We are into the second week of the Olympics and nobody can deny, there has been a lot of excellent sport. Though we all know that the modern day Olympics has nothing to do with sport. It is all about corporate identity, a corporate greed feast with particular brands trying to dominate the market. It is also about giving a public subsidy of tax payers money to big business, we are talking billions here. However, its most important function is to get the public all behind the flag, all that flag waving and shouting, creating the illusion that we are all in this together, we are one big happy family. Patriotism, the foundation of wars, the keeper of the state, forget your poverty and injustice, forget the gulf between rich and poor, forget the austerity cuts, unemployment, benefit cuts, lower pensions and deteriorating education system and health service, we are all team GB.
PATRIOTISM.
No, I shall not die for the
fluttering flag,
if truth be known, ‘tis nothing but
a multi-coloured rag
held aloft by some foolish hand
inciting worker and peasant to kill
on some green and wooded hill,
peasant and worker from some other
land.
Nor shall I shed blood for the
fluttering rag
that brings out fools to stand and
brag
of brutal deeds painted grand,
deeds where rustic and craftsman lie
so still
killed by my brothers' misguided
hand.
No allegiance have I for the Nation
this man made autocratic creation
that divides my brothers in a world
so small,
binds us to a country's cause, right
or wrong,
bids us follow its drum, sing its
song,
then sheds our blood in some border
brawl.
No, I'll be no slave to flag or
nation,
have no ear for power oration,
though its iron heel is on my breast,
my back feels its leather thong,
at patriotism's barracoon, I'll be no
guest.
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