Tanka poems against the war

 I happened to listen to Imagine by John & Yoko many times this year, which reminded me of a TED talk: Why humans run the world  Yuval Noah Harari

John sang " Imagine there is no heaven, countries and possessions," but actually they are what our imagination has created. Harari talked about how the fictional entities have been created and how seriously responsible we are for the very survival of the real world.

Why humans run the world　Yuval Noah Harari

But over the centuries, we have constructed on top of this objective reality a second layer of fictional reality, a reality made of fictional entities, like nations, like gods, like money, like corporations.

And what is amazing is that as history unfolded, this fictional reality became more and more powerful, so that today, the most powerful forces in the world are these fictional entities.

Today, the very survival of rivers and trees and lions and elephants depends on the decisions and wishes of fictional entities, like the United States, like Google, like the World Bank -- entities that exist only in our own imagination.

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzj7Wg4DAbs&t=6s

The survival of humans also depends on our own imagination, I guess.

What do you think?

This is my last post of 2023, and here is my post 20 years ago:

 https://tankaagainstwar.blogspot.com/2003/12/

Peace on Earth! Peace in Gaza!

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people living life in peace

You

You may say I'm a dreamer

I've been listening to this song, Imagine, for decades.

Now I really wonder who dreamers are.

Dreamers could be those who believe violence can achieve what they want, or those who believe they can kill or displace all the Palestinians and turn the land into Israel.

Who are dreamers?

A pair of balloons

Are floating in the blue sky

They're advertising:

The king has nothing on at all

The US has no...???

青空に浮かぶふたつのアドバルーン　

王様はだかアメリカは？？

Aozora ni Ukabu futatsu no Adobaruun

Ousama hadaka Amerika ha ??

The poems above were written right before the War on Iraq in 2003.

Does the US know how the world see its behavior?

= Related news =

The administration of US President Joe Biden has firmly supported Israel's military campaign, arguing that it must be allowed to dismantle Hamas.

But as Israeli forces level entire neighbourhoods, including schools and hospitals, the US has found itself increasingly at odds with international opinion.

Read more at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/12/un-general-assembly-votes-overwhelmingly-in-favour-of-gaza-ceasefire

The tanka poems and drawing from "Flowers and Bombs: Stop the Violence of the War Now!" by Kaoru Kobashi

https://hanabaku.blogspot.com/

All we are saying 

Is give peace a chance, oh yes

All we are saying

Is give peace a chance, right now

We all need John more than ever 

ジョンレノンの声を聞きたい今まさに

かけてみようよ平和にチャンスを

John Lennon no Koe wo kikitai Ima masani

Kakete miyouyo Heiwa ni chance wo