Through the Reign of Decay
Through the intoxicating contagious wind
Through the Death of the Egyptians in the millions
Through the pyres of their folly in the sand
Flames.
From schoolchildren playing games of love
From soil that breathed free of smoker's cough
From democracy* to democracy?
From the purgatory to the 9th Circle
Flames.
The bombs to assauge a guilty conscience
The heat of unfettered greed
The red skies of failure
Men just one button away
Flames.
A wettened wick in a bottle of petrol does not stop a tank
But it makes a tank necessary
It makes the world watch the tank tear down its own
Fascists cowering behind tanks from men and books
Flames.
In the heat death of the Universe
The collapsing beams groan out for succour
May you assemble before it's too late
Flying your Red Banner
Over Red Flames.
INKTOBER 5: FLAME/"THE LAST STAND"
MUSIC: Bandiera Rossa by...er... the Italian lady during lockdown, that video
VIDEO: "Arturo Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations" - "The Internationale" segment, 1944, Hammind; some visuals inspired by the Chinese Tank Man.
"Socialism or Barbarism" is a neat quote but a harsh reality. Nations are drowning, quite literally - yet the world continues to veer towards the edge of a cliff, once vaunted liberal democracies losing ground to Right and Left. The rich prefer the former to the latter; scapegoats turn people's anger, grief, and humiliation towards the Other; money buys democracy. There's little hope, but then again, Lenin once said that there wouldn't be a revolution in Russia in his lifetime! Perhaps class (and in India, caste) consciousness may rescue us from the brink of dystopian horror. Perhaps we can settle for a not-so-dystopian future, where the World comes together to defeat a greater evil, as the famous Toscanini performance celebrates - made even more poignant by the fact he had fled fascism himself. Ironically, the bit with the worker's anthem, celebrating the USSR's victories and Communist Resistances across Nazi occupied lands, was censored by the FBI. Also, Midjourney is just incredible.
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