Nightmare 

Did you scream
“I have a dream”
that:
one day miners will again be able to collectively bargain
police ‘exercising restraint’ won’t use batons
decent income support will be paid as a right of citizenship
people escaping oppression will not be incarcerated in prisons
and we will call them refugees not illegal immigrants
Grozny will be more than a Russian artillery range
Chechnyans will be recognised as people not moving targets
all political prisoners will be free
racism will be an historical artefact
gender differences will be celebrated not exploited
age will be an attribute not a point of division
people with disabilities will not be excluded
we will strive for equality rather than privilege
war will be something we’ll have difficulty recalling
we will exploit our talents not resources
mutuality rather than competition will be the compelling ethos
unemployment will be abolished, and
the only people who will work for the dole will be Liberal politicians.

Originally written circa 2000 First published Union Songs 2005 http://unionsong.com/muse/unionsong/u083.html Where the editor noted: “The first lines refer to the fact that in the first month of the new century the multinational giant BHP, with its newly imported CEO from the United States, is desperate to change working culture in Australia and is trying to use the full force of the state in the Pilbara region of Western Australia to sash picket lines.”