unspeakable comparison
Dedicated to all the brave, self-sacrificing politicians everywhere
who wield the sharp sword of austerity,
who wield the sharp sword of austerity,
and thereby slay their own citizens:
I. Prague 1969---or anywhere, anytime....
A young man:
His country invaded,
tanks have broken and crushed living bones,
hope has left the streets.
His country invaded,
tanks have broken and crushed living bones,
hope has left the streets.
He decides to act,
a terrible act.
II. Madrid or Athens 2012, or anywhere, anytime.....
An old woman and an old man:
The end of life approaching,
things are getting worse,
poverty waits outside the door:
He acts and she acts as well,
Each performs a terrible act.
III.
Suicide is a symbolic act because we are symbolic creatures:
insufferably full of meaning,
full of hopes and fears,
and longings,
but nothing is "merely" symbolic;
our suffering not the unwanted and unintended consequence of wise policies,
our longings are not a spoon tapping on an empty bottle.
Hopes and dreams squashed:
The brilliant hope for fresh air and sunshine,
the humble hope to live with dignity,
trampled and crushed by mighty engines of power and economy.
And, so, I draw an equivalence,
between what they call "totalitarianism" or "communist totalitarianism",
and what today is named "austerity":
Call it what you like,
the thing itself is ugly,
and drives feeling creatures,
living, breathing beings, creatures of thought and reason,
to lose hope,
and choose death.
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