{"id":303413,"date":"2025-09-22T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=303413"},"modified":"2025-09-20T07:22:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T06:22:40","slug":"beneath-the-rubble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/09\/beneath-the-rubble\/","title":{"rendered":"Beneath the Rubble"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daily atrocities
\nin distant lands
\nnumb our attunement
\ntaint our souls<\/p>\n

Some weep
\nSome take refuge
\nin official lies
\nSome protest
\nto no avail
\nSome sleep
\nwith normal dreams<\/p>\n

Others endure nightmares
\nor turn to sports
\nOthers await sleepless
\ncraving good news
\nimpatient for some sign
\nof another dawn<\/p>\n

And those that do
\ndark deeds
\nrelish alien blood
\nmostly feel redeemed<\/p>\n

Feel fully human
\nonly when alien infant children
\nnewborn terrorists
\nlie beneath the rubble
\nWill remain sullen
\nor offer lame excuses
\nor gestures of disapproval
\nsoftening our remorse
\ndiluting our guilt
\nI think not
\nI hope not
\nand yet anguish and memories
\ndo as much good
\nas distant stars
\nSeem dress rehearsals of fools
\nwhile those with knives
\nare busy sharpening blades
\nReceptive to shouting mobs
\nbestowing their howls
\nthe genocide to come
\nfrom sacred books
\nand revered voices
\nLurking
\njust beyond the horizon
\nare bloody spectacles to come
\nSeen and heard by many
\nif at all
\nnot as indicting happenings
\nbut as the work of the Lord<\/p>\n

With our ever more precarious destiny
\nentrusted to algorithms and robots
\nWhile waiting for the fatal other shoe to drop
\nor mindful of this past
\nrush to the nearest exit
\nwhile heeding shouts
\nof FIRE!<\/p>\n

28 Aug 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

__________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Prof. Richard Falk is a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, <\/em>TRANSCEND Media Service<\/em><\/a> Editorial Committee Member, 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 <\/em>The Nation. Between 2008 and 2014, Falk served as UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Occupied Palestine. His book,\u00a0<\/em>(Re)Imagining Humane Global Governance\u00a0(2014), proposes a value-oriented assessment of world order and future trends. His most recent books are\u00a0<\/em>Power Shift\u00a0(2016);\u00a0<\/em>Revisiting the Vietnam War\u00a0(2017);\u00a0<\/em>On Nuclear Weapons: Denuclearization, Demilitarization and Disarmament\u00a0(2019); and\u00a0<\/em>On Public Imagination: A Political & Ethical Imperative, ed. with Victor Faessel & Michael Curtin (2019).\u00a0He\u00a0is the author or coauthor of other books, including\u00a0<\/em>Religion and Humane Global Governance\u00a0(2001),\u00a0<\/em>Explorations at the Edge of Time\u00a0(1993),\u00a0<\/em>Revolutionaries and Functionaries\u00a0(1988),\u00a0<\/em>The Promise of World Order\u00a0(1988),\u00a0<\/em>Indefensible Weapons (with Robert Jay Lifton, 1983),\u00a0<\/em>A Study of Future Worlds\u00a0(1975), and\u00a0<\/em>This Endangered Planet\u00a0(1972).\u00a0His memoir,\u00a0<\/em>Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim\u00a0was published in March 2021 and received an award from Global Policy Institute at Loyala Marymount University as \u2018the best book of 2021.<\/strong>\u2019 He has been nominated frequently for the Nobel Peace Prize since 2009.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JOIN THE BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS CAMPAIGN TO PROTEST THE ISRAELI BARBARIC GENOCIDE OF PALESTINIANS IN GAZA.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

DON’T BUY PRODUCTS WHOSE BARCODE STARTS WITH <\/em><\/strong>729, WHICH INDICATES THAT THEY ARE PRODUCED IN ISRAEL. DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR HUMAN JUSTICE!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daily atrocities
\nin distant lands
\nnumb our attunement
\ntaint our souls<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":115837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[865,868],"class_list":["post-303413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-genocide","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303413"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303418,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303413\/revisions\/303418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}