Casulaties of War II… Doomed Youth

As children they grew in a land tore apart by rocket fire. Midnight sirens often their alarm clock; it’s time to wake up, child, the war has begun. Now, they are the youth of an embattled Israel and they are the voice of an angry generation.
It is election season in Israel, and the youth move toward an aggressive party. Due to what they’ve seen as children, the politics of separation—of us v. them—of, perhaps, hate, though that may be too strong a word. Nonetheless, they hold signs and they protest for their party: Yisrael Beiteinu. An article from the Israeli newspaper Hareetz states:

The youths, ages 16-18, many of them good friends from school, had stood for a long time before the event began at the intersection near the hotel, waving Israeli flags and shouting “Death to the Arabs” and “No loyalty, no citizenship” at passing cars.

The party leader is Avigdor Lieberman, and he is running on a nationalistic ticket. His demand is simple: loyalty to the state. In the article, a worker for the party stated:

Loyalty is the most burning issue for the youth. They’re about to go in the army and therefore national honor is important to them. They want someone whose word is good, who stands behind his principles. Avigdor Lieberman projects strength.

Ideas of loyalty and national honor are thick in the poetry of World War I. And, though many poets of the past—Brook being the most notable—reflect such sentiments, I am reminded of a poem by the less flag-fearing Wilfred Owen: “Anthem for Doomed Youth.” Owen’s poem is more about the young who die in battle, but I think it also speaks to the generations who live under the constant regime of war. He states:

“What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.”

Before voting age, these children of Israel spend sleepless nights listening to the “anger of the guns.” And baby rattles are replaced by “the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle.” So who can blame them for growing into a youth that further demands battle? Though not yet soldiers, this youth still “patter out their hasty orisons,” praying for a leadership to guide them into further fighting. But it won’t be the politicians on the front lines, it will be those youth that voted them in. According to the article, one declared:

Serious measures need to be taken to make them aware of what they’re doing. Someone who doesn’t declare his loyalty to the state, who has no patriotism, should have his citizenship taken away.

I would argue loyalty to the state is not patriotism, per se. Instead, it is loyalty to the ideals of the state that is patriotism; whereas, blind loyalty, unquestioned loyalty, is an act of nationalism—often wielded by power-brokers to evoke legislation to garner more power. Owen continues:

“What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of the boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.”

Again, Owens message of youth fading and a generation withering from war can be extrapolated to include those pre-battle. Here Owen asks, “What candles may be held to speed them all?” wondering if there is any way to promise success for a generation put to battle. But it can equally be asked of a generation raised in battle. There is no success in an endless cycle of war. And the youth continue to draw down their blinds, pledging unconditional loyalty to politicians who wage war from an office, trained only in the art of rile.
                                                                                                    W.S.

“Lieberman’s anti-Arab ideology wins over Israel’s teens.” Hareetz.com.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061910.html

 

Owen, Wilfred. “Anthem for Doomed Youth.” World War One British Poets. 1997. Dover. Mineola, New York.

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