Political Prisoners (Alaa Abdel Fattah)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL JUSTICE

Political Prisoners (Egypt)

 

Alaa does not eat

Alaa does not drink

He is an activist for democracy

He is protesting his imprisonment

For speaking out against tyranny

Alaa is one of thousands

People jailed for their dissent

Victims of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

 

Alaa’s family pleads with the west

To support their righteous cause

The cause of human rights

The cause of justice

The cause of democracy

El-Sisi’s Egypt is a totalitarian state

An enemy of enlightenment

 

The cause of human rights

Does not end in Ukraine

That which applies to Russia

Must also apply to others

 

The dissidents of Egypt do not want war

They do not ask for military aid

They ask only for words

They ask only for justice

They ask only for respect

 

Free Alaa Abdel Fattah!

Free Leonard Peltier!

Free Brittney Griner!

Free political prisoners everywhere!

 

The Povertization of Russia

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

The Povertization of Russia

 

The brightest minds of a generation

Are leaving Mother Russia behind

Education, philosophy, art, literature

No longer there will you find

 

The migration of intellect has begun

The povertization of the inquiring mind

The age of Russian excellence is done

The seers have all gone blind

 

A nation cannot thrive

When its people are oppressed

A proud heritage is forgotten

When the greater becomes the less

 

Turn around oh Mother Russia

Before the time is much too late

Lay your weapons to the ground

Recollect what made you great

 

Indian School

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INDIAN HISTORY

Indian School

 

They kidnapped kids by force of law

Sent them to indoctrination camps

Cut out their native tongues

Severed them from tribe and family

Fed them with spiritual lies

Forbid them from being Indians

Forbid them from being themselves

Taught them that their ways were wrong

That the red road was a path to hell

 

They should have called it genocide

For that is what it was

Genocide of language and culture

Genocide of religion and history

 

When they refused to learn their lessons

They beat and abused them

They called them ungrateful animals

They learned a different lesson

That white people were cruel

That they fear the Indian ways

That if they were to survive

As individuals and as a people

They would have to escape

They would have to remember

Their language and traditions

They would have to return home

To live their lives as Indians

Proud stubborn and free

 

Election Day: Depressing the Vote

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Depressing the Vote

 

There are many ways to depress the vote

A false sense of confidence

Victory is in the bag

The message has been sent

Or turn it upside down

All sense of hope is spent

Either way don’t waste your time

Either way the vote declines

 

Fake soldiers at the polls

With vests and loaded arms

Watching from a distance

Promise to do no harm

 

Misinformation wars

Rumors born of nothing

Rotten to the core

Hear the sirens sing

 

Voting is our duty

Don’t listen to their song

Your voice is all that matters

Not to vote is wrong

 

Propaganda War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Propaganda War

 

As the left begins to turn away

From the besieged people of Ukraine

Moving toward the invaders

Joining forces with the fascist right

The secret Putin sympathizers

(not so secret anymore)

Out of a yearning for peace?

Fear of nuclear annihilation?

Mistrust of the powers that be?

I wonder if we are losing the war

And what the cost will be

If we allow the beast to take Ukraine

What stops him from taking Poland?

The Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway?

If Putin knows he need only threaten

The use of nuclear force

To rebuild the Soviet Empire

Where does it end?

 

When the pacifist left unites

With the fascist right

Nothing good can follow