Page 38 - KAZOVA - ENGLISH

The Scissors Of Exploitation

You wake up and are awake at work
We run fast yet arrive barely on time
The machines are already prepared
Not stopping for a moment
Always turning
Can a craftsman withstand this life?
With iron scissors in my hand
Cutting cloth
I am cutting my life
In this workshop at all times
Stitching cloth
I unstitch life
Always turning
Can a craftsman withstand this life?
Machines do not hunger
Whatever the human does
Poverty goes where it will
Whatever passes in life
The scissors of exploitation
Cut and finish life
Always turning
Can a craftsman withstand this life?
If we were to clothe the entire world
What kind of work for a craftsman it would be
Yet the calves of our own legs are naked
What a stark contradiction
But you can say this, craftsman,
One day the scissors of exploitation
Will shatter.

Umit Ilter (Long-time political prisoner in Turkey)

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