about
In September of 1999, the Bolivian government, coerced by the World Bank under conditions set as a result of structural adjustment programs to keep dire developmental aid flowing to the impoverished country, privatized its public water infrastructure which was subsequently bought behind a closed-door meeting to a sole bidder, the US’s fourth largest privately owned company, the civil engineering giant known as Bechtel. Rates were immediately and arbitrarily raised by 50%, a move symptomatic of countries whose governments are left impotent under international financial institutions’ hegemonic instruction and consequent corporate prerogatives. The history behind Bolivia’s inevitable exploitation by these giants, as well as the rest of Latin America, is situated in colonial and imperial relations that have intentionally stunted development in the attempt to create a docile appendage to operate at the behest of the core. Protests that ensued after these changes and the reactionary state’s response left a seventeen year old boy, Victor Hugo Daza, dead and myriad others injured. The cost of fascism is always paid for. Its currency is life.
lyrics
*****In September of 1999, the Bolivian government, coerced by the World Bank under conditions set as a result of structural adjustment programs to keep dire developmental aid flowing to the impoverished country, privatized its public water infrastructure which was subsequently bought behind a closed-door meeting to a sole bidder, the US’s fourth largest privately owned company, the civil engineering giant known as Bechtel. Rates were immediately and arbitrarily raised by 50%, a move symptomatic of countries whose governments are left impotent under international financial institutions’ hegemonic instruction and consequent corporate prerogatives. The history behind Bolivia’s inevitable exploitation by these giants, as well as the rest of Latin America, is situated in colonial and imperial relations that have intentionally stunted development in the attempt to create a docile appendage to operate at the behest of the core. Protests that ensued after these changes and the reactionary state’s response left a seventeen year old boy, Victor Hugo Daza, dead and myriad others injured. The cost of fascism is always paid for. Its currency is life.*****
Pray we won’t pay for the water we danced to make fall
All smiles are attempts at arresting assaults
This hemisphere’s on fire
120 million children in the eye of the hurricane
Work until you fall asleep
Graveyards for pastures of sheep
The will of this specter
Made loud by the cone of her recluse
Kiss it on the forehead
Turn on the lights and find nothing in this tomb
The aftermath of its legacy
Post-imperial, bankrupt peasantry
Until we reach the seventh sea
It’s fascist corporate hegemony
credits
from
Demo,
released October 30, 2015
license
all rights reserved
