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=> How it came to this By Mohja Kahf

How it came to this By Mohja Kahf

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How it came to this (a poem) By Mohja Kahf https://pulsemedia.org/2017/01/07/how-it-came-to-this/ How it came to this mohjaBy Mohja Kahf It Came to This i. For Kurdish rights in Syria For Kurds stripped of citizenship since 1963 stripped of their land their language their names whipped by the Arab Belt of the Baath no economic justice no equality no dignity for prisoners of conscience in Syria families of prisoners assemble on the curb outside the Justice Building in Damascus for Tal Malouhi, 17, imprisoned for a poem for a word for an essay for a blog no charge no warrant no redress and no recourse for Raghda Hassan, imprisoned for her novel manuscript her ten-year-old son on the curb beaten at the vigil no charge no warrant no accountability of government its rubber-stamp parliament its executive all powerful for life its security branches all powerful all seventeen of them its Mr. Ten Percent lining his pockets the Assad family plundering the country For human rights in Syria for the schoolboys of Daraa imprisoned for a word scribbled on a school wall beaten purple Draught made Daraa dry for a spark from the haughtiness of Daraa's police state authorities draining the countryside stuffing their pockets full police state corruption police state terror For this and much more than this the people poured into the street It was enough enough enough lift martial law release the prisoners give us justice enough police state bullying enough police state terrorizing us give us this day our dignity this day we take it back this day we wake it up inside us justice freedom ii. the people want no violence no sectarianism no foreign military intervention one one one the Syrian people are one Sunni Druze and Alawite for justice Syrians unite Christian Muslim hand in hand Arabs Kurds Assyrians with one voice we all demand the people want the fall of the regime iii. Live fire on unarmed protesters and the first three young men fell unarmed in Daraa town Hussam Ayyash Mahmoud Jawabra Ayman Hariri And their funeral marches become protest marches And regime troops shoot live fire at mourners More fallen, more funerals, more marches, more And tanks surround Daraa town And machine guns fire on Daraa town And army troops march on Daraa town And the alarm sounds all over Syria fez'a, fez'a An alarm for Daraa – rise, rise, to the aid of Daraa And the people rose in towns all over Syria The regime media spun "armed gangs" but there were no armed gangs regime media said "foreign agitators" but there were no foreign agitators regime media said "caliphate terrorists" but there were no caliphate terrorists except the ones the regime slipped from prison just then And the people clapped their unarmed hands above their heads and in Banyas they lifted loaves of bread in their hands for Daraa and from Damsacus they set out with milk for Daraa And the people want iv. vigils marches sit-ins pot-banging noise protests silent protests hunger strikes work strikes shops closed work slow-downs lights-off protests water bottles for soldiers sent to fire on protesters eye contact with soldiers graffiti banners local councils local elections self-governance food caravans between villages of different sects harvest-sharing crates of vegetables bags of clothes flower protests bread protests bread for the hungry in the trunk of my cousin's car for which they arrested her smuggling solar panels through state checkpoints electricity-sharing hiding the wanted activist documenting atrocities mourning together singing the anthem of Syria in protest ours now organizing without ideologies underground schools underground hospitals underground art underground love v. white-shirt security men black-shirt security men water hoses electrocuting billyclubs live fire on unarmed protesters sniper fire on unarmed citizens checkpoints home invasions arrest sweeps prisons torture stripping whipping naked genital electrocution fingernail extraction breaking hands of journalists breaking teeth breaking bones bending the body backward to break the spine rapes eye-gougings hanging on meathooks binding in rubber tires then beating torture by doctors in state hospitals military trials of civilians torture of children in front of parents psychological torture extra-judicial executions assassinations prisoner massacres mass graves bribe demands shabiha state thugs informants kidnappings ambushes rape farms torched crops military paramilitary foreign military advisors foreign military recruits fueling sect-based hatred fueling ethnic rivalries fueling tribal rivalries killing journalists targeting hospitals targeting schools close-range slaughter with knives by paramilitaries massacre after massacre after massacre vi. army defectors from the neighborhood at first villagers banding together at first brigades and statements hunting rifles at first, and pocket knives then weapons warehouses and police stations seized then arms from the smuggling routes when those were not enough, they opened the door for more from foreign weapons suppliers to protect the neighborhoods the villages Peace be upon you, protectors of home— then they manned their own checkpoints their own arrest sweeps informants kidnappings hunting down "traitors" with their own security forces now their own foreign recruits ideologues warlords their own Mr. Ten Percents heroized glamorized entouraged child soldiers hostages ransom demands prisoners torture decapitation executions of their own silencing activists of their own killing journalists of their own tribalism rivalry fueling sect-based hate shelling bombing massacring lessons learned in the master's house will not liberate no will not protect no vii. and they became armed gangs at last and they became caliphate terrorists at last and the foreign agitators came at last and drew red lines and withdrew red lines and hooked their hooks into Syrian backs and jerked and toyed with Syrian lives viii. Stop! stop the killing stop we want to build a country for all Syrians Stop ix. sarin gas weaponized chlorine militias car explosions rebel suicide bombs rebel shelling Jabha shelling Kurdish shelling ISIS shelling Daesh decapitations starvation sieges humanitarian aid convoys blocked two towns besieged by rebels forty towns besieged by Assad kneel or starve one million Syrians starving half a million Syrians killed forced conscription by regime barrel bombs bunker bombs apartment-block razing bombs dropped from five kilos in the sky Syrian army airstrikes foreign army airstrikes city blocks in rubble evacuees shot at checkpoints displaced Syrians covered in dust refugees drowning in desperation my brother with his sister on his back my sister facing the world with all she owns bundled on her back unaccompanied minor, 14, behind barbed wire in Greece for what will be years thirteen million Syrians gone more than half the population country of my birth destroyed massacre after massacre after massacre x. That’s how it came to this. Born in Damascus, Mohja Kahf is a poet, novelist, scholar and activist. She is the author of the poetry volume E-mails from Scheherazad, the novel The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf, the critical study Western Representations of the Muslim Woman: Fom Termagant to Odalisque, and the report Then and Now: The Syrian Revolution to Date. She is Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of Arkansas, where she teaches courses in Arabic literature, the Quran, medieval Spain, and Muslim feminist thought. --------------------- - BACK TO INDEX - REPLY - QUOTE - EDIT - DELETE -

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