Amplify the voices
that rarely get a hearing
Power up the megaphone
and drown out the jeering
Amplify and magnify
the voices that are hampered by
calcifying attitudes and
patronising platitudes
Amplify the organisers
building solidarity,
Alternatives to narratives
of pity and of charity
Amplify those battling
in fights for liberation,
for self-determination,
Who won’t settle for a homegrown
tyrant for their nation,
Who want to rise up with their class
and not above their station
Oppositionists in countries where
it’s dangerous to oppose,
Those who go to places where
the camera never goes
The minorities within minorities
on the margin of the margin,
Ignored by the authorities,
nobody’s priorities,
whose voice deserves enlarging
The outsiders, the outriders,
the swim-against-the-tiders,
Who don’t do
what they’re expected to
Provide them with the audience
that others have neglected to
Amplify the women
who refuse to be veiled
Amplify the people whom
the justice system failed
The unjustly jailed,
the wrongly caged,
the low- and unwaged,
the under-aged, the teenaged,
the disengaged,
The sages without stages,
the rebels with a cause,
the mocked and locked jaws
Amplify the activists
whose activism freed us
Turn down the dial on
the self-appointed leaders
Bring the rank and file
to the top of the pile
The workers on the frontline
not the bosses in head offices
Protesters, speakers,
signers, strikers
Spoken worders and
open mic’ers
Those backed into a corner
and frightened to speak
The courage grower, whistle blower,
corruption shower, leak
The dissenter, the power denter,
abuse preventer, representer
Give them talking time and columns
Turn up the volume
Share them, retweet them,
don’t let silence defeat them
Host them and heighten them,
invite them, write about them
Defend them and publish them
Don’t let others rubbish them
Louden them, stop crowding them
Be proud of them
Clarify and satisfy
Give a platform not an alibi
Multiply and magnify
Ratify and amplify
Let this be your battle cry
Amplify
