Do They Know It’s G8 Time?

Explanation for changes to the lyrics between version 2 (as recorded in June 2005) and version 7 (written on the 3rd of June 2006) by Steve Wallis

The original version of this song correlated virtually syllable for syllable with Do They Know It’s Christmas? As time went on, I refined the lyrics to correct some minor and some major errors in the politics, deviating more and more from that song.

I did not even have the original lyrics with me when I was at the Earth First! Gathering (at which I performed version 5) so I had to reconstruct the song from memory. I deleted some lines of the song due to not remembering them, either when I wrote a draft of the lyrics on paper or when I tried to memorise it (subconsciously avoiding remembering dodgy lyrics). [Note that I lost the sheet of paper on which I wrote down the lyrics at the Gathering, so they may have been slightly different to those which I typed in (as version 5).]

The following is a list of the most serious changes I made to the lyrics between version 2 and version 5, including explanations of why I made them:

• At G8 time, they say they’ll help but can you trust them? -> At G8 time, they say they’ll help but should you trust them? You can trust the G8 leaders, but the key point is whether you should or not.
• Deleted: There may be private water flowing. It’d be bitter like acid rain. Bad though privatisation of water is, it does not necessarily (although it can) lead to poisoning of the water supply. In intermediate versions of the song, I changed It’d into It could, but I later decided that the emphasis in the song should be on the dangers of genetically modified (GM) food, so I deleted the lines altogether.
• There would be GM food in Africa. There should be organic food in Africa after G8 time -> There could just be GM food in Africa. All food should be organic after G8 time. [Similarly for drink.] GM food already is available in and grown in Africa; the danger is of it becoming more widespread – enabling it to be effectively used for mind control purposes to stop the populations from fighting back.
• Deleted: And there would still be AIDS in Africa after G8 time. There should be no more diseases in Africa after G8 time. This is a utopian aim; even under socialism, diseases will probably continue.
• There should be democracy in Africa after G8 time -> There should be real democracy everywhere after G8 time. Proportional representation by single transferable vote. And not election by computers – Bush didn’t really win! This change is necessary to clarify that Western forms of “democracy” are not particularly democratic, and to specify an alternative.
• Go on strike for everyone -> Go on strike for everyone good. We are not advocating strike action for the purpose of helping bad people (fascists or Tories, or others on the side of big business).
• Stop Monsanto this summer for white and black. If they use mind control could the people fight back? -> If they use GM mind control could the people fight back? That could be organisations like the CIA’s new tack. The original formulation left the form of mind control vague, and highlighting the role of the CIA further sharpens up the politics.
• Deleted: You ain’t gotta feel guilt just powerful. Get our black friends back from the brink of hell. Hell does not exist! [I agree with Christian leaders who say that good people go to heaven (outer space), but bad people go to a state of nothingness (are destroyed), when they die.]

The following is a list of the most serious changes I made to the lyrics between version 5 and version 7, including explanations of why I made them:

• Deleted: PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION BY SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE! This text was removed (by shifting it to page two) when I first printed out the front page of the first Galaxia songbook! I think this was a hint that this naff line should be deleted from the song! I advocated that form of proportional representation (PR) when new voting systems for the Scottish Parliament were being considered, but it would only be beneficial if electoral boundaries were big enough for fairly large numbers of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) to be elected per constituency. In the end, the old system of PR (constituency MSPs plus a top-up list per region) was maintained, which is not such a bad thing for the Scottish Socialist Party.
• If they use GM mind control could the people fight back? That could be organisations like the CIA’s new tack. -> When they use GM mind control, the people find it harder to fight back! Surely this is one of organisations like the CIA’s new tacks! This makes it clear that mind control via genetically modified food and drink is already going on, but makes the song less pessimistic by stating that people will find it harder but still be able to fight back. It also makes it clear that GM mind control is merely one of many techniques used by organisations like the CIA to keep big business in control of the planet. For example, mind control can also be achieved via nanotechnology and mobile phone masts.
• Deleted final: Do a BOLIVIA, let them know it’s G8 time again! This was, like the line about PR, deleted automatically when I printed out the front page of the first Galaxia songbook. The significance of omitting this, I believe, is that the song now states that we need to do a BOLIVIA (i.e. have general strikes with occupations, demonstrations and blockades, like in Bolivia last year) only twice, once at the G8 summit in 2005 and once again in 2006; the latter worldwide general strike will win the world decisively for socialism! It will of course take time for socialist governments to come to power in different countries around the world after the 2006 summit, and for socialist change to be implemented (from below by taking over factories as well as nationalisation from above), but general strikes at the time of the 2006 summit in St Petersburg (from the 15th to 17th of July) should set the ball rolling...

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