An Eye for an Eye
In a song, Alexa Rodrian calls on mothers in particular to resist what is happening in the slaughterhouse that is Gaza, and she also criticises the assistance being lent from Germany. Backstage
„Mothers, raise your voices! Stand up and make a choice! How can we bear the very thought: children of other mothers in such torment?“ By rights the singer-songwriter scene ought to be overflowing right now with songs giving voice to the horror at the massacre in Gaza. But most, as so often, wrap themselves in silence.
For the song’s video, Alexa Rodrian (lyrics, composition) and her husband Jens Fischer Rodrian (production, guitar), along with Kathrin Henneberger and Michael Rahn (direction), truly gave everything. Inserted footage of violence, marching soldiers, rubble and human suffering makes the horrors of war palpable. As always, Alexa Rodrian sings expressively at a high technical level with a soulful soul voice. Rhetorically the artist addresses above all the mothers of the murdered, or perhaps soon-to-be-murdered, children, which recalls Yael Deckelbaum’s celebrated „Prayer of the Mothers“.
And the German „stance“, too, is denounced by the lyricist: „We really ought to be ashamed. In the name of historical guilt we coldly abandon the most innocent of all.“ This video, by the way, was promptly censored by YouTube. All the more reason for us to spread it now across our own channels.
Dear readers, fathers and mothers, people of every kind and conviction,
I am weary of mentioning again and again how long I have already been taking to the streets for peace. That is owed above all to the fact that none of my activities so far has ever brought about even the slightest thing. The horror of war carries on unabated, and a great part of humanity looks on, numbed and with shameful ignorance, as the NATO states stoke the deadly fire. In Germany everything goes on just as before – whoever stands up for peace and negotiations instead of arms deliveries is a fallen angel out of hell; whoever stands up for Palestine is an antisemite; whoever does not take to the streets against the right is right-wing. And all of this while in Israel a far-right government is committing a genocide – almost laughable, were it not so nightmarish. Disillusioned: yes. Do I therefore give up? No, never. Why? Because I am a mother. Because I am a human being. Because my beloved friends are fathers, mothers and human beings – and because we owe it to our children and to our humanity.
As an artist I have the privilege of creative expression, and a small spark within me still hopes that with it I can carry my message out into the world and reach people in their hearts. We will see! Love and Peace, your Alexa
Auge um Auge
Original
„Mütter da lässt mich was nicht los
es ist voller Emotion und ganz schön gross
Wie können wir’s ertragen den Gedanken
Kinder anderer Mütter werden gefoltert und erschlagen
Im Namen des eigenen Clans welch grausamer Wahn
Mütter erhebt eure Stimmen
Steht auf und trefft eine Wahl
Wie können wir’s ertragen den Gedanken
Kinder anderer Mütter in solch einer Qual
Im Namen der Selbstverteidigung
Lassen sie ihre tödlichen Schwerter klingen
Mütter Zeit ist’s wach zu werden
Wenn nicht jetzt wann dann
Immer noch schauen wir zu
Wie sie anderer Mütter unschuldige Babies kaltblütig ermorden
Und im Heiligen Land erhalten sie dafür sogar noch einen Orden
Auge um Auge Zahn um Zahn
Mütter wollen wir wirklich so blind weiter gehen
Hätte Jesus das so kommen sehen
würde er sich jetzt im Grab umdrehen
Mütter mit Mut sollten wir jetzt beisammen stehen
Wer uns teilt wird weiter am Rad des Tötens drehen
Wie können wir zusehen wie sie die Menschenrechte so verletzen
weiter gegen unsere Brüder und Schwestern auf der anderen Seite hetzen
Im Namen des Heiligen Landes ohne des Herzens Verstandes
Mütter hier hilft nur die wahre Empathie
In Mark und Bein muss er übergehen
der Schmerz das eigene Kind nie wieder zu sehen
Schämen sollten wir uns eigentlich
Im Namen der historischen Schuld lassen wir die Unschuldigsten kaltblütig im Stich
Mütter gestern sollten wir ihn gegangen sein den Weg der Solidarität
Heute ist‘s schon fast zu spät
Kriegstreiber raus aus unserem Leben
Frieden Liebe Freiheit dafür Mütter lasst uns aufbegehren
Die Menschlichkeit müssen wir mit Mutterliebe nähren
Nur noch das Gebet kann helfen wenn wir sie verwehren
Auge um Auge Zahn um Zahn
Mütter so wollen wir nicht weiter gehen
wir dürfen es nicht dulden und es nicht ertragen
Kinder anderer Mütter zu begraben“
Übersetzung
„Mothers, something won’t let go of me
it is full of emotion and pretty vast
How can we bear the very thought
children of other mothers tortured and struck dead
In the name of one’s own clan – what a cruel delusion
Mothers, raise your voices
Stand up and make a choice
How can we bear the very thought
children of other mothers in such torment
In the name of self-defence
they let their deadly swords ring out
Mothers, it is time to wake
if not now, then when
Still we stand and watch
as they coldly murder other mothers’ innocent babies
And in the Holy Land they are even given a medal for it
Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth
Mothers, do we really want to go on so blind
Had Jesus foreseen this coming
he would now be turning in his grave
Mothers, with courage we should stand together now
Whoever divides us will keep on turning the wheel of killing
How can we look on as they so violate human rights
keep on inciting against our brothers and sisters on the other side
In the name of the Holy Land, without the heart’s reason
Mothers, here only true empathy can help
Into marrow and bone it must pass
the pain of never seeing one’s own child again
We really ought to be ashamed
In the name of historical guilt we coldly abandon the most innocent of all
Mothers, yesterday we should have walked it, the path of solidarity
Today it is almost too late
Warmongers, out of our lives
Peace, love, freedom – for that, mothers, let us rise up
Humanity we must nourish with a mother’s love
Only prayer can help now if we refuse them
Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth
Mothers, this is not how we want to go on
we must not tolerate it, must not bear it
to bury the children of other mothers“
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Audio version of this article
