it was heard that the boy felt at home in school.
he loved marchpast, loved seeing his school's flag
fly high above the rest, loved the morning assembly,
each in their line, in order of height, loved the games
where each violation of rule became a new rule,
loved getting caned and watching others get caned,
loved screaming the anthem, loved the teacher,
believed everything he said, tore the books that said otherwise.
in school the boy felt at home.
later it was learned that he grew up to be fascist.
can one grow up to be fascist?
isn't fascism— desire for hierarchy and domination— natural?
survival of the fittest, the law of the fish, dog eat dog?
but the mother hen shuffles her eggs
so that each one gets enough of her warmth.
if fascism is natural, so is our capacity for love, equality, and justice.
if ethics are conditioned, so are the modes and means of fascism.
justice is not the law. the law is not policing. policing is not order.
i hear schoolchildren marchpast outside, sloganeering:
east or west, ___ is the best!
i can't quite catch what they think— or have been led to believe,
or forced to repeat— is the best. but i can guess:
nation, religion, purity, community, roots, god, man,
cow, leader, master, lord, order, security, tradition etc.
when i write a sahastranamam—- a verse containing thousand names,
attributes, and epithets— the word fascism won't be mention even once.
~ ajay
16/6/2024
