Standoff at the Venezuelan embassy
“The receiving State is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.”
— Article 22 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961.
Whistles blowing, sirens blaring through bullhorns,
strobe lights flashing to pounding, banging rhythms
It must be the embassy medieval thugs mistook
for a butcher shop—or the one thugs entered to
kidnap towering truth-teller?
Instead, evening’s infested with
pot and pan-banging blue arm bands, Assault-Right
hipsters with Hitler haircuts; choreographed from
The War House and Capitalist Hill.
Ordinarily, big banner headlines splash
Post, Times, Wall Street Journal:
Americans Holed up in Foreign Embassy
surrounded by secret police blocking food,
medicine, supplies; shutting off electricity,
assaulting, arresting peaceful protestors:
Replacing rule of law with Law of Jungle;
Violating Vienna Convention, abdicating
responsibility
to
protect…
Ordinarily, Fox-box foot-soldiers/State Department
stenographers are on the ground grindin’— 24/7
with talking heads hopping mad—shit-fit, send-
in-the Marines-mad—for Boeing’s war of the week
versus strongman who became the wrong man!
Rogue state with redacted 1st and 4th amendments,
we wait for wet, cold, Wikileak words: “Live from New
York, it’s Saturday…”
© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
Our poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed performning artist, educator and an oficial of the National Writers Union.
Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.
Israel has violated its ceasefire agreement with Hamas. But Israel never truly adhered to it, instead choosing to continue its genocidal policies.
What happens when wars drag on, economies shrink, and political leaders fail to respond? Syria remains in turmoil as foreign powers fuel instability, prolong suffering, and manipulate the crisis for…
In this week’s segment, we discuss new foreign policy towards Ukraine and why the Trump administration hopes to further US interests by departing not only from the Biden administration but from…
Rodrigo Duterte, former president of the Philippines, is now in the Hague, after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant charging him with crimes committed during his six years…
Dr. Gerald Horne is an author and historian currently holding the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. Dr. Horne is a prolific author…
