Wednesday, October 05, 2005

A Sudanese Slave Sits Down for an Informal Chat with Audioslave

http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/a/audioslave/out-of-exile.shtml

Sudanese Slave: I as one of the Dinkas of southern Sudan I may be the most horrific and well-known example of contemporary slavery. The U.S. State Department estimates, up to 90,000 blacks are owned by North African Arabs, and often sold as property in a thriving slave trade for as little as $15 per human being.

Audio Slave: So drown me slowly
Enclose me
Drown me slowly alright
Drown me slowly
Enfold me
Drown me slowly

SS: Um… well… Tribes in southern Sudan are frequently invaded by Arab militias from the North, who kill the men and enslave the women and children. The Arabs consider it a traditional right to enslave southerners, and to own chattel slaves (slaves owned as personal property).

AS: Beauty is what the eyes behold
And you burn brighter than most
I chased you thru the midnight streets
To be where I could speak freely
I didn't care what tomorrow held
I felt the world turning only for us

SS: Yes but Physical mutilation is practiced upon us slaves not only to prevent escape, but to enforce the owners' ideologies.

AS: Halo--I'm complete
Halo--with me underneath
Halo--I'm rebornI can do no wrong

SS: I’m not following.

AS: On my deathbed I will pray
To the gods and the angels
Like a pagan to anyone
Who will take me to heaven
To a place I recall
I was there so long ago
The sky was bruised
The wine was bled
And there you led me on

SS: Anyway…well I… man, look at the time.

AS: Pearls and swine bereft of me,
Heaven waits for those who run down your winter and underneath your waves
Where you watch and wait

SS: Ok that doesn’t make any sense

AS: Black and blue, suffering fools
By the age of seventeen
Low and high, just one more time
Felt like an eternity
Right or wrong, never too strong
Friends became my enemies
God forsaken, never too late with my...

SS: Your what?

AS: Nail in my hand
From my creator
You gave me life
Now show me how to live!

SS: Yeah sure but, hey there’s that damn cell phone again. Kinda silly to give a cell phone to a guy who lives his whole life in a mud hut, but we all know how those people at the American Embassy are.

AS: Roll me on your frozen fields
Break my bones to watch them heal
Drown me in your thirsty veins
Where I'll watch and I'll wait
And pray for the rain

SS: So I’ll totally call you when I get back in town.

AS: Ok, sounds good