There’s come a time
when it becomes a crime
to speak truth of another’s.
When false claims damage good names
and cause an outcry:
the baying for blood and broken bones
so others are shown, beyond doubt,
how fast the axe can fall.
And each claim that cynically aims
to wound and defame
helps secure the silence
surrounding the violence
suffered and sustained.
Yet if you care to listen,
you can still hear the calls,
behind barriers,
check-points and prison walls:
a demand for freedom that must echo
and echo across different shores,
for silence to be broken
so truth can be heard.
Perhaps then will the bells
for justice chime, and the blight
of apartheid, from river to sea,
be cut out like a cancer
and the deep wounds healed.
– Timothy McCord has a passion for writing poetry. He lives in France, where he taught English for many years. Timothy was born and grew up in Britain, and became politically active there through his involvement in the anti-apartheid movement. This poem was written in response to the pressure being put on organizations to accept the IHRA definition and working examples of Antisemitism, and the cynical claims of Antisemitism that are being used to silence support for Palestinians and criticism of Israel’s apartheid regime. He contributed it to The Palestine Chronicle.
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