In the name of those washing others’ clothes
(and cleaning others’ filth from the whiteness)
In the name of those caring for others’ children
(and selling their labor power
in the form of maternal love and humiliations)
In the name of those living in another’s house
(which isn’t even a kind belly but a tomb or a jail)
In the name of those eating others’ crumbs
(and chewing them still with the feeling of a thief
In the name of those living on others’ land
(the houses and factories and shops
streets cities and towns
rivers lakes volcanoes and mountains
always belong to others
and that’s why the cops and the guards are there
guarding them against us)
In the name of those who have nothing but
hunger exploitation disease
a thirst for justice and water
persecutions and condemnations
loneliness abandonment oppression and death
I accuse private property
of depriving us of everything.
—ROQUE DALTON (El Salvador)
Translated from Spanish by Jack Hirschman