Actually, this does have a lot of political sentiment, and I can certainly see this being about Apartheid. The man being referenced is more of 'The Man' as commonly referred to in the States as the Government/Police, the 'secret place' being the areas of the city where the blacks were forced to be segregated from the white communities, even though sometimes all that separated them was a fence. They had the military to keep them tame and in fear so it appeared all was well, but when you really talked to these people, they weren't angry, they were sad that their government felt it was necessary to keep the status quo as it was under Apartheid. "The neighbors came" was when the rest of the world began to take notice of what was happening and protest, but 'The Man' was able to make it look like everything was still okay. But if that was okay, why were there still military patrols and so on having to enforce the segregation?
This could even refer to the US during segregation as well, or any other country where the government is oppressing their people.
Actually, this does have a lot of political sentiment, and I can certainly see this being about Apartheid. The man being referenced is more of 'The Man' as commonly referred to in the States as the Government/Police, the 'secret place' being the areas of the city where the blacks were forced to be segregated from the white communities, even though sometimes all that separated them was a fence. They had the military to keep them tame and in fear so it appeared all was well, but when you really talked to these people, they weren't angry, they were sad that their government felt it was necessary to keep the status quo as it was under Apartheid. "The neighbors came" was when the rest of the world began to take notice of what was happening and protest, but 'The Man' was able to make it look like everything was still okay. But if that was okay, why were there still military patrols and so on having to enforce the segregation?
This could even refer to the US during segregation as well, or any other country where the government is oppressing their people.