Campaign

 

 

They’ve been a sleazy bunch, this lot,

but I trust them with my taxes

[having no choice in this]

and not to over-step the line,

 

but the line is only dashed in chalk,

like hopscotch grids, fated to be mourned

by children on a rainy day, when April’s

steady drizzle chases it down the drains.

 

 

I trust them not to go insane

and take to torching the houses

of Tory voters [although sanity

in this context is a subjective concept

 

some would say], but discriminations of a

different kind exist; Asian kids stopped

and searched ‘randomly’, while white travellers

take their seats on commercial planes.

 

 

I guess I trust them not to construct

Muslim ghettos, and not to outlaw

anti-government art, and other

stuff that would cause an uproar

 

[although protest restrictions have been tightened],

and I supposed I should trust them not to spy

on me [we’re captured daily on CCTV,

but that’s for our own protection].

 

 

So I could vote for them next election,

despite their compulsory identity scheme,

which surely isn’t sinister and won’t infringe

on my privacy; it’s merely so they know

 

who’s who and where, and whether they try

to disappear [whoever would want to escape

the clutches of good ol’ Labour?] If you’ve

nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear.

 

 

That’s the slogan for this programme of Guilty

Until Proven Dead; terrorism and

immigration have triggered problems, but we

can’t tackle the roots or reasons, instead

 

it’s easier to regard the entire nation

with suspicion, stick them on a computer

and force them to pay for plastic intrusion,

taking advantage of their ignorance.

 

 

So, to show I trust this lot

 

I must

 

accept flashing my right to exist on command

and having my fingerprints taken like a criminal

and my iris scanned when I go to the bank

and medical assistance denied if the card is in my other wallet

 

and my whole life stored in a database

and that database being open to identity theft

and risk the threat of fraudsters stealing my existence

and being heavily fined if I refuse to comply with this

 

because I trust them.

 

Kind of.

 

 

But what about the next lot, the ones after that…

 

or after that…

 

 

or…?

 

 

So what about the next lot? How can anyone

guarantee me that this country will forever be

a [semi] democracy? I want to be able

to believe I’m left with a chance of evading

 

any future [further] corrosion

of our liberties.

Author's Note

I'm the co-ordinator of Coventry's NO2ID group. NO2ID is a non-partisan organisation opposing the UK government's proposal of comulsory biometric ID-cards.
To find out more, please visit www.no2id.net.
Thanks for reading this.

Does the rhyming seem too inconsistent, or does it just about work? Thanks.

Reviews

[Anthony Morningstar]

Yeah it's so great to live in time like this where everything that you do or don't do for that matter can be monitored from somebodies desk for whatever reason. It's really good that we are wealthy enough to be able to divide groups that can afford to and groups that can't. Remember to keep the poor on the bottom so rich can stay dry and die in a bed as opposed to in the streets. Fear rules all of us and there's nothing that we can do. Or is there. Glad to hear that you fighting the good fight.
Think it's not illegal yet.

[eli mercuree rue]

id cards were my idea.. i figured if i want to take over the world i may as well do it as subtle as possible.. first start with outlawing pot and being the sole seller of it [yes the ultimate monopoly] then ittle doses of chemicals in the water to alter the functionality of all reproductive organs while instantaneously pumping meat with steroids to cause everyone to gain a bagillion pounds [collectively] so when i raise insurance and hospital bills they will all still come running when they cant breathe correctly hahahahahah

yes im a f*****g genius

but
too
lazy
and my ideas
were never
copywritten
so some
crazy f****r
did
it
while
i was on the
pot
watching
clouds
and thinking
of new ways to
make
girls cum
with the slightest touch

twas worth it
i suppose

and plus the whole rape of a nation thing that the settlers did was f*****g amazing by comparison all in your face and s**t and just ruthless

fuckers




"I'm chair of the Coventry branch for NO2ID"

just thought
like wow boylans
all cool
and s**t
hehe


i often wonder how much you played hop scotch
as a ittle one

so when you are long dead
and the world has become completely egalitarian
i bet ppl. will look back at this
poem
and laugh at the worlds stupidity
and you will again
be noted as god
in all books

tis just how its gonna be

[Wulfstan Crumble]

Great rant-poem. First off on the iris and fingerprinting thing - i live in a racist and anti-foreigner country, Japan, and as of 2-days ago they started fingerprinting and eye-scanning all foreigners who enter the country. If i leave the country and return they will take my biometric data and give it to a non-government company to check for "terrorism." 100% of terrorism enacted or plotted in Japan was by Japanese people who are excempt from the data collection.

This poem runs well beside Libertyland and i might post a link to the bottom of my piece. We just cannot trust our government with our information. They will curtail our liberties. This is the thing that most people forget about Socialists governments - socialist governments centralise and control society (Marx's communism was meant to be a reaction against state control and the return to small communities and relative freedom).

Yesterday we learned that the Government had lost the bank and insurance details of 25,000,000 people in Britain and yet they want us to give them more info on these cards? i say No, and No again.

Before Labour came to power this country was a functioning democracy. It wasnt perfect but it worked well with an independent police force, an independent justiciary, an independent civil service and independent (kinda - most were pro-labour) media. How much of this is the same now?

Libertyland Part 2 is in the factory.

[R J Askew]

Like the great image in the secod verse of the 'dashed in chalk hopscotch lines'. As for the ID cards and the DNA data base and the CCTV and the 'nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide' I spit in its face. Because it is nasty, sinister and vile in detail. And anyone who accecpts this is not a true Englishman or woman. Some people seem to want to cotrol every aspect of our lives. They are not happy with untidiness, which is somehow not 'efficient' to them. It offends them. it is irresponsible and not the way for a modern economy to be run, with growth, growth, growth as the mantra. Well a plague on all the control freaks and economists. I for one refuse to do as I am told, be a tame little, good little consumer in the modern way. There was a term for independent minded yeomen in Cumberland and Westmorland in former times: 'STATESMEN'. They would know what to say to in the face of clever metropolitan meddlers who 'know best.'

[Gary H]

How much longer before we are given bar codes at birth - a throwback to the holocaust days of numbers on necks and hands? OK, so I'm taking your arguments further than they would wish to go but where will all this end if the ID card is introduced? As you quite rightly point out, what if you leave a card at home - denied access to whatever you want. So we all eventually lose our identity and become numbers, maybe thats what we have always been destined to be......

Thats a very good and entertaining write. Good luck with the fight.

[aponijose]

I remember the whole Y2K scare back in the latter part of 1999. There were these big theories of the whole world's system crashing into ruin just because, as Michael Moore would put it, "somebody forgot to add a few zeros." A lot of people were really scared. Some said that the world will end, that missles will launch and cause global catastrophe. But I distinctly remember someone telling me that he will not be effected by the Y2K because he doesn't like computers and all his money is hidden in a safe somewhere. Cute.

I think though that that is the double-edged characteristic of our environment nowadays. We are so easily connected in this global village that a small glitch in the system could spin the world into chaos. And in the process we will all be reduced to our former forms of cavemen breaking things with clubs.

But yeah... we did trust our lives in technology. God forbids it becomes self aware and decides that our race is too violent to be kept alive. =P

I like the cold condescending tone of this piece. It gives that ironic feel that really lets the seriousness of your message come through. But I also like the shreds of heart that you've managed to pinch in every now and then. I think that this characteristic gives the piece a strong sense of humanity. It doesn't flaunt its emotional nature. It collects it and hurls it toward the topic steadily. It's like writing a feature story with a more expressive word choice. There is a capable mode of intensity in it that allows your wisdom to go hand in hand with your passion and your need to be heard.

Good job.

[Joe Butler]

absolutley amazing.. well written man. i've been away.. I don't like the new layout of this place..

[Angelheaded Hipster]

I find this political piece rather chilling, and while I do recognize it is written from the UK, there are scary similarities across the pond.
I followed this well, and I did have to give a laugh, I would call it a bitter laugh, if you will...
One thing I am grateful for though, is that we aren't quite there with CCTV. I'm just biding my time on that one....

[Bubo]

This is a fabulous piece.......and the flow was perfect with so many lines that I loved.

and my whole life stored in a database
and that database being open to identity theft
and risk being shot in the head if anyone steals my existence
and being heavily fined if I refuse to comply with this.

In each line you truely have caught where this country is going, and how in years to come it will be so as you describe unless we stand up for ourselves and freedom rights!
Trust them?You must be joking, and I loved the way you get saying that...................
This is just excellent!