XV Testimony
On witness, distance, and position
I was born
into a system
where obedience
preceded truth.
Where silence
often outweighed
expression.
I did not study it
from the outside.
I grew up
within its rules,
its fears,
its rewards.
What I write
is not journalism.
It is not theory.
It is testimony,
shaped by distance.
Many still see it
as opportunity.
I once did.
But opportunity
inside a political system
is never neutral.
It carries conditions.
Here,
I write
from within those conditions
as they were lived:
how power enters
daily life,
how discretion
becomes necessary,
how memory
and public speech
diverge,
and why,
for some,
leaving becomes
a form of independence.
I do not write
to persuade.
I write
to clarify.
This is not a story
about a country.
It is a position
within a system.