Make Protests Fun

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Music and dance would play a major role in the gatherings, and so would mass silence. ?Everyone has a different version of how they find the deepest part of themselves,? says Sommer. ?Whatever you call it?praying, meditating?to stop and listen to what can be heard when thousands of people stand in silence is transforming.?

Every detail of the gatherings would support and exemplify sustainability: locally grown food would be offered, and bottles, scraps, and waste water would be recycled in ingenious ways. Electricity would be generated from wind or solar energy wherever possible.

Sommer is not certain if any Gatherings on his model actually have been tried yet, but he has received positive feedback on his scheme from the likes of Buddhist author Joanna Macy, Reconstructionist Jewish leader Arthur Waskow, and William Ury, director of the Preventing War Project at the Harvard Law School. He has no desire to promote the Gatherings himself, however. ?I want to incubate and nurture them until they take on a life of their own in the hands and imaginations of many others,? he says. Most of all, the Gatherings are not directed against anyone, not even the corporations and government officials who scoff at sustainability. As Sommer writes, ?It?s best not to condemn where they stand but move to a better place and invite them over.?

Jessica Misslin is an intern in the Utne art and editorial departments.

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