.
Enough
Civilization
by the bullet,
and
by the whip.
They
descended upon us,
with
their fearsome piety.
They
brought The Book,
and
swept our collective pasts aside.
Scavenging
for ore,
snouts
in the trough,
the
pillaging rarely ceased.
Gold.
Women. Diamonds. People.
All
commodities,
stripped
and raped and sold and bought.
The
schizophrenic benevolence of colonialism,
left
us battered and bruised and almost broken.
Almost.
But
not quite.
For,
the
tides began turning,
winds
of indignant defiance began rolling,
up
through the hinterland,
and
down to the sea.
The
rising began,
in
pockets,
then
in swathes of the plundered country.
The
rising took shape,
grew,
and found
its coherent voice.
They
were chased,
chastened,
from
our shores,
back
to the northern lands that craved the sun.
And
the gold. Women. Diamonds. Men.
This
was centuries ago.
Yet,
the
craving persists.
And,
they
scavenge still,
never
sated.
Till
the rising shouts out,
once
again,
Enough.
Bio:
Afzal Moolla was born in Delhi, India while his parents were in exile, fleeing Apartheid South Africa.
He then travelled wherever his parent's work took them and he still feels that he hasn't stopped travelling.
Afzal works and lives in Johannesburg, South Africa and shares his literary musings with his most strident critic - his 12 year old cat.
(author retains copyright)
