The HP Alliance, in coordination with the wizard rock community, has just unveiled its newest effort, “Wizard Rock the Vote,” a nationwide (that is, United States-wide) event to get as many Potter fans registered to vote in this November’s election as possible.
To remember why it matters look only to J.K. Rowling’s Harvard commencement address: “Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden.”
The concept is simple: at every wizard rock concert this summer, volunteers will be on hand to help register audience members. If you’d like to be one of those volunteers, check out concerts near you and fill out the form or send an email directly to samantha@thehpalliance.org. You can check out the participating bands here.
Watch this video!
If you’d like a Wizard Rock the vote T-shirt to rock this summer, go here; proceeds fund the drive!
Good work, Leaky! As a South African, living in a country in which people fought a long struggle in order for every South African, not just a white minority, to be able to vote, I support the view that voting is VERY important. There’s no such thing as not being ‘involved’ in politics; the ordinary is political, the everyday is political. The US’s actions do indeed affect the world beyond its borders – for example, funding for public health and community health projects in South Africa, essential in a country where the HIV/Aids epidemic is rampant, have drastically decreased under Bush. But even if you’re not interested in the rest of the world, and need a reason to vote in the US, you need not look beyond your own borders – many Americans too, are poor and disadvantaged. There is plenty worth fighting for, plenty worth voting for.
Considering J.K Rowling herself has spoken highly of the Harry Potter Alliance and its many initiatives, I don’t think the HPA is really in danger of being viewed as an organization that’s using Harry Potter in an inappropriate manner. If you look beyond the basic elements of plot and character development in the series, you’ll see that a number of political issues are being addressed throughout the story. Of course, (I assume that) Rowling assumes that her readers are intelligent enough to make the leap from the Ministry of Magic to real-life governments and so forth. In any case, Wizard Rock the Vote is NOT a campaign to steer voters in any particular direction. We may support and fight for a number of progressive ideas and causes, and obviously there are certain presidential candidates who also fight for those same causes. Still, this is an effort to boost voter registration and encourage people (especially young people) to take an active role in their government and society as a whole. We (the HPA) support voter registration as much as we support ending the genocide in Darfur. This initiative is a reflection of that and nothing else.
On a personal note, I have a feeling that anyone who’d be against this voter registration drive is probably a right-winger who is offended by the notion of a progressive organization encouraging young people to vote. Please remember that there are many people on both sides of the American political spectrum who love this country and wish to foster the ideals of democracy in a productive, proactive manner. The two-party system is an unfortunate reality, but that doesn’t mean we have to chain ourselves to one side and claim the Constitution as our own. I would be thrilled to see a conservative organization putting together voter registration drives—to me, it would mean that more people are using their political clout, and whoever gets elected would be more deserving of the prize.
Posted by The Whomping Willows on June 19, 2008, 03:06 PM
report to moderator
John McCain(more like John McSame) doesn’t care about wizards.
Hey: There’s no chance at all the HPA will be steering you in any one direction, becuase its status as a nonprofit is dependent upon its non-political stance. They literally can’t do it. Honestly, the only thing they’re doing is getting you REGISTERED. The choice is yours.
I’m from Argentina, and voting is a duty and mandatory. If you don’t vote, you’re fined. (The fine is a joke; I think it’s something like 50 cents, but still)
The way YOU, Americans, vote, affects me. It affects me because you inhabitate a superpower, and what happens in there, has a huge impact all around the world. So please, PLEASE, it won’t hurt you to take a few minutes and listen to your candidates, and reflect on which is the best choice. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for the world. Every vote counts.
Giselle, I would like to apologize for my earlier comment. I didn’t mean to cause so much controversy. Jenny, now looking back, I think you’re right- I misunderstood her. Anyways, now that I completely understand Wizard Rock the Vote, I think it’s a FANTASTIC idea. Also, I didn’t mean for my comment to sound like I don’t CARE about politics. Voting is very important, as well as it is to have your voice heard. But personally, I would still like to know a little more about the canidates, before I could make an educated decision… And why did Jo say we belong to world’s only remaining superpower?!? (...well, America is the only superpower with an economy that will take more than the next 4 terms just to recover) With that being said, everyone who can, should definitely participate in this event!!!!
Whether its democrats or republicans that win – it doesn’t matter when it comes to foreign policy, particularly concerning the Palestine – Israeli conflict. The U.S. has sadly been hijacked by a foreign country and many Americans are not even aware! Instead of the U.S. government using American taxpayer dollars on its people, it has chosen to spend BILLIONS annually to fund the Israeli war machine and to continue the genocide of the Palestinian people.
I’m really excited about this campaign. Even though I wasn’t old enough to vote in 1980, I think it’s the most important election this country has had since then. It seems to have excited a lot of first-time voters and that’s a good thing. Hopefully, they will go to the polls on Nov 4. The more people voting, the better. Maybe we can actually force our political leaders to listen to the people’s interests instead of the lobbyists and special interest groups. WOW, what a concept!!!
@ The Whomping Willows: “On a personal note, I have a feeling that anyone who’d be against this voter registration drive is probably a right-winger who is offended by the notion of a progressive organization encouraging young people to vote.”
The only thing I am against is encouraging anyone to vote who is not well-informed on the issues. Everyone should vote, it is their civic duty, but the first part of that duty is to get WELL informed, not by listening to the spin, the hate speech on the blogs, the commercials or the feel-good rhetoric in a rock concert atmosphere. That may get people interested and excited, which is great, but it does not get them informed. As a person who has followed politics for decades and has seen the misinformation and spin out there I am very afraid for the fate of this great country after November 4. It is naive to assert that there is not a political agenda associated with this. They may not be “able” to say so, but anyone with two brain cells to rub together can see through what they do say quite easily. That is fine, too, it really IS impossible to go into anything like that with no bias whatsoever, but at least be honest about it.
What I find very interesting is the idea that if America “chooses wisely” it means a democrat in the White House. We have a democrat controlled House and Senate now and their approval rating is even lower than Pres. Bush’s. There are serious problems in BOTH parties and it is past time for everyone to acknowledge that fact. Instead of going to the polls with an ideologically chosen candidate in mind, why not actually take the time to look at each person’s stance on the issues based on their voting record, look at each person’s character, look at their history and research those things from reliable sources, not the blogs or politically motivated commentators. Decide which issues are most important to you and vote for the candidate who most closely matches your personal beliefs, regardless of political party, age, race, gender, spouse, religion, etc., etc., etc. Vote the person, not the party.
“Republicans for Voldemort!! Posted by Lindsay on June 19, 2008 @ 12:18 PM”
You just said a bunch of things that I wish I had thought of, or said things I wanted to say in a much better way than I could have said them. Thank you.
Good work, Leaky! As a South African, living in a country in which people fought a long struggle in order for every South African, not just a white minority, to be able to vote, I support the view that voting is VERY important. There’s no such thing as not being ‘involved’ in politics; the ordinary is political, the everyday is political. The US’s actions do indeed affect the world beyond its borders – for example, funding for public health and community health projects in South Africa, essential in a country where the HIV/Aids epidemic is rampant, have drastically decreased under Bush. But even if you’re not interested in the rest of the world, and need a reason to vote in the US, you need not look beyond your own borders – many Americans too, are poor and disadvantaged. There is plenty worth fighting for, plenty worth voting for.