Antillectual

With a new album come new streams! On August 23 we will release our new album “Perspectives & Objectives”. Until that date we will stream new songs from the album every Monday.

No, it’s not a cover, not completely. The second song is a faster, more “classic” Antillectual song, if we may say so. And even though this song is one of the first songs we finished for this album, the topic is still hot. And looking at worldwide developments it will only become even hotter. The issue of immigration, refugees and the unequal spreading of wealth will only become more apparent with increasing worldwide communication and mobility of people.
Lyrics and liners notes below the video. Jelle and Marcel from the Dutch Council for Refugees (Vluchtelingenwerk) wrote an introduction:

“At least put on some work gloves” I told Mohammed, while he was mounting pieces of rock wool against a wooden wall bare-chested. The isolation of a newly created room in a squat progressed steadily, but every second I saw him working with that material unprotected, which gave me an itchy feeling just by looking at it, was a second too many. He threw the rock wool at me laughing “Did I ever tell you how I got to the Netherlands?” Ducking for rock wool I shook my head.

 “A friend of mine who worked at the port, could help me aboard a ship that would sail to Europe. In the middle of the night he brought me on board. The only thing that I took were two boxes of biscuits and plenty of bottled water to keep me alive during those two weeks”. The first few seconds Mohammed thought it would be an easy trip, the entire room was filled with nice soft material. However, after a few minutes the heat came and his body started to itch like it had never done before. “I never found out whether the ship simply carried rock wool, or that I was just unlucky staying in an overly insulated space.” Ten days later the ship docks and during the night Mohammed takes the chance to get ashore. By that time his complete body is covered by an irritating rash. “I was sick for a good few days” he laughs, “but the overdose rock wool made me immune to it eventually”.

After his arrival in what appeared to be the Netherlands, he unsuccessfully underwent some immigration procedures. The IND didn’t believe his story and therefore did not even consider his asylum request. Without a receipt for the boat trip your story goes in the trash.

The other day I heard he’s still here, still undocumented. And perhaps that is the most effective form of protest: you refuse to accept a system of exclusion and deportation and simply stay here. You don’t go away but try to build up a life of your own, despite all obstacles weighing you down. Because it shouldn’t be up to the IND to determine if people should or should not be allowed to stay, it should be up to those people themselves. Migration is not the problem, but the very solution to the real problem that is wealth inequality.

Pre-order “Perspectives & Objectives”, or a package including it and receive a stream right after.

WELCOME TO LE JUNGLE

Welcome to le jungle, we got fun ‘n’ games
We got everything you want, you only have your dreams
Welcome to paradise, you’re here to keep it clean
We only tolerate you, working our machines as slaves

“They only care about their own share”
Where do you think they got their inspiration?
We only care about our own share
How dare you blame them pursuing a better life

Some doors, once opened, will never shut again
The golden cage is cracked, come in, a chance for all to win
Les sans-papiers, les sans-culottes, laissez faire
Everyone is a fortune hunter, now deal with it

Liner notes:

There are some misunderstandings I can’t get around. A number of people think that the process of globalization is a process that can be “undone”. They think it is possible to return to a world where the focus lies on our own lives, without the need for a broader perspective. I’m sorry to break the news to them: the genie is out of the bottle.

And why is it normal for western people to try to get the most out of their lives but why are people that don’t live in a western country being called fortune hunters or economic refugees for doing exactly the same? What is the difference between personal ambitions and opportunism in this case?

In the Netherlands a refugee committed suicide in a Dutch detention centre in January 2013. This tragic occasion has finally lead to discussion about the huge flaws in the Dutch immigration system and whether or not being an “illegal immigrant” should be criminalized. The degrading situation in Dutch detention centres has resulted in hunger striking immigrants and public dissent.

Le Jungle is the name of a refugee hideout close to Calais, France. A lot of refugees wait there for the ferries going to the UK hoping to hop on one of them, hunting for a better life.