- Negla Abdullah
Victim of the Passive World

This is Negla Abdullah at her best. Rounding off the year with a poem about the victims of popularism in a post truth world.
My fingers tightened,
My fist clenched tight,
My body ice cold,
My blood stopped running through my veins,
My organs shut down one by one ...
Leaving my heart...
Pumping
Pumping
Pumping
Pumping senseless words through my body
Idiotic ideologies pushed into my frontal lobe
Dangerous hate speech escaping my lips
But these were not my words
These were not my ideologies
That was not my speech
I became paralysed
A puppet to be played with
A brainless robot to join the oppressors
I am a victim to governments
I am a victim to the media
I am an enemy of humanity
Controlled by those who wanted power
Controlled by those who wanted to demonise the other
Controlled by those who wanted to own the world
I left the EU because I was told too
I turned my back on the atrocities taking place in the Muslim world because I was told too
I blamed everybody else because I was told too
Now, I write these words because I want too
Because my organs woke up
My blood started pumping
My fists unclenched
And my fingers loosened
At the cries of the innocent children piercing my ear lobes
At the sight of blood on my hands
At the feeling of fear and uncertainty that surrounds our future
At the taste of freedom slipping away
At the smell of a burning civilisation
I woke up to realise the nightmare was a living reality...
I decided I no longer wanted to be told
I wanted to be bold
And stand up and break out of the mould
It is time for the people to take control

Negla Abdalla is a spirited journalist, sharing her passion of tackling issues of a religious, political and societal nature through poetry.