Archive for October 10, 2014
For Kailash Satyarthi & Malala Yousafzai …
1.
You have struggled for the rights of children in India,
your Bachpan Bachao Andolan has been tirelessly striving for an end to,
child labour,
abuse of children,
hunger,
poverty,
for year after year,
and today,
now,
your selfless work has been recognised by the world at large,
and I am humbled to pen these words for you, Shri Kailash Satyarthi – Ji!
2.
You faced the bigots,
you stood up to narrow religious perversions,
you faced the Taliban head – on,
and though they tried to silence your voice of reason,
their bullets failed,
and today,
now,
your valiant courage has been recognised by the world at large,
and I am humbled to pen these words for you, Malala Yousafzai!
3.
India and Pakistan,
once one land,
torn apart by shallow religious sectarian agendas,
but not today,
not now,
not today,
for today,
We are all one.
We are all human.
May peace prevail!
May universal AND free education for every child be realised!
May justice prevail,
at long, long last!
copy-left afzal moolla 2014
For Malala Yousafzai …
(for Malala Yousafzai, 14 years old, in a critical condition after being shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban, for her work as a young activist advocating the rights of girls to attend school)
When hot lead tears the flesh of a 14 year old girl,
ripping through her skull,
leaving her to bleed out and die,
does Allah not recoil in horror,
to see His child whimper,
to see His daughter cry.
Where is the indignation,
the anger that often boils over and manifests itself as flags and books and videos are burnt in mass orgies of hollow piety,
where are the voices that scream so loud,
that denounce all but their own creed,
where are the men, the impotent men who crave for nothing more than their fascist egos to feed,
where are the voices that so loudly proclaim,
enemies here and enemies there, always quick to condemn,
where are those voices when the enemy walks amongst them.
14 year old Malala Yousafzai was shot in cold blood,
her crime?
Advocating the rights of girls to an education.
Shame on you, men of bigotry and men of cowardice.
Shame on you, silent and mute accomplices in this carnage.
Shame on me,
for my inaction,
Shame on us all,
who proclaim lofty ideals,
yet are conspicuously silent,
when a 14 year old girl is shot in the head,
by fascist fundamentalist bigots who only worship bullets of hot lead.
Not in my name!
Not in my name,
shall the cowardly men rain down abuse,
Not in my name,
shall the bigoted men light the communalistic fuse,
Not in my name,
shall Malala Yousafzai be shot in the head,
left to bleed out,
while countless mothers’ tears are shed,
not in my name,
shall religious murderers,
be left to wander free,
not in my name,
for I dare all believers to open their eyes,
to see!
To see,
the innocence of a 14 year old girl,
wanting only an education,
as the men of the cloth,
prance around with their pathetic self-righteous indignation.
I write this today,
the anger raging in my veins,
yet I fear,
that I shall write more of this,
unless we stand up and say ‘no more’,
I fear that I shall be writing this again,
until we all,
reclaim the true principles of humaneness,
until we silence the voices of bigotry,
of rage,
of fanatical insanity,
I fear I shall be writing this again,
and,
until the muck-ridden bile,
is not excised,
I shall continue to say,
NOT IN MY NAME!
Or else I shall have nothing,
but my unending shame
Malala…
1.
They tried to kill her,
pumping bullets to silence this young girl.
They failed,
their bigotry could not hush her.
She almost died,
her head splintered by the hot lead of hate.
She healed,
agonisingly slow as her little body fought for life.
2.
She is alive,
unsilent and undeterred.
She lives,
a sixteen year old symbol of the thirst for education.
She continues,
her message simple, potent,
a challenge to the world,
to ensure the rights of all children,
all over the world,
to an education,
to be free from the shackles of poverty,
a freedom from fear, bigotry, misogyny, racism,
her challenge to us all,
is simple, yet revolutionary:
“…one child, one teacher, one book, and one pen, can change the world…”
Scribbled Verse 