Social Waste - "Blood"
الدم المقدس تحديد الحياة الموت رمز للحرية
I run warm inside your body, I'm the reason you're alive When they impose law and order, I'm a witness every time I'm the fallback to repression when the pretty words fall short I'm the puddle that surrounded Giuliani's lifeless corpse
I mar the face of a young child who roams the Gaza Strip And searches for his parents under rubble, dirt, and grit I'm in the oath sworn proudly by bright-eyed and doomed youths Like mud I stick under the soles of rival soldiers' boots
I spill on concrete every day that workers risk their life An uninsured deliveryman ritually sacrificed I am the cost of freedom for as long the struggle lasts I am the sweat of landless serfs from centuries long past
I am society's shocked gasp before the outrage swells I'm on the knife of "love" that strikes to ward off other men Poets have sung my praises, entranced they were by me They said that I'm what waters the tree of liberty
Sacred blood, the definition of life Death, the symbol of freedom
If the goal is to spread terror, then your mere sight is enough You are the favourite colour of gendarmes and riot cops Photographers want you in frame to nail their perfect shots Reporters chase you just to boost the ratings of their shows
Your smell has seeped into the earth in all of Palestine Your taste is in the mouth of those who promise peace and lie You coat the hands of soldiers who lob grenades and think They'll be their country's saviour if they can fight and kill
In accidents at building sites, you are the workman's wages You stain the road as you drip from an aging courier's head All to increase the profits of trust fund nepo babies Who seem to just enjoy the show, not caring how it'll end
And every now and then you paint a man's knife red Who ambushed his own girlfriend in front of her own house A man who claimed to love her but only loved to hate her And all the cops could say was – "Uh, a police car is not a cab" [*]
I am the nightmare that wakes you in the middle of the night I am your dream of Freedom, a ship sailing in song
I am your fear and terror from the bombing I am your hoarse throat I am your hope from the depths of the earth I am the resilience of the sea and the sky Your wrath and fury for Justice
I am the revolution against corrupt and fascist regimes My heart is rooted in the mother of humanity Their riches mean nothing to me I walk barefoot And remain conscious With my rifle on my shoulder
Our victory, watered by the blood of martyrs I am a number I am a word in the daily papers I am every sunrise And every full moon night
The hope and the dream The promise in the eyes of every child in Gaza Martyrs and newborns Oh, world! The times will turn And it's time for every exile to come home!
[*] These lines refer to a recent case where a woman in Athens went to the police and said her boyfriend was stalking her and threatening her. She said she was afraid to go home, that he would ambush her, he would harm her. The cops said there's absolutely nothing they can do if she doesn't sue, which she didn't want to do at that time. She asked them to at least escort her back home, which prompted the line "a police car is not a cab". So she left, took two steps out of the police station, and the boyfriend, who was lying in wait, emerged and stabbed her to death, right in front of the guard and the police station's security cameras. I don't know which fucker invented the phrase "serve and protect", but that's NOT the mandate of the police in any country.
Original lyrics (Arabic and Greek) after the cut. And here's the superb cover art of the album Rebelde:
