Lest we remember

Written 2001

In the good old days
the good ole boys
fought the war to end all wars
leaving lasting memories
of fighting in a trench
of rotting flesh –
and stench.

World War II – fighting anew
Cain and Abel slaying each other
and killing father, daughter, mother.
Buchenwald, Dresden, London, Warsaw Ghetto, the Russian front,
Nagasaki, Hiroshima and all the other killing sprees.
And the pretence of justice at Nuremburg –
only losers commit war crimes and genocide.

The Cold War and anti-colonial struggles
confused our thinking as we fought to retain privilege.
We said we were fighting for freedom.
They said they were freedom fighters.
We called them communists
as we fought to make them submit to our democracy.
But we were fighting for freedom –
our freedom,
a freedom to behave as we had always done.

Globalisation –
restricts the free movement of people,
yet promotes the free movement of capital –
economic rationalisation.
First World – riches.
Third World – itches.
Terrorist attack kills 3,000 in New York.
Elsewhere in the world
40,000 people die each day of malnutrition.
It’s not a shortage of food – just maldistribution
which causes such worldwide destitution.

Just War.  Jihad.
All good / all bad.
Full of righteous indignation
as we devastate their nation.

Jihad. Just War. 

Blood and gore.

Jihad. Just War –

or is it –

just …

war.