Hawaiian musician Makana, speaking about his act of protest at the APEC gala dinner with heads of state this weekend in Honolulu. We turn now to a fuller version of Makana’s song, “We are the Many.”
MAKANA: [singing] Ye come here, gather ’round the stage
The time has come for us to voice our rage
Against the ones who’ve trapped us in a cage
To steal from us the value of our wage
From underneath the vestiture of law
The lobbyists at Washington do gnaw
At liberty, the bureaucrats guffaw
And until they are purged, we won’t withdraw
We’ll occupy the streets
We’ll occupy the courts
We’ll occupy the offices of you
’Til you do
The bidding of the many, not the few
Our nation was built upon the right
Of every person to improve their plight
But laws of this republic they rewrite
And now a few own everything in sight
They own it free of liability
They own, but they are not like you and me
Their influence dictates legality
And until they are stopped we are not free
We’ll occupy the streets
We’ll occupy the courts
We’ll occupy the offices of you
’Til you do
The bidding of the many, not the few
You enforce your monopolies with guns
While sacrificing our daughters and sons
But certain things belong to everyone
Your thievery has left the people none
So take heed of our notice to redress
We have little to lose, we must confess
Your empty words do leave us unimpressed
A growing number join us in protest
We occupy the streets
We occupy the courts
We occupy the offices of you
’Til you do
The bidding of the many, not the few
You can’t divide us into sides
And from our gaze, you cannot hide
Denial serves to amplify
And our allegiance you can’t buy
Our government is not for sale
The banks do not deserve a bail
We will not reward those who fail
We will not move till we prevail
We’ll occupy the streets
We’ll occupy the courts
We’ll occupy the offices of you
’Til you do
The bidding of the many, not the few.http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/14/occupy_honolulu_hawaiian_musician_makana_performs
This is the coolest shit ever. I salute this guy, it is a brave and inspiring direct action to sing a protest song that cuts to deep into the real deal like his song… and he sang it to Obama and Hu Jintao and all these other uber-1% types for 45 minutes. I’m sure he’s put his career on the line, and I respect that as just another working guy who’s out there with the rest of the 99% including the marginalized “homeless” and everybody else who’s been victimized over the last few centuries by colonialism.