Refugees are talked about, judged, imprisoned, abused (to their face, in racist gatherings, in the hoards of naive and nasty social media comments) but rarely heard from. They have the most to tell about their experiences and migration policy. Their opinions and dreamings about life, politics, and humanity are important. Here, thanks to The Refugee... Continue Reading →
The poet killed by Shell
Ken Saro-Wiwa was an activist, writer, and member of the Ogoni people, whose homeland in the Niger Delta has been used for crude oil extraction since the 1950s. The land has suffered extreme environmental damagefrom decades of petroleum waste dumping and leaks and spills, and the people have been tortured, abused, and murdered. Saro-Wiwa was... Continue Reading →
Story ache
Every person had at least one incredible story frolicking inside them. But the market chose quick satisfaction, supermarket weekends, air-conditioned adventures, television colonisation, thought minimalisation, bomb production. It made the story people tired. Stories died. Souls put to paper, internal battles portrayed in magic metaphors were blown into the air, then caught in nets and... Continue Reading →
Children were sold
Frances Harper (1825-1911), who campaigned against slavery and helped escaped slaves, wrote this poem. She also often read her poetry at public meetings - seeing creativity intricately linked into real life and struggles. The Slave Auction The sale began - young girls were there, Defenceless in their wretchedness, Whose stifled sobs of deep despair Revealed... Continue Reading →
On 1 November the animals were blamed..
On this day, the first case of mad cow disease was found in Britain. Eduardo Galeano writes... Danger! Animals! In 1986 mad cow disease struck the British Isles and more than two million cows suspected of harbouring contagious dementia faced capital punishment. In 1997 avian flu from Hong Kong sowed panic and condemned a million... Continue Reading →
You can’t buy the wind
These are my translated lyrics of Calle 13's 'Latin America' - a continent in resistance, in rebellion, re-asserting its beautiful, diverse, colourful, and courageous identity, free of US and European dominance I am. I am what they left behind, I am the leftovers of what they stole, A town hidden on the peak, My skin is... Continue Reading →
Ben Okri: A New Dream of Politics (in England?)
They say there is only one way for politics. That it looks with hard eyes at the hard world And shapes it with a ruler’s edge, Measuring what is possible against Acclaim, support, and votes. They say there is only one way to dream For the people, to give them not what they need But... Continue Reading →
We’re barely happy
On happiness Those Hollywood moments of happiness, which we are all meant to crave - triumph, being proposed to, winning a race - aren't ever so simple and happy in real life. Happiness is always more complicated, and always coincides with other feelings of concern, stress, doubt. Happiness for me has not been those moments,... Continue Reading →
Kendrick Lamar rebellious gems
Here are a few gems from US hip hop artist, Kendrick Lamar. Though a bit commercial himself, some of his lyrics have found their way into the Black Lives Matter movement, with protestors chanting "We're gunna be alright!" when attacked by police at the conference in Cleveland. BLM: a bold movement that is influencing and... Continue Reading →
Poems from Syria
So while the petty EU squabbles over how many thousands of refugees each country will take, millions in Syria have been killed, internally displaced, and forced to flee their homeland and lives - with no small thanks to US spurring on civil war there for its own selfish reasons. Because poems are humanising, below are... Continue Reading →
Upcoming event: Sydney
Resisting with Words and Imagining Another World October 23, 2015 6:00PM Resistance Centre, 22 Mountain St, Ultimo, Sydney, Australia Hosts: Green Left Weekly For more information call 8070 9330 or Peter 0401 760 577 https://www.facebook.com/events/129165974101413/
Until It Isn’t – Poem by Remi Kanazi
death becomes exciting tolls, pictures, videos tweeting carnage instagramming collapse hearts racing to break 24-hour entertainment every glimpse, splinter and particle of pain jammed into torsos and cheekbones loved ones want to sit for a minute and cry quietly no words, no poetry before Internet and dialed-up emotions before black and white ideologies before a... Continue Reading →
Illustrating injustice
Steve Cutts sums up the world in ink.
Living without toilet paper
In Venezuela, for the last two years or more it has been hard, off and on, to find toilet paper. When I was there, sometimes a supermarket had it, but then the line up was two hours and who has that to spare. Especially because after a while of going without it, we realised we... Continue Reading →
Review: ‘The Butterfly Prison’ by Tamara Pearson Affectionately Demands Change
By Andre Vltchek, teleSUR The Butterfly Prison begins slowly, combining seemingly disconnected stories that are taking place in poor neighborhoods of Australia. The stories are like tiny vignettes; shy, modest, minimalistic but always significant and beautifully told. A fear here, a bitter humiliation there, a dream of a child interrupted by a police officer. Then... Continue Reading →
Dictators: Pablo Neruda
An odor has remained among the sugarcane: a mixture of blood and body, a penetrating petal that brings nausea. Between the coconut palms the graves are full of ruined bones, of speechless death-rattles. The delicate dictator is talking with top hats, gold braid, and collars. The tiny palace gleams like a watch and the rapid... Continue Reading →
What if imagining things made them possible.
What if selfishness were illegal and books could watch us and our dances drew our faces and the rivers remembered and beauty were untouchable and sleep were stolen and kisses were limited and words were earned and laughter turned the air purple and causing poverty were punishable What if imagining things made them possible. by... Continue Reading →
resistance words 