Valerie Depriest, 'Borderlines'

[duathir.livejournal.com]

Borderlines

I'm hearing how business is tough in America
And they say the union's out of hand.
But I read in the news today about the latest threat to my pay
This is one thing I must understand.
They're telling us that they cannot afford our wage
As they turn their greedy eyes on distant shores.

As patrols guard the borderlines and I'm standing in a picket line
Corporate boardroom plans are formed to move my plant to Ecuador
Where for fifty cents a day, a worker slaves her life away
And then they tell me she's my enemy.

At first I did not have the time to trouble myself with the world
And it all seemed so very far away.
But now I'm in a worried mood, 'cause hands need work and kids need food
And I just got laid off today.
They're telling us that it is just good business
As foreign sweat spells profit like disease

As patrols guard the borderlines and I'm standing in an unemployment line
While in the Philippines, a mind grows numb from sewing seams
Guatemalan hills of cash; a coffee picker's skull is smashed
And then they tell me he's my enemy.

Now I am finally putting it all together;
Borderlines won't score my loyalty.
They don't care who is the drone; hands of yellow, black, or brown.
Profit is their only deity.
As corporate hands of power reach around the world,
They'll strangle any weak neck they can find.

From the diamond mines of Africa to the fields of El Salvador,
From the sweatshops down in Mexico to the wire slots in Tokyo,
Sweat is sweat and blood is blood, and one day soon the time must come
We'll stand and face our common enemy.

by Valerie Depriest

http://youtu.be/w2ACSjVacd8