They dress it up in flags and speeches,
in strategy games,
in a national vision,
in maps redrawn with righteous aim.

Didn’t know [you] had permission to murder
and to maim.

They call it order,
call it peace,
protection,
a necessary, measured release,
and they ink the papers, shift the blame,
but didn’t know [you] had permission to murder
and to maim.

after Leonard Cohen

 

29/3/2026