BRICS

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

BRICS

 

Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa

You are judged by the company you keep

Brazil, South Africa, India

I believe you are in too deep

 

Do you really want to be

In the company of brute dictators?

Far better to make friends

With republicans and liberators

 

You’ve been tempted by oppressors

In all their varied forms

Blatant cheats and vote depressors

We hope you have reformed

 

But if you wish to make alliance

With the planet’s worst offenders

We’ll reconsider our reliance

On your human rights defenders

 

A new world is taking shape

We are taking it in stride

Consider every step you take

Do not take the other side

 

Sedition in Hong Kong

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Sedition in Hong Kong

 

Sedition in Hong Kong

Is daring to act like a journalist

 

Sedition in Hong Kong

Is daring to criticize Beijing

 

Once there was hope of freedom

Freedom of speech

Freedom of assembly

Freedom to march the streets in protest

Freedom to publish your views

 

That hope was brutally attacked

By the officers of oppression

 

Now they jail journalists

Now they serve warning to all

Who would ever dare oppose them

 

They don’t know the history of resistance

They don’t know the power of the people

It may take a decade of resistance

It may take a century of defiance

But the people will not forget

The people will not give in

They will find a way forward

They will find the path to freedom

They will march toward democracy

Step by step, year after year

Decade after decade

Until at last they prevail

 

(Stand News editors Chung Pui-kuen

and Patrick Lam sentence to prison.)

 

America Lost

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

America Lost

 

America has lost her way

Long before Election Day

The stage is set

The courts are let

The sycophants are in their place

 

The vote no longer matters

Amidst the scattered chatter

The fix is in

The losers win

A head upon the platter

 

What is false and what is true?

Sinclair disseminates fake news

Russia plays

And China too

The people haven’t got a clue

 

The nation cries in deep distress

Democracy is at its best

When people know

What’s going on

We’re failing every single test

 

Time will tell if we survive

To keep the sacred dream alive

We cannot fail

The world depends

On us to find our patriot’s pride

 

Dissent in Hong Kong

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Dissent in Hong Kong

 

There is no joy on the streets of Hong Kong

There is no discourse at all

There are martyr’s tears for Helena Wong *

Among the chosen to take the fall

 

A conspiracy to commit subversion

A trumped-up charge if ever there was

They claim the right to imprison anyone

No matter what one says or does

 

They stood for the right to public protest

They stood for Hong Kong’s independence

They face a lifetime behind cold bars

They were hardly allowed a defense

 

Today in Hong Kong you have no rights

Except for the right to silence

If you want to speak or raise a sign

Beijing’s answer is always violence

 

* Found guilty of Draconian security law

   (along with thirteen others).

   

Sheep

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Sheep

 

A candidate in Germany steps down

After expressing sympathy for the SS –

The elite Nazi enforcement unit

 

An American candidate for president

Takes down a campaign video

Expressing admiration for The Reich

As if he didn’t understand the reference

 

The Proud Boys are the SS without

The power of the state

 

The European right is marching goosestep

With Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping

Accepting laundered money and propaganda

 

The NRA is a front for Russian money

 

One World News is a front for Russia

 

The propaganda war has begun and our side –

The side of freedom and democracy – for

there can be no freedom without democracy –

Has fallen asleep

 

Those who follow their fearless leader

Like sheep who have lost their way

Will awaken tomorrow in a nightmare

 

They too will be left behind

They will be discarded with the rest of us

For they will have lost their purpose

They placed the strongman in power

And now they are of no more use

We are vermin and they are sheep

 

Putin and Xi (The Dark Alliance)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Putin and Xi

 

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping

The monster of Moscow

The bully of Beijing

They will lie and cheat and do anything

To further their cause of expansion

 

China claims Taiwan is theirs

Russia claims Ukraine

They rattle their sabers on a dare

Their intentions cold and plain

 

They want a new age of empire

The glory of their past

The west denies their brute desires

Their flags are at half mast

 

They push all states toward their ends

With arms and blatant bribes

But on economy their cause depends

That is the true divide

 

Xi and Putin will pay a price

Beyond prestige and lives

Losing their best trade allies

Their rule may not survive

Banning a Song (Hong Kong)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Banning a Song

 

Your stranglehold on power

Is something less than strong

When you determine you must ban

A proud and simple song

 

The people fought for freedom

In Hong Kong’s angry streets

When China brought the hammer down

The world cried at their defeat

 

No one has shown more courage

Than the people of Hong Kong

Who rose up for their dignity

Their oppressor was dead wrong

 

Now China shows its weakness

By banning the people’s song

An insult to their legacy

All Glory to Hong Kong!

 

Democracy in Africa

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Democracy in Africa

 

For far too long in Africa

Democracy has been on the run

When corruption takes its toll

The ruling class is done

 

In Mali the people rise again

They grow tired of the madness

The military gave them promises

But delivered constant sadness

 

In Sudan the hatred deepens

The blood of holy war

They vote with their machetes

They kill to settle scores

 

Russia provides the weapons

China builds their dams

They need corrupt governments

Their elections are a sham

 

Still the time will surely come

When the people will demand

Their right to a fair democracy

The military be damned!

 

Hidden Dragon

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Hidden Dragon

 

Beneath the surface of Russian brutality

There lurks a hidden dragon

Beneath the smart bombs and guided missiles

Beneath the serial war crimes

Beneath the killing of women and children

Beneath the mounting rubble of destruction

Beneath the endless, mindless horror

There lies a Chinese beast

 

At the crossroads of international affairs

The Chinese faced a choice

To follow the road of economic prosperity

In partnership with the West or

Form an alliance with the Brute of the North

To follow the path of democratic reform or

Join the barbarian path of conquest

 

They have chosen the path of darkness

The path of gross environmental destruction

The path of waste and extortion

The path of violence and imperialism

 

They will find in Russia a treacherous ally

An alliance of temporary value

The Russians offer little economically

They have weapons, oil and little else

The Chinese depend on the West

They will suffer for their betrayal

The hidden dragon no longer hidden

Will turn on itself in self immolation

The Chinese economy will crumble

The rule of Chi will end

 

Taiwan

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Taiwan

 

Taiwan will not surrender

They refuse to bend the knee

They have sent the world a message

From across the China Sea

 

The voters faced a choice

To hold an independent course

Or to yield to the power of China

With it superior military force

 

They voted with their hearts

Not assured where it will lead

The beast may rear its head

Or plant a million seeds

 

The mainland is unphased

They choose to bide their time

Taiwan lives in their shadow

Despite an independent mind

 

What does the future hold?

No one living really knows

Each time the monster flexes

Our worries only grow

 

The Great China Freeze

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Great China Freeze

 

They’re burning coal in China

To survive the winter freeze

They are poisoning the very air

That their people must breathe

It seems the leaders do not care

It is something they believe

If a million people die today

For the benefit of the state

Mark a path and show the way

They will call it the way of fate

 

But the world must turn this path around

We must find a better road

A path that is reachable and sound

That seeks to lighten every load

 

We can’t continue fighting wars

We know where that road leads

A rush to shut disaster’s doors

We all suffer, we all bleed

 

Let’s work together for a change

That works for all our nations

We know it seems a little strange

But its promise is salvation

 

Putin Makes the Rounds

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PUTIN

Putin Makes the Rounds

 

Putin makes the rounds

Erdogan and Kim Jong Un

Walking on shaky grounds

Striking a discordant tune

 

Putin wants it all

The weapons and the grain

On the border of China

In the war on Ukraine

 

Watch out for what you wish for

It just might come true

Knocking at your door

Your debt is coming due

 

Putin is a pariah

Everywhere he goes

Acting like the messiah

His horns begin to show

 

They don’t like you in the east

They like you less in Istanbul

They despise like a beast

Or they regard you as a fool

 

Enemies of Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Enemies of Democracy

 

Putin is a master propagandist

A pretender to democracy

His elections are a farce

He assaults the free press

He destroys political opposition

He attacks his democratic neighbors

For daring to choose their own leaders

 

Xi is a master of propaganda

Another pretender to democracy

Isn’t it strange how ruthless dictators

Find it necessary to pretend?

There is no genuine journalism

No institutions of free speech

No challenge to government dictates

No resistance to oppression

 

Erdogan is a wolf in sheep’s clothing

He exploits the religious right

He jails journalists and opposition

He punishes freedom of thought

He rules with the fist of fear

He maintains military control

 

Bolsonaro is a wannabe

He tried to negate a lawful election

He tried to silence the opposition

He tried to punish dissent

He failed

 

Netanyahu is a wannabe

He despises independent speech

He tried to gut the judiciary

He would destroy the free press

If he had half a chance

He would establish military rule

 

Trump is a threat to democracy

He admires only strongmen

He disrespects the rule of law

He wishes to use the justice department

To punish and silence his enemies

Given a chance he would end

Democracy in America and

Appoint an American King