ONE DAY – by John A Smith

One Day.

One day through community and consensus human beings ruled collectively
One day the village idiot stood up at the village meeting and declared himself ruler
The villagers laughed and exclaimed “What an idiot!”

One day the village idiot stood up at the village meeting and declared himself ruler
He had friends with weapons and explained that anyone who wouldn’t accept his rule would be hurt or killed
The villagers bowed and stuttered, “Your majesty!”

One day the town fool stood up at the town meeting and declared himself ruler
He had friends with weapons and explained that anyone who wouldn’t accept his rule would be hurt or killed
The townsfolk had weapons
The town fool had another friend, a cleric who explained that the ruler had been chosen by God and that anyone who wouldn’t accept his rule would be damned for eternity
The townsfolk bowed and cried, “Your majesty!”

One day the city eccentric stood up at the city meeting and declared himself ruler
He had friends with weapons and explained that anyone who wouldn’t accept his rule would be hurt or killed
The city folk had weapons
The city eccentric had another friend, a cleric who explained that the ruler had been chosen by God and that anyone who wouldn’t accept his rule would be damned for eternity
The city folk were sceptical
The city eccentric had other friends who had created tokens inscribed with his likeness and explained that anyone who wouldn’t accept his rule would be denied these tokens
The city folk bowed and cheered, “Your majesty!”

One day those with weapons hurt or killed only to accumulate tokens
One day the clerics damned for eternity only to accumulate tokens
One day the token creators only created tokens to accumulate tokens
One day the ruler only ruled to accumulate tokens
One day the tokens ruled

One day a human being stood up and declared that the tokens should be abolished and through community and consensus human beings should rule collectively
The human race laughed and exclaimed “What an idiot!”
One day the tokens were abolished and through community and consensus human beings ruled collectively

One day

Inspiration from an Iraqi poet

A country is not a country without its people
who are not people without love
which is not love without liberty
which is not liberty without awareness
which is not awareness without knowledge
which is not knowledge without reading
which is not reading without books
which are not books without writers
who are not writers without life
which is not life without beauty
which is not beauty without art
which is not art without creativity
which is not creativity without experimentation
which is not experimentation without searching
which is not searching without exploring
which is not exploring without openness
which is not openness without confidence
which is not confidence without peace
which is not peace without law
which is not law without justice
which is not justice without equality
which is not equality without rights
which are not rights without conscience
which is not conscience without ethics
which is not ethics without nurture
which is not nurture without education
which is not education without learning
which is not learning without growth
which is not growth without discussion
which is not discussion without thought
which is not thought without freedom
which is not freedom without independence
which is not independence without people
who are not people without … etc

From Reading and the Tomahawk followed by The Intellectual and Assassination (780 pages) 2010, Beirut
by Adnan al-Sayegh [supporter of Assemblies for Democracy]