What do you think?
Rate this book
Passaport
Valid for all peoples, and for all landscapes. For all citizens and villagers of flesh and blood, wherever they were born. Your worth is not proportional to the population of your country. Entry free of duty, no need for a stamp or visa, the doors are unscrewed from the jambs.
Launched in Malta in December 2009, and subsequently in a long list of European and Asian cities, Passport is a poem of humanity, an open song of eroticism and friendship, yet at the same time, a lullaby for a long list of human rights crushed by the consequences of the discriminatory migratory policy of several governments. It is the lament of thousands of brothers and sisters, of flesh and blood, ever more frequently forced to suffer the absurdities and atrocities brought about by the static notion of nation state.
An anti-passport, valid for all peoples and for all landscapes. A declaration of universal citizenship, the vision of a world where the fear of barriers and frontiers has long been overcome. A world without customs and checkpoints, without border police out to snatch away the dawn, without the need for forms, documents, or biometric data... A world without the need to cross the desert barefoot, nor to float off on a raft, on an itinerary of hope all too quickly struck out by the realities of blackmail and exploitation.
The modulating verses of the poem, the alliteration and anaphora, give force to a voice looking to quicken the planetary conscience of the listener.
Profits from the sale of the Passport are donated to local NGOs that provide legal and linguistic assistance to refugees and asylum seekers.
Launched in Malta in December 2009, and subsequently in a long list of European and Asian cities, Passport is a poem of humanity, an open song of eroticism and friendship, yet at the same time, a lullaby for a long list of human rights crushed by the consequences of the discriminatory migratory policy of several governments. It is the lament of thousands of brothers and sisters, of flesh and blood, ever more frequently forced to suffer the absurdities and atrocities brought about by the static notion of nation state.
An anti-passport, valid for all peoples and for all landscapes. A declaration of universal citizenship, the vision of a world where the fear of barriers and frontiers has long been overcome. A world without customs and checkpoints, without border police out to snatch away the dawn, without the need for forms, documents, or biometric data... A world without the need to cross the desert barefoot, nor to float off on a raft, on an itinerary of hope all too quickly struck out by the realities of blackmail and exploitation.
The modulating verses of the poem, the alliteration and anaphora, give force to a voice looking to quicken the planetary conscience of the listener.
Profits from the sale of the Passport are donated to local NGOs that provide legal and linguistic assistance to refugees and asylum seekers.
- GenresPoetry
20 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
18 people want to read
About the author
Antoine Cassar
11 books22 followersBorn in London to Maltese parents in 1978, Antoine Cassar grew up between England, Malta and Spain, and worked and studied in Italy, France and Luxembourg. In 2004, after a thirteen-year absence from the Maltese islands, he returned to Qrendi, the village of his family, to re-learn a language he had long forgotten.
A writer of Maltese, English and multilingual verse, in 2008 he represented Malta at the Puglia Biennale des Jeunes Créateurs de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée, and recited his poetry with Nabil Salameh of the Italo-Palestinian musical band Radiodervish. His book Mużajk, an exploration in multilingual verse (Ed. Skarta, 2008) was presented at the Leipzig Book Fair and at the poetry festivals of Copenhagen and Berlin.
In 2009, his composition Merħba, a poem of hospitality was awarded the United Planet Writing Prize. His Maltese poems have been translated into around twenty languages, including Spanish, French, Russian, Mandarin, Kannada and Japanese.
A writer of Maltese, English and multilingual verse, in 2008 he represented Malta at the Puglia Biennale des Jeunes Créateurs de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée, and recited his poetry with Nabil Salameh of the Italo-Palestinian musical band Radiodervish. His book Mużajk, an exploration in multilingual verse (Ed. Skarta, 2008) was presented at the Leipzig Book Fair and at the poetry festivals of Copenhagen and Berlin.
In 2009, his composition Merħba, a poem of hospitality was awarded the United Planet Writing Prize. His Maltese poems have been translated into around twenty languages, including Spanish, French, Russian, Mandarin, Kannada and Japanese.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 21, 2013
Passaport/Passport/Passeport
This is not so much a poetry book as a project, a challenge to conventional ideas on identity and national boundaries.
I have two passports – one with an Ocean blue cover is in English, the other coal black one is in Maltese and they are both passport sized. I’m not Maltese and I don’t speak the language but how wonderful to be given a passport that promises entry to somewhere different. I could easily present either of these passports on leaving or returning to the UK except that I’d probably get arrested for not having a ‘valid’ passport and yet on the back they say
“Valid for all peoples and all landscapes”
“Validu ghall-popli kollha, u ghal kull pajsagg”
“For all citizens and villages of flesh and blood wherever they were born”
Ghal kull cittadin jew rahli tad-demm u tal-laham, twieled fejn twieled.”
This passport reaches out to me and asks me to imagine
‘you can enter and leave without fear, there is no one to stop you.’
It comes from a world, a vision where there is
‘no need for an identity emblazoned with the eagle, the southern cross or the union jack….
no need to enrol in the British Nationality Selection Scheme, or to pass a Britishness exam.’
And if I’m not someone who could pass a Britishness exam and even though I was born here I’m not sure that I could this passport reminds me chillingly of what I might have to suffer, such as
‘spend eighteen months of your life trembling in the depths of a tent without permission to go out or to work.’
Everyone should have one of these passports and you can buy one or several from http://antoinecassar.wordpress.com/ or www.passport.info
This is not so much a poetry book as a project, a challenge to conventional ideas on identity and national boundaries.
I have two passports – one with an Ocean blue cover is in English, the other coal black one is in Maltese and they are both passport sized. I’m not Maltese and I don’t speak the language but how wonderful to be given a passport that promises entry to somewhere different. I could easily present either of these passports on leaving or returning to the UK except that I’d probably get arrested for not having a ‘valid’ passport and yet on the back they say
“Valid for all peoples and all landscapes”
“Validu ghall-popli kollha, u ghal kull pajsagg”
“For all citizens and villages of flesh and blood wherever they were born”
Ghal kull cittadin jew rahli tad-demm u tal-laham, twieled fejn twieled.”
This passport reaches out to me and asks me to imagine
‘you can enter and leave without fear, there is no one to stop you.’
It comes from a world, a vision where there is
‘no need for an identity emblazoned with the eagle, the southern cross or the union jack….
no need to enrol in the British Nationality Selection Scheme, or to pass a Britishness exam.’
And if I’m not someone who could pass a Britishness exam and even though I was born here I’m not sure that I could this passport reminds me chillingly of what I might have to suffer, such as
‘spend eighteen months of your life trembling in the depths of a tent without permission to go out or to work.’
Everyone should have one of these passports and you can buy one or several from http://antoinecassar.wordpress.com/ or www.passport.info
May 7, 2025
“ I threw my passport to the sea
I saw the ink run
The pages tear
But my face smiled for the first time”
I saw the ink run
The pages tear
But my face smiled for the first time”
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews