Asif Khan Inc.

working class hero taking the power back?

from what i remember having read in my history texts when i was in school, there was a period called the middle ages, or what i remember simply as the generic medieval europe.

strife ridden, plague stricken, oppressed fricken.

then came the industrial revolution. (yes, i do remember there was the renaissance period as well, you arty ones).

machines movin’, mass makin’, money flyin’.

and people dyin’   – maybe one of the many things common between both periods.

i was reminded of these times during a recent online conversation, although the context wasn’t exactly on the degree of opacity the souls of these periods possessed. historians, economists, sociologists must have written tomes on it already.

europe, it was argued during the conversation, was built upon the graves of those who died in the sweatshops. of those who gave up their lives toiling for their grain under tyrannical fiefdoms. which led to the natural conclusion that in order to achieve a state of being called developed, physical human labor and sacrifice is mandatory.

of course, the pyramids were built upon the backs of thousands of slaves too. the egyptians were ‘civilized’ after all.

in today’s day and age, does aspiring for the status of being a developed nation still warrant the same sacrifice of human labor and life? my point of argument was that today, physical human labor has been replaced by technology. the field on which you play with the ball of industry is made of different turf now. instead of physical human labor, the war to win the status of development is how much any nation can derive out of technology. human sacrifice, yes. but not in the form of physical labor or loss of lives.

another point raised was that the playing field isn’t level today. developed nations at the finish line do have the choice of coming back onto the track and strewing it with the shrapnel of their progress. you can’t go as far then, can you? specially if you are running barefoot.  but that’s always been the case. the world wasn’t built to be level. balance would destroy the equilibrium. the earth’s pivot is an inclined axis for a reason.

so what do we do? i’d just like to listen to this banging through the speakers.

‘europe ain’t my rope to swing on/can’t learn a thing from it/yet we hang from it/gotta get it, gotta get it together then/like the motherfuckin’ weathermen/to expose and close the doors on those who try/to strangle and mangle the truth/’cause the circle of hate continues until we react’

familiar? ‘yeah, we gotta take the power back’.

too much of rage? maybe. but ‘then first you must learn how to smile as you kill’. and is ‘a working class hero something to be’?

the heroes of our times were never born anyway.

‘still fuckin’ peasants as far as i can see’