Friend of the Devil

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

Friend of the Devil

 

When you invite the devil into your fold

Even with virtue’s intent

A story of evil must be retold

Concerning a past that was bent

 

It is not a secret or mystery

What our Agency did in the past

Destroying Latin American democracies

With promises that did not last

 

Now Daniel Noboa of Ecuador

Has opened the gates to his nation

To fight in America’s cocaine wars

A dark and dismal invitation

 

Sheinbaum of Mexico turned us down

But Noboa opened the door

So our darkest operators are on the ground

No one knows what lies in store

 

Maybe they’ll fight the drug cartels

But it comes with an obligation

This is how so many democracies fell

And became subservient nations

 

 

Orban on the Ropes

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Orban on the Ropes

 

Viktor Orban of Hungary

Is about to go down in defeat

The vote will end his worthless pleas

To hold on to his seat

 

He did everything a despot can

To hold the vote in check

Abducting all who took a stand

Stacking the electoral deck

 

He suppressed the opposition

But the people somehow knew

They will make their own decision

And then Viktor Orban is through

 

He’s on the ropes and fighting back

Who knows what he may do?

His Dobermans are on attack

His bulldogs and his goons

 

But Hungarians have had their fill

Of Orban’s rank hypocrisy

The people will express their will

Reclaiming their democracy

 

 

En Fuego

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORRUPTION

 

En Fuego

 

El Mencho is dead

And Mexico is on fire

Jalisco lives in dread

The situation is most dire

 

When you go after the cartels

As Sheinbaum did today

They’ve promised a living hell

Take cover and get out of the way

 

The flames are growing higher

Every hour of every day

They swear they’ll never tire

They will lay it all to waste

 

It’s a war against the night

It keeps coming back for more

Can they ever win this fight?

As the flames of vengeance roar

 

We pray the light will win

What else can we do?

It’s like fighting against sin

In the end the sinners lose

 

On this our hopes depend

For democracy cannot hold

Against corrupt and wicked men

If we give away our souls

 

Mourning in Iran

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN

 

Mourning in Iran

 

If you kill thousands of your people

You do not get to mourn the dead

Beyond the push of the martyrs’ pull

Accept the fury you have bred

 

Blame it on the foreign agitators

Though all the world can see the lie

Blame it on domestic instigators

Blame it on the star-crossed skies

 

Even you can see and smell the truth

When so many have been killed

The rising of an outraged youth

They have expressed their will

 

All the nation is in mourning

For the martyrs you have decried

To all oppressors here’s a warning

History isn’t on your side

 

In time the righteous will prevail

Though it may take a hundred years

In time the oppressors will be jailed

And none will shed a martyr’s tears

 

In Defense of Democracy

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

In Defense of Democracy

 

Bolsonaro committed treason

Though he did not go as far

Attempted coup for obvious reasons

The people fought back hard

 

They put the man in prison

A fair trial before his peers

It was not a hard decision

You could hear the people cheer

 

South Korea’s Hun Duck-Soo

Signed on to martial law

Now he’s serving twenty-two

For a failed insurrection plot

 

It seems the people get it right

Nearly every chance they get

Their democracy is worth a fight

If you doubt it place your bet

 

Donald Trump is the exception

He holds his party in his hands

He has practiced his deception

To maintain his evil plan

 

He stands ready to betray

We stand ready to defend

There will come a time and place

When our democracy could end

 

 

Pariah State

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN

 

Pariah State

 

When you kill your own people en masse

You have lost all control

Your reign cannot outlast

The selling of your soul

 

You are so in love with power

That you would kill without shame

In your hearts you’re all cowards

Spilling blood in God’s name

 

That blood is on your hands

It will remain there forever

No one knows or understands

How your compassion was severed

 

It is time to do what’s right

Let the people have their way

They are sworn to this fight

And in this fight they will stay

 

You have become a rogue nation

To all the world a pariah state

In this mindless provocation

You have earned a cruel fate

 

 

The Uprising in Iran

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

The Uprising in Iran

 

Desperate times in Iran

Massive protests on the ground

The internet is down

No one knows what’s going on

 

The west must rally to the cause

If democracy is in play

Through the chaos and the fog

Hope has risen to the day

 

They do not ask for bombs

But they welcome our support

They want a strong and sound Iran

They do not want a war for sport

 

Let the cry for freedom sound

Like an echo loud and clear

Let their destiny be bound

To a future without fear

 

Everywhere the people rise

We must answer to their call

Everywhere we hear their cries

May their oppressors break and fall

 

 

Iranian Freedom

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Iranian Freedom

 

Iran’s desire for freedom

Is deeper than the deep blue sea

A culture of ancient wisdom

Iranians must be free

 

But do not ask for American aid

For it would come with a heavy hand

Be aware you would be played

By the greatest con in all the land

 

We applaud your courageous protest

With the people we must stand

With the victims of mass arrests

We share all of your demands

 

But do not ask the US for favors

We would take more than we give

We would give your gold to slavers

We would not let your freedom live

 

If you want to free your nation

From the hands of your oppressors

Do not trust for your salvation

The would-be king and his jesters

 

 

In the Name of Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

 

In the Name of Democracy

 

In the name of democracy

Join the streets of protest

 

In the name of democracy

Resist the oppressors of immigrants

 

In the name of democracy

Rise up to defend the ballot box

 

In the name of democracy

Maintain a constant vigilance

Support your local dissidents

 

In the name of democracy

Challenge all authority

Support independent media

 

In the name of democracy

Teach your children your ideals

Value freedom of speech

 

In the name of democracy

Know the history of our nation

Slavery and subjugation

A little matter of native genocide

The right to vote denied

 

In the name of democracy

Remember who we are

The ones who came from afar

To fight for freedom from a king

The right to worship and to sing

Let the bells of freedom ring

In the name of democracy

 

Santiago Falls (The Ghost of Pinochet)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Santiago Falls

 

Jose Antonio Kast

Brings back shadows of the past

The ghost of Pinochet

Has come back to haunt Chile

 

A campaign of law and order

A promise to protect the border

Rising crime and deportation

Mounting fear and desperation

 

We cannot predict the future

But we can warn about the past

As the future travels nearer

Our dread grows deep and vast

 

Recall the disappeared

Remember the oppression

The iron fist of fear

Has Chile learned her lesson?

 

Or is she now condemned

To repeat her sordid past?

On this man you’ll depend

To break his fascist cast

 

 

Budapest Rising

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Budapest Rising

 

An election is coming to Budapest

As we hear a rising sound

The people march in protest

As scandals shake the ground

 

Corruption and rank abuse

Has shaken Hungary to its core

Orban’s grip is coming loose

Change is knocking at the door

 

Pedophilia and prostitution

An abomination to the masses

When it invades your institutions

It rips apart your ruling classes

 

When you’re a strongman at the helm

You believe there are no rules

You have gone beyond the realm

Of the morbid and the cruel

 

How long as this gone on?

This unspeakable reign of horror

Was it happening all along?

Listen! Hear the people roar!

 

The great reckoning is coming down

Like a hammer to your head

They don’t want your kind around

Try democracy instead

 

 

Corruption in Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Corruption in Ukraine

 

Corruption in Ukraine

Is an affront to humankind

Negotiations become strained

It puts her allies in a bind

 

To betray your country is a sin

To betray your country at war

Is a sin beyond redemption

It is corruption to the core

 

While the battlefield rages

While you plead for more arms

This is a treachery for the ages

That could do irreparable harm

 

The guilty must be punished

Before the cause is lost

The corruption must be banished

The corrupted must be tossed

 

Ukraine remains at war

In a battle for existence

An evil enemy at the door

All their people in resistance

 

Their leaders must be pure

Their president must stand tall

For the people must be assured

Or Ukraine will lose it all

 

 

The Land of Allende

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

The Land of Allende

 

In the land of Pinochet and Allende

Where Latin American democracy

Rose up against the authoritarian tide

And fell against the same

Where the champions of the North

Changed sides by backing a military coup

 

We’re not about to let the will of the people

Stand in the way of American interests *

 

Chileans are facing a critical choice

A communist who is not a communist

Against a republican who is not a republican

The way of the ballot box

Or the way of the bullet

The gentle hand or the iron fist

Reason against rationalization

Persuasion against force

The path of social justice

Or the path of grim austerity

Jeannette Jara or Jose Antonio Kast

The people must choose

 

Choose wisely

For to make the wrong choice

May outlast a generation

 

* Henry Kissinger

 

The Fall of Bolivar

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

The Fall of Bolivar

 

The last stand of Simon Bolivar

The father of Latin American democracy

The nation named in his honor

Home to the first indigenous president

Defender of democratic socialism

Fallen to the forces of capitalism

 

One wonders if democracy can survive

For capitalism so often prefers strongmen

 

That it has survived in the northern hemisphere

In western Europe and America

Gives proof that elements of socialism and

Capitalism can coexist with democracy

 

That democracy is so often threatened

In capitalist dominated countries

(a list that now include the United States)

Gives proof that the forces opposed to socialism

Are the forces opposed to democracy

 

The autocrats are lining up against us

Social democracy is at risk

Democracy itself is threatened

Bolivar has fallen but the fight goes on

The people must rise to find a way

 

(Rodrigo Paz elected president of Bolivia) 

Orban the Despotic

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Orban the Despotic

 

Victor Orban and Donald Trump

The despot and the wannabe

When Orban yells his people jump

The dream the Donald dreams

 

There is no opposition

He puts them all in jail

He believes in superstitions

Orban the Great can never fail

 

They share an admiration

For the empires of old

They’d love to lead their nations

In thrones of purest gold

 

They subvert their constitutions

With every kind of measure

Like destroying institutions

That expose their dirty pleasures

 

Orban should go back home

We don’t need his tactics here

Your final days will come

We pray those days are near