Other alefernandez
Refugee Song

Song written around 9-11, when all european refugee and asylum practice including the then ruling New Labour refugee policy in the UK began mirroring US practice, with its detention centres, private security companies and overall, an empire-lite shock doctrine industry replacing what had once been more to do with grassroots solidarity before it had been progressively institutionalised. At the core of this new way of treating people both in war and in peace, was the idea that states, their citizens, and finally, the paperless and stateless, are all just something to be consumed in order of class by private contractors, and all people slowly become part of a prison complex divided into states and backed by corporate multinationals. But then, who am I blaming? We all came up with this reality together via multiple experiences of empire around the world in our collective past. It's just the latest development in a long chain of events, but we can see that the desert blues of the slaves, the children of exiles and the surviving instruments of forgotten prisoners deemed as fully colonised, can still sing out their anger and wish to turn this poison into medicine.

I was a refugee
Came here to stay
I found asylum in the union jack
Made me this way
Days when the world collapsed,
I stood and stared
The states have woken up
Took us to war.
Fuckin' immature.

It's not empires anymore: you don't have to fight back
Read a book and see: it's not about countries it's a whole wide world you're in.

Find me the courage to protest this war
Find me the money
My family's poorer now, since century 21
That is my worry.

I know I shouldn't be
Blaming you for this.
We've all been empires.
I'm just as wrong as you
But I want to show you my bad temper.

Soundcloud has no more space but if you are interested in refugee issues in the UK, I just uploaded a lot of interviews I did for Section 4, an arts installation for Bristol Refugee Week 2007: archive.org/details/Section4_201603