Justice


It’s heartbreaking to see how news covering genocide and tyranny is drowned in the background while lies are brought to the forefront. Even uttering the word gets you shut down, locked behind unseen walls. Justice is always silenced by the powerful and the cruel.


Even before our current invaders arrived, my homeland was ravaged at the hands of a former global superpower that started with one of their own neighbours, starving them and driving them apart until they became two nations. ‘Divide and Conquer’ has always been key to many conquests of the colonisers of this world.


Once they had colonized the lands of the neighbours who were of similar race and religion, they set out to suffocate people of other races and religions under their feet, forcing their own ideals and laws upon them while robbing them of their cultures and identities. And so, generations of multiple nations were brainwashed into believing they were lesser than their enslavers—a misconception that was hidden behind their technological prowess and global dominance.


This same reach, this very power, is what threatens my homeland today, although weaponised in the hands of a new, far more villainous coloniser. Their willingness to vilify and even silence their own people standing against this violence is a testament to their thirst for both blood and power. They even dishonour their ancestors who were once in the very position they have locked us in. Since when was sympathy an excuse for tyranny? Since when did humanity praise butchers who slaughter families and steal their lands? Many of the world’s superpowers have to answer for their collective crimes in erasing communities.


Our current colonisers seek to complete their false state by encroaching on what little is left of our lands, but we know they will not stop just there. Much like their predecessors, they, too, seek to expand their forces beyond our borders—they seek to unleash the same hell the world suffered for centuries before. Just the thought of history repeating itself is paralysing. When we opposed our invaders with protests, they replied with gunfire, when we stood firm against their advances, they bombed our families and reduced our homes to dust. The invaders know not the meaning of mercy.


Politics casts a dark veil upon what happens to us everyday. They portray us as the villains when all we want is the right to live in our homeland with the ones we love. I cannot fathom how cold their hearts must be to seek profit at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives. What prosperity is there in nations built on the bones of the innocent?


Those in power laugh as they draw out the plans to level more of our lands and steal more of our lives, all so they can build their empires and grow their fortunes. The cost is negligible to them; we see this everyday as our food supplies are withheld and our doctors are gunned down. Even the journalists who are here to tell our stories to the world receive a bullet to the head for their kindness and courage.


The only glimmer of hope I see is the solidarity shown by crowds around the world who stand with us as they flood the streets and march against their leaders. Even the people of our invaders are beginning to see our side—they are starting to see past the dark veil and are now recognising our truth. A day will come when corrupt leaders have to answer for their crimes; they will have to answer to both their victims and their own people. Weapons can oppress people only for so long; there will come a day when the oppressors will be brought to justice.

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