Occupy yourself with this powerful video by Makana, a popular Hawaiian recording artist. At the APEC summit in Hawaii this past weekend Makana made a bold and courageous statement. He was enlisted to play a luau on Saturday night for leaders gathered in Obama’s birthplace, Honolulu, for the annual summit (the APEC countries are currently formulating plans for a Pacific free-trade pact). During the supper, Makana sang a marathon version of this song (40 minutes of it) with his jacket open to reveal a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Occupy With Aloha”. Makana told AFP:
“I was pretty nervous. In fact I was terrified. I kept thinking ‘what are the consequences going to be?‘ It was incredibly comical. I was terrified but also enjoying it.“
Makana said the song prompted awkward stares from a few of those present but the Obamas appeared too absorbed with their guests to notice what was happening.
Guests at the supper included Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, with an accompanying heavy security presence. As Makana sang, about 400 protesters including anti-globalization and native Hawaiian rights activists staged a protest march toward the dinner site but turned back after encountering the smothering security.
Inspired by the anti-capitalist movement that began with the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations in New York, the song denounces Washington politicians, corporate greed and what he sees as an unfair American economic system.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq3BYw4xjxE&feature=colike&mid=52&fb_source=message]
We Are The Many
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
Till 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
Till 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
Till 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
Till you do
The bidding of the many, not the few
We’ll occupy the streets
We’ll occupy the courts
We’ll occupy the offices of you
Till you do
The bidding of the many, not the few
We are the many
You are the few