Future No Kings Protests: Weeping and Resisting in Global Solidarity
POETRY FORMAT, 20 Apr 2026
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service
13 Apr 2026 – My poem below is intended as a sequel to an earlier poem, An Ode to ‘No Kings’ Royalism, written in support of the No Kings protests, which were a dramatic success as measured by turnout and public outrage directed at Trump’s abusive de-democratizing policies in the USA. It gave scant attention to the toxic harm inflicted on worldwide others and to the kind world order that would sustain peace, development, and justice. Economistic militarism has posed serious challenges to peace, Global South sovereignty, ecological resilience, and non-exploitative development ever since 1945. This degenerate behavior has been carried to extremes in the Gaza Genocide and exhibited by the War of Aggression launched on 28 Feb 2026 by the United States in partnership with Israel, itself following the open imperial revival of Monroe Doctrine imperial claims over Latin American sovereignty, and inalienable rights of self-determination. We who deplore ICE and what is represents, must also deplore the prolongation of Western militarism and what it means for life of children and civilians worldwide. We must stop climbing the escalation ladder that is one miscalculation away from a nuclear inferno.
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People came
over 8 million
over 3 thousand gatherings
unique in American history
beyond the numbers
were quiet passions
many dogs few police
not resistance yet
disgust disquiet
a felt message
of rooted protest
empathy for victims
of ICE faculty firings
many cruelties
feared endured
by fugitives from poverty
undocumented refugees
citizens bonding is right
walls detention centers wrong
celebrate conscience
refusing to cringe
in silent rage
any longer
better for tears
it is time
it is time for welcoming
words chants songs
BUT WHERE WAS THE WORLD
waiting sullenly
disillusioned almost
never fond of ICE
yet thirsting for words
of rage and compassion
this dirty war
the girls of Minab
rejecting peace
rejecting diplomacy
mercy even kindness
pretending to care
demanding of Iran
silence about Israel
their nuclear bombs
a record of genocide
crimes against peace
partnering warmongering
with high tech
ai oligarchs
passionate for profits
amoral wizards
of the nuclear age
with hefty appetites
sustained by bluster
limitless narcissism
zero empathy
our protest leaders
seemed nearsighted
almost blind to horrors
beyond national borderss
reserving their tears
a few american deaths
of course tragic beyond words
but what of the others
many thousands perishing
forgotten fallen ones
in foreign lands
perishing among rubble
infants with no arms or legs
no parents no home
yet a life to live
being nearsighted in such a world
is a quiet sinfulness
we want farsighted protests
a nationalist No Kings day
better than red and blue politicos
hiding in aipac’s shadowland
still in public foxholes
safeguarding our future
by bankrolling our present
as greed fear rage
battle for the public mind
FOLLOW THE MONEY
after all No Kings
must message
the pentagon arms merchants
ICE kills individuals
these wars kill millions
far from our shores
dear organizers
this is a lament
THERE IS LOTS MORE TO TALK ABOUT
local anger is fine
and yet
next time let’s feel
the pain the courage
As if
THE WHOLE OF HUMANITY
At risk suffering wounded
IS SUBJECT TO UNLEASHED MADNESS
AT THE ABYSS
Santa Barbara, California, 13 Apr 2026
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Prof. Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network, of the TRANSCEND Media Service Editorial Committee, Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, Chair of Global Law, Faculty of Law, at Queen Mary University London, Research Associate the Orfalea Center of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Fellow of the Tellus Institute. He directed the project on Global Climate Change, Human Security, and Democracy at UCSB and formerly served as director the North American group in the World Order Models Project. He also is a member of the editorial board of the magazine The Nation. Between 2008 and 2014, Falk served as UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Occupied Palestine. His book, (Re)Imagining Humane Global Governance (2014), proposes a value-oriented assessment of world order and future trends. His most recent books are Power Shift (2016); Revisiting the Vietnam War (2017); On Nuclear Weapons: Denuclearization, Demilitarization and Disarmament (2019); and On Public Imagination: A Political & Ethical Imperative, ed. with Victor Faessel & Michael Curtin (2019). He is the author or coauthor of other books, including Religion and Humane Global Governance (2001), Explorations at the Edge of Time (1993), Revolutionaries and Functionaries (1988), The Promise of World Order (1988), Indefensible Weapons (with Robert Jay Lifton, 1983), A Study of Future Worlds (1975), and This Endangered Planet (1972). His memoir, Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim was published in March 2021 and received an award from Global Policy Institute at Loyala Marymount University as ‘the best book of 2021.’ He has been nominated frequently for the Nobel Peace Prize since 2009.
Go to Original – richardfalk.org
Tags: Anti Zionism, Anti-hegemony, Anti-imperialism, Israel, Poetry, Richard Falk, Rogue states, Trump, USA
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