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Israel’s War On Poetry |
| By
Stephen Lendman |
| The key way rogue states maintain power is by controlling the message,
including by criminalizing legitimate dissent. Israeli bloggers and social media users are treated like fifth column threats, required to submit material for screening before posting. Failure is criminalized. Regime critics and human rights defenders are considered traitors. They risk prosecution and imprisonment for doing the right things. Arab Israeli poet Dareen Tatour was imprisoned multiple times for criticizing repressive regime policies, including for her poem titled “Resist, My People, Resist Them” in response to Israel’s brutal murder of three Palestinian children. Her poem “A Poet Behind Bars” was translated into more than 10 languages, in part saying she wrote about Israeli injustice, explaining “(t)he charge has worn my body, from my toes to the top of my head, for I am a poet in prison, a poet in the land of art.” “I am accused of words, my pen the instrument. Ink blood of the heart bears witness and reads the charges.” “Listen, my destiny, my life, to what the judge said: A poem stands accused, my poem morphs into a crime. In the land of freedom, the artist’s fate is prison.” Tatour is one of hundreds of Palestinians arrested and detained for resisting occupation harshness through the power of words, in her case moving poetry. She’s been illegally detained for nearly two years, first arrested in October 2015, unjustly indicted in November 2016, charged with “incitement to violence” and “support for a terrorist organization” - for her poetry, Facebook and You Tube posts. She’s been under house arrest until completion of her trial proceedings, monitored by Israeli guards, forced to wear an electronic ankle device and barred from Internet usage. Her indictment wrongfully alleges her work encourages intifada. It targets her right of free expression, including under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, stating: “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.” Israel flagrantly breaches international law, along with its own Basic and statute laws, notably its efforts to silence dissent. Freedareendatour.org tells her story and Israel’s attempt to silence her for courageously resisting occupation harshness - along with being Arab, not Jewish. Along with Facebook and You Tube posts, here’s the poem in translation that got her ruthlessly targeted: “Resist, My People, Resist Them In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds and breathed my sorrows And carried the soul in my palm For an Arab Palestine. I will not succumb to the “peaceful solution,” Never lower my flags Until I evict them from my land. I cast them aside for a coming time. Resist, my people, resist them. Resist the settler’s robbery And follow the caravan of martyrs. Shred the disgraceful constitution Which imposed degradation and humiliation And deterred us from restoring justice. They burned blameless children; As for Hadil, they sniped her in public, Killed her in broad daylight. Resist, my people, resist them. Resist the colonialist’s onslaught. Pay no mind to his agents among us Who chain us with the peaceful illusion. Do not fear doubtful tongues; The truth in your heart is stronger, As long as you resist in a land That has lived through raids and victory. So Ali called from his grave: Resist, my rebellious people. Write me as prose on the agarwood; My remains have you as a response. Resist, my people, resist them. Resist, my people, resist them.” VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. |