MIKE VAN GRAAN

Not Another Never Again

the Gaza-cide

WILL be televised
unambiguously to declare
once again
whose tales
whose tribes
whose tears
matter

and whose do not

‘all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights’
states the Universal Declaration of ‘48
the same year that Africa’s south
birthed the apartheid regime

in their own land
no black person would equal a white in dignity and rights

in that same year
abetted by Europe’s dirty hands
Israel proclaimed itself a Jewish state

in their once-land

no Palestinian would equal a Jew in dignity and rights

Europe’s abominable antisemitic crimes 
would henceforth be paid with Palestinian blood

some signatories to the Human Rights Declaration
then occupiers themselves 
the Netherlands
France
the United Kingdom

still colonised
‘lesser humans’
still civilised
‘primitive peoples’
still christianised
‘inferior races’
not yet entitled to human rights
in their supremacist view

occupier and occupied
NOT
born free
nor equal in dignity and rights

in the beginning
as it is today
human rights
for human whites

the United Nations

founded to stay wars
maintain peace
affirm human coexistence
in considering a pause in the GAZA-cide
the Netherlands
Italy
Germany
the United Kingdom
and much of Europe
human rights loudmouths all
abstain

while self-appointed human rights
advocate
policeman
enforcer
judge
the land of the free
once the land of braves
the United States of America
baring its forked tongue yet again
votes against
a ceasefire
against
humanitarian corridors
against
protection for trapped civilians

whole families
three
four
five
generations
erased with American-sponsored bombs
fathers
mothers
grandparents
acting as human shields to protect their loved ones
against constant
brutal bombardments
all perish in murderous strikes that draw no distinction between civilians and combatants
for all are guilty
in the aggressors’ eyes

CHILDREN

not ten
not fifty
not even hundreds
but THOUSANDS
THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN
two hundred Sandy Hook massacres and counting
butchered
slaughtered
exterminated
with American bombs

as if shooting fish in a barrel

MONSTERS
rule our world

Scholz
made coward by holocaust guilt
Sunak
colonialism’s teacher’s pet
Biden
the poster boy for ‘civilised’ hypocrisy
three west men
follow the star
of david
ignoring the refugee babe in her mangled manger
the orphan toddler with his shrapnel wounds
the newborns gasping for incubator air
the electricity cut
the hospital razed
the doctors bleeding

off to Herod they go
their exemplary mid-east democracy
to offer their gifts

more bombs
more vetoes
more blind eyes
to violations of international law

these ambassadors of impunity
whose countries once tyrannised Jews
forced conversions
job discrimination
expulsions
pogroms
genocide

now proudly proclaim
they stand with Israel
on the dead bodies of innocents
against the majority world
on the wrong side of history
unable to regret their past
assume a moral present
for a more peaceful future

cowards and charlatans all

the brutes who label as racists
those who call out
expose
stand up to their racism
their ethnic cleansing
state as their truth
‘there are no innocent Palestinians’

non-combatant men
women
children
babies
old and young
all pose a potential threat
if not now
then in the future
they say

and so all deserve to die
bomb them
starve them
nuke them
their final solution
no longer camouflaged in reluctant PR
but delivered in chilling plain speak

yet who is innocent who occupies stolen land
who is conscripted to defend illegal settlements
who votes for a murderous regime
who make and live by laws that violently strip people of their
homes
heritage
hope

one side has the right to statehood
one side has the right to exist
one side has the right to defend itself

this one-sided view
repeated ad nauseum to
justify ethnic cleansing masquerading as self-defence

morality
no longer defined
if ever it was
by common humanity
but by the poison of power
the interests of elites
by conscienceless monsters
beings with human shape

but hearts of stone
incapable of empathy
except for their own
who look like them
think like them
believe like them

imagine that Gazans were Jews
or Scandinavians
or any nationality white
and were kept in an open-air prison for 17 years
not that it ever would happen
because
human rights for
human whites
but imagine that Israelis were Arabs
and the Jews
Scandinavians
white nationals
sought to break free from their concentration camp
killing Arabs in the process
taking others hostage
and the Arab regime labels them human animals
and yet with civilised irony
drops pamphlets warning them to
flee to an already overcrowded zone
before dropping tons and tons and tons of bombs
onto their homes
destroying hospitals
schools where the homeless shelter
murdering international aid workers

assassinating journalists
demolishing churches
blasting refugee camps
killing children
children
in their thousands
blockading the area
denying them
water
electricity
fuel
medicines
forcing them off their land
to claim it as their own

would the – western – world stand by and watch
would there not be outrage
sanctions
boycotts
war crime indictments
military interventions
arming those being slaughtered at will
to defend themselves against this venomous brutality

not this time though
for Palestinian lives matter not
they have no oil
no gas
no geo-political value
no land for a military base
the same racist impulses that buttressed
slavery
colonialism
apartheid
the war on terror
still prevail in the wild white west

and so they need oft reminding
black lives matter
Palestinian lives matter
ALL children’s lives matter

yes
all lives matter
but when some lives are taken
with monotonous disdain
with ruthless impunity
by powerful
heartless
violent
monsters
then those lives matter more

how can a people so persecuted through history
now visit such savagery on others
have they so soon forgotten
the bravery
the life lust
the resilience
the example of their ancestors
who rose in armed rebellion
in the ghettoes of Warsaw
refusing to accept extermination

how can they who have faced eradication
so callously
cynically
cruelly
decimate others in a concentration now turned
extermination camp

how can those reviled for their race
now spew such hatred at their neighbours

how can they not see that their barbarism

has made
is making
them and their own the world over
targets
again
as for their accomplices in London
Washington
Berlin
when in a few days
weeks or
months
as history lessons us
their cities are drenched in blood
and their innocent civilians die violent deaths
in acts of vengeful terror
for the brutal injustices wrought in Gaza
will they wring their bloodied hands
beat their heartless chests
with absent conscience
self-righteously claim victimhood

soliciting sympathy
sanctimoniously declaring
they do not love us
they are jealous of our freedom
they do not share our values
before unleashing yet another cycle of violent terror
in some distant land of othered faith
Afghanistan
Libya
Iraq
Iran

whether responsible or not
it matters little to these bloodthirsty warmongers
who profit from death
whom destruction makes rich
for whom the lives of others matter not at all
as long as the American people
the British people
the people of Europe
Canada
Australia
white people
are made to feel the barbarians are at bay when it is the barbarians who
preside over and enshrine
injustice
inequality
inhumanity
who most pose an existential threat to all humankind

handmaidens of genocide
mouthpieces of monsters
voices for violence
the western media
Captured News Networks
Broadcasting Bias Consciously
splutter hysterical outrage at symptoms
wilfully blind to causes
their prejudice perpetuating
one-sided narratives
humanising one side’s tears
their tales
their tribe
while genocide’s latest victims are reported as nameless numbers

incensed by the mini-monster Hamas
begot
nurtured
encouraged
by the primary monsters as part of
their divide-and-rule plan
never to realise two states
never to give up land
always to take more and more
for an expanded Zionist state
these media houses accept as truth the lies of war criminals
‘the journalist was killed by terrorists’
‘the hospital was hit by their misfiring rockets’
‘they use civilians as human shields’
their idea of balance
is to have a Palestinian first condemn the Hamas attack
before unashamedly badgering them with Zionist talking points

it’s as if these narrative-makers
one-sided truth keepers
blame the rape victim for her violent assault
cast doubt on her story
demand that she condemn herself for resisting the rapist
assert the right of the rapist to his savage brutality
applaud the weapons sent to help him rape more

civilised values are what the powerful make them to be
international law is what applies to
Al Bashir
Kony
Putin
not to them
their double standards of morality
double-crossing humanity

david and goliath
an alliance of hubris
the chosen people
and the people of manifest destiny
the Israeli tail
wagging the American dog

Islam is violent
they tell us
but their gods
their holy books
their religious claims
matter

their bombs
their bullets
their battle tanks
are blessed
are just
are good

propaganda factories working overtime to create
an iron dome of disinformation
airbrushing history
dehumanising the other
to win hearts and minds
to legitimise butchery
endorse genocide
indoctrinating even good people
who
usually warm
empathetic
intelligent
transform into irrational brutes
hate-filled vipers
kneejerk fiends

defending one-sided rights

but People of the Good
long cowed by the fear of being labelled
racists
antisemites
self-hating Jews
traitors
fanatics
extremists
haters

intimidated by the real and potential
loss of patronage
marginalisation
death threats
for calling out atrocities

have found their voice
their spines
their hearts
to confront the atrocity that is Gaza-cide

another world is necessary
where being civilised is not equated with
scientific advancement
technological sophistication
artistic achievement
per capita income
and the ownership of weapons of mass destruction

but where humanity matters
where there are no chosen
no cursed people
where all human beings are indeed born equal in dignity and rights
made manifest in peaceful coexistence
rooted in justice

history has too many
never agains
repeated each time
humanity fails itself

another world is necessary
where never again
will never again
need be uttered

let it begin today

DO YOU CONDEMN ISRAEL?

now that a court
an international court
THE international court of justice
has found plausible evidence of genocide in gaza

do you condemn israel?

israel has the right to defend itself
say the Germans
Americans
and all of white empire

and defend itself in court it did
the judges listened
the judges whom the west applauded for their ruling against Russia
these judges heard
they saw
they deliberated
they ruled
NOTHING justifies genocide

so
do you condemn israel?

genocide is no small matter
the intentional destruction of a people in whole or in part
mass killings
imposing living conditions designed to destroy

the court found evidence
of these crimes against humanity

now
do you condemn israel?

you short-attention-span historians
whose world began on seven ten twenty three
as if there were no
decades-old reasons for people oppressed
to resist their oppressors
now that you know that
dispossession
oppression
dehumanization
repression
and impunity have
conspired in plausible genocide

do you condemn israel?

or will you through
your intimidated silence
your ready cheerleading
your red herring postures
your wishy-washy symmetry
your hollow both-sideism
choose to be
genocide’s accomplices

your hands stained with the blood of slaughtered children
your ears deaf to boldly stated genocidal intent
your soul offered on the rubble of mosques and churches
your feet stomping on bodies in desecrated graves
your heart unable to care like a now-wrecked hospital
your eyes blind to ravaged and pillaged homes

like a holocaust denialist
persisting in willful blindness

and as israel continues its genocidal spree
its ethnic cleansing to achieve its stated ambition of an
israel from the river to the sea
in defiance of the international court of justice
in contravention of international law
in violation of multiple resolutions
declaring that there will be no Palestinian state
denying a people sovereignty
which it claims for itself
on land taken by force
from people it continues to murder at will

will you condemn Israel?

if not
then have you condemned yourself
a bigot
a racist
your humanity suspect
your civilization barbaric
your standing
on the wrong side of history
no matter though
as difficult as it may be to see
Palestine will be free

We see what you have chosen, people

you
who have sown seeds of hate
on stolen land
fertilised it with terror
watered it with blood

now you wonder why you reap
resentment
rejection
rage

you
who believe yourselves
superior
evolved
civilised
who legislate in racism
judge with bias
sentence with bigotry

now you complain of prejudice

you
who have chosen
monsters for leaders
devils as priests
who sacrifice
children

to your idolatrous state

you
whose anthem is violence
whose flag is death
who mock those you orphan
who scorn those you maim

you
who dance on the graves of
doctors
journalists
teachers
poets
mothers
whom you have slaughtered

you dare demand to be loved

have you no shame

you
who bribe governments
bend algorithms
ban inconvenient truths
who choose to believe
lie
after lie
after lie

you would gaslight us

as if we do not
cannot
see with our own eyes
hear with our own ears
think with minds that you do not own

you
who cast yourselves as victims
when you lead in roles of
dispossession
oppression
transgression
aggression

you
who have chosen the road
below the low road
yet still arrogantly claim the high ground
‘the only democracy’
‘the most moral army’
‘the bastion of civilisation’
when your actions declare you
rogue
barbaric
pariah

you
who have chosen to become
the monsters
who once monstered you
would have humans believe
that you are
capable of
deserving of
entitled to
empathy

when it is a beastly planet you inhabit

you
who are outraged by calls to erase the machine that spews
death
disease
destruction
in your name

you
with your voracious appetite for violence
your utter contempt for
international law
good neighbourliness
for decency
indeed
for humanity

ever asserting
your right to exist
your right to defend yourself
your right to do as you choose

when next
harm
hate
hurt
befall you

before you point your hasty finger
or spit your vitriol
or unleash your vengeful missiles
remember your choices
remember your choosing
remember what you chose
we see what you have chosen
people

THEY LOVED ME WHEN….

There was a time when they loved my work
Applauded my voice
Hailed my independence
Recommended me for opportunities abroad
Celebrated my achievements

That was when my voice coincided with theirs
But then as I turned my pen to
The things they loved
To narratives they held dear
And questioned
Held up a mirror
Gave voice to suppressed whispers

Their favour ceased
Their silver dried
And they spat their vitriol
With venom

Now
I am Hamas
For believing Palestinians to be human
For supporting international law
For standing with the dispossessed

I am not to be trusted
For donating my poetry to resistance
For refusing to live in denial
For declining thirty pieces of silver

I am anti-Semitic
For calling out acts of genocide
For resisting ethnic cleansing
For condemning mass murder of children

I am anti-civilisation
For opposing white supremacy
For calling out apartheid
For decrying white western hypocrisy

I am anti-development
For believing climate change is real
For resisting planetary destruction
For placing people before profit

I am considered naive
For rejecting the need for war
For believing nukes should be banned
For refusing to accept their enemies as mine

I am an ultra-leftist
For supporting human rights for all
For checking unbridled power
For refusing to be co-opted into silence

Some consider me brave
Simply for telling clear truths
For countering the violence of bullies
For standing up amidst the cowed

I have been here before
Then as a communist
Marxist
Anarchist

Yet always as
Artist

I have been here before and I shall be here again
For as long as the poor – like Truth – are with us