When the Academy of Arts demanded freedom <br />Of artistic expression from narrow-minded bureaucrats <br />There was a howl and a clamour in its immediate vicinity <br />But roaring above everything <br />Came a deafening thunder of applause <br />From beyond the Sector boundary. <br />Freedom! it roared. Freedom for the artists! <br />Freedom all round! Freedom for all! <br />Freedom for the exploiters! Freedom for the warmongers! <br />Freedom for the Ruhr cartels! Freedom for Hitler's generals! <br />Softly, my dear fellows... <br />The Judas kiss for the artists follows <br />Hard on the Judas kiss for the workers. <br />The arsonist with his bottle of petrol <br />Sneaks up grinning to <br />The Academy of Arts. <br />But it was not to embrace him, just <br />To knock the bottle out of his dirty hand that <br />We asked for elbow room. <br />Even the narrowest minds <br />In which peace is harboured <br />Are more welcome to the arts than the art lover <br /> <br />Who is also a lover of the art of war.<br /><br />Bertolt Brecht<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/not-what-was-meant/
