Search - The Martyr Index :: It's Called Rock N' Roll

Below are the lyrics to the EP's closing track Hacienda Luisita, which was written for a fan from the Philippines who experienced these events first-hand. The nature of this song's incarnation and its message sum up The Martyr Index better than any biography I could write. Hacienda Luisita When you assumed your jurisdiction The whole world came knocking on our heads We?ve seen this before, on the bridge at Mendiosa To the lords up on high, poor?s the same as dead Looking out from blood-bathed eyes At his body swinging from the gate I thought where?s our law, our soldiers, our justice? I?m only left with my conscience and my hate And the vile choice to die hungry or die fighting Hacienda Luisita All I?ve ever known Hacienda Luisita This hell that I call home Whoah-oh-oh though clutched like gold by Solomon I know, I know this land is ours in common and we shall be free You tore our roots from the soil And we had nowhere left to go We only wanted what you promised Well over 40 years ago We didn?t need another reason To stand up and spit in your face The line was drawn in blood by you And we were imprisoned for life in your imperial grace With the vile choice to die hungry or die fighting Hacienda Luisita All I?ve ever known Hacienda Luisita This hell that I call home Whoah-oh-oh but like the wind in the sugarcane I know, I know we are one with this land and we shall be free One truth we know now is that there is no government for us. No matter their noble constitutions and words, the rich, backed by bloodsucking liches and leviathans, pull the switches, and will leave us to rot, invisible to humanity. Hacienda Luisita All I?ve ever known Hacienda Luisita This hell that I call home Hacienda Luisita Though pushed beyond your view Hacienda Luisita I will return to you ?They can tear our bodies apart with bullets, but they will never be able to massacre the resolve of a people united.? - ULWU President Rene Galang The land was supposed to have been distributed to the workers well over 40 years ago. It was supposed to belong to the people. The constitution was supposed to have guaranteed that. The government was supposed to abide by the constitution. The archaic conquistador system of land ownership was supposed to have died with Spanish imperialism. None of this has happened yet, and the so-called liberal and revolutionary governments have done little in the way of their promises, with the giant hacienda owners hobnobbing and schmoozing with the presidents in palaces and mansions, while their workers grow ever poorer and more desperate. One little ?adjustment? to the constitution here and there and eventually all that is left is a big joke. ?Would you like a share of the company little peasant? There you go. Now run along and behave yourself while you watch your family starve?? What happens when the peasants decide that they should hold the land-owners and government to their obligations? Well, the assumption of jurisdiction happens and the army marches in to make sure that nothing really changes in the system. Well, something did change. People who had lost their hope realized that they really did matter. The struggle continues? This song is dedicated to Yoichiro, a great fan who helped inform us of a number of the struggles in the Philippines, and to all of the workers of the Hacienda Luisita and their families. (Mark Vermin and Meg Spinx)