Get a taste of the Occupy Wallstreet Movement, which differs in tone from the public face of the protests of the sixties and seventies. Of course they did have their Weather Underground, and other violent cells, but that did not dominate the fluffy green, pot-smoking, anti-war feeling of those gatherings.
The protests shared a certain lack of sanitation, and lack of focus on how to address the actual problems. Perhaps the milder pot, which was available ~40 years ago, made those protesters too mellow and lazy for the violence we see in today’s Occupy participants.
It’s interesting to see in this song the suggestion that a bloodbath of violence will somehow bring about a utopian world of mutual respect and equality. (It evokes Ahmadinejad’s idea that this is required to bring back the 12th Imam.)
The full lyrics by Joseph Arthur are below, with the blood and guts towards the end. If it is objectionable to repost the song lyrics, we can leave out everything except the violent part per ‘fair use’. Pharmer thought it would be more equitable to the author to post the whole thing.
“We Stand As One” -Joseph Arthur
We occupy wall street
Take back our soul
Take back our country
Take back control
Take back our health care
Take back our mind
Take back our freedom
Give up the grind
We occupy wall street
No more fear
No more acceptance
Of insanity’s sneer
No more division
No more restraint
Our canvas is freedom
Your blood is our paint
we stand as one
You who have robbed us
You who have lied
You who were greedy
While the needy ones died
You who believed
You were better than them
Who sat in the flower
Ignoring the stem
You who denied them
Doctors and care
Humanity’s basics
As if death were their share
You who denied
The struggles of most
Like a pig you consumed
And like a pig you will roast
we stand as one
We occupy wall street
The system has failed
As the innocent ones
Are beat down and jailed
The criminal minds
have stolen this land
By taking our freedom
And binding our hand
To the cuff of misfortune
To the cuff of our need
To the cuff of self pity
To the cuff of a seed
Lost in the desert
No chance to survive
No love to nurture
No water to thrive
we stand as one
A season of murder
The body and soul
Dreams being shattered
The damnation control
Give back our country
We come to defend
Our right to inspire
To love and befriend
Our right to be healthy
Our right to believe
In a country of equals
Of a chance to receive
A chance to develop
A chance to forgive
A chance to dignify
The way that we live
we stand as one
A chance education
A chance to secure
A place for our families
Our right to a cure
The disease is insane
The disease is just greed
The disease is your pain
Ignoring their need
The disease is your reason
Your will is unchecked
But the blood is all over
The lives you have wrecked
But blessed are the meek
For we stand as one
We stand against
The crimes you have done
we stand as one
We stand against
Your desire for more
Hear how we knock
Soon there won’t be a door
And what you won’t share
Will be ripped from your hands
Your body destroyed
The way fire lands
Burning your homes
The privilege you snake
The payback beyond
Anything you could take
Naked you’ll be
And full of regret
And the way they were treated
You’ll long to forget
we stand as one
You’ll wish you could go back
and undo whats been done
You’ll wish you were never
Insanity’s son
You’ll wish you were fair
You’ll wish for compassion
But it will be late
And long out of fashion
Strung up you’ll bleed
Like the pig you became
A symbol of hatred
And one with no name
And our country will come back
Belonging to us
Regain it’s spirit
Regain our trust
we stand as one
Regain it’s standing
Regain the world
The dream of our fathers
A new and bold world
Where people have chance
And can live with respect
And people can dance
Beyond their neglect
Where health is a right
And education within
The grasp of the poor
Who may still one day win
We occupy wall street
So that we may begin
To live in a country
Of freedom again.
we stand as one