Rap is the music of revolutions, or it ought to be. It can be angry enough to mobilize people in the early stages, rhythmic enough to keep them marching on, and uplifting enough to celebrate to when it's all over. The song of the Ukrainian revolution goes like this:
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
No to falsifications!
No to machinations!
No to deals! No to lies!
Yushchenko—yes! Yushchenko—yes!
That's our president!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
We are not trash!
We are not asses!
We are the sons and daughters of Ukraine!
Now or never! We have waited years!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
Together we are many, we will not be defeated!
In the past few weeks, this has become the unofficial anthem of Ukraine and the song of all righteous protest. At one of the schools, children started to chant "Together we are many …" when a teacher tried to make a schedule change that wasn't to their liking (she quickly relented). Last night in Independence Square, it was a song of celebration: The revolutionaries had already proved that they were not trash, had turned back falsifications, and had gotten their president; they had won, and now they could stress the word together over all others. We danced. There were more than 100,000 of us, possibly as many as half a million: It was the kind of gathering where even the trained eye can no longer estimate how many people there are.
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