My journey into politics and understanding a soundtrack of resistance.

When I was a child playing sports in my small rural town, I could never understand why I sometimes felt so uncomfortable. As a young teen, I just wanted to do the thing I loved: playing games with people I considered my friends. Yet I would speak to my family and ask why I didn’t fit in with the others, why they were hesitant to give me opportunities like the others. I later understood that it was because I didn’t wear the newest and best clothes, my equipment was handed down, and I didn’t go to a prep school. Despite this, my family took me week after week, encouraged me, and told me that none of that mattered. The theme of that time was “stick to your guns” and “be proud of who you are”, mottos my grandad told my mum and later me as a child growing up. Looking back now, I realise that the reason I felt out of place was simply that I was not as rich and did not say the right things, or in the right way. I was used to being judged on how I presented myself, and I enjoyed proving these people wrong.

My family were, and continues to be, very politically vocal and always encouraged me to be the same. Dinner times were filled with discussions (or arguments) about Thatcher or the state of politics at the moment—it didn’t matter. Anything and everything. I realised that the reason my family were so vocal was that it was their form of resistance. Even though they felt they had no voice as working-class people, they still made sure their voice was heard, even if only by their own family. Politics underlined my mum’s artwork—creating placards at protests, attending rallies to help save our local hospital, among other political acts. This was another way she made her voice heard in politics.

This inspired me to study politics and understand the state of society around me, so I could have my voice heard. I told my mum I wanted to work as hard as I could to make a difference to people who feel they have no voice of their own. This led me to study politics at A-level, with my sights set on pursuing a degree in politics. My mum encouraged me further, showing me how art can be a soundtrack of resistance and a way to have your voice heard, Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, and even hip-hop as a genre rooted in political defiance. I saw how it inspired my mother to make beautiful and powerful artwork. Politics was inescapable, so you had to be educated and understand the world around you to be able to act. Here I am now, with the luxury of writing about how my family inspired me to educate myself to make my voice, as well as others’, heard.

David Colville