Liquid State Drive

From the train out in the southern boroughs, as it loops towards the centre like it were in a landing queue, you can see the destination from the window, marked by the monolithic shard that juts out across the skyline. Whether heading in or out, the affect is to illustrate just how much city lies between you and it, and how little time it takes to traverse so much.

From the extrajudicial murders by paramilitary police in Rio, to the militarized cops stationed on the corners of Exarchia in Athens. From the “coalition of the willing’s” committed increase in defence spending, to the 13bn deal of jets to Turkey “to shore up the south eastern front”. From the Obama drone strikes on Afghan weddings, to the Trump bombings of fishing boats off the coast of Colombia and Venezuela. From Palantir to “Lavender” and “Where’s Daddy”. From the War On Drugs to the War On Terror and back again and forever. From war to war. From the underdevelopment enforced on Haiti, to the sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba. From the extraction of resources by gun and by boot, to the imposed collapse by IMF agreements. The 132 murdered in Rio in a single raid, the hundreds of Palestinians that Israel murders every day, the thousands murdered in el-Fasher in 24 hours by UAE backed RSF, the tens of thousands murdered every year. The purpose of the system is what it does. This is the democracy they told you about, this is their global rules based order. It is one system diffuse across the world. It is one struggle.

There is a psychic poison, self administered, in the age of living light. It seeped from the plasma of dark prophets, whose allegiance to themselves wrought the only gospel. The scripture of machines, chanted across cybernetic borders by bots and human alike. A collective unravelling at the behest of charlatans who hoard the decay. The great unwashed drown, while the unclean pretend purity. They sit on a throne of the backs of the unwell. A citadel of eyes fixed on you and the hum and buzz of their greatness and desire for computer sex. They promise paradise on fire, a planet burnt to escape the one they torch, and vow your dreams are grafted to their hubris.