The Poverty of Philosophy

Immortal Technique

Most of my Latino and black people who are struggling to get food
Clothes and shelter in the hood are so concerned with that
That philosophising about freedom and socialist democracy
Is usually unfortunately beyond their rationale
They don't realize that America can't exist without separating them from their identity
Because if we had some sense of who we really are
There's no way in hell we'd allow this country to
Push it's genocidal consensus on our homelands
This ignorance exists, but it can be destroyed

Niggas talk about change and working within the system to achieve that
The problem with always being a conformist is that when you try
To change the system from within, it's not you who changes the system
It's the system that will eventually change you
There is usually nothing wrong with compromise in a situation
But compromising yourself in a situation is another story completely
And I have seen this happen long enough in the few years that
I've been alive to know that it's a serious problem
Latino America is a huge colony of countries whose presidents
Are cowards in the face of economic imperialism
You see, third world countries are rich places, abundant in resources
And many of these countries have the capacity to feed their
Starving people and the children we always see digging for
Food in trash on commercials. But plutocracies
In other words a government run by the rich such as this one
And traditionally oppressive European states
Force the third world into buying overpriced
Unnecessary goods while exporting huge portions of their natural resources
I'm quite sure that people will look upon my attitude
And sentiments and look for hypocrisy and hatred in my words
My revolution is born out of love for my people, not hatred for others

You see, most of Latinos are here because of the great inflation
That was caused by American companies in Latin America
Aside from that, many are seeking a life away from the puppet
Democracies that were funded by the United States
Places like El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Nicaragua
Ecuador and Republica Dominicana
And not just Spanish-speaking countries eitherbut Haiti and Jamaica as well

As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society
We are in the same struggle and until we realize that
We'll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system
That has kept us subservient instead of being self-determined
And that's why we have no control over when the embargo will stop in Cuba
Or when the bombs will stop dropping in Vieques

But you see, here in America the attitude that is fed to
Us is that outside of America there live lesser people
"Fuck them, let them fend for themselves."
No, Fuck you, they are you. No matter how much you want to dye your
Hair blonde and put fake eyes in, or follow an anorexic standard
Of beauty, or no matter how many diamonds you buy from people
Who exploit your own brutally to get them, no matter what kind
Of car you drive or what kind of fancy clothes you put on
You will never be them
They're always gonna look at you as nothing but a little monkey
I'd rather be proud of what I am, rather than desperately
Trying to be something I'm really not, just to fit in
And whether we want to accept it or not
That's what this culture or lack of culture is feeding us

I want a better life for my family and for my children
But it doesn't have to be at the expense of millions of lives in my homeland
We're given the idea that if we didn't have these people to exploit
Then America wouldn't be rich enough to let us have these little petty
Material things in our lives and basic standards of living
No, that's wrong. It's the business giants and the government
Officials who make all the real money. We have whatever they kick down to us
My enemy is not the average white man
It's not the kid down the block or the kids I see on the street
My enemy is the white man I don't see: the people in the white house
The corporate monopoly owners, fake liberal politicians those are my enemies
The generals of the armies that are mostly conservatives
Those are the real Mother-Fuckers that I need to bring it to
Not the poor, broke country-ass soldier that's too stupid
To know shit about the way things are set up

In fact, I have more in common with most working and
Middle-class white people than I do with most rich black and Latino people
As much as racism bleeds America, we need to understand that classism
Is the real issue. Many of us are in the same boat and it's sinking
While these bougie Mother-Fuckers ride on a luxury liner
And as long as we keep fighting over kicking people out of
The little boat we're all in, we're gonna miss an opportunity
To gain a better standard of living as a whole

In other words, I don't want to escape the plantation
I want to come back, free all my people, hang the Mother-Fucker
That kept me there and burn the house to the god damn ground
I want to take over the encomienda
And give it back to the people who work the land

You cannot change the past but you can make the future
And anyone who tells you different is a Fucking lethargic devil
I don't look at a few token Latinos and black people in the public
Eye as some type of achievement for my people as a whole
Most of those successful individuals are sell-outs and house Negros

But, I don't consider brothers a sell-out if they move out of the ghetto
Poverty has nothing to do with our people
It's not in our culture to be poor
That's only been the last 500 years of our history
Look at the last 2000 years of our existence and what
We brought to the world in terms of science, mathematics
Agriculture and forms of government
You know the idea of a confederation of provinces where one
Federal government controls the states?
The Europeans who came to this country stole that idea from the Iroquois league
The idea of impeaching a ruler comes from an Aztec tradition
That's why Montezuma was stoned to death by his own people cause
He represented the agenda of white Spaniards once he was captured
Not the Aztec people who would become Mexicans

So in conclusion, I'm not gonna vote for anybody just
Cause they Black or Latino. They have to truly represent the community
And represent what's good for all of us proletariat

Porque sino entonces te mando por el carajo cabron
Gusano hijo de puta, seramos libre pronto
Viva la revolucion, VIVA LA REVOLUCION

Curiosités sur la chanson The Poverty of Philosophy de Immortal Technique

Quand la chanson “The Poverty of Philosophy” a-t-elle été lancée par Immortal Technique?
La chanson The Poverty of Philosophy a été lancée en 2001, sur l’album “Revolutionary Vol. 1”.

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