The state need not kill those that are killing themselves

Don’t make it an easy job for them

The killing of kids with two pound chicken and chips

Is a tactic of war, waged on the poor

Can’t save wages on slave wages

And you don’t think fresh fruit with your face on the floor

Nah, you need money for the kids

Rent and light plus food in the fridge

But that last box can be the hardest tick

Cos scraps will suffice but they might make you sick

As a child I used to chow takeout

24 hours later skin breakout

Felt so heavy with it sitting in my belly

Desert was a sugar-coated candy filled jelly

Fam that’s pig meat

Mashing up the kidney

Make sure no government has to kill me

I was killing myself till I realised danger

Brain, heart, liver and lungs can hit failure

Now season dahl and veg with fresh herbs

Cut caffeine because it messed with nerves

Plenty lentils and chickpea curry

20 minute meal for a man in a hurry

That’s real fast food that won’t break the bank

With enough nutrients to fill the tank

Drink water for the body’s natural power

But water from taps can taste sour

Food deserts are designed to starve us

No fresh produce but we got Starbucks

Calories packed in treats to enlarge us

May not see the effect but the heart does

Can’t breathe can’t sleep can’t run

Casomorphin wreaks havoc on the lungs

Just like fizzy wreaks havoc on the gums

And my old man said diabetes ain’t fun

Ginger root is good for the youts

Blend it up and share a fresh juice

Burn sage, cleanse the room

Body is a temple, don’t let it be a tomb

The food you choose to consume can damage

Processed meats intestines can’t manage

Cattle farming still killing off the planet

And it tells us everyday that it can’t stand it

Earth getting hotter while the sea levels rise

All because you want burger with those fries

All because you want milkshake with the meal

Then to combat diarrhoea you take pills

What’s the deal?

Eat right, stay active, stay strong

Cause the revolution is real

Never know when a man might have to dash

And a pig can’t kill what a pig can’t catch

It’s more than just eating right, it’s survival

Rasta man tell the youts to eat ital

Daily exercise, fresh air is vital

Whether you short walk, run or take cycle

Meditate to live life and love it

Plus stress increases acid in stomachs

Read and chill to keep the mental covered

And when you find struggle you try rise above it

I find peace in the books on the shelf

Food on the stove while it cooks I can smell

It’s gonna be good by the looks I can tell

When it won’t put my body through hell, well

Well, I want strength like Phelps

Good practices and discipline helps

It’s not for the 6 pack I do it for myself

Cos it’s true what they say your health is wealth

(Instrumental)

Oh by the way

Remember you’re a gift to yourself

And a gift to your environment

Continue to be that beautiful gift

Share that gift in your food and all your gastronomic mastery

youtu.be/9DxMFYpZZEo

But also, and more importantly:

It is very necessary that you get this straight. Most people have very confused notions about revolution. To them it means just fighting, smashing things, destroying. It is the same as if rolling up your sleeves for work should be considered as the work itself that you have to do. The fighting part of revolution is merely the rolling up of your sleeves. The real, actual task is ahead.

What is that task?

“The destruction of the existing conditions,” you reply.

True. But conditions are not destroyed by breaking and smashing things. You can’t destroy wage slavery by wrecking the machinery in mills and factories, can you? You won’t destroy government by setting fire to the White House.

To think of revolution in terms of violence and destruction is to misinterpret and falsify the whole idea of it. In practical application such a conception is bound to lead to disastrous results.

When a great thinker, like the famous Anarchist Bakunin, speaks of revolution as destruction, he has in mind the ideas of authority and obedience which are to be destroyed. It is for this reason that he said that destruction means construction, for to destroy a false belief is indeed most constructive work.

But the average man, and too often even the revolutionist, thoughtlessly talks of revolution as being exclusively destructive in the physical sense of the word. That is a wrong and dangerous view. The sooner we get rid of it the better.

Revolution, and particularly the social revolution, is not destruction but construction. This cannot be sufficiently emphasized, and unless we clearly realize it, revolution will remain only destructive and thereby always a failure. Naturally revolution is accompanied by violence, but you might as well say that building a new house in place of an old one is destructive because you have first to tear down the old one. Revolution is the culminating point of a certain evolutionary process: it begins with a violent upheaval. It is the rolling up of your sleeves preparatory to starting the actual work.

Indeed, consider what the social revolution is to do, what it is to accomplish, and you will perceive that it comes not to destroy but to build.

What, really, is there to destroy?

The wealth of the rich? Nay, that is something we want the whole of society to enjoy.

The land, the fields, the coal mines, the railroads, factories, mills, and shops? These we want not to destroy but to make useful to the entire people.

The telegraphs, telephones, the means of communication and distribution — do we want to destroy them? No, we want them to serve the needs of all.

What, then, is the social revolution to destroy? It is to take over things for the general benefit, not to destroy them. It is to reorganize conditions for the public welfare.

Not to destroy is the aim of the revolution, but to reconstruct and rebuild.

It is for this that preparation is needed, because the social revolution is not the Biblical Messiah who is to accomplish his mission by simple edict or order. Revolution works with the hands and brains of men. And these have to understand the objects of the revolution so as to be able to carry them out. They will have to know what they want and how to achieve it. The way to achieve it will be pointed by the objects to be attained. For the end determines the means, just as you have to sow a particular seed to grow the thing you need.

What, then, must the preparation for the social revolution be?

If your object is to secure liberty, you must learn to do without authority and compulsion. If you intend to live in peace and harmony with your fellow-men, you and they should cultivate brotherhood and respect for each other. If you want to work together with them for your mutual benefit, you must practice coöperation. The social revolution means much more than the reorganization of conditions only: it means the establishment of new human values and social relationships, a changed attitude of man to man, as of one free and independent to his equal; it means a different spirit in individual and collective life, and that spirit cannot be born overnight. It is a spirit to be cultivated, to be nurtured and reared, as the most delicate flower is, for indeed it is the flower of a new and beautiful existence.

Do not dupe yourself with the silly notion that “things will arrange themselves.” Nothing ever arranges itself, least of all in human relations. It is men who do the arranging, and they do it according to their attitude and understanding of things.

From Now and After by Alexander Berkman, Chapter 26: Preparation.

Available to read, or download in multiple formats, for free, here: theanarchistlibrary.org/…/alexander-berkman-what-…