Pablo Neruda’s “Standard Oil Co.”
As I’m working on a poster for the Just Seeds Celebrate People’s History poster project, I’m finding more inspiration in the roots of creative activism. This July 12 marked Pablo Neruda’s 104th birthday, and although he passed away in 1973, it remains a worthy cause for celebration. Below is a video by 4SeasonsProductions, a montage that features an English translation of Neruda’s “Standard Oil Co.”
Of Standard Oil, one of the most remembered corporations of the robber baron era, Neruda wrote:
They buy countries, people, seas, police, county councils,
distant regions where the poor hoard their corn
like misers their gold:
Standard Oil awakens them,
clothes them in uniforms, designates
which brother is the enemy.
the Paraguayan fights its war,
and the Bolivian wastes away
in the jungle with its machine gun.
