sábado, 15 de noviembre de 2025

Prime Minister of the Joy Division - Story 04 - "AUSSIE FLASH STORIES" Book by Daniel Gutiérrez Híjar

 

A fourteen-year-old Jewish girl is kidnapped by a Nazi commando and sent to a concentration camp. Shortly after, she is transferred to an area reserved for the soldiers' pleasure, a “Joy Division”. This is the beginning of the “House of Dolls”, written by the Polish Holocaust survivor Yehiel De-Nur, who based it on the notes of a real and heartbreaking diary from the time, as well as his own grim experiences, to craft this cult novel.

The members of Warsaw, an English punk band, wish to distinguish themselves from another band using the same name in the London scene. So, they decide to adopt the name “Joy Division”, a name that kept resonating in their heads since they read it in the novel “House of Dolls”. Besides sounding good, the name provided an opportunity for reflection on the atrocities humans are capable of.

The Prime Minister wants to get comfortable while flying back home. He's had about three intense days of negotiations with the President of the United States and has achieved agreements he is sure will benefit the economy of the country he leads. He has been in the air for nearly a day on board an Australian Royal Air Force Airbus. He is fed up with the jacket, shirt, and tie.

A polo shirt will suit him well. He had asked his wife, whom he trusts completely, to put a couple of light polo shirts in his carry-on bag. And she didn't fail him. Unfortunately, they are logoed polos, but they are from two of his favourite bands: Joy Division and Jane's Addiction. As Prime Minister, he must not show favouritism to any brand, product, or band. But no way. He's already sick of the jacket, shirt, and tie. So, which polo will he wear? At that moment, he feels rebellious and introspective. The decision is simple.

He chooses the Joy Division one. Does the Prime Minister know the story behind the name of that band? Does he know that it was the name of an area in Nazi concentration camps where Jewish women were forced to be sexual slaves to soldiers? Yes, he knows.

Reclining on the presidential sofa, he weighs the decision to show off, descending the stairs of the plane wearing the Joy Division polo when, at that moment, the Jewish Australian community faces a rise in anti-Semitism.

His face reflects the firmness of his decision: he will show off the polo of the English band because Australians, and the world in general, must learn to differentiate between art, protest, and the apology of terror.


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