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
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.
