Tiken Jah Fakoly singing for freedom (video)

 Go to youtube url here.  Enjoy! 

This inspiring video feeds my new year's hopes for an end to immigration control.

Reggae superstar, Tiken Jah Fakoly, singing here, was featured in the documentary film, 'An Independent Mind', directed by Rex Bloomstein and about freedom of expression.  I saw the film on More4 in December, where Tiken described his exile from his native country after singing about – and sampling in his mix – the broken promises of the government.

More on the film 'An Independent Mind' from English Centre of International PEN in this article. 

I've done my best to translate the powerful lyrics of 'Ouvrez les frontieres' below:  (original French here).

Open the borders, open the borders

Summer or winter, you turn up every year, we welcome you with open arms, we make you at home, after all, whatever, it doesn't matter , we want to go, so just open the door! 

Open the borders, open the borders

Thousands of us at the Strait of Gibraltar, wanting to be just like you, turning up without arranging it in advance, we want to travel, and also to work, and no-one refused you a visa

Open the borders, open the borders, let us in

We too want to have the chance to study, the change to see our dreams come true, to have a great job, to travel, to know what you call 'freedom', we want our families to wish for nothing, we want to have a life where you eat 'til you're full, we want to leave this daily misery for better, we want to get out, because here we're gonna blow a fuse

Open the borders, open the borders, let us in

There's not a drop of water to fill our bucket, nor even a drop of rain at the bottom of the well, and when his belly is empty on the way to school, one day he decides to take flight, yeah yeah yeah…

Open the borders, open the borders

Open the door, we're suffocating here, we've had enough of wanting the western dream, open the door, our kids can no longer breathe, can't you see this is vital for us 

Open the borders, open the borders, let us in

You've taken our beaches of golden sand, you've put our animals in cages, felled our forests, what's left for us when we've empty hands, we get ready for our journey, and we throw ourselves into the unknown

Open the borders, open the borders, let us in