The Poverty of Philosophy Songtext
von 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 either
But 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 motherfuckers 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 motherfuckers 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 motherfucker that kept me there
And burn the house to the goddamn 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 just 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 five hundred years of our history
Look at the last two thousand 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 si no entonces te mando pa′l carajo, cabrón
Gusano hijo de puta, seremos libres pronto
Viva la revolución (que viva la revolución)