A Virtue of Disobedience

CAGE UK

Support the book: https://www.byline.com/project/83 'A Virtue of Disobedience' by Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan We are the disobedient look upon us and despair for we outlast history, time and memory we are always there. We are the unquenchable thirst for justice the bodies that do not bend tongues you cannot straightjacket and eyes that will not be turned blind. We are the step you trip on in the night the nightmare you wake from but cannot recall the lump under the rolling hill that reminds you what is buried there. We are the disobedient. We bear witness and we testify. We love despite the lie that we are not worthy We hold despite being told we should hide. Yes; we are the disobedient who refuse to die for bodies without eulogies will never remain in their graves we are the ghosts of the unmourned and the spirit of the never grieved. We are the original traitors to the tireless tyrant We are Mohammed We are Malcolm We are Moses and Assata We are Toussaint and Bhashani We are Rosa and Rabbani We are the disobedient. Truth speakers with tongues of fire Knowledge seekers who provoke your ire Mouths always moist from sincere prayer. We are hearts beating for the truth not like fluttering birds in cages but like the earth in her final convulsions like mountains when they scatter to dust We dismantle, uproot, expose. We are the disobedient and we have come not to claim what is yours but what is and always was ours: our humanity. But no – not claim for it was always with us and our announcement of that is the blasphemy you burn us for. But there’s a reason you mustn’t play with fire because flames are not bound by only your aims if you burn our bodies in the morning the fire will be licking your heels that night. Do you feel secure then? When we are bound not by law but justice? Loyal not to pen marks on paper but truth? We are unconquerable and unmanageable because you can take what you want if all you want is to take. We are your greatest fear: fearless loyal not even to life. There is no bargain to be made then for disruption is our only security in a world which says that security is ensured only through our repression - what basis has such authority to be obeyed? No; we are the disobedient who refuse to know our place undivided, low, and mighty we are a We a unity, a community, a principle above place. We are the disobedient. We declare the emperor naked and don’t kneel before the queen we smash the idols confront the Pharaoh upend the fabric of the world we will not sell our souls for hallowed halls we cannot be unmoved. We are the disobedient we exceed the boundaries overspill and overspeak. We are unboxed, unharnessed, unfathomable unpalatable uncompromising. Oh Ozymandiases of the world do you really think yourselves kings of kings? How quickly you forget. Nothing outlasts the fading of the day but the light of truth itself?