RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL DEMOCRACY
Fascism with a Pretty Face
Mussolini rose to power in Italy
As an elected prime minister in 1922
In three years he became dictator
In 1940 he entered the great war
On the side of the Nazis
Five years later he was captured
And executed by his own people
Five decades later
In the tradition of Italian fascism
Italy elects Giorgia “Mussolini” Meloni
Fascism with a pretty face
She represents Italian nationalism
Praises Mussolini
Condemns multiculturalism
Shows sympathy for Nazi collaborators
And repressive morality police
Despite past support for Putin
She has promised to support Ukraine
We will see, we will see
Would Mussolini have opposed Hitler
If his election required it?
Let’s not pretend it cannot happen
It can and anywhere
Where fear of others supplants patriotism
Where racial purity a silent virtue
Where years of austerity
Poverty and homelessness
Feed our biases and terror
It happens when we forget who we are
And what we stand for
It happens when we care only for
Ourselves and nothing for others
