I.
Let’s state the obvious first:
the act of shaking off isn’t easy
for there are many different types of chains.
Liberation is always worth the effort,
but for some more than others,
it entails a great deal of pain.
For Palestinians, even something
simple,
like keeping a grove of olive trees,
at a moments notice,
becomes a one sided fight.
Even the humblest of farmers finds himself
tormented
by an entire host of opponents,
day and night.
Or else a journalist,
whilst going about their work,
might be shot down like an animal
in the dirt,
All the while,
winks and nods and smirks
hide in the occupiers' excuses.
How do you stop these abuses?
For them,
whether in exile or apartheid,
the catastrophe
has distorted even the marrow
of their memory.
To understand how this came about,
needs must we name
the enemy.
From when and where
comes the Hydra’s head?
It’s the usual story:
from stolen land, empire,
piles of the dead.
Back several decades,
in sixty-six,
the rogue state still young
our enemy, Elbit
came to exist
and quickly began climbing the rungs.
They can make their myths
about homelands, chosen peoples
and their defence.
But draw the two sides up together,
it’s clear,
for one, exile retains
the present tense.
Elbit was the next step:
of domination
from the river
to the sea.
Sure, Israel had killed
with the usual tools
but now they wanted flight technology.
All that was on their minds
was how to kill more effectively.
Not content
with burnt out villages
dead fedayeen and mourning wives,
Elbit helped the settler colony
find new ways of taking lives.
Developing the tech
to help Israel fly
help them more completely
occupy
Elbit set out to kill
the beauty of the sky.
Nowadays,
a bright morning with no clouds,
the sort of scene you’d usually like
has a different sort of meaning there
Like constant surveillance
and air strikes.
The terror in each sip and in each sup
of borrowed seconds and air
never stops
You want to feel fear
in Gaza?
It’s simple: you just look up.
Absent sight,
you’d still hear
that onomatopoeia
occupying
the corner of your ear:
the sound of a drone.
That buzzsaw whine
which never leaves you alone,
signifies
oncoming brutality
and the breaking of stone.
A Palestinian could find a quiet side street
a small nook free from soldiers
But if there’s even an inch of sky above it
they’ll always be looking
over their shoulder.
This isn’t to say,
all the while
Palestinians remain timid and docile
For 75 years, forever under attack
the people of Palestine
have always fought back.
To name a few,
whether the PFLP,
the PIJ
or the Lions Den,
the colonised inevitably take up the rifle again.
Wherever invasion as a structure persists,
the question of oppression has one answer:
resist.
II.
Let’s recap:
These parts of occupied life,
and all the others,
too many to list them.
Are only possible with one thing,
a war machine by the name
of Elbit Systems.
Each day,
after the morning sun
has risen
Daylight shines
upon an open air prison.
Let’s ask again:
how do you end this?
Why wait
for the next revolution
of the dialectic?
If we must find a solution
let’s try something
more kinetic.
Try to advance the struggle
and find
a hammer and crowbar have their own poetics.
From Jaffa to Haifa
to the Golan hinterlands,
Anyone
who remains
are God’s own splinters.
Let’s follow their example
and at the very least
try
To stick ourselves
in the enemy’s eyes.
Marches and petitions
are not the right tools
for militants.
We must stop
the enemy from operating
even if just as irritants.
Out of the present conditions,
from it’s challenges,
new possibilities beckoned
Some questions arose like:
‘How much profit is lost exactly,
if Capital stops for even a few seconds?’
Next questions:
‘How can we expand that gap?’
‘Which tactics
and tools
are the most apt?’
Simple questions with simple answers,
so obvious they seem elementary
yet for ages they went unsaid,
‘cos of a withered imaginary.
We need to make the arms dealers concede
even if only by a fraction.
What course is left to us?
direct action.
Strike a window,
you strike at the core
of an antagonism
Stop the drones,
and you start a schism.
One part of the supply chains stops,
it affects all the others
like waves on waves on waves
rippling out
to a new kind of future
one with less bombs and graves.
A war against war,
spanning back to the Mandatory.
But now comrades are picking up tools,
and shutting down the imperial laboratory.
Interlude:
[The colonisation of Palestine
happening for over 50 years,
the need to challenge war crimes
surpassed my own fears.
From an activist in Leicester
24th May
the only way,
direct action
they can say
what they want:
we’re here to stay.
It’s hard to tell
whether the support we’ve received will
work
but through direct action, Apartheid finally fell.]
III.
Don’t get intimidated,
and think you can’t match Pal Action at all.
Everybody has to start somewhere,
and the first step is often small.
Hard to believe,
in hindsight
the first punch thrown in this fight,
was just red paint on Elbit’s walls.
A bit of hiccup, if barely
then thrown out by the building security
but whatever initial embarrassment,
the first step was taken,
the rubicon crossed
and just so it’s clearly explained,
where pride is lost,
confidence is gained.
Next step:
hit them where it hurts,
hit them where they do the work.
Let’s not shirk
from situating the fight,
and talk about the 10 Elbit sites:
In Leicester,
there’s UAV Tactical Systems
In Oldham,
there’s Ferranti
In London,
there’s Kingsway
(Both gone today,
nobody will miss them)
In Shenstone,
there’s UAV Engines Limited (UEL)
then on to Tamorth
there’s Elite KL
And in Sleaford
there’s RAF Cranwell
That’s seven so far on our tally,
next there’s Holyhead
with RAF Valley.
This next one’s not so subtle,
rather crystal clear,
down here at Aztec West
you have Elbit Bristol.
Only two more to go,
what does that leave?
Next at Grantham
is RAF Barkston Heath
So many to choose from,
it’s hard to make a decision
Lastly, based in Sandwich
is Instro Precision.
We’ve hit most on this list,
and shut down two,
now there’s a question
to be asked of you:
what are we going to do?
If you live near these sites,
Speak up!
Don’t fear being vocal,
these places
deserve a visit
from some locals.
These Zionists kill Palestinians
with impunity
Let’s see them try it
when they have to face a community.
Here’s some advice first, though:
just so
you don’t go
and break some things
all on your own,
make sure to speak to Pal Action for some info.
You might also ask,
if you were so inclined:
‘Aren’t yours and the Elbit workers' interests aligned?’
I’ll give you an answer,
let me know if it’s satisfactory,
here it is,
in one sentence -
there’s no hope in the factory.
For Elbit’s staff,
words like ‘solidarity’ are seen
as a load of shit.
There’s no room for ‘socialism’
or ‘democratic worker ownership’
And here’s the thing,
even if you gave Elbit workers
total control,
they’d go back to spilling blood
then go on the dole.
It seems
humanity ain’t worth the toll.
And anyway,
they can’t return the lives they stole.
You want humanity to be made whole?
Last time I checked,
the most effective option
is leaving their roof wrecked
and their windows cracked.
Don’t get me wrong,
declaring victory after one action
or a few
is certainly a conceit.
That’s why one word is important
to this strategy:
Repeat.
Elbit can weather one action
or even several,
or maybe even ten.
So if we want to see an impact,
we’ll need to do it
again and again.
We aim
to punch as many holes
in each & every fiscal quarter
Elbit wants to make a profit,
so into the market
we throw
disorder.
Look at our record if you need the proof,
all our blockades
and occupations on the roof.
We’ve tried all other choices,
Peaceful protests, our own voices
trying to bring them into disrepute,
but if you want to shut down a drone factory,
you’ll need to put on a red boilersuit!
IV.
Let me caveat that last part.
Sure,
all the actions might seem ‘flashy’
But there’s more than one way
to help a movement,
don’t ever commit to something rashly.
Just try and take stock,
step back for a minute and stop.
There’s many options for you take:
Campaigns, media, research,
(even writing agitprop).
There are dozens of activists currently in the courts -
people are needed for prisoner support!
The public loves the actions,
such spectacles usually thrill them.
But who’ll help the actionists
with police harassment?
Such treatment could easily kill them.
I’m not joking,
or indulging in hyperbole
Just take a look at the Bristol protestors,
you’ll see I summed it up superbly.
This fight against fetters
had to be done better,
we need to increase
this kind of capacity.
It might seem strange
to criticise now,
but I think you deserve some veracity.
Prisoners are our movements spines,
whether in Britain or Palestine.
It does nobody any favours,
to pretend that everything is fine.
I’m not loyal,
to authorities or institutes
I’m just here to play the music
of a movement's backbone flute.
The police are our enemies too -
the thin blue line is the state’s garrotte.
I’m sure each pig in military gear
would like us taken out and shot.
But absent that,
they’ll settle for incarceration,
if we want to counter this
then care work deserves our concentration.
For private property
and drone makers
the coppers will always make the time.
Bringing metal barriers,
and anti-protest kettles,
to help protect the ‘right kind’ of crime.
It doesn’t sound as scary in rhyme,
but when you’ve seen them face to face
seen their marching goose step pace,
it’s not hard to imagine
that boot forever stamping on the human face.
Yes, I know,
we’ll just rise like Lions after slumber.
but I’m not looking for dewlike chains,
I’d rather have some strength in numbers.
In the moment,
it’s not always easy to know
which choice is correct,
building a mass movement
whilst worrying about op-sec.
But if we don’t support
the people at our actions & protests,
facing prison sentences,
and arrests,
how can we accomplish the rest
of our objectives
if our principles
can’t be put to the test?
I don’t mean to make the movement sound bad
I’m sure these convos are already being had,
I just feel these concerns deserved to be vocalised
before these problems grow in size.
If we want to weather state repression,
we can’t be afraid of a struggle session.
Interlude:
[He came out of his time
in the ‘soul breaker’
Political prisoners fighting battles of hunger,
unshakeable
how many of these lives can we save
if we take
their struggles as ours
we have a special duty to our brothers
and sisters
We must love and support each other.
in defiance,
countless political prisoners
reminds us that we’re not so helpless.]
V.
But let’s not get it twisted,
the movement needs this kind of insurgency,
if last four parts didn’t convince you,
let me explain its urgency.
Whilst this poem is being written,
“Israel” bombards
and attacks Jenin
Its excuse:
they want to flush out the new fedayeen.
But they’ve needed no reason to trample
on Palestinians,
whether they hold a gun
or just live in a refugee camp.
The Hasbara will run the usual story:
the IOF does what it does best
that it protects
its settlers from a raging ‘wasp’s nest’.
Tell me,
what kind of state is it,
compares human beings to insects?
Fascists who treat their fellow humans like vermin
Israel is not a self-determined nation
it is a colony built on extermination.
All you see,
the violence happening in the Area A zone
is made possible with the use of drones.
Gaza and the West Bank
are merely human testing grounds
for all their drone tech
and ammunition rounds.
Thanks to companies like Elbit, and Rafael
the West Bank’s now the seventh circle of hell.
At the Freedom Theatre, the streets and roads
are blocked off
then bombed
and then bulldozed.
It should be obvious
who is the attacker
the occupiers
perpetrating an ongoing Nakba.
Keeping both fighters & civilians captive
detained by the Zionist security apparatus.
You might be surprised to see
that with the powers used by the military
they were once Britain’s
to be used for colonial emergencies.
This is over a century’s worth of complicity,
only now
it means blocked ambulances
and cut off electricity.
It’s easy to feel helpless,
sitting here writing poetry.
Will my words stop any bullets? Hardly
we’re talking about the West’s most well funded army
But I’ll keep shouting
you’ll have to cut out my tongue to disarm me.
Now you’ve heard it all,
these are the stakes:
“Israel” has nothing to give the world
It just takes
and it takes
and it takes.
It steals all it can,
lives and land.
The people refuse to stand for this
so we’re putting forth our demands:
The death of the old order is at hand,
the weakness of warmongers finally shows.
If Elbit doesn’t get the message,
we’ll communicate it with hammer blows.
With the sounding of each heavy clout,
the people say -
get the drone makers out!
No general does the wretched any good,
except for Ludd
in his spirit we’re breaking the chain
from London all the way to Al Quds!
VI.
Life is a precious thing,
hard to keep
So easy does a human forever sleep,
lost in the blink of an eye
their name inscribed in the Raven’s ink.
Once, a child asked:
When does the moment of return come around?
The world offered no response
and the corvid went on
scratching graves in the ground.
If one man is a cloud in trousers,
a people entire
could be the heavens.
A nation of windthrown Calibans fly
each Ariel piece torn from the Levant.
Whilst the dust clears
and the olive groves burn,
A horse
on its own
awaits their return.
It’s not an easy path back
roads to there once existed,
with caterpillar tracks are now demolished.
But with patience
someday soon
the settler state will be abolished.
You might think you’ve seen the worst
you haven’t,
Take a step back,
see seventy five years
of a river dying of thirst.
This land is one divided,
made up checkpoints, split roads and walls.
Taking in mind the options provided,
how are we going to make them fall?
It’s a lot to consider,
a great responsibility is thrown upon us,
but you might still be asking
what exactly is the revolution’s promise?
Let us conjure an image
somewhere hidden in some English town
a derelict factory sits,
once active but now shut down.
It might not seem like the most impressive place,
but somewhere within is a revolutionary space.
In here,
it’s no longer ‘48
In here,
the heavy weight
of past failures is gone
In here,
the weapons makers have withdrawn
and a nation might someday be one.
In here,
is the pen & the gun.
In here,
is a red sun
never setting on the horizon.
In here,
the key still fits the lock
In here,
the Dome of the Rock
remains untouched
In here,
one can talk a safe stroll on the beach
In here,
the future’s within reach.
