesia develop Wind-powered Power Plants, and a Joint Television (TV) Production of both Countries started its first Broadcast; And another Chinese Company is putting up a Usd 200 million Factory in Malaysia to produce Pharmaceutical Products

[magicalgirlypop]

i'm feeling controversial today so here's another hot take. and before you type away at your keyboards, know that this is all coming from a south asian.

white leftists have got to stop acting like christianity is the only religion that deserves to be criticized and you cannot touch any other religion because that'd be racist and bigoted. because as an indian who's watching my country progress towards hindu nationalism, this attitude doesn't help at all.

white people see hinduism as this exotic brown religion that's so much more progressive but don't know the violence of the caste system, how it others a large portion of the population on the basis of caste, literally branding them as "untouchables". they teach us in school that this problem is a thing of the past but the caste system is still alive and shows itself in violent ways. and that's not even covering how non hindus are treated in the country. muslims especially are being killed, have their houses bulldozed, businesses destroyed, and are being denied housing, our fucking prime minister called them infiltrators and there's this fear among hindu extremists that they'll outnumber the hindus in the country. portraying hinduism as this exotic religion does a disservice to all those oppressed by the hindutva ideology

similarly, white people see buddhism as this hippie religion that's all about peace but have no idea how extremist buddhists in myanmar have been persecuting the rohingya muslims for years and drive them out of the country.

if anything portraying these religions as exotic hippie brown religions is a type of orientalism itself.

and also y'all have got to realize that just because christianity has institutional power in america doesn't mean there aren't parts of the world where they are persecuted on the basis of religion. yes karen from florida who cries christophobia because she sees rainbow sprinkles on a cake is stupid but christian oppression DOES exist in non western countries where they're a minority. pakistani christians get lynched almost on a daily basis over blasphemy accusations. just look up the case of asia bibi, a pakistani christian woman who was sentenced to death on blasphemy charges because of something she said when she was being denied water because it was "forbidden" for a christian and a muslim to drink from the same utensil and she'd made it unclean just by touching it (which is ALSO rooted in casteism and part of pakistani christians' oppression also comes from the fact that a lot of them are dalit but that's a whole other discussion). and that's just one christian group, this isn't even going into what copts, assyrians, armenians etc have faced and continue to face. saying that christians everywhere are privileged because of american christianity actually harms christian minorites in non western countries.

and one last thing because this post is getting too long: someone being anti america doesn't automatically mean they're the good guys. too many times i've been seeing westerners on twitter dot com praise the fucking taliban just because they hate america. yes, the same taliban who banned education for women, thinks women should be imprisomed at home, and consistently oppresses religious and ethnic minorities in afghanistan. yes, america's war on afghanistan was bad and they SHOULD be called out for their war crimes there. no, the taliban are still not the good guys. BOTH of them are bad. you cannot pretend to care about muslims and brown people if you praise the taliban. because guess what? most of their victims are BROWN MUSLIM WOMEN. but of course white libs who praise them don't rub their two braincells together to make that conclusion.

this post has gotten too long and i've just been rambling so the point of this post is: white "leftists" whose politics are primarily america centric should stop acting like criticism of ideologies like hindutva, buddhist extremism, and islamic extremism BY people affected by these ideologies is the same as racism or religious intolerance because that helps literally no one except the extremist bigots. also america is not the centre of the world, just because something isn't happening in america doesn't mean it isn't happening elsewhere

[littlestpersimmon]

Jose Rizal, the philippine national hero (chosen by the American occupation but whatever lol) believed in peaceful means to achieve liberation, even tried to convince his contemporaries to NOT revolt. And the Spaniards still marched him off to prison where he was eventually executed via firing squad.

Andres Bonifacio, dude who rebelled against both the Americans and the Spaniards, started the revolution that lead to the philippines being among the first democracies of Asia and the entire global south. And the American occupation had him assassinated by the puppet government they set up.

Rizal grew up a member of the bourgeoisie, while Bonifacio grew up among the lower classes. And it didn't matter, because regardless of how differently they resisted, they were both killed by the oppressive regimes they were under. The difference is that Andres died fighting, dedicating his life to the rebellion, and his dream of liberating his people.

Anyways. If a lot of you guys are constantly picking between two lesser and greater evils, what difference do you have from medieval peasants waiting for a benevolent king to have mercy on you.