RATHER BE DEAD

I'd rather be dead than alive by your oppression. I'd rather be dead than alive by your design. Poisoned my fingers. Burned out my eyes. Cut my throat to be alive. I'd rather be dead than alive by your social values. I'd rather be dead than alive by your tradition. But I'd rather be alive...

Growing up as a white middle-class kid in white middle-class Sweden meant I never really had to worry about the things I said or did, the ideals I took on, the parts I chose to play or the emotions I wanted to express. My "freedom" is something that I have always taken for granted. 
My biggest fear and problem in life has been the fear of not being taken seriously, being ridiculed and laughed at for who I am or how I think, look or act. 
But since I could have gone with the flow, it's been more fun then hard to get my own way.
Reading about revolutionaries, seeing people rise up and fight because they've had enough has always made a big impression on me. The famous ones as well as the ones whose names and faces will never be known. The millions who lived and died for freedom. People that are literally risking their lives in search of justice, in search of freedom. 
Fighting everyday for the things we take for granted. This songs is written in dedication to all of them and all of those who still fight. 
It's also a reminder that alot of our "freedom" ("slave to the system, pretending I'm free, but freedom is the margin they set for me." M.L.B.-91) is being limited and taken away from us day by day, and that we also have to start fighting. Right wing idealists wants to censor our art, music and expressions. 
The European Community's secret police goal is to fight all extreme political activity, i.e. anyone who doesn't think like the capitalist scumbags who run the show. Also keeping records of our sexual habits, political orientation, what movies we rent and books we read and so on and so on. 
It might sound like a bad science fiction scenario, but I'm afraid it's not. So, when you go to bed tonight, think about the freedom millions of people never got the chance to have and the "freedom" we have (at whose expense?). 
This one goes out to those who still believe... 

     Dennis

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