There is no 'us' and 'them'; it's an illusion. We are all human

The musician and prophet of protest, Roger Waters, spoke with fire when he declared: “There is no ‘us’ and ‘them’; it’s an illusion. We are all human beings, and we all have a responsibility to support one another and to discover ways of wresting the power from the very, very few people who control all the cash and all the property.” In these words he tears apart the veil of division, proclaiming that the line between us and them is a lie spun by those who profit from separation. The truth is that we are one body, one family, one humanity, bound by a shared duty to lift one another up.

The origin of this wisdom lies in the struggles of the twentieth century, when wealth and power became increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, while billions remained voiceless and poor. Waters, a voice against oppression and war, saw how rulers and elites sustained their control by creating illusions—nations against nations, races against races, classes against classes. Yet beneath these false divisions beats the same human heart. The illusion of separation blinds us, while solidarity can shatter the chains of oppression.

History gives us the powerful story of Solidarity in Poland, when workers, long crushed under the weight of authoritarian rule, rose together in the 1980s. They did not divide themselves into us and them, but recognized their shared struggle. United, they forced concessions from the powerful and ignited a movement that would help topple the Iron Curtain. Their victory was not in violence, but in unity—an echo of Waters’ call to wrest power from the few by remembering the strength of the many.

The ancients too understood this truth. The Stoics declared that all men are citizens of one great cosmos, bound together by reason and nature. The prophets cried that to oppress the poor is to mock the Maker. And the early Christians proclaimed that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, but all are one. Again and again, sages have declared what Waters thunders: the division of us and them is illusion; the reality is unity.

Therefore, O seekers, awaken to this truth: the earth belongs not to the few but to all, and responsibility rests on every soul to stand with his brother, to support his sister, and to resist the chains of greed. Do not be deceived by the voices that sow division, for their harvest is oppression. Instead, bind yourselves together in courage and compassion, and wrest the power from the hands of the few who hoard it. For only when humanity remembers its oneness will justice and freedom walk upon the earth.