{"id":21491,"date":"2022-05-05T09:35:13","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T09:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=21491"},"modified":"2022-05-05T09:35:44","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T09:35:44","slug":"now-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2022\/05\/05\/now-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Now Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

We are posting the poem Now Ukraine<\/em> by Jim Aitken which will be published by Culture Matters<\/a> in Jim’s forthcoming book Declarations of Love.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

NOW UKRAINE<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Image by Martin Gollan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

1.
\nYes, it is absolutely ghastly and gruesome.
\nYes, Putin is responsible for war crimes
\nbecause war itself is a crime, a failure.
\nI started marching during the Vietnam War
\nand have opposed every war since then.
\nThose demonising Putin are the same people
\nwho supported the war in Afghanistan, Iraq,
\nthe very same people who bombed Libya.
\nTheir outrage has their arms manufacturers
\nrubbing their hands with all the new orders
\ncoming their way. NATO says come on in to
\nFinland and Sweden. More bases, more orders
\nfor more arms \u2013 and far less for welfare \u2013
\nthough silence from the armaments industry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

2.
\nHegel once spoke of the\u00a0<\/span>slaughter bench<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>of history
\nand that bench just gets longer and longer
\neach year that passes. Yesterday it was Syria,
\nIraq and Afghanistan, today it is Ukraine
\nand who will it be tomorrow? It looks a bit like
\nRussia since sanctions are a form of warfare
\njust like benefit cuts are a war on the poor.
\nThe same outraged faces and sanctimonious voices
\nwant Russia on her knees. Ukraine is collateral damage
\nwith Tigray and Yemen relegated from our screens.
\nPutin joins the elite club of Truman, Bush and Blair,
\nNixon and Kissinger. Now it is Ukraine and who
\nwill it be tomorrow? Where can the tensions get
\nstoked up next? What name next for Hegel\u2019s bench?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

3.
\nAnd as we rightly condemn Putin\u2019s barbarism,
\nwe note BAE System\u2019s share price risen by 24%.
\nThe world has always been at war since war
\nnot only pays but it distracts as well, and Putin
\ncan be blamed for all the ravages back home.
\nLuther King said, \u2018We have guided missiles and<\/em>
\nmisguided men.\u2019<\/em> The misguided men still guide
\ntheir people away from their social conditions,
\naway from their inequalities. And now Ukraine\u2019s
\nname can be added to Hegel\u2019s slaughter bench and
\nI will march again for an end to war and for peace.
\nAnd for the humanity that binds us all, regardless
\nof our nation, our race or colour, our gender or faith,
\nfor all people over all the earth to wage peace instead.<\/div>\n

____________<\/p>\n

also see:<\/p>\n

Popular Culture \u00a0Brexit And One Nation Toryism<\/a><\/p>\n

Review of Quines<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Mary MacGregor reviews Ghosts of the Early Morning Shift<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Mary MacGregor reviews A Kist of Thistles<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are posting the poem Now Ukraine by Jim Aitken which will be published by Culture Matters in Jim’s forthcoming book Declarations of Love. NOW UKRAINE 1. Yes, it is absolutely ghastly and gruesome. Yes, Putin is responsible for war crimes because war itself is a crime, a failure. I started marching during the Vietnam…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1846,1845,1868,1847,1848,1863],"tags":[249],"class_list":["post-21491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british-imperialism","category-us-imperialism","category-against-imperialism","category-the-eu","category-ex-ussr","category-cultural-celebration","tag-author-jim-aitken"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"views":7173,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21491"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21494,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21491\/revisions\/21494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}