What would you say if I said
they left thirty-four dead?
Say: I haven't got an answer
why we shoot one another.
They promised us freedom,
they promised us grace.
All we got was a reason
to repeat past mistakes.
A sister lost a brother, and a mother lost a son.
Marikana, please remember how your metal's won.
Children lost a father, further down the road.
Father please forgive us, we know not what is owed.
I didn't feel the deadweight
but I heard the noise made.
I didn't feel the dirt-road
but I saw how the blood stains.
It's written on the headlines,
repeated: "Hold your fire"
I didn't hear the outcry -- did you even feel it pass you by?
The miners dug the same ground
upon which dead they were later found.
The gunman shot the rattle rounds
Count the shells on the same ground.
Today we saw the outcome
of fear being outrun.
Tomorrow we'll realise, and history will criticize.
After Nelson I remember,
before, I can't recall.
But if it was anything like this
I'd rather never been born.
they left thirty-four dead?
Say: I haven't got an answer
why we shoot one another.
They promised us freedom,
they promised us grace.
All we got was a reason
to repeat past mistakes.
A sister lost a brother, and a mother lost a son.
Marikana, please remember how your metal's won.
Children lost a father, further down the road.
Father please forgive us, we know not what is owed.
I didn't feel the deadweight
but I heard the noise made.
I didn't feel the dirt-road
but I saw how the blood stains.
It's written on the headlines,
repeated: "Hold your fire"
I didn't hear the outcry -- did you even feel it pass you by?
The miners dug the same ground
upon which dead they were later found.
The gunman shot the rattle rounds
Count the shells on the same ground.
Today we saw the outcome
of fear being outrun.
Tomorrow we'll realise, and history will criticize.
After Nelson I remember,
before, I can't recall.
But if it was anything like this
I'd rather never been born.
Contributed by Dead End - 2012/9/7 - 11:25
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Una canzone scritta 24 ore dopo la strage di Marikana, Sudafrica, dove il 16 agosto scorso la polizia del presidente Zuma (membro del Partito comunista sudafricano, leader dell’African National Congress insieme a Nelson Mandela, imprigionato ed esiliato negli anni dell’apartheid) ha sparato sui minatori in sciopero uccidendone 34 e ferendone 78.
E’ per questo che Nelson Mandela ha passato quasi 30 anni nelle prigioni dei bianchi segregazionisti?
E’ per questo che Biko e altre migliaia di neri sudafricani hanno lottato e sono morti per la libertà?