No War !

1. PLEDGE OF RESISTANCE

We believe that as people living
in the United States it is our
responsibility to resist the injustices
done by our government,
in our names

Not in our name
will you wage endless war
there can be no more deaths
no more transfusions
of blood for oil

Not in our name
will you invade countries
bomb civilians, kill more children
letting history take its course
over the graves of the nameless

Not in our name
will you erode the very freedoms
you have claimed to fight for

Not by our hands
will we supply weapons and funding
for the annihilation of families
on foreign soil
Not by our mouths
will we let fear silence us

Not by our hearts
will we allow whole peoples
or countries to be deemed evil
Not by our will
and Not in our name

We pledge resistance
We pledge alliance with those
who have come under attack
for voicing opposition to the war
or for their religion or ethnicity
We pledge to make common cause
with the people of the world
to bring about justice, freedom and peace

Another world is possible
and we pledge to make it real.

voices on the radio
tell us that we’re going to war
those brave men and women in uniform
they want to know what they’re fighting for
the generals want to hear the end game
the allies won’t approve the plan
but the oil men in the white house
they just don’t give a damn

it’s all about the price of oil
it’s all about the price of oil
don’t give me no shit
about blood, sweat, tears and toil
it’s all about the price of oil
now I ain’t no fan of Saddam Hussein
oh, please don’t get me wrong
if it’s freeing the Iraqi people you’re after
then why have we waited so long
why didn’t we sort this out last time
was he less evil than he is now
the stock market holds the answer
to why him, why here, why now

Saddam killed his own people
just like general Pinochet
and once upon a time both these evil men
were supported by the U.S.A.
and whisper it, even Bin Laden
once drank from America’s cup
just like that election down in Florida
this shit doesn’t all add up
it’s all about the price of oil
‘cause it’s all about the price of oil
don’t give me no shit
about blood, sweat, tears and toil
it’s all about the price of oil

4. A TRUTH FOR A LIE

2002 T&B Music

Text :Peter Slabbynck

Music :Johan Isselée,Geert Maertens,Nicolas Delfosse,Jurgen Surinx

A truth for a lie

An eye for an eye

We all eat

the American pie

Oh,the world ’s at war

So,don ’t knock on my door

A truth for a pie

An eye for an eye

We all eat

the American lie

Oh,the world ’s a whore

We all come back for more

Superman,Taliban,rich man,poor man

Everybody seems to have his own clan

Star wars,drug wars,sex wars,holy wars

Everybody seems to fight his own war

Oh,the world ’s a clown

With jokes that bring me down

A lie for a lie, A pie for a pie

An eye for an eye, But don ’t ask why

Why?Why Why?

So don ’t put your head in a bucket

Don ’t put your dreams in a fridge

5. "I REMEMBER genre: Folk

Credits: Written and Performed by: Jessica Sundin

Story Behind the Song

I wrote this song after traveling with the first Iraq Sanctions Challenge, in May 1998. That December Clinton renewed the policy of massive bombings to enforce the sanctions. I wrote the song to put words to some of what I felt after witnessing the massive US/UN sponsored devastation and destruction in Iraq. I was struck by the kindness and humanity of the Iraqis I met, but angry at how mainstream media ignores them.

Chorus: I remember your face

I remember my promises

I will remember you

to your brothers and sisters here

You're the pretty little girl

A picture of the world's biggest smile

Burned into my memory

like the shelter where you died

You're robbed of your dignity

Turning to hospitals with little hope

Where there's no medicine, the children die,

and their mothers, they cry alone

As I walked among you

I cried my tears of fear

That in your pain my government

could find the price worthwhile

The starvation of a wealthy nation

Deprivation of medication

1.7 million have died

it's genocide

Taxi-driving engineers

Cigarette-selling teachers

Students without any books

and no lights to read them by

Now it's ten years later

One in fifteen are gone

But ancient Iraqi pride

and wisdom have survived

This genocide it has to end

Your future must be restored

With your dignity, your nation's liberty

and your children's opportunity

Your people encouraged me

To practice amateur photography

Sent images back home with me

photos of our sense of urgency

like a sermon on the mountain
hellfire and brimstone
swapped for oil and guns
when we're pushing up daisies
we all look the same
in the name of the father maybe
but not in my name

on this Jacob's ladder
the only way up is down
one step from disaster
two to make the higher ground
Jacob's ladder

a million lifetimes
left dying in the sun
in the streets down in Whitehall
dogs picking at the bones
nine eleven got branded
nine eleven got sold
there will be no one left to water
all the seeds you've sown

on this Jacob's ladder
the only way up is down
one step from disaster
two to make the higher ground
Jacob's ladder

and they sent him to the wars
to be slain to be slain
and they sent him to the wars
to be slain

Words & music by John McCutcheon (work version 7/28/2002)

Poor Ol’ Laz’rus shake your bones

You come from the world of water and stone

Nine men in there all alone

Poor Ol’ Laz’rus shake your bones

Poor Ol’ Laz’rus ain’t it a sight

In that world of endless night

Your dreams are filled this air and light

… you know it’s true

The earth is gonna claim her due

This world was made by men like you

…that third day

When they raised you from the clay

Turned the hand of death away

…the ages will roll

Squeeze your body into coal

Break your back but not your soul

©2002 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

11. We Don't Want Your War
Words and music by Jynkz

When you can't believe a word they say
And you're haunted by the swords they raise
Like a rabid dog we've seen before
They refuse to hear the world pounding, pounding down their door

We don't want your war
Let's yell a little louder now
We don't want your war
All stand together tall
We don't want your war
But you keep telling us, you keep telling us we do

The king has no clothes so he leads by fear
We must challenge all the lies we hear
The devil's 'bombs' has an oily smell
Frames a legacy with infamy and he burns it, he burns it into hell

We don't want your war
Let's yell a little louder now
We don't want your war
All stand together tall
We don't want your war
But you keep telling us, you keep telling us we do

Try to turn us into lemmings with their magic on TV
Leaking military secrets is one of their specialties
To reporters hanging on their words like schoolgirls in love
They've got the scoop, but we're no closer to the truth

If we raise our flag on a million graves
Will we all be proud or will we be ashamed?
Of our leadership, greedy and arrogant
And we'll all be judged by the choices, the choices that we made

We don't want your war
Let's all sing a little louder now
We don't want your war
All stand together tall
We don't want your war
But you keep telling us we do
We don't want your war
All stand together and yell
We don't want your war
All stand together tall
We don't want your war
So stop telling us, Stop telling us we do

Version 2 Words & music by John McCutcheon (work version 8/12/02)

Last night on TV there he stood

In a suit of somber blue

He said it was time for all Americans

To do what we must do

Take out your x-ray glasses

And your decoder rings

We need ordinary people

To keep an eye on things

So…

I wanna be in Ashcroft’s Army

I wanna be a spy

I wanna watch my neighbor’s doings

Kiss your rights goodbye

In this legal devolution

Here’s your chance for retribution

Let’s just can the Constitution

I’m gonna be a spy

I wanna be in Ashcroft’s Army

I wanna be a fed

I might look like the meter man

But I’m a spy instead

Delivering pizza or the mail

Buddy, you can never tell

I’ll haul your sorry ass to jail

I’m gonna be a spy

I wanna be in Ashcroft’s Army

I wanna be a sleuth

I wanna catch some terrorists

Don’t worry ‘bout the truth

If I see you hanging ‘round

Wearin’ a turban and your skin is brown

You’re gonna take a ride downtown

I’m gonna be a spy

I wanna be in Ashcroft’s Army

I’m gonna be a mole

It’s time to show the rest of the world

Just who’s in control

John Ashcroft he said, "Now shame on you!"

Then the Vice President said it too

Don’t you question what we do

I’m gonna be a spy

I wanna be in Ashcroft’s Army

I wanna a G-Man

He used to be a Senator

But now he is a free man

He’s a Attorney General instead

‘Cause the people of Missouri said

We’d rather vote for a guy who’s dead

I’m gonna be a spy

I wanna be in Ashcroft’s Army

But still I’ve gotta wonder

Where was all this spying

When Adelphia went under

When Enron ran off with the loot

And Worldcom went right down the chute

Some terrorists wear pin-striped suits

I wanna be a spy

©2002 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

Words & music by John McCutcheon (work version 3/18/03)

We know war

A thousand years it haunts our homes

We know war

The generations left alone

The womb forever wanting

The burden we all bore

The empty chair at supper

The chaplain at the door

We know war

We know war

Death falling from the sky like rain

We know war

We hear the siren’s wail again

The black outs and the blitzkrieg

As we huddled on the floor

Children trembling in the shelter

Midst the unrelenting roar

We know war

We know war

The blood in every speech

We know war

The poison that they preach

The young ones seeing horrors

That they’ve never known before

The scars that never heal

In hearts where hatred keeps the score

We know war

We know war

The armies rolling through the streets

We know war

As the ones who taste defeat

The endless occupation

The searches door-to-door

The fear that stalks the night

Until you can’t take anymore

We know war

Bridge

When the battle’s over

And the living count the cost

The cold calculation

Of what is won and what is lost

While the rest are left to answer

What the reasons all were for

The survivors’ song

Will be forevermore

We know war

We know war

And every one’s so much the same

We know war

No longer will we add our name

To the killing and the dying

We have known too much before

When we pray for patience

And you ask of us, "What for?"

Because we know war

©2003 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

 17. BLOODLETTING

Saul Williams

the greatest americans
have not been born yet
they are waiting patiently
for the past to die
please give blood
those crumbled tablets
were to share a story
with a burning Bush

where is that voice from nowhere to remind us
that the holy ground we walk on, purified by native blood has rooted trees
whose fallen leaves now color code a sacred list of demands?
who among us can give translation of autumns hues to morning news?

the anchor man
thrown overboard
has simply rooted us in history's repeating cycle
a nation in its saturn years that won't acknowledge karma
where is that voice from nowhere, the ones your prophets spoke of?

there are voices from fear
disconnected from their diaphragms
dangling from coffee covered teeth
that spill into our laps
and scorch our privates

there are voices from the sides of necks
some already noosed
dangling participles
pronouns running for sentence serving life in corner offices
and ghetto corners
their voices are the same:
dead to themselves numb to the possibility of truth
existing beyond that which can be palmed into your hand, period.

there are voices of elders
which seem to do no more
than damn us to our childish ways for in many households wisdom no longer
comes with age

so where is that voice from nowhere?
that burning bush?
that passing dove?
for i hear generals calling for ammunition presidents calling for arms and
women calling for help

where is that voice from nowhere?
that god of abraham?
can he be heard over the gunfire the wizz of passing missiles
the crash of buildings
the cries of children
the crack of bones
the shriek of sirens

or is that his mighty voice?
your angry god craving the sacrifice of generation's sons degenerate
your holy books
written in red ink
on burning sands
your prayers between rounds do no more than fasten the fate of your children
to the hammered truth of your trigger
a truth that mushrooms
it's darkened cloud
over the rest of us
so that we too bear witness to the short lived fate
of a civilization that worships a male god
your weapons are phallic
all of them
that dummie that sits
on your lap is no longer
a worthwhile spectacle
his shrunken pale face
leaves little room for imagination

we have spotted your moving lips and have pinned the voice to it's proper
source
it is a source of madness
of source of hunger for power a source of weakness a source of evil
we have exited your coliseum and are surrounding your box office demanding

our families back
our cultures back
our rituals back
our gods back
so that we may return them to their proper source the source of life
the source of creation
our mother's womb
the great goddess
we will cut through
the barbed wire hangers
and chastity belts

we will climb in and
incubate our spirits
through the winter

we will wait through
the degenerate course
of your repeated history
we will wait for the past to die