Asian Dub Foundation Colour Line Lyrics

Colour Line Lyrics

Today, the color line is the power line, is the poverty line



Racism and imperialism work in tandem

And poverty is their handmaid



Those who are poor and powerless to break out of their poverty

Are also those who by and large are non-white, non-western, third world

Poverty and powerlessness are intertwined in color, in race

Discrimination and exploitation feed into each other today

Under global capitalism



We are back to primitive accumulation, plunder on a world scale

Only this time, the pillage is accompanied by aid

Sustained by expert advice and underpinned by programmes

And policies that perpetuate dependency



The IMF, the world bank, structural adjustment programmes

General agreement on tariffs and trade, gatt

Are just a few of the organizations, schemes, projects

Which under the guise of developing the third world, plunder it



Trade agreements and commodity price-fixing

Patents and intellectual property rights

They lock them into paralytic dependency



There is no such thing as illegal immigrants

Only illegal governments



Black is not just the color of our skins

It's this color of our politics



There is no such thing as illegal immigrants

Only illegal governments



Today, the color line is the power line, is the poverty line