The world turned upside down — Billy Bragg

In 1649
To St. George’s Hill,
A ragged band they called the Diggers
Came to show the people’s will
They defied the landlords
They defied the laws
They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs

We come in peace they said
To dig and sow
We come to work the lands in common
And to make the waste ground grow
This earth divided
We will make whole
So it will be
A common treasury for all

The sin of property
We do disdain
No man has any right to buy and sell
The earth for private gain
By theft and murder
They took the land
Now everywhere the walls
Spring up at their command

They make the laws
To chain us well
The clergy dazzle us with heaven
Or they damn us into hell
We will not worship
The God they serve
The God of greed who feeds the rich
While poor folk starve

We work we eat together
We need no swords
We will not bow to the masters
Or pay rent to the lords
Still we are free
Though we are poor
You Diggers all stand up for glory
Stand up now

From the men of property
The orders came
They sent the hired men and troopers
To wipe out the Diggers’ claim
Tear down their cottages
Destroy their corn
They were dispersed
But still the vision lingers on

You poor take courage
You rich take care
This earth was made a common treasury
For everyone to share
All things in common
All people one
We come in peace
The orders came to cut them down

I love this song. It's Billy at his most Powah too dah Peepul and it makes some great points about the state of the planet. Whose bright idea was it to 'sell' bits of land in the first place? It's not like it actually belongs to anyone in the first place. "This Earth was made a common treasury" — not by some deity, but by a series of remarkably unlikely coincidences and chemical reactions.

So, yeah, just so's you know, next time you're taking out a mortgage to finance a home on some land, the person you're buying it off doesn't and never did own it. In fact, if you go back far enough, all you have is someone arriving somewhere and going "Mine!", which is fair enough so long as this doesn't stop others from sharing neighbouring spaces — after all, there is enough room for all of us.

Perhaps that's where the term 'mining' comes from…