Midnight Oil - "Beds Are Burning"

“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting our time. 

But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

--Lilla Watson, Indigenous Australian activist, artist, and scholar

 

This has always been a favorite political song of mine, and it helps that it also rocks.  It’s about giving land back to the Pintupi Aboriginal group who left their native land – some forcibly, and some voluntarily (although they really didn’t have much of a choice).  Every time I hear it, I think about the racism inherent in the Australian government’s treatment of the Aboriginal people, and in so much injustice and oppression in our world.  I think about people who are living in conditions I cannot even imagine – in refugee camps or on the street – and what it must be like to try to survive and take care of your family, let alone have any sense of dignity or self-worth.  “How do we sleep while our beds are burning?”

And I think about the Lilla Watson quote above.  When we see someone in need, it’s (hopefully) human nature to want to help.  But there can be a tendency to believe that the other person is in need because they did something wrong, or they are inferior, and so we – thinking we’re the superior, correct person – have to “save” them or show them the “right” way to live or behave.  This is especially true when we advocate someone’s behalf, but we don’t allow them to also speak for themselves.  When we say “they don’t have a voice,” they really do, if only we’ll shut up long enough to listen.

When we understand that we are equal, and that we need to live together peacefully and love one another in order to survive and reach our highest potential, we can be truly free and alive.  We don’t have a choice.  We can try to live a different way, but we ultimately can’t be free.

“The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share

The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to them
Let's give it back”

#YearlongMixtape

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E