The Ballad of Belmore Gaol

I never saw a man who looked

With such a wistful eye

Upon that little tent of blue

Which prisoners call the sky,

And at every drifting cloud that went

With sails of silver by.

From The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde

Not exactly worthy of an updating of Oscar Wilde's iconic poem, but an attempt to release some impotent anger in these times of immense political injustice: The imminent extradition and eventual sentencing of Julian Assange to 175 years of prison.

The Ballad of Belmarsh Gaol

All the shitheads of the world

The nasty, measly minded, degenerate people who inhabit the corridors of power

Those we elect to rule in our name

The pompous politicians, presidents and prime ministers

in their White houses and streets of Down

Are conspiring today, with their high court judges in their ridiculous wigs

Applauded by the yellow vendors of news

To deprive us of truth, once and for all

What sad day is this that we have allowed to happen

What excuse do we have for silently accepting the denial of the one freedom that cannot be bought with money. The freedom to open our mouths and speak the truth

Why are we not angry? Raging? Rampaging?

Telling these pathetic, self-exalted cretins that the emperor has no clothes

Their moral nakedness is insulting our human integrity

Percy Bysshe Shelley, wrote two centuries ago “The Mask of Anarchy”

The final line of this poetic condemnation of the predecessors of our current rulers reads:

“Ye are many—they are few”

Yes, we are many, they are few

So why are we not surrounding the High Court?

Surrounding Belmarsh prison?

Surrounding Parliament?

Surrounding The White House?

To “Rise, like lions after slumber” in Shelly’s words

We are allowing them to kill the messenger with hardly a whisper

To quote the reincarnated Phil Ochs; David Rovics:

“ We marched down the street

And left our cameras where they lay

‘Cause all the news that’s fit to mention

Is there is no news today”

And there will be no news tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after………

Bilder fra markering for Julian Assange 20. februar på Kunsthall 3, 14 med Sofie Marhaug, stortingsrepresentant fra Rødt, Gisle Selnes, en aktiv forkjemper for å skape bevissthet om Wikileaks-grunnleggeren Julian Assange. Terje Alnes fra Antikrigsinitiativet i Bergen, Gitte Sætre, debattredaktør ved Kunsthall 3,14, musikeren August Selnes og Naeem Searle vil lese dikt og en forelesning av den bergensbaserte kritikeren og professoren Frode Helmich Pedersen.

The Ballad of Belmarsh Gaol | Flickr

 

Dette er et dikt som ble inspirert av å se på Stortingets Muntlig spørretime forrige onsdag, der Utenriksminister Barth Eide skrytt om at Norge var blant de vestlige land som gjorde det meste, og var tydeligst, i forhold til det som skjer i Gaza. Men samtidig mente han at det var å gå for langt å kalle det som skjer for Folkemord. Mens Frps Christian Tybring-Gjedde forlangt at selv denne neddempet, liksom kritikk av Israel var feil fordi den førte til antisemittisme og mobbing av det jødiske samfunn i Norge. Derfor gir jeg dikt denne binære tittel:

 

Diplomacy: The Art of doing nothing at all – an anti-Semitic poem

 

We all want Peace,

Peace of mind,

Peace in our time,

Peace for the benefit of humankind.

At Peace with nature,

A beautiful Peace,

A peaceful life,

And a peaceful death.

 

Our elected leaders, also want Peace:

The Peace of the cemetery.

To be left in Peace to allow unhindered, the wind of murder that passes over Palestine.

To silently condone the oppression, the abuse, the exploitation, the crushing and repeated expulsion of the children and grandchildren of Nakba.

Silencing the coming generation to a noiseless death beneath the ruins of Gaza.

 

The stones are crying, their dust-stained tears trickling in small rivulets through the ruins of Gaza’s cities.

They reveal, the small, crippled hand of a dead child, encrusted in grey colourless dust, pointing aimlessly at the sky from beneath the ruble of Gaza City.

Like the carved stone hand of a renaissance statue waiting for a helping hand that came too late.

 

Barth Eide and Gahr Støre are worried.

Worried about the excessive civilian casualties,

Worried about the spread of the conflict throughout the Middle East,

Worried about terrorism coming to our Peace-loving land,

Diplomacy is their potent weapon.

 

“one must not shy away from criticizing countries, just because they are our allies” Says Barth Eide. And goes on to praise the USA for not vetoing a resolution that does not call for a ceasefire.

He feels, that “it is going too far to call Israels murder of over 22 000 civilians,

Forced relocation of 2 million Palestinians,

Cutting off supplies of water, food and energy, in a Medieval siege,

and raising all the cities of Gaza to the ground,

For a genocide.

 

Indeed, diplomacy is a potent weapon in such hypocritical hands as those of our esteemed Foreign Minister.

Tell us again, Barth Eide, how Norway is among the most vocal western countries in condemning, this “Non-Genocide.”

Tell us how you broke diplomatic relations with the “Non-Genocidal” Israeli government,

Tell how you openly condemned Stone-Face Biden for “Non-vetoing” a ceasefire,

Tell us how you loudly refused to participate in his Red Sea maritime force, to ensure that ships could continue supplying the cruel ongoing “Non-genocide”,

Tell us how you manipulatively sabotaged the recognition of a “Non-Palestinian” state,

Tell us how many children’s lives your “doing the most we can” has saved.

And then listen as your empty words echo and rebound across the Nordic granite mountains.

They do not go unheard:

 

In Adolf Fredrik's cemetery, the earth moves upon a grave, the wet soil erupts in a frenzied wave of torment, and a skeletal hand emerges, its muddied finger pointing to the sky.

And the trembling voice of the ghost of Olaf Palme rents the midnight air “J’Accuse!”

 

Biden/Blinken, Go to Hell!

Palestine will rise again.

Barth Eide/Gahr Støre, get off your arses, get off your knees!

Palestine will be free!