Lift the Ban: Who will slay the Elbit beast?

This is one of a series of posts about my experience of the Defend our Juries (DoJ) 'Lift the Ban' campaign. See my Lift the Ban page for more.

Because this (getting arrested) is such a departure from what I've done before, I'm constantly questioning myself. The answer so far has always been: yes, absolutely you should be doing this. I convince myself, but I also want to convince other people. That is more difficult, because there is so much I need to say and I can hear their refutations in my head. I've got answers to them, but to write it up would take ages. And there's all the back story, because, despite what I've been saying about how I've changed, it didn't come from nowhere. Bizarre though it may seem, I believe it started for me with my introduction to the Fairtrade movement in about 1980 (when I bought shares in Traidcraft). But that's for another time.

Most recently, any doubts I had were squashed by listening to the recording of a session at Greenbelt: Who will slay the Elbit beast?  

The session was Joey Hinchcliffe and Joey's mother, Clare, reading some of their poetry and recounting their experiences. Joey is one of the 'Filton 6': six young people who broke into the Elbit Systems factory in Bristol and damaged drones which they knew were destined to slaughter innocent people in Gaza. Joey was charged, went to trial and was eventually found not guilty - but only after spending 18 months in jail on remand. Four of the six were found guilty, sentenced as terrorists (despite not having been charged with terrorism) and are now serving an unreasonably long time in jail. They are, quite rightly, appealing their terrorist sentences.

There is SO much more to say about this!  But that's not what I want to do with this post. 

This post is for Clare's poem. So here it is. (It is even better if you listen to Clare reading it at Greenbelt.) 

Who will slay the Elbit beast?

Where did it come from, this vile thing?

It must have crawled out of

the north Atlantic depths

while we were all asleep

and now it's here

growing viler and more bloated by the year

and while it's too disgusting to describe

I can tell you there's an orifice beneath its tail 

that pumps out bombs and drones and piles of stinking cash

for anyone who can stand the smell

Its face is too hideous to see

- think of something like a baby's brain 

hanging from its bombed out skull -

but we don't have to look at it

it's screened off behind 

the shiny websites, offices and names

Lockheed Martin, Rafael,

British Aerospace 

and Elbit Systems, pride of Israel

offering 'solutions', 'security' and of course 'defence'

and other polished forms 

of deadly excrement

It's groomed and fed

by the billionaires it's made

and the politicians it controls

it has many, many mouths

and as each one shrieks for more

ministers disembowel their budgets

and feed it with our money

that was intended for the poor

When they meet behind closed doors

world leaders aren't discussing security or peace

they're only middle ranking sales reps

doing deals for the beast

What does this creature want from us?

A world of endless war, austerity and death

ruled by a handful of the super rich?

Do this chosen few not realise

that when the ship goes down

the beast will feast on their flesh too?

Who will slay this monster?

The long arc of the universe 

bends in unexpected ways

bringing justice

not through politicians judges or police

but through our children

armed with not much more 

than courage and outrageous love

who go into the monster's lairs

poke it with their sticks

pull its tail and crack its teeth

They get rounded up, arrested and detained

but more of them return in waves

it doesn't matter that this monster 

meets weekly with police

or that puppets in their wigs and gowns

call them 'terrorists' and send them down

the authorities cannot compete 

with those who don't fear prison

if a child's life is saved

And each time it's poked 

the monster roars and rises up

so at last its belly

swollen with the blood of innocents

becomes exposed to public view

and ends all talk of ‘self defence’

One day in the future

when its rotted corpse 

has long been thrown back in the sea 

they will know it was our children

they will say it was our children

they will sing about our children

who've slain the Elbit beast

Clare Hinchcliffe