You Must Not Sleep! – Arnulf Øverland

From Boktips.

“Arnulf Øverland (1889  1968) was a Norwegian author, poet, and nationalist. “Du må ikke sove” (You Must Not Sleep) was published in 1937, and is seen as a warning against Nazism and what was to come.

During the war, Øverland wrote several famous resistance poems, and was imprisoned in Møllergata 19, Grini and Sachsenhausen. He survived all three, and after the war became involved in the Norwegian language struggle as chairman of the Riksmålsforbundet (“The Riksmaal Society – The Society for the Preservation of Traditional Standard Norwegian”).”

We should be paying attention to what is happening in America today, instead of sleeping. This is reminiscent of Ben Franklin’s warning, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

Original Norwegian and English translation side-by-side

The Old Wolf has nothing more to say, Øverland has said it all.

Another Declaration of Independence

This one from Andy Borowitz at the Borowitz Report:

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to break from a leader who governs with cruelty, contempt, and corruption, a decent respect to the opinions of humankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all people are created equal, endowed with inherent dignity and unalienable rights—among these are life, liberty, equality, and the pursuit of justice.

That to secure these rights, governments derive their power from the consent of the governed. When a leader becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right and duty of the people to refuse allegiance and to stand united in the defense of their freedoms.

The current holder of high office has shown himself to be unfit to lead a free and just society.

* He disrespects women, mocking survivors of violence and stripping away their rights.

* He fuels racism and white supremacy, scapegoating communities of color and denying their equality.

* He assaults free speech, attacking the press, punishing dissent, and spreading disinformation.

* He exploits public office for private gain, enriching himself and the billionaire class while abandoning the poor and working people.

* He undermines justice, ignores the rule of law, and places himself above accountability.

* He disregards science, endangering lives in times of crisis and sacrificing the planet for profit.

* He fans division and incites violence to maintain power, wielding fear as a weapon against the people.

Time and again, we have protested peacefully, spoken truthfully, and appealed to our shared humanity. We have been met with indifference, hostility, and violence. A leader who governs through hatred and greed is unfit to govern at all.

Therefore, we, the people of conscience and conviction, do solemnly declare our independence from this tyrant and all he represents.

We withdraw our consent.

We refuse to be complicit in cruelty.

We reject the abuse of power for personal gain.

We stand for dignity, truth, equality, and justice for all people.

With firm reliance on each other and unwavering hope in our collective strength,

We pledge to resist oppression in all its forms,

To uphold the rights of the vulnerable,

And to build a future grounded in compassion, courage, and shared humanity.

Let this declaration be both a breaking and a beginning.

The Declaration of Resistance

Found at Closer to the Edge on Substack. Worth reading, worth remembering, worth sharing.

SECTION I: THE PREAMBLE

When in the course of human events, a government abandons its duty and weaponizes its power against the people it was meant to serve, it becomes the right, and the obligation, of the people to resist.

We are not radicals. We are not extremists. We are not ungrateful.

We are citizens who have watched our leaders celebrate the suffering of others, legislate away human dignity, and laugh as they strip healthcare from the sick and food from the hungry. We have waited. We have hoped. We have pleaded for decency.

But the government of the United States, as it now stands under President Donald J. Trump, no longer serves the public good.

It does not preserve life—it endangers it.

It does not secure liberty—it undermines it.

It does not promote happiness—it enshrines cruelty.

This is not the product of incompetence. It is intentional.
He governs with malice. He legislates with vengeance. He drapes himself in flags and lies and calls it patriotism, while millions bleed beneath the weight of his policies.

We do not rise today to tear this country down.

We rise to tear it back from those who have hijacked it.

We rise not in rebellion against America, but in defense of its soul.

Read the remainder at Closer to the Edge, and do all you can to resist the fascism of this illegitimate administration.

The Old Wolf has spoken.