{"id":260205,"date":"2024-04-22T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T11:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=260205"},"modified":"2024-04-19T05:51:09","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T04:51:09","slug":"the-amputated-limbs-of-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/04\/the-amputated-limbs-of-children\/","title":{"rendered":"The Amputated Limbs of Children"},"content":{"rendered":"

18 Apr 2024<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI want my legs back,\u201d the girl cried in Arabic.
\n\u201cI want my legs back.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t have your legs back, little girl.
\nThey have been eaten by a hungry machine
\nwho needs them for fuel to power its gears.<\/p>\n

The machine needs your legs to keep the sky raining bombs
\nand to make its death robots fly.
\nYour legs power the bulldozers digging mass graves
\nand the tanks blowing holes in the hospitals.<\/p>\n

A glorious kingdom is held together
\nby the amputated limbs of children.
\nA pentagon-shaped castle is built from the bones
\nof the amputated limbs of children.
\nWall Street werewolves and bank boys dine
\non the amputated limbs of children.
\nMovie stars treat their wrinkles with creams
\nmade from the amputated limbs of children.
\nSuburban families prop up their smiles
\nwith the amputated limbs of children.
\nThe news man lies and in his eyes
\nyou see the amputated limbs of children.
\nThe podium man smirks and between his teeth
\nare the amputated limbs of children.<\/p>\n

And the little girl cries,
\nand the news man ignores her,
\nand the podium man smirks at her,
\nand the bank boy bites her,
\nand the machine rolls on,
\nlimbs fed into its furnace with pitchforks,
\ncrushing houses and blackening the sky,
\npoisoning the oceans and bloodying the earth,
\nwhile the air fills with the crying of children,
\nfor limbs that will never come back,
\nfor homes that will never come back,
\nfor mothers that will never come back,
\nfor childhoods that will never come back,
\nfor brightness that will never come back,
\nfor innocence that will never come back,
\nfor dreams that will never come back,
\nfor joy that will never come back.<\/p>\n

And we are here,
\neating cheesy meatcarbs and watching funny haw-haws
\nand gossiping and prattling and wishing we looked better
\nand trying not to think about all the tiny arms and legs
\nwe see covering the earth
\nwhenever we step outside.<\/p>\n

\u2756<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI want my legs back\u201d<\/p>\n

-11-year-old Palestinian girl Razan Muneer Arafat wakes up to find her legs amputated, after she was injured by US-UK-EU-armed Israeli airstrikes<\/p>\n

Horror such as this, given the all clear by the US-led \u2018rules-based order\u2019 https:\/\/t.co\/L8g0N2eZxs<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/XGSBTTKkTJ<\/a><\/p>\n

— Afshin Rattansi (@afshinrattansi) March 15, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n