I’m listening to a KRS-ONE retrospectrive albulm (called, funnily enough, “Retrospective”). There’s this song (”Love’s Gonna Getcha”) where he talks about becoming a drug dealer and lifting his family out of poverty into a high-consumption extravagence. He drops out of school and starts earning cash. Buys good food, a new teevee and a beamer. The refrain goes “tell me what the fuck am I supposed to do?”. And it might stay there - a hard-ass sob story, a case of not having a choice about dealing with drugs. But there’s this line:

You fall in love with your chain
You fall in love with your car
Love’s gonna getcha

I reckon that makes it pretty universal. You fall in love with your chain. It makes more sense that “all you have to lose is your chains”. The chains are what bind around and define me within my little world. The chains are all that’s known and knowable for some. To get rid of them, to peel them back is to repel one’s very identity - whether you’ve formed that identity by moulding yourself into the ideal of our time, or pushing to oppose them.

I understand that its scary for some people to take any of those small steps toward creating revolution. The tiniest of steps that start without movement - looking at the deepest places in yourself and finding a strength to live without the chains. I also see why it might seem lunatic or empty to some people to go on a demo, but like a firey revolution to others. So maybe those tedious marches through the centre of sydney do more than just draw attention to the issues de jour - they actually create a radical space where the chains are pulled a little looser and something different can happen. Even if its just for a few hours.