Vocal Uprising

Vocal Uprising is a community-powered chorus of people raising their voices together to inspire action, courage and joy. All are welcome. You don’t need to know how to sing. Just bring your passion, your presence, and your desire to use your voice to protect the community and world we love.

We're building a repertoire of chants, call-and-response songs, and simple sing-alongs, suitable for rallies, events, and spontaneous pop-ups. All designed to engage everyone, onlookers, audiences, and singers alike to build a strong sense of joy and community.

We are joining the nationwide Singing Resistance that spontaneously formed in Minneapolis, MN, in response to a violent siege by federal immigration agents. The Core Principles of Singing Resistance are:

“Singing Resistance is a decentralized movement and we invite anyone to join us who is aligned around our core alignments and goals. We encourage people to create (or mobilize already-existing) singing groups in your local community and to organize song-based actions that are relevant to your context and to the political and historical moment we are situated in.

We request that any group using the name Singing Resistance follows these principles:

• We are building a large movement of singers that is radically welcoming. Singing Resistance is a loving entry point for many people, including those who are new to social movements and activism.

• In the context of rising authoritarianism, we believe we need a mass civil resistance movement that uses a diversity of tactics including noncooperation, protest, and mutual aid. We seek not to restore the broken democracy we had in place prior to an authoritarian regime taking power, but to build a true multiracial democracy and a new world in its place.

• We take regular action, grounded in solidarity and noncooperation. We protect ourselves and our neighbors, and we act in solidarity with members of our communities who are targeted by state violence (including ourselves). We do so through "song-based actions", or actions in which song is at the center. We also join, support, and connect our people to other resistance efforts like ICE rapid response networks, mutual aid, campaigns, advocacy, and more.

• We sing not only for the world that we want to create, but to create that world right here and now. Singing with others offers us a path to feeling our grief, fear, connection, and power. The embodied experience of singing offers us healing and supports our nervous systems and spirits.

• We sing songs that are simple, taught by ear, are relevant to these times, and that communicate deep themes of grief, solidarity, love, resistance, and more.

• We seek to end all oppressive systems. We are committed to ongoing learning, reflection, and integrating feedback in the places where we perpetuate oppressive behaviors. We take the initiative to study and learn from resistance movements that have come before us.

Are you aligned with these 6 things? If yes: welcome to Singing Resistance!

Learn more by exploring the Singing Resistance Toolkit and Songbook here.”

Whether we’re leading chants at rallies or sparking spontaneous harmony in public spaces, Vocal Uprising uplifts spirits, strengthens courage and ignites hope. We raise our voices not only against injustice—but for joy, for unity, and for the world we know is possible.

Contact Julia Hesse at hesse.julia@gmail.com