Colour Line Lyrics - Asian Dub Foundation

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