THE BRANCH OF FREEDOM
Fanchon Daemers sings “The Branch of Freedom” (via NOT BORED!).
The State is finished
Tyrants are finished
Down with all governments Servants of the financiers.
The people finally
sovereign
let’s give a meaning to our destiny. No more masters, no more slaves Our life is our freedom.
The people finally
sovereign
let’s give a meaning to our destiny. No more masters, no more slaves Our life is our freedom.
1.
Life doesn’t want a master Power is a shroud
Leaders, you will die
from the orders that you give. Gravediggers
of the land,
may our rediscovered joy bury you. No more masters, no more slaves Our life is our freedom.
V erses
[Chorus]
1 Le rameau de la liberté. Words by Raoul Vaneigem (included in La Liberté enfin s’eveille au souffle de la vie, a manifesto published by Editions Le Cherche Midi on 24 September 2020). Music by Jean-Philippe Rameau. Vocal by Fanchon Daemers. Accordion and arrangement by Léon Humblet. Live recording by Daniel Willem. Mixing and mastering by Dany Huppermans. Youtube upload: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH0uWpIJ-W0. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! on 27 September 2020. All footnotes by the translator. Note that the phrase “the branch of freedom” can be found in “The Charter of Brotherhood,” included in Paddy’s Resource, being a select collection of original and modern patriotic songs, compiled for the use of the people of Ireland (New York, 1798): “May the branch of Freedom flourish / Say, in Ireland it shall thrive; / tyrants’ blood its root must nourish –/ Numbers of them are alive./ Viva la, we will be free.”
1
2.
In the [harvest] seasons of profit the fruit is plasticized
Money sows its poisons
from the furrows to our homes. We lose our good health
to save bankers from banruptcy. No more masters, no more slaves Our life is our freedom.
3.
In addition to slaughterhouses for animals we now see
slaughterhouses for old people
things get better and better!
They reduce
budgets
in the hope of reviving the markets. No more masters, no more slaves Our life is our freedom.
4.
The management of health
serves profitability
the mafias controlling the treatments
pollute the land and life.
Against their
cemetaries
we decree the self-defense of our own health. No more masters, no more slaves
Our life is our freedom
5.
Journalists and cops,
you stink like the money
that you defend everywhere
that makes you so scornful.
Wake up,
you puppets,
to the real pleasure of becoming human. No more masters, no more slaves
Our life is our freedom.
2 Cf. Raoul Vaneigem, “We Decree the Self-Defense of Our Own Health” (17 May 2020):
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2
6.
We no longer want to pay
to feed the billionaires
Let’s establish the cost-free3 which shits all over the economy. You steal
what we pay in taxes
to stuff your faces with fresh lobster. No more masters, no more slaves Our life is our freedom
7.
Machismo and racism are
the rubbish of the past
men, women, blacks, whites, greys don’t want conflict.
To be human
is enough for us
it is our real identity.
No more masters, no more slaves Our life is our freedom
The State is finished
Tyrants are finished
Down with all governments Servants of the financiers.
The people finally
sovereign
let’s give a meaning to our destiny. No more masters, no more slaves Our life is our freedom.
The people finally
sovereign
3 Cf. Raoul Veneigem, “What’s Free is the Absolute Weapon” (21 November 2011): http://www.notbored.org/sine-mensuel.html
