FASCISM ARRIVES AS YOUR FRIEND - MICHAEL ROSEN’S POEM 1st published May 2014

Former UK Children’s Laureate MICHAEL ROSEN published this poem as long ago as 2014, that, in the light of recent developments, seems, unfortunately, to be proving all too prescient…”

FASCISM ARRIVES AS YOUR FRIEND As long ago as 2014, former UK Children’s Laureate MICHAEL ROSEN published this poem that, in the light of recent developments, seems, unfortunately, to be proving all too prescient.

Walking ‘The Way Of The Poet’, we never know what unexpected truths we will discover, and to be able to somehow cope with the onslaught of misinformation that seems to be coming worldwide, we are going to need all the sources of truth that we can find..

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FASCISM ARRIVES AS YOUR FRIEND

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Michael Rosen

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Sunday, 18 May 2014

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I sometimes fear that

people think that fascism arrives in fancy dress

worn by grotesques and monsters

as played out in endless re-runs of the Nazis.

Fascism arrives as your friend.

It will restore your honour,

make you feel proud,

protect your house,

give you a job,

clean up the neighbourhood,

remind you of how great you once were,

clear out the venal and the corrupt,

remove anything you feel is unlike you...

It doesn't walk in saying,

"Our programme means militias,

mass imprisonments, transportations,

war and persecution."

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