“Refuse2Kill” is part of Cause and Effect, a project co-run by Camden Roundhouse and 14 – 18 NOW to investigate the relationship between the First World War and young people in the UK today in the year of the centenary of Armistice Day.
[Intro]
For those that shattered the infallibility of militarism
Ye that have escaped the sword
Stand not still
[Chorus]
I refuse to kill
I refuse to maim
I refuse to fight
No, not in my name
I refuse to kill
I refuse to maim
I refuse to fight
No, not in my name
I refuse to kill
[Verse 1]
It's time we talk about the banality of evil
Murderous conformity mentality is lethal
How powerful systemise the savagery of people
There's insanity and tragedy in the fallacies they feed you
This is for the quakers that would die before they kill
Bertrand Russell in prison, he survived by force of will
Rejected by society, they'd prefer it's all concealed
History a mystery, a version to reveal
This is the conviction Rosa Luxemburg was murdered for
This is the tradition 2003 was searching for
No time to molly coddle, too many bodies we're sorry for
This is the feeling stopped them loading the SS Jolly George
80 died in jail all due to their treatment
Sacrificed their lives for the most human of reasons
Monsters on the conscience soothe delusions of freedom
The refusal to kill, a conviction you can believe in
[Chorus]
I refuse to kill
I refuse to maim
I refuse to fight
No, not in my name
I refuse to kill
I refuse to maim
I refuse to fight
No, not in my name
I refuse to kill
[Verse 2]
Keir Hardie's passed without a mention of Parliament
Alienation, targeting afterwards, it was hard for them
He considered Belgium as colonisers we can't defend
Sent to kill fellow workers by a wretched class of heartless men
Still draw the borders in the places that they trample
Our conscription isn't physical but it remains financial
Participants in carnage but from the strangest of angles
Don't prolong the bondage, it's time the cage is dismantled
Women's Peace Crusade contribution can't be forgotten
Legacy still alive and was fighting at Greenham Common
These the real heroes, not like Van Damme or Rambo
They shut the city down and banned Lloyd George from Glasgow
Better to die with honour then live life feeling guiltier
For all those that went against their families like Sylvia
I hope on inspiration from the legacy of Pankhurst
The next Joe Glenton can just walk away from Sandhurst
[Chorus]
I refuse to kill
I refuse to maim
I refuse to fight
No, not in my name
I refuse to kill
I refuse to maim
I refuse to fight, yeah
No, not in my name
I refuse to kill
I refuse to maim
I refuse to fight
No, not in my name
I refuse to kill
I refuse to maim
I refuse to fight
No, not in my name
Refuse2Kill was written by Lowkey.
Lowkey released Refuse2Kill on Wed Oct 24 2018.
“Refuse2Kill” was published to YouTube on 24th October 2018 alongside the following statement about the inspiration behind the track from Lowkey:
In the words of last surviving British veteran of WW1 Harry Patch, who died in 2009 aged 111 “It wasn’t worth it.” As the effects of WW1 continue to ripp...