A Virtue of Disobedience - a podcast by CAGE NGO

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'A Virtue of Disobedience' by Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan

We are the disobedient
look upon us and despair
for we outlast history, time and memory
we are always there.

We are the unquenchable thirst for justice
the bodies that do not bend
tongues you cannot straightjacket
and eyes that will not be turned blind.

We are the step you trip on in the night
the nightmare you wake from but cannot recall
the lump under the rolling hill that reminds you what is buried there.

We are the disobedient.
We bear witness and we testify.
We love despite the lie that we are not worthy
We hold despite being told we should hide.

Yes; we are the disobedient
who refuse to die
for bodies without eulogies
will never remain in their graves
we are the ghosts of the unmourned
and the spirit of the never grieved.

We are the original traitors to the tireless tyrant
We are Mohammed
We are Malcolm
We are Moses and Assata
We are Toussaint and Bhashani
We are Rosa and Rabbani
We are the disobedient.

Truth speakers with tongues of fire
Knowledge seekers who provoke your ire
Mouths always moist from sincere prayer.
We are hearts beating for the truth
not like fluttering birds in cages
but like the earth in her final convulsions
like mountains when they scatter to dust
We dismantle, uproot, expose.

We are the disobedient
and we have come not to claim what is yours
but what is and always was ours:
our humanity.
But no – not claim
for it was always with us
and our announcement of that
is the blasphemy you burn us for.

But there’s a reason you mustn’t play with fire
because flames are not bound by only your aims
if you burn our bodies in the morning
the fire will be licking your heels that night.

Do you feel secure then?
When we are bound not by law but justice?
Loyal not to pen marks on paper but truth?

We are unconquerable and unmanageable
because you can take what you want
if all you want is to take.
We are your greatest fear: fearless
loyal not even to life.
There is no bargain to be made then
for disruption is our only security
in a world which says that security is ensured only through our repression
- what basis has such authority to be obeyed?

No; we are the disobedient
who refuse to know our place
undivided, low, and mighty
we are a We
a unity, a community,
a principle above place.

We are the disobedient.
We declare the emperor naked
and don’t kneel before the queen
we smash the idols
confront the Pharaoh
upend the fabric of the world
we will not sell our souls for hallowed halls
we cannot be unmoved.

We are the disobedient
we exceed the boundaries
overspill and overspeak.
We are unboxed, unharnessed, unfathomable
unpalatable
uncompromising.

Oh Ozymandiases of the world
do you really think yourselves kings of kings?

How quickly you forget.
Nothing outlasts the fading of the day
but the light of truth itself?

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