From the recording COUNTERBALANCE
"There will be change because all the military have are guns." Aung San Suu Kyi
In 2010, whilst working towards a Burmese arts event in London, one of us had a dream where after nearly five decades of brutal military rule there was a sudden, irreversible movement in Burma for peaceful change instigated by people power. Then, it was just a dream. In 2012, we sat in London’s Royal Festival Hall watching the leader of Burma’s democratic movement Aung San Suu Kyi speak to a crowd of followers not only outside the walls of her famous house-come-prison in Burma’s main city Rangoon, but, for the first time in over two decades, beyond the borders of her enslaved nation for whose freedom she has fought for so long. Can we dare to hope that the dream could become reality?
Lyrics
DAISY CHAIN
This is the chain a nation long
Circling 50 million strong
And round again
This is the day the last one stands
Puts down a gun
And the final hands close the chain
In a topsy-turvy world
You harm the weak
And you hold the power
The dealers sell the truth
And like the walls
Are quickly named “Insein”
And never seen again
On a dusty avenue
The shadow army with its rifles trained
On a crowd that swells in spite
Here to see a sight
They know could cost their lives
No more afraid to die
This is the chain…
The curtains of betrayal
And intimidation roll away
And a crowd so graciously
Ask to please be left to live their lives
Far from prying eyes
This is the chain…