“It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theater. The clown came out to inform the public. They thought it was a jest and applauded. He repeated his warning. They shouted even louder. So I think the world will come to an end amid the general applause from all the wits who believe that it is a joke.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
What can I write about war that I or someone else hasn’t already written?
After all, people have been writing about war for centuries. I think it was Vonnegut who once said that trying to stop a war is like trying to stop winter. Turns out, he was half wrong: winter can be stopped – just ask climate change. Wars, on the other hand, persist, with no end in sight.
When I first sat down to write this evening, I aimed to write a rousing essay calling for people to organize and mobilize against U.S. Empire and global militarism, but I can’t. It just wouldn’t be honest. And writers should be honest, if nothing else.
In the post-9/11 world, war is an omnipresent force. To be fair, for some populations, that’s always been the case. Today, however, people around the globe, from Europeans ravaged by austerity to Palestinians ravaged by colonialism, are feeling the immediate impacts of never-ending war.
Refugees drown in the Mediterranean and starve in makeshift camps, while bombs are dropped by over 24 different nations throughout the Greater Middle East. Since 9/11, the U.S. alone has bombed Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen,…