Why We Sing
As an ever-more-deeply-invested participant in the Solidarity Sing Along, I’ve been thinking lately about why we sing, why we’ve chosen this particular form of expression. Just what’s going on here? Why do we keep coming back? What exactly are we accomplishing? I don’t think of what we do as protest, because it’s so much more than that. Certainly there are plenty of things going on in our state worthy of protest. But our singing is also a communal affirmation of our hopes, our values, our longing for justice, truth, and democracy. Communal singing is a vital part of building social movements: the civil rights movement, the labor movement, the Singing Revolution in Estonia, the effort to end apartheid in South Africa. Building and re-envisioning the Wisconsin Uprising is what we’re up to, whether we realize it or not. The Sing Along is an effective answer to those who cry “Educate! Agitate! Organize!” We learn from and educate each other in the song lyrics we write and rewrite and in the announcements we make between songs. Chief Erwin’s crackdown is a pretty good indication that we’re