Ryan Harvey, “Global Economy”
Check out this great song and accompanying video from Ryan Harvey:
Lyrics:
One cup of coffee, $1.50
Guy who picked the coffee
Didn’t get three
He’s stuck in the belly
Of an industry
That doesn’t care about people
Working on the hills
On stolen land
Picking at the earth
Through the scuff bare hands
Sweating for the profit of some rich man
Who doesn’t care about people
Buy a piece of fruit at the grocery store
Shipped from Guatemala, Chile or El Salvador
Grown by orphan children in the civil war
That was funded by fruit corporations
A global trade system
Riding on the backs
Of families packed in wall-less shacks
Living in the fear of death squad attacks
That are funded by fruit corporations
One pack of t-shirts, $4.50
Girl who sewed the t-shirts
Didn’t get three
She’s trying to survive in an industry
That doesn’t care about people
Bangladesh factories
16-hour shifts
No over-time breaks or benefits
And they’ll fire her if she gets pregnant
Because they don’t care about people
New York banks watched the Thai Baht grow
Then they took high ammounts in Thai Baht loans
Converted them to dollars when they got back home
And it put millions into poverty
They paid off their debts with U.S. cash
Pocketed the profits
In U.S. banks
And the south east asian market crashed
And it pull millions into poverty
One diamond ring, a few grand
Kid who mined the diamonds lost his hand
As a message from the soldiers who run the land
That are funded by diamond corporations
Wealth arrived through poverty
From the lingering cuts of slavery
In the form of an export economy
Controlled by diamond corporations
Imperialism in its modern form
Debt locked, free market, economic reform
Blowing through the global south like a tropical storm
Tearing at the scenes of culture
From the cluster bomb
To the rifle butt
From the gold mine
To the clear cut
Capitalism’s got the world locked up
And it’s tearing at the scenes of culture
Anti-Imperialism.org 