Bilingual ode to those working against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Inspired by folks in Mexico, already victimized by NAFTA – and now this.
You may remember NAFTA
Enemigo del maiz
The Trans-Pacific Partnership
Won’t make us mas feliz
Attacking labor standards
Food safety and health care rights
You may say I’m no redeemer
But I’ve seen this all before
If we all work together
Dictadura corporativa will be no more
The TPP will trick you
Esta no olvides
This global bankers’ wet dream
Es NAFTA en esteroides
Local laws suspended
Environment, who cares?
You may say I’m a screamer
But before these guys are done
They’ll give our world to Wall Street
Agroindustria will have won
Trust the transnacionales
They have your back for sure
For healthy food and families
Monsanto is the cure
Imagine all the countries
Obeying Uncle Sam
You may say they’re all schemers
Hope they’re not the only ones
I hope today we’ll all join up
For the good of daughters and of sons
Imagine trade agreements
Good for earth, water, and air
Instead of corporate bullying
An economy that’s fair
Imagine all the people
With good food y buena salud
You may say es imposible
Corporations own the earth
But if we work together
Un mundo justo will be in birth
You Don’t Own the World
A simple singalong sums up the state of the “sale of our state” situation.
They stole 11 trillion and no one went to jail
We’re not gonna sit around and wait for them to go to hail
If we work together there’s a chance we will prevail
So everybody stand and shout, “My country’s not for sale.”
My country’s not for sale, not for sale
My country’s not for sale, not for sale
My country’s not for sale, not for sale
You crooks are going to jail! (or hail!)
They run amok all in Iraq
Around the world they still attack
We cannot make them take it back
But we can give them all the sack
If we work together we can overturn this claque
They’re worse than meth and crack
Get your Gucci bags and pack
Get your Gucci bags and pack, you hack
Get your Gucci bags and pack, like Freddie Mac
Get your Gucci bags and pack, don’t slack
You crooks are going to jail (or hail)
They make us buy with our tax checks
Their military industrial plex
We’ll all become their drone objects
It feels like really awful sex
If we work together we can all be King and Malcolm X
So everybody stand and shout
No, you don’t own the world!
NO, you don’t own the world! Don’t be obtuse!
NO, you don’t own the world! Turn it loose!
NO, you don’t own the world! Owning a world is world abuse!
NO, you don’t own the world!
Foreclosed Nation Row
Wild Bill croons his impatience with your impatience with imperial meltdown.
They’re selling stories of the meltdown
The Titanic sails at dawn
The halls of Congress are filled with lobbyists
The curtains are all drawn
Here comes the finance commissioner
They’ve got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the wall street broker
The other is in your pants
& Obama, disguised as Robin Hood
With his friends too big to fail
Signed a bill an hour ago
To keep them out of jail
You would not think to look at him
That he was liberal long ago
Now he’s playing with the 1%
On foreclosed nation row
The empire we’ve never had
Is steeply in decline
We have to rearrange the districts
In case the Democrats get a spine
Our demographics are collapsing
soon there’ll be more Salma Hayaks
than Matt Damons
we’re gonna have to merge with china
or maybe just the Caymans
And the only job that’s left
After the corporations go
Is Bain and company sweeping up
On outsourced nation row
Yes, I received your email yesterday
About the day the system broke
When you asked me if I would fix it
Was that some kind of joke?
All these bankers that you mention
Yes, I know them, they’ve got game
They had to rearrange their portfolios
To avoid your lawsuit claim
Right now the country don’t look too good
Don’t send me no more petitions no
Not unless you mail them
from
Destroyed Nation Row …dot com
Always Low Prices
Not much has changed from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire 100 years ago to the catastrophe/mass murder in the Smart Export Garments factory in Bangladesh. They just move the most exploitative jobs around the globe. At the center, or forward edge, of this demonic regime is our old friend Wal-mart.
In the clothing factory in Bangladesh
They locked the doors, no fire escape
They told the workers to remain
At their machines despite the flames
120 workers died
the factory owners hemmed and lied
they paid the workers 20 cents
Don’t know how they pay their rents
Just like 100 years before
When immigrant women made the clothes we wore
Shirtwaist factory fire vaporized the shop floor
These conditions are illegal now and here
So they outsource suffering to some other hemisphere
You’ll find Walmart’s flag unfurled
Where you find the cheapest labor in the world
Christmas gifts made by Asian elves
Sent to the planet’s most enormous shelves
Yes there’s always low prices at Walmart
Always low prices at Walmart
Somebody said
If you don’t like it go work at a different store
Seems he forgot his history and a whole lot more
Like the weekend and the eight-hour day fights
Forgot or never learned about workers’ rights
Seems he forgot most of the story
Guess that’s why he loves his faded glory
Forgot about the women’s vote
And many other victories of some note
These conditions are illegal now and here
So they outsource suffering to some other hemisphere
You’ll find Walmart’s flag unfurled
Where you find the cheapest labor in the world
Christmas gifts made by Asian elves
Sent to the planet’s most enormous shelves
Yes there’s always low prices at Walmart
Always low prices at Walmart
You would never want to see the faces
of those in desperate need of pay raises
Meanwhile you cheaply fill your shopping cart
Always low prices at Walmart
You would never want to see the broken lives,
broken bodies, broken hearts
There’s always low prices at Walmart
And while we’re speaking of things inappropriate
They’re workers, not associates
One of the reasons for low prices at Walmart
Now the checkout lady prays
For food stamps to augment her wage
Employed workers on the dole
A 21st century retail dust bowl
These conditions are legal now and here
No need to outsource suffering to some other hemisphere
You’ll find Walmart’s flag unfurled
Where you find the cheapest labor in the world
Christmas gifts made by Asian elves
Sent to the planet’s most enormous shelves
Yes there’s always low prices at Walmart
Always low prices at Walmart
You’ll find Walmart’s flag unfurled
Where you find the cheapest labor in the world
Get a Drone
Wild Bill has the perfect defense against civilians, casualized soldiers, immigrants, and other unforeseen byproducts of his policies.
(from Kevin Cahalan, New Orleans. Rewrite, DL)
If dead soldiers make you queasy, GET A DRONE!!
If the people are uneasy GET A DRONE!!
If you want a war more breezy,
From New York to Tbilisi,
Simply spray it with Febreze, GET A DRONE!!
If they’re occupying Wall Street, GET A DRONE!!
And the public’s getting cold feet, GET A DRONE!!
Cut through reinforced concrete
Turn civilians to dead meat
Go on, give yourself a treat, GET A DRONE!!
When you haven’t got a friend, GET A DRONE!!
And your wars are all dead-end, GET A DRONE!!
You can always still pretend
That it’s freedom you defend,
While you spend, and spend, and spend, so GET A DRONE!!
If you fear negotiation, GET A DRONE!!
If you trust no other nation, GET A DRONE!!
Is there too much immigration
Is the situation Haitian
To your Vegas battle station, GET A DRONE!!
Gaza’s Ark
The Gaza’s Ark group plans to help Gazans build a boat, ready for high seas, to help maintain boat-building skills and help break the blockade.
I’m gonna build a boat, I’m gonna sail the sea
I’m gonna break a blockade
I’m gonna say Let Gaza be
I’m gonna say Let Gaza be
You’ve gotta take a stand, You’ve gotta be a man
You’ve gotta be the woman who demands
Freedom on the land
Freedom on the land
I’m gonna light the dark
I’m gonna sit up and bark
I’m gonna build an ark
Gaza’s ark, Gaza’s ark
Gaza’s ark, Gaza’s ark
We’re gonna build it together
Cause we’re all birds of a feather
Work together in all weather
We’re gonna build it together
We’re gonna build it together
We’re gonna build it in Gaza
Palestinian shipbuilders in the plaza
Singin’ hazza hazza
Singin’ hazza hazza
We’re gonna ship some fish
Embroidery, and dates if you wish
Palestinian products that are so delish
Palestinian products that are so delish
I’m gonna build a boat, I’m gonna sail the sea
I’m gonna break a blockade
I’m gonna say Let Gaza be
I’m gonna say Let Gaza be
You’ve gotta take a stand
You’ve gotta be a man
You’ve gotta be the woman who demands
Freedom on the land
Freedom on the land…
Truthful Tuesday
Folks in South Carolina are mobilizing to protest the Republican outrages emanating from the state government. At issue are attacks on voting rights, education, Medicaid, etc. etc.
Whoa, where do you go when you want everyone to know
We’ll tell you tomorrow enough is enough
Lady Madonna Beatles
Hey Nikki Haley, education you shelve
Illegally low funding for K through 12
Funding for college, down 40%
Tuition through the roof, so much for food and rent
Gerrymandering without a true case
Vote suppression creeps in like a nun
But Tuesday’s wild, your party is a disgrace
We are not done
Monday, Monday Mamas & Papas
Truthful Tuesday, so good to me
Truthful Tuesday it was all I hoped it would be
Though Truthful Tuesday, Truthful Tuesday couldn’t guarantee
That Tuesday evenin’ South Carolina would be free
Every other, every other day
Legislature gets away with crime, yeah
But whenever Tuesday comes, but whenever Tuesday comes
You can find me mopping up all the slime
Blue Monday Fats Domino
Truthful Tuesday how I love Truthful Tuesday
Get to take back our state all day
Not like Monday, that no fun day
When they’re withholdin’ our Medicaid
On Wednesday, they cut what we need
We say enough is enough, we secede
‘Cause Thursday they raise what students pay
And Friday ALEC gets its way
Saturday mornin’, oh Saturday mornin’
All my health care has gone away
They got my money and my union, honey
And they’re buying’ elections every day
Sunday mornin’ I’m feelin’ bad
This is the worst government I’ve ever had
But I’ve got to get my rest
Cause Truthful Tuesday’s the best
Whoa, where do you go when you want everyone to know
We’ll tell you tomorrow enough is enough
I Don’t Go Into Stores
A post-consumerist fantasy. I never buy anything new – except the canoe cupholder.
I forage at their back doors
People throw out what I can’t live without
So why would I go into stores?
I’m never seen in banks
They offer me services I say no thanks
You’re serving yourself
Masquerading as a friend
I have no friends in banks, so no thanks
I’ve never bought anything new
Though warranty’s handy it’s true
There are nicks and scratches
On everything I own
I’ve destroyed the economy
But I will not atone
I mute all the ads on TV, it’s all leering
They really are something to see, without hearing
To allow them out loud would not be good child-rearing
Besides, I’m religious, you see, ad-fearing
Why would I go into,
I rarely even pass through
I wouldn’t stoop to
They mainly sell dog doo
So unless I need a kazoo
Or a cupholder for my canoe
Otherwise I’ll make do
I don’t go into stores
I forage at their back doors
People throw out what I can’t live without
So why would I go into stores?
I reject all those free credit cards
I scissor them into unuseable shards
I get them quite often
But I will not soften
They’re sent by the Waffen
So scissors it is…are.
No I don’t go through their doors
I don’t walk on their floors
I’d rather stay outdoors
And demonstrate against wars
Well all right, if I need new drawers
But otherwise no.
Why would I go into,
I rarely even pass through
I wouldn’t stoop to
They mainly sell dog doo
So unless I need a kazoo
Or a cupholder for my canoe
Otherwise I’ll make do
I don’t go into stores
I forage at their back doors
People throw out what I can’t live without
So why would I go into stores?