The Askew Sisters - Goose & Common

 

The law condemns the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common,
But leave the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from off the goose.

The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own,
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine.

The poor and wretched don't escape
If they conspire the law to break.
That must be so, but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law.

The law condemns the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common,
But geese will still a common lack
Until they go and steal it back.

       "Goose and Common," is a 17th century protest song. "There's a straight line that can be drawn from the enclosure period all the way through to modern neoliberal privatisations. The geese, still, a common lack, we need to steal it back".