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Oops wrong poem! -----Original Message----- From: British & Irish poets [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Patrick McManus Sent: 05 June 2012 10:55 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Grass http://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/grass-smears-in-times-plus-new-translation-of- his-silence-exploding-poem.html cheers patrick-I think this is the right poem!!! Why have I kept silent, silent for too long over what is openly played out in war games at the end of which we the survivors are at best footnotes. It’s that claim of a right to first strike against those who under a loudmouth’s thumb are pushed into organized cheering— a strike to snuff out the Iranian people on suspicion that under his influence an atom bomb’s being built. But why do I forbid myself to name that other land in which for years—although kept secret— a usable nuclear capability has grown beyond all control, because no scrutiny is allowed. The universal silence around this fact, under which my own silence lay, I feel now as a heavy lie, a strong constraint, which to dismiss courts forceful punishment: the verdict of “Antisemitism” is well known. But now, when my own country, guilty of primal and unequalled crimes for which time and again it must be tasked— once again, in pure commerce, though with quick lips we declare it reparations, wants to send Israel yet another submarine— one whose specialty is to deliver warheads capable of ending all life where the existence of even one nuclear weapon remains unproven, but where suspicion serves for proof— now I say what must be said. But why was I silent for so long? Because I thought my origin, marked with an ineradicable stain, forbade mention of this fact as definite truth about Israel, a country to which I am and will remain attached. Why is it only now I say, in old age, with my last drop of ink, that Israel’s nuclear power endangers an already fragile world peace? Because what by tomorrow might be too late, must be spoken now, and because we—as Germans, already burdened enough—could become enablers of a crime, foreseeable and therefore not to be eradicated with any of the usual excuses. And admittedly: I’m silent no more because I’ve had it with the West’s hypocrisy —and one can hope that many others too may free themselves from silence, challenge the instigator of known danger to abstain from violence, and at the same time demand a permanent and unrestrained control of Israel’s atomic power and Iranian nuclear plants by an international authority accepted by both governments. Only thus can one give help to Israelis and Palestinians—still more, all the peoples, neighbour-enemies living in this region occupied by madness —and finally, to ourselves as well. -----Original Message----- From: British & Irish poets [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Riley Sent: 05 June 2012 09:57 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Grass Anyone know where there's a translation of Günter Grass's poem about Europe's treatment of Greece? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/gnter-grass-attacks-merkel-fo r-athens-policy-7791489.html thanks, PR=