Poets Against War continues the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression.
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Poets Against War continues the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression. |
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 The Good Artists Were Usually on the Right Side by Samih al-Kasim Op-Ed By Sam Hamill |
The Pity and the Horrorby Breyten Breytenbach
You don't know me. There's no reason why you should and little cause for you to listen to what somebody like myself may have to say… That’s how I started an open letter to General Ariel Sharon, on 7 April 2002. At the time he was the Prime Minister of Israel. A delegation of writers had just returned from a short visit to the West Bank and to Gaza - Russell Banks, Juan Goytisolo, Bei Dao, José Saramago, Wole Soyinka, I and one or two more. We were guided by Elias Sanbar and Leila Shahid of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and accompanied by a film crew. We had gone there to see for ourselves, and to read in public together with Mahmoud Darwish and other Palestinian authors as a gesture of solidarity. After all, they were practically cut off from the outside world. Upon our return, each one of us tried to give an account of the experience. Mine took the form of this letter. Read the complete essay and poems
Poets Against War (India) and the Problem of Languages India is a land of various cultures and distinctly different language-speaking people. Broadly the land is divided into four regions, East-West-North-South, although within each region again there are a number of States with diverse cultures and languages. Officially, India has 25 approved languages, including English. There are innumerable sub languages and dialects which are not taken into official account. We started the Poets Against War (India) activity under guidelines provided by Poets Against War in the U.S., especially Sam Hamill .We formed a small team and to generate awareness and started writing articles about PAW in various journals. This was done mostly in Bengali journals, as we write predominantly in Bengali, one of the major languages. Articles were also published in certain national level journals in English. Once this was done we appealed to almost 200 poets throughout India requesting their poems for PAW. The initial response and enthusiasm was overwhelming. Poets contacted us from all over India, expressing their willingness to be part of us. But when it came to posting poetry for the web site, we found the response was poor, and we realized the reality was not so inspiring. Although some of the poets do write in English, the majority of the Indian poets write in their regional language. The poems which sent for the website had to be translated into English first. In India there are very few good translators and most of the poets are reclusive, not in touch with the translators. The poets themselves seldom translate their own poetry here. India is no exception: oppression and atrocities perpetrated against weaker sections are rampant. The intellectuals and also the common people are quite aware and we often see them taking to the roads to protest. Poems and songs are written in remonstration. Artists often present paintings condemning police action or other state atrocities. But to contribute to the PAW web site we require translated versions of their protests. Sadly, those works in protest still remain, for the most part, confined to their own particular languages. The echo is palpable but without resonance . Prabal Kumar Basu Poems in Translation COLD-BLOODED MURDER -Priyanka Kalpit A tumultous war with caste and - Translated from Gujarati by Rupalee Burke Short History of Poets Against WarIn late January 2003, in response to an invitation to a symposium by Laura Bush to celebrate "Poetry and the American Voice," Sam Hamill declined; a longtime pacifist, he could not in good faith visit the White House following the recent news of George W. Bush's plan for a unilateral "Shock and Awe" attack on Iraq. Instead, he asked about 50 fellow poets to "reconstitute a Poets Against the War movement like the one organized to speak out against the war in Vietnam...to speak up for the conscience of our country and lend your names to our petition against this war” by submitting poems of protest that he would send to the White House. When 1,500 poets responded within four days, this web site was created as a means of handling the enormous, unexpected response. Since then, the "accidental groundswell" grew to include poets from around the world. There are presently more than 20,000 poems in this, the largest poetry anthology ever published. Poems from Poets Against War have been presented in person, by invitation, to several representatives of the U.S. Congress; many of them have since been introduced into the Congressional Record. We need your help to make a powerful statement against war. Poets Against war is a volunteer organization dependent upon the financial contributions of friends and members. Please help support our efforts. |
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Our team of volunteer editors have reviewed more than 20,000 poems. We can't showcase every poem but on this page you will find a monthly posting of poems or statements that have been suggested to us by poets and editors around the world. |
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LEARN about how poets and writers are organizing to resist the political oppression of writers and poets.SIGN Poets Against War has signed on to two important campaigns for peace: a petition to cut off funding for the Iraq war and Voters For Peace's "Cancelled Check" House Party campaign URGENTIn the less than a month, Congress will pass a $600 billion stimulus package in order to stimulate the economy and help create jobs. We ask that the arts be included in this package. Stop the Carnage, Ban the Cluster Bomb! The 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah ended in the summer of 2006, but hundreds of thousands of unexploded cluster munitions that Israel dropped on Lebanon are a terrible remnant of that war. Lebanese are still being killed or maimed by the bomblets (many U.S.-made).
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“However much you feed a wolf, it always looks to the forest. We are all wolves of the dense forest of Eternity.” - Marina Tsvetaeva 
