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A Poem - In Celebration of the Birth of Democracy
Iraqis are all eager to vote, not unlike any one of us. Bush hailed it as a ‘resounding success’ as voters across the country made their way to the polls on Sunday.
Imagine bombing Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas just before holding the Nov 2, 2004 election. And Bush/Kerry couldn’t do much, if any, campaigning due to security reasons. This would make the US election as representative and as democratic as the Jan 30, 2005 election in Iraq. Iraqi were casting their votes on a set of pre-determined lists containing candidates who had little chance to make known what sort of platforms they were campaigning on. In fact, some candidates running on the lists had to remain anonymous because of security concerns. The votes were largely casted based on ethnic origin of the candidates. And one does not have to live in Florida for not being able to vote:
Had you been birds, your disappearance might have caused much more outrage. You could have flown en masse over a metropolis and clouded its skies for a few hours in protest. Meteorologists and bird- watchers surely would have noticed.
Had you been trees, you would have made a beautiful forest the destruction of which would have been deemed a crime against the planet.
Had you been words, you would have formed a precious book or manuscript the loss of which would be mourned across the world.
But you are none of these. And you had to pass quietly and uneventfully.
No one will campaign for you in these elections.
No one cares to represent you.
No absentee ballots have been issued or sent.
You will have to wait decades for a monument, or a tiny museum.
If you are lucky in provoking retroactive guilt your names will be inscribed on a wall somewhere.
But until then, you may welcome more to your midst and form a vast silent chorus of ghosts, condemning the spectators and the actors.
Posted on February 1, 2005 09:36 AM
Categories: Musing
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