When Donkeys and Elephants Fly

11-2-04

WHEN DONKEYS AND ELEPHANTS FLY
by Husayn Al-Kurdi

There are four major dates on the US government calendar, three of them annual holidays and the fourth the quadrennial spectacle of the presidential election. On the fourth of July each year, the American people are prompted to celebrate the war exploits of the US empire, overlooking the fact that the USA lost many of its wars, including its first war against the so-called Barbary Coast pirates of North Africa and its most recent major war, Vietnam. On a Thursday night in November Americans observe Thanksgiving, which some Indians and others refer to as an International Day of Mourning for the naive immigration policies of those Indians who nourished and sustained the early Settlers, enabling their conquerors to subsequently carry out the two largest genocides know to the human historical record. On December the twenty-fifth the birthday of Jesus Christ is observed with an orgy of materialist consumption by a lot of self-designated "Christians" who are nothing but good Romans who would tear their prophet to pieces at state direction if he dared to show up in their midst.

Last but not least we have that piece of non-resistance, the US electoral charade, in which "citizens" do their duty by certifying themselves as willing participants in the oppression of the world. The real problems and what causes them are kept out of view: forty million habitually and systematically oppressed Black people; twenty million Mexicans trashed and targeted as scapegoats, especially in the Southwest; the looting of the general public, starting with the S&L scam of the 1980’s and continuing through corporate swindlings and stealing from employee pension funds; over five million Americans homeless or in jail; and the head-long rush of the Judeo-Christian Empire towards its inevitable doom in what will hopefully be it’s last war, albeit one it is sure to lose and from which we dare hope it will never recover.

To be a citizen, soldier or voter is synonymous with being a sucker and an abject slave. America has been turned into a nation of snitches and snitch-jackets worthy of the old German Gestapo’s wildest wet dream. There are hundreds of convenient ways to turn in friends, acquaintances, family members and associates. A plethora of legislative pretexts have been propounded to help keep the people at the government’s mercy. Everything from gay and women’s liberation to the hunt for dead-beat dads is being summoned to discipline the population. We get to persecute each other and are free to turn on and hate each other. No other known country in history has ever managed to put two and a half million of its people in jail. No other known country in the history of the world has ever had the temerity to announce its tyranny over the entire globe.

Every four years the electoral farce is staged by the banker elite and their minions. The usual two plutocratic party candidates and an assortment of "third party"-type reformists of various orientations make their appearance. The outcome is always exactly the same. The winner is the tiny clique who lords it over the rest of the people. The losers are the people themselves. War, looting and racist oppression rage on unabated. The ruling class continues to celebrate its own progress in infamy while perfecting ancient techniques of domination.

When freedom is tyranny, assent is treason to the human race. Treason to the human race is the professional preoccupation of the ruling Mob. Voting means certifying the right of that Mob to continue their dirty business as usual. When the "citizens" stop trying to reform it, and stop certifying themselves as clucks via the election processing and start identifying their true tormentors towards the end of burying them and their oppressive practices, we will get some notion of what actual freedom and democracy consist of. That will happen when donkeys and elephants fly or are otherwise removed from the scene.

Husayn Al-Kurdi is a widely published writer, professor, speaker and video producer. He is president and editor of News International Press Service.