and so it begins

And so it begins if I am not mistaken

The secret police deployed out in the open

Answering only to their takeover orders

Putting fascist boots on the ground.

Their objective is to suppress all opposition

Imposing police state control through violence

Against the numbers of people rising up to protest

Everything that is wrong with this government.

The police murder of George Floyd awakened so many white people

Becoming more aware of systemic racism and becoming active 

Marching in the streets in solidarity with people of color

Threatening the power structure by demanding to defund the police.

In advance of the election the calculus has shifted 

Between the massive demonstrations for Black Lives Matter

To Trump's abject failure to contain the worsening pandemic 

The white supremacists and science deniers are losing. 

Despite all their undemocratic schemes and machinations

From the electoral college to the many forms of disenfranchisement

The writing is on the wall for them to be swept out of office

Except not if they drop the pretense of democracy. 

For some time now we could see this coming

Just like we can foresee the terrible suffering of the unemployed

Soon to be homeless and hungry and desperate

For any kind of work no matter how dangerous. 

Do not think it was an honest mistake to reopen too soon

When anyone could predict the cases and deaths would rampage

It’s obvious they deliberately chose to cause the COVID surge

In a desperate hurry to return to taking profits from exploitation.

In this the unrestrained brutality of their rule clearly stands out

Growing resistance to how they would sacrifice our lives

Bringing people together speaking out denouncing them

Hence the storm troopers to try to force their will upon us.

In a time of great crisis great changes are possible

When the masses of angry people mobilize

When the government in disarray has no answers

When an organization emerges from below to lead the way.

Skylands July 17, 2020

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Celery Farm July 15, 2020

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knee deep

Knee deep in the first wave

New records for the number of cases 

Rising ever faster spreading uncontrolled 

On its way to being up to our necks.

When the response to the crisis is denial

For sure it's going to get much worse 

Even if the information is kept from us

What we don't know will hurt us. 

The government suppression of facts escalates 

From blaming increased testing for the increasing spread 

To stopping the CDC from getting the hospitalization data

And attacking the messenger Fauci for speaking truth.

If the shutdown had been done right 

Kept in place until the incidence subsided 

Continued until widespread testing and tracing existed

This would not be happening of course. 

Instead we get the push to crowd the children together

Back into their classrooms with their teachers 

Compounding the disastrous premature business re-opening 

Dismissing the obvious impossibility to do it safely. 

But the stock market keeps going up increasing the holdings

Of people who have much more money than they need

Which is the point of the capitalist administration after all 

Sacrificing expendable people to preserve profits. 

In countries where science determines policy

And human lives are valued over protecting private wealth 

Where healthcare is one  of many universal rights

The contrast cries out against the criminals in control here. 

This dysfunctional government literally threatens our lives

Forcing into consciousness the need for complete system change

Driving ever more people to protest in mass demonstrations 

Opening the way to overturn the ruling class and transform society.