Miniaturising

In recent years, I’ve taken to creating tables in an effort to summarise the key points of some posts. But BLOGSPOT, the server I use, is no longer able to cope with these tables which, I realise, might be expressed as poems. My model is not one of the guys I’ve so far owned up to – Brecht, Bukowski, Eliot, Graham, McCaig. Mitchell or Sorescu – it’s rather an unknown 90 year old Barry Oshry who has a blog; and several poems such as Encounters with the other

In view of the suffering in Gaza and Ukraine, I’ve chosen some excerpts 

from his The Terrible Dance of power 

Enter the Radicals

A new force develops among the Low-Power people—

a radical force.

The Radicals call for more drastic action—

not accommodation,

but fundamental change;

overthrow the power structure

or separate from the nation.

The Radicals become a "We,"

and all who are not "We"

are "Them."

The High-Power people are "Them,"

but so are the Moderates.

And you can do to "Them"

things you would never do to one another—

you can hurt "Them,"

maim "Them,"

bomb "Them,"

torture "Them,"

annihilate "Them."

The Radicals can do all of this

without guilt or shame

because they see the High-Power people as "Them,"

and they see the Moderates as "Them"—

as lesser,

insignificant,

dirty,

dangerous,

or evil.

Who wouldn't do this to such people?

Enter the Accommodators and the Extremists

In the High-Power group,

there are the Liberals

who want to accommodate the Low-Power people—

redress their grievances,

right their wrongs.

But, in response to the Radicals' actions,

a new force emerges among the High-Power people—

an Extremist force.

Angered by the Radicals,

threatened by "Them,"

the Extremists stand against any accommodation.

The Extremists become a "We,"

and all who are not "We"

are "Them."

The Radicals are "Them";

the supporters of Radicals are "Them";

the Accommodators are "Them."

They are all "Them,"

and you can do to "Them"

things you would never do to one another—

you can hurt "Them,"

maim "Them,"

bomb "Them,"

torture "Them,"

annihilate "Them."

The Extremists can do all of this

without guilt or shame

because they see the Radicals

and the moderates

as "Them"—

as lesser,

insignificant,

dirty,

dangerous,

or evil.

Who wouldn't do this to such people?

Enter the Privileged Radicals

Among the High-Power people,

there emerges a Privileged Radical group—

the privileged sons and daughters of the High-Power people,

who align themselves with the Low-Power Radical group.

The Privileged Radical people

also stand for radical change—

fundamental change in the power structure,

redistribution of wealth, power, and privilege,

or separate homelands

or nations

for the Low-Power people.

The Privileged Radicals see themselves

and the Low-Power Radicals as a "We,"

and all who are not part of the "We"

are "Them."

The High-Power Accommodators are "Them";

the Low-Power Moderates are "Them";

the High-Power Extremists are "Them."

They are all "Them,"

and you can do to "Them"

things you would never do to one another—

you can humiliate "Them,"

hurt "Them,"

maim "Them,"

bomb "Them,"

torture "Them,"

annihilate "Them."

The Privileged Radicals can do all of this

without guilt or shame

because they see the others as "Them"—

as lesser,

insignificant,

dirty,

dangerous,

or evil.

Who wouldn't do this to such people?

Change Partners

Sometimes the Low-Power people win;

they overthrow the High-Power people

and they become the new High-Power people,

seeing themselves as the bearers of a new vision—

a higher vision,

The New Society,

Manifest Destiny,

The New Man,

The Master Race,

The One True Religion,

The Way.

And standing in the way of this vision

are the new Low-Power people—

"Them."

And the terrible dance goes on:

"We" humiliate,

"We" hurt,

"We" kill,

"We" maim,

"We" bomb,

"We" hack,

"We" hang,

"We" mine,

"We" strangle,

"We" starve

"Them."

Always justified in what "We" do,

"We" are the right and the righteous.

Who wouldn't do such things to "Them"?