Synopsis: The video self-consciously toys with the intersection of gender with race by celebrating and championing a coalition of Arab and Muslim women, styled to over-articulate their ethnic background, in a manner more typically employed by Western media to victimise them.
This seeks to disturb the dominant global narrative of hyper-secularised (white) feminism, which increasingly positions itself as incompatible with Islam and the Arab world, celebrating the various modalities of middle-eastern feminism.
The video purposefully attempts to revert the position of the (male) musicians as the heroes of the narrative, not only by subjecting them to the (female) gaze of the director, but also by representing them as individuals who (literally) take the backseat as the coalition moves forward.
So while the lyrics of the verses discuss betrayal, struggle, and conflict, the video revolves around the lyrical pivot in the chorus:
‘aleihum (charge!)
treating oppression, not as a source of victimhood, but as the fertile ground from which resistance can be weaponised.
Lyrics:
I don’t intend to swallow your lies
The words would sting my throat.
I won’t dissect your intentions;
Leave your tongue in its cage.
You can keep the time I gave you;
Strangle what self I was for you,
But before you lay me to rest,
Tell me what cost I came at.
Charge
Charge
Charge
Charge
Worms sculpt my body now.
The earth cradles my skin.
Why’d you sell me to the romans?
Worms sculpt my body now.
The earth cradles my skin.
How’d I lose you to the romans?
Charge
Charge
Charge
Charge
Why’d you sell me to the romans?
How’d I lose you to the romans?
