venerdì 25 aprile 2014

David Rovics canta la Palestina




Child, what will you remember
When you recall your sixteenth year
The horrid sound of helicopter gunships
The rumble of the tanks as they drew near
As the world went about it's business
And I burned another tank of gasoline
The Dow Jones lost a couple points that day
While you were crying in the City of Jenin

Did they even give your parents warning
Before they blew the windows out with shells
While you hid inside the high school basement
Amidst the ringing of church bells
As you watched your teacher crumble by the doorway
And in England they were toasting to the Queen
You were so far from the thoughts of so many
Huddled in the City of Jenin

Were you thinking of the taunting of the soldiers
Or of the shit they smeared upon the walls
Were you thinking of your cousin after torture
Or Tel Aviv and it's glittering shopping malls
When the fat men in their mansions say that you don't want peace
Did you wonder what they mean
As you sat amidst the stench inside the darkness
In the shattered City of Jenin

What went through your mind on that day
At the site of your mother's vacant eyes
As she lay still among the rubble
Beneath the blue Middle Eastern skies
As you stood upon this bulldozed building
Beside the settlements and their hills so green
As your tears gave way to grim determination
Among the ruins of the City of Jenin

And why should anybody wonder
As you stepped on board
The crowded bus across the Green Line
And you reached inside your jacket for the cord
Were you thinking of your neighbors buried bodies
As you made the stage for this scene
As you set off the explosives that were strapped around your waist
Were you thinking of the City of Jenin
da qui



In 1948 they were driven out at the point of a machine gun 
Families fled in fear to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon 
They fled around the globe, firmly held in terror's grip 
And about a million refugees ended up in the tiny Gaza Strip 
In 1967 the IDF moved in 
And the refugees in Gaza became refugees again 
Settlers took their farmland, soldiers took the ports 
And the people were surrounded by military forts 

In 2007 they cut it off completely 
No access to the borders, no access to the sea 
The world began to see this unavoidable stamp 
The most crowded place on Earth was now a concentration camp 
Israeli jet fighters bombed Gaza from the air 
And they kept out the supplies needed to rebuild and repair 
They kept out the convoys of humanitarian aid 
Anemic children going hungry, crushed and burned in bombing raids 

From around the world good people tried 
To get across the border to the other side 
Almost all of them were turned away 
Deported back to Turkey, Jordan, France, the USA 
They were barred from ever coming back 
Adam and Huwaida decided on a different tack 
They loaded up a boat and managed to get through 
That's when activists in Istanbul decided what they had to do 

Armed with food and wheelchairs 
And prosthetic limbs for victims of the bombing raids to wear 
They packed cement by the ton 
They had a few kitchen knives but not a single gun 
They were determined to reach the bay 
To break the siege of Gaza and not be turned away 
As they left Turkish waters everybody wished them well 
As for what would happen, only the Apartheid state could tell 

All aboard the Mavi Marmara 
Sailing toward Goliath's kingdom armed with nothing but a stone 
Tell the children of Jerusalem you are not alone 

Seven hundred people on board this Turkish ferry 
They were sixty miles from the shore out in the open sea 
In international waters with no plans for turning back 
That's when Netanyahu told his soldiers to attack 
They came down from helicopters, fired guns from Zodiacs 
They shot some people in their heads and shot others in their backs 
The captain raised a white flag high into the air 
The soldiers kept on shooting beneath the floodlight's glare 

The soldiers kept on shooting, it was a free fire zone 
So many dead and wounded, just how many isn't known 
So many dead and wounded, blood flowing on the floor 
The soldiers kept on shooting sixty miles from the shore 
Medics tried to treat the wounded, all they could do was watch them bleed 
The soldiers wouldn't let them get the urgent help they need 
Masked troopers held their hostages, the Navy towed the ship 
Just for trying to sail to the Gaza Strip 

Chorus 

They took every laptop, every camera and cell phone 
This is what Goliath does to those who dare to throw a stone 
The ghost of the Exodus is shouting at the sky 
But Netanyahu isn't listening, he's just watching people die 
For days nobody knew just what happened on that boat 
Because everyone was held in jail and dead men do not float 
All the world will remember what happened on that night 
And to end the siege of Gaza more will go and join the fight 

Last Chorus: 

All aboard the Rachel Corrie 
Sailing toward Goliath's kingdom armed with nothing but a stone 
To tell the children of Jerusalem you are not alone 

All aboard the Mavi Marmara 
Sailing toward Goliath's kingdom armed with nothing but a stone 
To tell the children of Jerusalem you are not alone

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