Oppression and Suppression (Putin’s Lament)

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Oppression and Suppression

Oppression is necessary,

                Opposition a pain,

                                Suppression the answer.

Because freedom runs against the grain.

I like control!

                It’s just a game!

I deserve it all!

                Let others take the blame!

Because freedom runs against the grain.

Chess and poker

                All in one

Games of intrigue

                War is fun!

Torture and death.

                Tools of the trade.

                                Power and wealth

                                                The game that is played!

Oppression is necessary,

                Opposition a pain,

                                Suppression the answer.

Because freedom runs against the grain.

Opher – 31.3.2022

Putin sits in his magnificent secret Palace having stashed billions and billions in secret hordes.

The Russian people live austere lives in poverty.

Putin plots and schemes to make himself more powerful. He deploys his zombies to oppress and suppress. He commands his soldiers to kill and maim.

He sits back and plays the game.

He’s exactly the same as Trump and Johnson. It’s just a question of scale.

Poetry – The Polling Booth

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The Polling Booth

Teargas, snatch squads and goons

From Portland to Belarus.

Tyrants, dirty tricks and lies

Oppose and they’ll cook your goose.

Campaigns, elections, rigged results

People take to the streets

Arrogant strutting fascists

Now peaceful protests ain’t so sweet.

Provocateurs, infiltrators, extremists,

Disrupt and undermine

Inflaming, orchestrating and blaming

Opening up the fault line.

Dividing, confusing, reinforcing

Until nobody knows the truth

All sides believing what they’re told

To sanctify the polling booth.

Opher – 31.8.2020

What starts as peaceful protest is soon taken over by extremists with agendas or those filled with hate and a lust for revenge.

The politicians deploy their goons to use force to clear the streets.

Violence, looting and aggression just play into the hands of those in charge that use it as an excuse, as justification for force.

The underhand tactics used by extremists to stir up trouble. Agents are deployed to incite, to cause damage, to undermine.

Peaceful demonstration turns into rioting.

People and events are manipulated, orchestrated, for political gain by cynical politicians.

It’s all about the polling booth.

Poetry – Nineteen Fourteen

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Nineteen Fourteen

It is twenty twenty-two

                But in Ukraine

                                It is nineteen fourteen.

Russia has unleashed

                A reign of terror

                                Like we have rarely seen.

In Chechnya and Syria

                They practiced

                                Their Evil art.

Firing shells and missiles

                To blow

                                The cities apart.

They are digging trenches

                One again

In European cities civilisation

                Is down the drain.

Putin is gaily singing

                Death’s refrain.

It is twenty twenty-two

                But in Ukraine

                                It is nineteen fourteen.

Russia has unleashed

                A reign of terror

                                Like we have rarely seen.

Opher 22.4.2022

We like to think of ourselves as civilised – but we’re not.

We like to think we are intelligent – but we’re not.

We like to think that human civilisation has become advanced – but it hasn’t.

We like to think we have become wise and sophisticated – but we haven’t.

We’re still the same aggressive, violent, stupid, greedy, paranoid apes we’ve always been. We’re still the short-sighted idiots who fight.

Everything is a thin veneer.

Poetry – All Around the World

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All Around the World

All around the world

There are mindless men in uniform

With guns, helmets and body armour.

Trained not to think.

They no longer have minds.

They do as they are told.

All around the world

There are arrogant men in power

Who command their minions to do their will.

They do not care about anything

The believe they deserve everything.

We do as we are told.

Opher – 11.6.2020

The various totalitarian states are propped up by mindless goons carrying out orders.

Some enjoy the power.

Some like to have the freedom to indulge their prejudices.

Some like the violence and licence to hurt or kill.

Mindless goons.

Mindless goons propping up tyrants.

Fascism and Socialism

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Fascism is a product of extreme right-wing – totalitarian, authoritarian, controlled by a dictatorship deploying racism, nationalism, patriotism and suppression. It’s elitist, hierarchical, militaristic, divisive and works through identifying scapegoats (Jews, Blacks, Foreigners) deploying violence and creating fear.
Socialism is left-wing – collective ownership by the people for the good of all the people. It’s inclusive, non-hierarchical, fair and inclusive.
The trick is to prevent an elite taking over the socialist system and setting up a fascist state.

Where does democracy fit in??

Poetry – Trumped

Posted on by Opher

I wrote this five years ago at the advent of this surge of fascist populism that was swamping the world – Trump, Johnson, Erdogan, Bolsonaro, Modi – all a bunch of extreme right-wing sloganeers. They used simple populist slogans to get elected and then, when the covid-19 virus struck, showed us quite clearly how useless they were.

Trumped

Megalomania

Leading us all

Towards a blizzard

Of blood and fire.

Psychopathy

Pointing the way

Forward

Into oblivion.

Sociopathy

Rising

To the top,

In black and white

Popularity.

I’m sorry.

I think I just trumped.

Opher 9.5.2016

Trumped

We are beset by a huge number of problems. The collapse in the world economy has created misery in its wake. Those in power have chosen to impose austerity on the poor while unleashing the rich in the hopes they might generate wealth.

We have war, fundamentalism, environmental destruction, species eradication, mass poverty, mass migration, terrorism, poaching, pollution, disease, sexism, religious ferment, homophobia and racism.

Some choose to exploit this with sloganeering simplicity and populist propaganda. If only it was that simple.

Do not worry.

I will solve all your problems.

I will build a wall.

I will ban all minorities from breathing our air.

I will destroy all who oppose us.

I will stand up to Putin and the communist threat.

I will unleash a war on terrorism.

I will wipe out all terrorists, ISIS, Boko Haram, the Taliban.

I will stop migration.

I will not give a damn about anyone else outside of this country.

I will isolate us from the problems of the world.

I will lock up the gangs, criminals and wrongdoers.

I will stop any other religion coming in.

I will keep our country pure.

I will make us great again!!!

What we need is strong leadership!! More walls!!! More bans!!! More balls!!! More Wars!!! More trade restrictions!! Less care!! Less tolerance!!! And less pussy-footing about!!

Fascism – the cause and who is milking it.

Posted on by Opher

Patriotism is just nationalism dressed up pretty – both despicable. One people – one world – all important.

The cause of fascism?

It’s when people start being in fear of their jobs or struggling to survive. They look for the reasons. The fascist politicians like Trump point to immigrants, blacks and Latinos. They say stupid shit like Make America Great Again, Build Walls and support outdated industry.

It’s no answer but it makes sense to some people.

The real problem is inequality. AI and automation have made ordinary workers redundant. Outsourcing to third world countries with cheap labour and terrible work conditions, no health and safety and no environmental limitations exacerbates the problem.

The rich get richer at the expense of the poor.

Trump was cynical. He played on the fears and hopes. He is a billionaire, masquerading as a friend to the poor, who was feathering his nest, stirring up division and hate and coming up with silly solutions for his own ends..

Walls and old tech are not going to solve this. The wealthy have to be taxed more leading to a greater distribution of wealth. At present, it is all being channelled to the top.

We’re only seeing the tip of this. Much worse is to come.

When driverless cars and self-stacking supermarkets happen the drivers and shelf-stackers on zero-hours will be pushed out. The majority of people will not be needed. The wealthy owners will take all the money.

We either sort it with taxation or we end up with the extreme wealthy living in walled communities protected by drones and robots while the rest of us fight it out for scraps in order to survive on nothing. That’s when it descends into Mad Max and fascism.

The people who support Trump or Bolsonaro foolishly think these macho guys will fix it.

The macho guys like Trump and Bolsonaro are conning them all. They are part of the problem. They are the billionaires siphoning off the money. They don’t want to ‘fix’ the problem. They offer short-term solutions.

Fascism breeds off fear, insecurity, inequality and dread of the future. Fascism requires scapegoats, elitism and easy solutions. Fascism is the ultimate right-wing control.

Bye Bye Donny an X-rated Farewell Song For Trump

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Impeached for a second time, discredited, exposed and shamed. He tried to organise a coup to steal the Presidency. He incited mass insurrection —– and —— life his business empire ——– he failed.

Even the Republicans left with some degree of integrity realise that he is a fascist piece of scum whose incompetence has led to hundreds of thousands of American deaths.

Goodbye Donny – we’ll miss you! We’ll miss the empowerment of Nazis and the lies! We’ll miss the racism, misogyny, hate and division!

Now we’ll have to see if the Republican senators have a shred of morality left!

Bye Bye Donny – A Farewell Song for Trump – YouTube

Poetry – Pinochet

Posted on by Opher

Pinochet

When a dictator speaks

Everyone takes notes

But does it pay?

Pinochet?

When a torturer

Applies the leads

Everyone

Concedes

But can you make it pay?

Pinochet?

If I had my say

It’s as clear as day

There’s no way

You could make it pay

Pinochet.

When a murderer

Uses a bucket of shit

And holds your head

Under it

On your say

Pinochet

Can you live with it

That way?

Opher 4.9.99

This is a poem that suggests that we should bring all the world leaders who have practiced war, genocide and torture to justice.

Nobody should be immune from justice. The tyrants and torturers should be hunted down and put on trial for their crimes.

The United Nations should be the world court. The charter of Human Rights should be sacrosanct.  No exceptions.

Pinochet was put in place by the CIA. They overthrew the elected government of Allende because they considered it too socialist. Pinochet proceeded to arrest, torture and execute all who stood against him or offered criticism, including the Folk Singer Victor Jara who was brutally tortured.

Pinochet was supported by Thatcher. He should have been put on trial and locked up.

There are thousands of similar tyrants and torturers who need to be brought to justice. There should not be anywhere safe for them to hide.

My one hope was that their conscience must plague them. They are human. No matter how desensitised they become, no matter how justified they feel, there must be a small voice that needles them with the shrieks of the tortured.

On those dark nights do they have nightmares? Can they ever be happy? Does it ever pay?

That’s what I put in this poem.