Walk Against Warming

It was an interesting weekend. Obama gave his speech for winning the
Nobel peace prize. A speech, he wrote himself, and a speech which
nodded in the direction of King and Ghandi. A speech which then
admitted that, as President, as Commander In Chief, he lived in a real
world, one in which evil exists. Tired and banal words wrapped up in
some sort of archaic morality in which we are to accept war as a
rational activity. Could non violence have stopped Hitler? This is
hard to say as it was never tried. Did the West get itself wrapped in
duplicity and counter duplicity, leading to an uncontrollable
situation resulting in World War Two? I am no professional historian,
indeed I am but a small insignificant person, no more than a speck in
the relentless cosmos that is (for all practical purposes) infinite in
time and space, but this does seem a likely scenario to me.

Did non violence in India face down the greatest empire the world has
ever seen, one on which the sun never set?

Did non violence in the United States overturn 100 years of terror and
lynchings?

So we can argue left and right if Hitler could have been stopped with
non violence or not. While a pleasant diversion for speech makers and
cocktail party chit chat this is of course this is an argument which
has no answer. We can, however, safely say that Hitler and the Axis
Powers stood firmly within that rich tradition of racism and bogus
moral superiority, of violence and war as methods of diplomacy, which
we call Western Civilization. A tradition more honoured in the breach.
A tradition the West shows no glimmer of backing away from.

So as the first weekend of the Cokenhagen talks wound round and round
we took the kids off to the Walk Against Warming Rally at the grounds
of Parliament House. A fair crowd (some 1500 according to the papers -
so maybe more like 3000 in real life) for quiet old Canberra showed
up, which was heartening, we spoke to some vegan activists, and some
of the various socialist newspaper sellers. King Coal showed up. Two
stilted birds added a note of the festival to the rally and of course
scared the little ones.

The papers wailed as 900 climate change activists were arrested in
Copenhagen, and hollered as 900 were arrested in Queensland in a police
crackdown on drunken behavior. One arrest due to the political passion
of struggle against mindless consumption. Another arrest for the pure
and simple experience of over consumption, sanctified by our current
age. With the same amount of arrests, I know which paddy wagon I would
like my children to be riding and singing old timey unions songs in.

So I wrote a short poem.

Peeling paint.
Melting ice cream.

Maggie chases the galah across the
Glowing early morning twilight.

Walk again.
Nohopenhagen mumble of words words
Words stress dance the whirlwind
Stage.

Peace to War Inert Award Ceremony.


Bright blue cloudless
Contrail widening
Sky.

Deep green manicured
Lawn of Authority.



Brown frail hills
Roll treeless desiccation
Across the shimmering
Distance.

Bright red police car
Of a thin blue line
Of repression of Black
Skin of dispossession.
Army of occupation.




Pure white parliament
Power obsoleted the pale
Sandy bland smoothness
Of the new.



Byrds of a feather
Suffer together.

The elected trick evening drone
On and on stinkly blue
Glowing and radiating your
Turn will a-come. Whistle
Blowing marchers
Whistle blowing
For action
Until blue in the face
Of climate change crap of
The other party, upset
Unsettled
At being labeled
Pour diddums denyers like
Some sort of anti-semite.
Ole King Cole
And a cheep olde soul
Was Kev,
Fattened with public monies
Destroyed of climate
Science crap main political
Faction opposition, loyal
That is. Black gold.

The whole world in his hands.

Tyme of alto buildings