Wednesday 23 September 2009

Chanting "This is what democracy looks like"



On BBC's Panorama programme about policing protests there was a brief scene showing someone chanting "This is what democracy looks like". A quick search reveals the lyrics to this song by Sara Marlow (published here). It reveals an attitude, a confrontation and a power struggle in a better way than I can express:

"Now we are raging on the front lines, 50 000 strong this time
We've got a world to win
Struggled our whole lives against this
It's the fight we wouldn't dream of missing
So get off your seat and hit the streets, it's time to begin

This is what democracy looks like
This is what democracy looks like

Now they hide behind their barricades, uniforms and pepper spray
We know we got them scared
They hide behind the walls they made, but no fence can keep away our anger
And by any means we're going to make them hear us today

This is what democracy looks like
We're going to show them what democracy feels like

If you'd open up your eyes, you'd see why we're fighting
But you hide behind your lies, we're going to have to make you listen
Now IMF and WTO, you're going to see us everywhere you go
This is a promise we've made
SAPs and FTAA, we're not going to live that way
You can **** your fence, your tear gas and your pepper spray
Cause they're not what democracy looks like

We're going to show you what democracy looks like
If you'd open up your eyes, you'd see why we're fighting
But you hide behind your lies, we're going to have to make you listen
Now we're energised, electrified, found our power sis-by-side
So-so-solidarite dans la rue
Turtle kids and working class, together we can kick their asses
When we're fighting unified, there's no way we can lose

This is what democracy looks like
This is what democracy feels like

We're going to show them what democracy looks like
This is what democracy feels like"

This is what democracy looks like?
There's got to be a better way
Let's get Interactive Democracy today!

You can visit Sara Marlow's site here.

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