........................................................................................ - a weBlog by Snowy and me.

Sunday 19 November 2023

The Ghost Of Primo Levi Rides Again

I have tried to listen to the news,
but at present I don't know how to.
In the past I have had periods
of 'going blank', though that is
too succinct a phrase to describe
the fog of unclear thought I get stuck in.

The war that is in the news most
in my choice of media is the Hamas-Israeli
conflict, going on all across the Gaza strip.

I admit that I know little about Hamas.

If I were told 'Well ought to know about
how bad and wrong Hamas always were.'
I would not know why. I could only imagine
that that my teller wants me to be as angry
at the world, and as self righteously ignorant
of the scales of human history as he* is,
as if his message was 'Don't get numb,
be angry at the victims. They have earned it'. 

Right now all I can hear are the voices
of the population of the Gaza Strip
speaking the words of Primo Levi to me
As they quote Levi's 'If This is a Man'
their eyes ask me 'How did we deserve this?'.

All around them what were once homes
have collectively become a death camp.


*my teller is bound to be an argumentative male.

 

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