We'll occupy the streets
We'll occupy the courts
We'll occupy the offices of you Till you do
The bidding of the many, not the few
We are the many
You are the few
Song Released 11.11.11 Vocals and Guitar: Makana
Makana's money is where his mouth is. Thus, he performed this song in Hawaii to President Obama, and other "world leaders," for an Asian-Pacific economic summit. What guts! All his albums are published with listener support, not under corporate control.
As I hear Makana sing, I think of psychiatrist and holocaust survivor Eric Fromm, who wrote Escape From Freedom. Yes, it is from freedom that we escape in order to have a sense of safety. Yet, that safety is false. Like cattle on a standardized farm, we are nothing but resources that can be slaughtered at the Masters' bidding at any time...for profit!
But, hey, all we have to do is go to the trough for food! Just like McDonald's beef jerky! Is it freedom that we deny for the sake of the ease of drive-up windows? Then there are those contemplatives such as Daniel Quinn and some Deep Ecologists who argue that our becoming domesticated led to a life of toil. Our ancestors, the hunters and gatherers, it is said, worked an average of four hours per day. Of course we could define storytelling, singing, drumming, chanting, and loose conversation as being labor.
And, singing, dancing and telling stories is labor, in the same sense that a woman labors giving birth. Our creativity, what we produce from within ourselves is our true labor.
But in our quest of a toiling slavery, we become like cattle for slaughter. Theirs are the corporate farms, feedlots, and slaughterhouses; ours are the factories, schools, and corporate offices. The idea that laborers, like livestock, are simultaneously a resource and a cost is exactly what we are to what Makana calls "The few." We are resources and liabilities to be accounted on their ledgers and manipulated for their profit.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
