When revolution is outlined on the horizon
the old cauldron of
religions gets stirred up.
In normal times
religion meant going to
Mass
paying tithes for God's
house
baptizing children
and confessing sins to
keep one's account in order.
When revolution is
outlined on the horizon
churches remember the
masses
and come down from the
clouds and mysteries
and Sunday tranquility.
Fat pastors speak of
the end of the world
when what's approaching
is the end of exploitation;
hysteric prophets speak
of deciding between Good and Evil
when the people need to
decide
against oppression and
hunger.
When social revolution
begins to unfurl its flags
the heirs of those who
crucified Christ
tell us Christ is the
only hope
precisely because he
waits for us
there in his kingdom,
that is not of this world.
This is the religion
pointed to by Marx
as "the opium of
the people"
since in that form it's
more a drug for confusing the heads of men
and hindering them from
finding their calling in the social struggle.
But Camilo Torres,
among others,
has told us there is a
positive religion too
that surges from the
soul of revolution
by way of poems and
songs,
and that one risks
one's life in this world
and not after death.
In this religion men
who serve are
(like true communists)
the salt of the earth.
Roque Dalton
Translated by Jack
Hirschmann
(Picture: A flock of crows, Toyen)
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