HAPPINESS AS DEFIANCE - A MANIFESTO Otep
Jan 20, 2012
"The past, present, and future belongs to those still willing to get their hands dirty." What do you believe in, America?
BY OTEP SHAMAYA
You wake up with a knife at your throat. A gun in your mouth. A necktie noose draped over your face hitched to the bed. You paw at the knot to loosen the grip but your fists are full of pills. You try to stand but you are chained to the floor. The icy tides of a rushing current rise above your neck.
The world is on fire.
The sky is falling.
We are doomed.
The crusted black punctures where your eyes once soaked in the world now absorb nothing. Here in the lawless dark, the weight of reality and its immensity and density of pain, injustice, and fear press the breath from the lung of your ever-shrinking spirit.
A pile of unpaid bills. Empty cupboards and empty pockets. Questions but no answers. Hazy dreams drifting away.
Desperate times, desperate souls. 10 years of post traumatic stress in the New World Order. 10 years of rebuilding and reinventing who and what we are. 10 years of waiting for the next disaster, the next great wave of tragedy to surge over the shore and take us all to the murky bottom. Clawing for light, sucking inky sludge into the pink tissue of our screaming lungs. 10 years of war. 10 years being overlooked, overworked, over taxed, and overwhelmed. 10 years of Bush fatigue. 10 years losing our way. 10 years hoping our elected officials would fix the breech and right our course.
10 years of disappointment and heartbreak.
September 11 still soars and detonates over our collective memory in 10-second media clips disguised as nightmares. Every day we wake crucified to a new reality, each nail represents a contradiction, ideas hammered into us with such force we feel helpless to escape them.
The poor are freeloaders.
Corporations are people.
Kill for peace.
This is America. You've earned it.
Indeed we have. Leveraging this for that, sucked it up and sucked it in, carried the load & saluted the flag. Meanwhile, the Greedy Elite sat in the shade, soaked in treasure baths, and painted Patriotism on every item imported from China.
Out of work, out of hope, we silently comply with the insane and inane decisions of a broken political system lathered in gold leaf.
We are the children lost in the amnesia of heaven.
We are the wandering tribes of the American dream.
We are kindling crackling in the fire.
We are the 99%.
The rich get richer and the poor eat shit and die in the debris. A feast for the flies and bloodsuckers.
This is America. You paid for it.
A nation of toadies, cronies and thugs of Corporate Kings and their shadow empires. Work, Buy, Consume, Die. Results are guaranteed, 60% of the time. A half-life warranty for platinum members only. Side effects include subjugation and greed.
And we, the 99%, have had enough.
Life is too short and too valuable to squander another fraction of a moment feeling helpless. Life is nothing but time. Each moment we waste suffocating on emotional paralysis ignited by the lies and injustice moralized by the Greedy Elite is a moment that should be used to enjoy every precious second of life we have left and to fight for what's ours.
They benefit from our paralysis.
Remember that when they say there's nothing to do, nothing to be done, or that can be done. That nothing changes.
When they point their crooked fingers in your face and bellow that you cannot directly create change, you remember that renegades built this nation. Dreamers and believers that rebelled against an empire of gluttony and inequality carved out this country. That it was the indignant minority who changed the face of America and who are still fighting for equality and justice for all.
You remember this is the spirit of who and what we are.
We do not quit.
We do not sit idly by.
We fight.
It has been said that the past, present, and future belongs to those still willing to get their hands dirty and I believe it. Those that know how to take advantage have and are exercising their opportunistic insurgency every moment of every day. So be it. Do we blame the fox for catching the field mouse? The vulture for picking the meat from carious bone? No. It is their nature.
And likewise it is our nature to stand up when we see injustice, to speak out when the walls close in, to strike back with righteous indignation when they come to take our liberty away.
But we must refuse to sink. We must let joy carbonate our hearts. We must let our passion burn the chains of apathy away! We are alive. We have all that we need. And we can make a difference. Together. We can bring about change. And that's exactly what they are afraid of.
We can outsmart the fox, we can frighten the vultures away, we can reclaim our nation from the culture of corruption that has infected our society.
The first step is to exhale and remember just how powerful we are. The second is to inhale and feel the strength of life invigorate our senses. Then, follow your heart, follow your instincts, bring your dreams to life, and be ready to fight for them.
This is America. We've earned it.
You wake up with a smile on your face. A song in your heart. A wildfire passion burning within you.
We are the dreamers.
We are the believers.
We are the guts and glory of America.
We are the 99%.
Read OTEP frontwoman Otep Shamaya's Blurt blog, "Battle Ready."
blog comments powered by Disqus
More Photos
