umm Abdillah, Radio Islam Programming | 2014.12.16 | 23 Safar 1436 AH

In a free world every turn is a choice. We choose what we want to read; we choose who we love; we choose war or peace. We also choose the narrative by which we live, the tales we tell, and the story we write, the people who’s lives or deaths we reduce, maximise or minimise. The Sydney Siege was incessant terrorist rhetoric shoved in our faces and ears over a short space of time. We tweet it, blog about it, repeat it in our newscasts – our minds, hearts and emotions are besieged. Quickly the CIA torture report is burnt to a crisp, ashes in the wind. Yet, not far away from the humanising of a select cast, not far away from the brainwashing and moulding of public sentiment, there are children snatched away in the middle of the night. 110 000 detained persons, many of whom have simply vanished. They call them Syria’s disappeared. We aren’t hysterical enough about them. We have chosen to forget about them. umm Abdillah’s free verse below captures part of that sentiment.

Forgive me my apathy toward the Sydney Siege.

Forgive me if I turn away uninterested.

Forgive my indifference,

I will not clamp down on your hysteria bait.

Click. Click. Click.

Hysteria bait

Hysteria bait

Hysteria bait

Forgive me my apathy, oh lone Iranian hostage taker in Australia, Mohammad Hassan Manteghi Bourjerdi.

Man Haron Monis,

Man Haron Monis,

Man Haron Monis,

Islamist. Isis. Muslim.

I will not be coerced to read your script.

I will not tweet you to notoriety.

I will ignore how your masters’ stealthily cogitate this next season of The Newsroom.

Where is a real siege?

Who hostages your mind?

518 children purposely killed by snipers; 9500 children arrested; 95 children tortured to death by the regime; 2.9 million children refugees; 85,000 children born in refugee camps.

Fathers and sons arrested together; forced to watch a son being tortured. Rectal hydration. Childhood. Arbitrary arrests which become enforced-disappearances.

Forgive me my disinterest in what unfolds at a Lindt shop in Sydney.

Man Haron Monis.

Man Haron Monis.

Man Haron Monis.

Turbaned terrorist.

I will not ride with you.

Tell me their names.

The siege.

The other ones we’ve forgotten.

Do not forgive me for forgetting.

Additional Sources:

Syrian Network For Human Rights

Syria’s Children

‘Waynun’: Searching for Syria’s disappeared

Syria’s disappeared