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Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Volume 5 Number 2 Music, Sound, and the Aurality of the Environment in the Anthropocene: Spiritual and Article 6 Religious Perspectives

2019

“A Gentle, Angry People”: Music in a Quaker Nonviolent Direct- Action Campaign to Power Local Green Jobs

Benjamin A. Safran

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Recommended Citation Safran, Benjamin A. (2019) "“A Gentle, Angry People”: Music in a Quaker Nonviolent Direct-Action Campaign to Power Local Green Jobs," Yale Journal of Music & Religion: Vol. 5: No. 2, Article 6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17132/2377-231X.1140

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. It has been accepted for inclusion in Yale Journal of Music & Religion by an authorized editor of EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “A Gentle, Angry People” Music in a Quaker Nonviolent Direct-Action Campaign to Power Local Green Jobs Benjamin Safran

Shortly into Exelon’s annual shareholders’ such as Power Local Green Jobs can also meeting in 2019, the energy conglomerate’s contribute substantially to measurable social CEO admonished a group of seven protestors change, even in political moments when for yelling and disrupting. We were from change feels hopeless. Such campaigns need Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), whose music just as much as mass movements. Power Local Green Jobs campaign targets the As discussed below, EQAT’s particular -based utility company PECO, musical culture, which emphasizes whole- one of Exelon’s subsidiaries. A protestor group participation, spontaneity, and calmly responded that we were not in fact promotion of a “peaceful” appearance, yelling, and—somewhat surprisingly—one is rooted in historical Quaker views on of the shareholders agreed. Though our music. I argue that this musical culture is group continued to interject, sometimes out particularly effective in achieving highly of turn, the CEO soon stopped referring to disruptive, effective with small us as “yelling.” At the end of the meeting, we groups of people. Music and sound serve broke into activist-singer-songwriter many of the same roles within EQAT as Pat Humphries’ 1984 Never Turning Back as within large social movements. Additionally, we got up to leave. This action did not go as music allows the organization to fulfill planned—we had anticipated being kicked its “rebel” identity while simultaneously out by security fairly early in the meeting. reinforcing its dutiful, respectful outward Instead, we stayed and ended up engaging in appearance. As a self-described “rebel significant dialogue with Exelon executives. group” employing nonviolent direct action However, singing while making our exit for environmental and economic justice, was always our expectation, as it often is in EQAT uses participatory music within a EQAT’s actions. carefully planned framework to summon Music is intertwined not only with a courage and build a sense of unity within ’s identity, but also with its actions that feel scary to many participants. campaign strategy. Although an increasing At the same time, the “gentle” Quaker body of work addresses the use of music aesthetic may partially mask and even cap in environmental justice movements, the movement’s rebelliousness. Quaker- including monographs by Mark Pedelty on influenced music and sound in the Power environmental around the Salish Local Green Jobs campaign serve the Sea and by Noriko Manabe on the Japanese movement’s “edgy” energy while also antinuclear movement, such work most often tapping into reverence and high moral focuses on movements that include large- standing indexed by religious music. scale marches, rallies, concerts, or festivals I approach this analysis as a white, designed to effect cultural change across Jewish, male-appearing, and nonbinary- society.1 Yet smaller-scale direct actions that identifying musicologist, activist, and are part of strategic, sustained campaigns composer who was raised in a professional-

82 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) class, predominantly white family and several music scholars with whom I have graduated from a historically Quaker liberal shared various stages of this work. Music arts college. I also have close connections scholars may be especially attuned to this to Earth Quaker Action Team. Within risk because historically our field has been EQAT, I have participated in actions, action primarily concerned with music’s ability planning groups, general meetings, strategy to act at the level of cultural, as opposed sessions, and occasional fundraising work to policy, change. Thinking at the cultural since 2012. I have served as “action lead” level alerts us to the danger that acting in for specific actions and taken part in ad accordance with hegemonic cultural norms hoc working groups, or “core teams,” that reproduces hegemony. However, at the plan specific actions or implement specific policy level, quantitative evidence suggests tasks. In connection with my dissertation, that acting “peaceful” is more likely to achieve I organized the premiere of a portion of a measurable success.3 Since measurable piece I composed for a Power Local institutional changes are essential for a just, Green Jobs action inside the PECO building livable world, and sustained, nonviolent in spring 2018. In late spring 2019, after direct-action campaigns are an effective way the initial submission of this article, I was of changing institutions, it is important asked to join the organization’s unpaid to examine the strategic role music can board of directors. play in such campaigns. While “peaceful” EQAT itself is majority white, middle- campaigns may indeed reinforce cultural class, and college-educated, and these norms across society, I see this as less of demographics privilege the group with a concern for an effective but tiny, little- substantial benefit of the doubt from known organization like EQAT. At the same authorities. Nevertheless, EQAT’s pres- time, in arguing for the utility of EQAT’s entation of itself through music also culture, I emphatically do not intend to deserves some of the credit for its being read tone-police or suggest that appearing “civil” by power holders as respectable, legitimate, is in the interest of every social movement and peaceful. Although the organization I or campaign. have chosen to discuss here is predominantly white, the majority of successful “peaceful- “Quaker Music” appearing” modern nonviolent direct-action At first glance, there is nothing specifically campaigns across the world have been led “Quaker” about most of the EQAT by people of color;2 in this article I invoke uses in its Power Local Green Jobs the United States civil rights movement that campaign. Most are contrafacta of black culminated in the 1960s because it is one , American folk revival music, particularly well known example. On the or popular music. Nevertheless, EQAT’s other hand, I have observed and participated Quaker grounding is not incidental to in actions of mostly white groups that the fact that it is an environmental group adopted more outwardly aggressive- that takes its music seriously. Even though appearing stances and attracted a hostile Quakerism lacks the well-known repertoire reaction from police and the public. of music found in many religions, the My analysis risks buying into uses of music within this campaign reflect respectability politics, a concern raised by ideals that date back to early Quakerism.

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 83 EQAT’s Quaker roots support both its “form without power.” In early Quakerism, organizational and musical goals as they this meant an emphasis on spontaneity, to shape its soundscape. which precomposed, metrical hymns were Faith-based action groups in the United seen as opposed. Although both Thomas States have long used religious music to F. Taylor and Kenneth Carroll have found claim moral standing. In the twentieth- that early did not completely avoid century civil rights movement, the use of music, Bertha May Nicholson writes that religious music indexed bravery, patience, children in early Friends schools were often unity, virtue, and reconciliation.4 Thomas disciplined for making music.7 Conforming Turino notes that songs can condense to metrical and rhyme structures might complex meaning and “become associated make one express something differently with various social movements through from the way it would most purely be time and so index earlier aspirations and expressed in accordance with the Spirit struggles.”5 The use of traditional Christian and scripture.8 The rare cases in which spiritual music, with altered for civil early Quakers saw singing as potentially rights messaging, effectively situated the acceptable were when it arose directly from civil rights movement within a history divine inspiration. An important facet of of spiritually based struggles for justice. early Quaker singing was the requirement Similar strategies are employed in several that it represent a state of “truth” and contemporary social movements in honest expression rather than an .9 Philadelphia, where Power Local Green Singing might be permissible if seen as Jobs is focused. For example, participants original, authentic, and spontaneous. in the New Sanctuary Movement sing Aversion to music was not unique to spirituals to promote a peaceful sonic Quakerism; at the time of the religion’s environment when protesting arrests by rise in England in the seventeenth Immigration and Customs Enforcement century, the leaders of other Protestant (ICE) officials. Singing familiar spirituals separatist sects in the region had already in both English and Spanish helps draw a questioned the appropriateness and power connection between religious virtue and the of religious music.10 Concern about the Latinx communities ICE is targeting, thus spiritual significance of music was hardly promoting their moral superiority over the new in Protestant religious thought. agency. During action debriefs that I have Taylor compares Quakers’ opposition to attended, participants have noted that the music to that found in Plato’s Republic.11 use of can deescalate tension between Still, he notes that “the vigor with which protestors and ICE employees.6 Friends spoke and wrote against music, Despite the plethora of religious music and the rage their attitude created among in activist movements, one might not churchmen, helped to establish a special expect to see music play such a central role connection between anti-musical attitudes for EQAT given the historical reluctance and Quakers in the popular mind.”12 For among the leaders of the Religious centuries Quakers were known for their Society of Friends to embrace any music aversion to both sacred and secular music. whatsoever. Quaker worship is based on As a result, “Quaker music” seems almost following the Spirit, with an aversion to oxymoronic and has received relatively little

84 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) scholarly attention apart from a few works others to spend time in it, either about music in Quaker-related publications professionally or for recreation, the practice from the mid-1980s and a 1993 work in of members varies considerably,” writes Choral Journal.13 Collins. “Some (destitute of Tune?) will not Quakerism’s emphasis on allow the simplest whistling or humming should not be misconstrued as promoting around the house, while others, with an passivity. Quaker culture, including ear for harmony, may occasionally allow musical culture, is historically aligned with [music].”20 Even as Collins acknowledges rebelliousness. Carroll found substantial the existence of music within segments of evidence of early Quakers singing during the Quaker community, he firmly identifies whippings or imprisonment when they it as transgressive. were facing religious persecution.14 It In her 1987 pamphlet, published appears that singing and rejoicing while by the Quaker study center Pendle Hill, being whipped were seen as a source of Nicholson explored the possibility of a power while facing oppressors. relationship between music and Quaker The practice of singing appeared to spiritual life, writing that “we see the decline after 1675, with the exception of a creative side of our nature as positive group of “Singing Quakers” who disturbed and endeavor to identify and develop our meetings throughout New England at the individual gifts, whatever they may be.”21 turn of the eighteenth century.15 Richard A violin teacher and Friend,22 Nicholson Farnworth, a prominent seventeenth- considers that music may represent a century Quaker thinker, makes one “truth” leading to knowledge about God, reference to music in his writing in 1653, in but she also remarks that Quakers are which he argues that singing hymns could “understandably concerned about the use be part of worship, while emphasizing the of form without inspiration.”23 need to avoid “living in pleasures.”16 In that While Quakerism has reopened itself to same year, Thomas Atkinson wrote the music and art, it is still not stereotypically first known Quaker tract directly attacking known as a musical religion. Writing music.17 Through the mid-nineteenth in 1993, Dan Graves, choir director at century, the Society of Friends placed Earlham College, a Quaker institution, increasing emphasis on restricting outward observed that even though choral music creative behavior. “You did not need to was no longer explicitly banned on the basis learn about something someone else had of being “destructive to worship,” “many created—in music, painting or fiction— Friends continue[d] to hold onto these because it was not your own experience,” attitudes.”24 Graves noted that there was writes Nicholson.18 An 1869 article by the still no place for organized choirs within Quaker John Collins indicates that the ban “meetings for worship,” the unprogrammed on music was less consistently enforced worship services that remain the norm than bans on other forms of “intemperance,” among Quakers in the Philadelphia area. such as drinking or gambling.19 “While a In the United Kingdom, the birthplace consistent ‘Friend’ could not either indulge of Quakerism, only a few meetinghouses his natural fondness for it by practicing had a and only one had an organ upon any instrument or recommending as of the early 1990s.25 Still, Graves saw

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 85 an “explosion” of new musical activity by Taylor and Carroll. Nor are any of the emerging among Quakers in the form of songs sung by EQAT in Power Local Green choral music. This “explosion” does not Jobs actions written by the “new generation” appear to have received further scholarly of Quaker choral composers that Graves attention since his article appeared, and it describes. Nevertheless, EQAT’s uses of does not represent the music used by EQAT. music reflect many of the Quaker values and The 1988 songbook Rising Up Singing, practices discussed above. edited by Quakers Annie Patterson and Peter Blood, offers 1,200 songs for group Power Local Green Jobs singing, and is used across the world by EQAT’s Power Local Green Jobs campaign various secular and sacred groups from demands that utility company PECO— different religions, including in protest formerly the Philadelphia Electric Company, contexts. 26 The songs in the collection but now a subsidiary of Exelon, which are mostly unnotated, and few if any are also owns such facilities as the Three Mile by Quakers. Many members of EQAT Island nuclear plant—invest heavily in are familiar with the songbook, which solar energy and create sustainable local has contributed to their appreciation for jobs in marginalized communities in the group singing. Philadelphia area. The identity of Power Local Graves argued that the Quaker virtues of Green Jobs, marked by its demographics simplicity, peacefulness, and egalitarianism and its commitment to nonviolent direct shape the religion’s musical aesthetics.27 In a action, results in a distinctive musical letter to Graves, composer Gwyneth Walker, culture. Conversely, this musical culture who comes from the silent worship tradition shapes and reaffirms the identity of Power that predominates in the northeastern Local Green Jobs and of EQAT, potentially United States, writes that her philosophy of reinforcing its demographics along with its composition is strongly tied to her Quaker choices of campaign strategy and tactics. identity.28 Walker emphasizes peace, “the Music is in a symbiotic relationship with spirit within,” avoids setting “vulgar or the structure, make-up, and tactics of the violent words” and “words that praise movement, and is also shaped by Quaker famous people over ordinary people,” and ideology concerning music. prefers “lyrical, life-affirming, egalitarian A joint campaign of EQAT and ‘themes.’”29 Her musical preferences reflect Philadelphians Organized to Witness, the peaceful, gentle nature for which Empower and Rebuild (POWER), Power Quakers are known. To the extent that they Local Green Jobs began in 2015. On its are shared by members of EQAT, this creates website, EQAT introduces the campaign a potential contradiction with the religion’s as follows: self-professed rebel identity, as discussed further below. The Power Local Green Jobs Campaign Quakerism is not as devoid of musical uses nonviolent, direct action to challenge PECO, a utility company, to history as one might imagine. That said, take responsibility for creating jobs and the songs used by contemporary Quaker benefiting poor communities by making organizations have nothing to do with the a major shift to locally generated solar seventeenth-century repertoire documented power for electricity. The campaign has

86 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) started to take such token steps as hosting been joined by POWER, a broad multi- faith network of 60 congregations. vaguely defined “solar collaboratives” in an attempt to assuage activists’ concerns The campaign is calling on PECO to without meeting their direct demands. support the local economy by purchasing A notable feature of EQAT is the solar energy from Philadelphia rooftops, multiple generations of participants. About which will create jobs for local workers; lower electricity bills for families, half of the core group of individuals within schools, and churches; and make a more the organization appear to be over age resilient electrical grid. This campaign 50, while many participants are in their proposes solutions to three critical twenties and early thirties. The paid staff issues: underemployment, crumbling of EQAT have mostly slanted younger. infrastructure, and mitigating the POWER seems to have a somewhat older impacts of climate change.30 membership. Several individuals over 75 EQAT started Power Local Green Jobs have served on the EQAT board or have following a successful campaign called Bank regularly been involved in action planning, Like Matters (BLAM!), which and children have participated in or even resulted in PNC Financial Services ending run many actions. One BLAM! action its investments in mountaintop-removal inside a bank branch was planned and coal mining. POWER joined Power Local carried out entirely by a group of inspired Green Jobs within its first year and continues middle school students, including the to work on other campaigns simultaneously. role of police liaison. Most of the older EQAT, however, works exclusively on participants identify as Quakers, while the Power Local Green Jobs, a strategic decision majority of the younger participants do intended to maximize sustained pressure on not. Many of the non-Quakers are, like me, a single target. alumni of Quaker liberal arts colleges, and Power Local Green Jobs is a fairly others may be attracted to the group due small campaign in terms of number of to its emphasis on sustained targeting of a participants. Perhaps 50 people regularly single corporate target, which feels strategic show up for organizational meetings and in the current political climate. There is a take on planning roles within the campaign, relatively even gender balance, with more though many more subscribe to the mailing female and nonbinary participants among lists of EQAT and POWER and occasionally the younger members. attend an action or donate money. At any Although both of EQAT’s full-time paid given time EQAT has employed two to four campaign directors so far have been people staff members. Major actions have averaged of color, as noted above the organization perhaps 100 people and have occurred every is predominantly white and middle-class. few months, though smaller EQAT actions, This demographic has caused discomfort such as accosting a corporate executive or both within and outside of EQAT, given disrupting a meeting, have taken place with that one of the goals of its current campaign as few as two participants. Given the success is to create jobs for low-income people of the BLAM! campaign targeting PNC, of color. A desire among many leaders EQAT’s power should not be underestimated. in the group to engage in a campaign at In response to our movement, PECO has the intersection of racial, economic, and

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 87 environmental justice played a role in the that typically heighten a conflict—and the decision to pressure PECO to create green use of these methods without the threat or jobs in marginalized communities. EQAT’s use of injurious force to others.”33 Following leaders have sometimes expressed concern Gene Sharp, I consider nonviolent direct that the group’s culture marginalizes action to consist of action that includes people of color, and have occasionally held some element of noncooperation or direct workshops on race and privilege with outside intervention with an oppressive institution facilitators to address this topic. POWER or power structure, as opposed to persuasion is more multiracial and includes member from afar. Sharp argues that noncooperation congregations from most Philadelphia is essential to resisting oppression: neighborhoods. It should also be emphasized A firmly established regime need not that the goal of Power Local Green Jobs is take serious note of a minor opposition not to organize marginalized communities in which is restricted to verbal dissent, Philadelphia. Instead, the goal is to support while continuing a passive submission existing community organizations within and cooperation with the regime. If those neighborhoods by demanding that even a majority dissents only in words, while refraining from any action which PECO solve environmental and economic the regime would have to take seriously, problems around which the communities there is nothing that requires the regime are already organized. even to consider the advisability of a EQAT’s owes its self-identification as change.34 a rebel group to the “four roles of social Strategic calculation requires social move- change” articulated by Bill Moyer, an activist, ments to foresee conflict, since goals are author, and cofounder of Philadelphia’s attained at the expense of opponents who Movement for New Society in the 1970s. are calculating their own strategy.35 Direct Moyer defined “rebel groups” as those who action also always involves imbalances of focus on dramatic actions that primarily power, with the challengers at a lower social take a strongly oppositional stance toward position than those they are challenging.36 institutions and structures, as distinct Thus, staging nonviolent struggle has the from groups that seek to advance their potential to “bring parity to the unbalanced causes by lobbying, community organizing, relationship” between the opposing parties or changing lifestyles.31 Just as EQAT’s in a social conflict.37 Strategic use of music demographics have implications for the that indexes a higher power can be one tactic campaign’s use of music as it takes nonviolent for such empowerment of protestors. direct action, so does its rebellious identity. In most circumstances, this definition means that an outdoor march with a permit, Nonviolent Direct Action a picket line, a benefit concert, a festival, or Like other academics,32 sociologist and a petition drive would not count as direct EQAT cofounder George Lakey defines action within contemporary American nonviolent direct action as “a technique of society. Such tactics may still be useful struggle that goes beyond institutionalized for when undertaken conflict procedures like law courts and with large numbers of people, especially if voting. . . . [Instead, it includes] methods of they are part of a larger, ongoing strategic protest, noncooperation, and intervention campaign. Kate Galloway notes that while

88 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) such events do not guarantee measurable responded cautiously; while civil-affairs change, their soundscapes may unite police who respond to have been listeners while connecting them to the present at most actions, for the first two environment.38 Still, action without an years of the campaign PECO never asked element of noncooperation tends to feel them to remove protestors from its property. institutionalized in contemporary American Although EQAT’s majority-white racial society and thus may not meet the general identity undoubtedly plays a large role in definition of direct action. Action taken the caution shown by PECO and the police, in typical protest spaces, such as public the campaign also makes tactical choices squares and sidewalks, can easily become, that communicate a “peaceful” identity, as John Parkinson puts it, “ritualized including around uses of music. and regularized to the point where it no longer matters very much.”39 In contrast, The Musical Culture of Power Local occupations of a less typical protest space, Green Jobs such as a corporate lobby, may cause Power Local Green Jobs maintains a robust significant disruption even with a small musical culture in which there is no divide number of people. between musicians and audience. Most At a recent Power Local Green Jobs major actions have a designated song strategy retreat, a member of POWER who leader who is chosen in advance; along is black raised the concern that the EQAT with police liaison, action leader, spiritual and academic definition of direct action anchor, and a few others, this is among betrays the group’s privilege, noting that the few action roles that are rarely omitted. what goes beyond the bounds of normal The song leader ensures that actions will political activity is dependent on identity. be grounded in music as well as spirit and, For a black person without a college degree with the spiritual anchor, builds a sense of to lobby a politician may be a radical act, cohesion and confidence among the group she argued. I do not dispute that lobbying in actions that might be frightening or could be seen as radical and as a legitimate uncomfortable. In rare actions that have strategy to effect change. Yet it is also true not featured group singing, musicians—or that people of color throughout history and in one case prerecorded music—have been around the world have led social movements accompanied by participatory dance. EQAT that have made use of highly disruptive has also held songwriting workshops. forms of noncooperation—indeed, often The idea that music should be sung by much more so than EQAT.40 everyone who is moved to do so, rather So far, Power Local Green Jobs’ direct than performed for an audience, can be actions have most often occurred at the situated within Quakerism and contrasts PECO building in Center City Philadelphia. with the musical traditions normatively The earliest actions took place outside, associated with predominantly white, on PECO’s privately owned but publicly middle-class groups. accessible front plaza, while many recent In spring 2016 there was an attempt to actions have taken place inside the lobby. start a chorus for Power Local Green Jobs Moving inside was an attempt by action that would anchor the music for major organizers at “escalation.” PECO initially actions. The intent was to have a core group

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 89 of singers who knew the music well and harmonies for existing songs within our whose confidence would embolden others repertoire. Much of the folk revival and to join them. In April 2016, an EQAT board spiritual music used in the campaign sounds member sent an email to a group of Power fantastic in a choir setting. However, the Local Green Jobs participants who were same fear of “form without power” that musically inclined or interested, inviting originally caused consternation among them to join the chorus. It said, in part: Friends about music may also be helpful I’ve talked with some of you recently in moving Power Local Green Jobs beyond about how lovely it would be for some the presentational music values with which core [members of the campaign] some members were raised. to practice harmonies and work on really Regardless of individuals’ relationship polishing some songs together. I think to EQAT’s musical culture, music can help this could make our singing in actions the campaign articulate the values of honesty more powerful, and . . . I for one would and forthrightness while performing love to do more technically-minded singing (which I’ve been missing). disruptive action. In addition to the use of participatory singing, EQAT’s identity The email’s underlying assumption was is performed by a careful choice of songs that technically polished singing would whose —in particular, folk songs make the group’s actions more powerful. and spirituals that were used during the This desire for polish is consistent with civil rights movement—index such values. EQAT’s demographics: many members These song choices often contain the “lyrical, have participated in ensembles that perform life-affirming, egalitarian ‘themes’” that European classical music and subscribe to the Walker associated with Quakerism. Even values and social traditions associated with when songs and song leaders are carefully that . A chorus could indeed support a chosen in advance, music in which everyone social movement in some scenarios, such as is invited to participate can promote the by performing a benefit concert. However, image of an egalitarian, consensus-driven as Turino notes, polish and technical culture. Spontaneously breaking into This proficiency reflect the goals of presentational Little Light of Mine as a mode of disrupting music, not those of participatory music.41 a corporate board meeting can be highly Although rehearsal may have been intended disorienting to onlookers and cause them to encourage participation, the group’s to consider who has higher moral standing, current level of musical ability is more than those who are running the meeting or those sufficient for all action attendees to be able who are disrupting it. to join in song easily. In Power Local Green Jobs, impulses Song and Sound Choices for polish are usually moderated by Quaker Not unexpectedly, the songs chosen for values emphasizing spontaneity instead the campaign broadly reflect EQAT’s of technical proficiency. The Power Local demographics. Some songs are used for Green Jobs chorus held one rehearsal at the just one particular action—for example, home of an EQAT leader who had a piano. covers of Christmas songs were intended About a dozen people attended, with several for a holiday-themed action—while others of us coaching, leading, and suggesting are staples of the campaign. The bulk of the

90 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) songs consist of contrafacta of spirituals really do share the feelings expressed by and folk revival songs that have a long the music they are singing. history in U.S. social movements. The The next-largest category of music used campaign builds a cohesive musical culture by the campaign is of popular using songs that are stylistically similar.42 music with lyrics rewritten to support Of the few newly composed songs, most the campaign. In covers, a well- have melodic contours, rhythms, and known song is reset with different lyrics tonalities similar to those of spirituals and whose meaning has little or nothing to do folk revival music. with the original, like songs by “Weird Al” For Power Local Green Jobs, the use Yankovic.46 The Power Local Green Jobs of folk songs and spirituals indexes the parody songs tend to be used in low-key civil rights movement’s values of peace, actions that are less confrontational and love, bravery, and sacrifice. It is true that more “invitational” in tone. These parodies the degree to which EQAT’s campaign fits are intended to be fun and often silly, while within that lineage is debatable. The second no particular effort is made to connect the decade of the twenty-first century has values of the original song with those of featured environmental justice campaigns the campaign. Kurt Mosser suggests that that take place in politically conservative such covers simply exploit the base song for regions, are led by people of color, and have “comic effect.”47 Nevertheless, the songs that faced extreme police brutality, such as the are chosen to be parodied still broadly index Standing Rock mobilization against the the movement’s identity. Ranging from Dakota Access Pipeline. As discussed further show tunes to pop songs, the parodies used below, those factors do not apply to Power in Power Local Green Jobs actions represent Local Green Jobs. those that participants would listen to apart might be expected to appeal from their activism. Based on the song titles to a group that values original expression I have collected for my research, with the over imitation. Thomas Grunning argues exception of a cover of Taylor Swift’sBad that personal emotional response is Blood called Band-aids Don’t Fix Climate especially encouraged and indexed to Change, all of the parodies’ base songs authenticity within folk music.43 Barry are over 25 years old. It also appears that Shank sees the desire for “authenticity” all of the contrafacta sung in the current within the American folk revival as campaign, apart from the spirituals, are connected to “the desire for a premodern of songs by white artists. The previous way of life, outside the mechanisms of the campaign targeting PNC to stop investing modern market society.”44 The association in mountaintop removal included one of folk music with genuine emotion and popular-music from nonwhite rejection of market society would help artists, a parody cover of Stop! In the Name promote the campaign’s identity. Although of Love used in a Valentine’s Day action. Also, performances of “authenticity” have often a member of EQAT who is black composed in reality meant the mastery of a set of the majority of its original songs. Overall, conventions such that musicians become the song choices still indicate a racialized— “master performers of feelings that they did and age-specific—identity of those choosing not share,”45 in my experience participants the music within the social movement. This

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 91 music builds group cohesion around a sense message is communicated through a of fun, while also validating the concern cheerful communal dance.50 Majken Jul that the group’s culture marginalizes people Sørensen argues that humor in political of color. activism can be subversive and more than In addition to reflecting a demographic just a vent for frustration when it directly identity, the texts in the parody covers are confronts power or mobilizes resistance.51 strikingly upbeat. The refrain of Band-aids Manabe notes that such a sense of fun is not Don’t Fix Climate Change tells PECO that we for everyone, quoting an activist who argues know “they can do better,” continuing that “if people look like they’re having too Philly’s got problems much fun and getting too excited, it gives And we think you can solve ‘em the impression that the fun is shared only If you make a really big push. by an inner circle. It loses its openness PECO, it’s time to go solar (Hey!). to new participants.”52 EQAT’s emphasis Band-aids Don’t Fix Climate Change on fun contrasts with the sonic choices becomes somewhat more confrontational made by some other Philadelphia activist as it progresses, later stating: “Your small groups, such as the Coalition for REAL efforts just for show / If you don’t do more, Justice, which cultivates an enraged, often you gotta go!” Still, the refrain returns at profanity-laced soundscape in its actions the end, maintaining the song’s positive for racial and economic justice. Inviting to framing. This tone reflects the fact that many, EQAT’s almost carnivalesque actions these covers were designed for the less amid social injustice do risk appearing confrontational actions that dominated irreverent or unwelcoming to some. This the campaign until 2018. In one of these silly and theatrical aesthetic may seem actions, participants danced to Electric Slide indulgent and therefore un-Quakerly. Yet on PECO’s plaza and invited PECO to “join the overall positive, good-natured approach the dance” by committing to local solar contributes to a sense of gentleness and electricity. However, this upbeat quality is friendliness even in the midst of relatively also present in the spirituals and folk songs rebellious action that feels decisively that have dominated the song choices of Quaker-inflected. more oppositional actions. Additionally, Song choices in Power Local Green both invitational and oppositional actions Jobs range from serious to tongue-in- have often featured a theatrical element and cheek, sometimes within the same event. In provided a sense of spectacle. This upbeatness keeping with the Quaker tradition of silent could be compared to Pedelty’s description worship, silence, music, and a combination of Dana Lyons’s tour as responding to a of the two are used interchangeably to serious threat, but also “really fun.”48 He punctuate especially poignant moments. observes that “successful musical activists These sonic choices enable participants tend to celebrate the carnivalesque nature to digest and reflect on the preceding of public performance rather than struggle discussion. Meetings often end with a song, against it.”49 Another apt comparison is to for which participants often stand in a the musical examples described by Manabe circle and hold hands, as if in silent prayer. in the Japanese antinuclear movement, such A six-hour strategy session in early 2018 as Eejanaika Ondo, in which an antinuclear began by singing Pat Humphries’s Never

92 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) Turning Back—the same song that would the wider community, but that music that be used in the 2019 Exelon shareholder is mostly for the activists themselves is still meeting action—as a group. This was important to build solidarity and morale.54 followed by a moment of silence, a poem, This may be especially true for a small and a solemn welcome into the space. Later group like Power Local Green Jobs, where in the meeting, after a snack break, the changing minds across society is less of a facilitator led a lighthearted contrafactum goal than disrupting PECO. of the same song with the verse “gonna find Causing a disruption to a corporate my seat for justice / we’re coming back, to space’s normal soundscape can be powerful have a snack.” Although this contrafactum in direct action. When considering specific changes a sincere, justice-oriented song music and other sonic choices, the actual into something trifling, such covers can words and melodies of contrafacta are still be seen as sincere since they reflect mostly important for energizing and the sentiment of the group at the time they entertaining the protestors themselves. The are sung. In fact, the overt transformation goal of these songs is not to communicate could be seen as less fraught than singing a specific message to the public, but rather the original, since it avoids any attempt to set an overall tone for the action while to imitate the sentiment of the base song, keeping participants energized and engaged. thereby better observing the values of When EQAT won the BLAM! campaign Quaker honesty and forthrightness. targeting PNC, few had ever heard of the No single musical style appeals organization. It won not by building a to everyone. Power Local Green Jobs’ mass movement but rather by pressuring parodies of popular music in particular are the PNC board of directors through tactics notable in that the group to which they such as disrupting shareholder meetings, appeal does not likely correspond to the or showing up at non-PNC-related private demographics of those most impacted by events attended by board members. When the economic and environmental injustice a PNC board member won an award from that the campaign seeks to address. the arboretum for her Although this might be a problem in a work in horticulture, EQAT was there to large social movement that aimed to create disrupt her award ceremony. The specific broad cultural change, a group whose song choice for such an action does not participants mostly come from privileged necessarily matter; even silently holding a backgrounds can still be effective at banner can make the audience quite angry. creating social change assuming they In other cases, a song that was familiar to develop consciousness around privilege the audience and indexed good virtue could and develop alliances with other groups.53 be beneficial. A small direct-action campaign does not In a recent Power Local Green Jobs necessarily need to appeal to everyone action, EQAT held silent worship in the to be successful, and it is arguably more lobby of the PECO building. Silence is effective to use the musical language another important Quaker value that of the oppressor. Pedelty notes that shapes the campaign’s sonic choices; this environmental organizations sometimes tactic had been used before in the lobby of preach to themselves rather than reaching PNC banks during the BLAM! campaign.

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 93 Though impractical for a large outdoor less planning than other similarly sized rally, holding silence and speaking out of organizations I have witnessed. The sense the silence within a corporate lobby are of “acting as the Spirit moves you” enables easy tactics to implement and make the this. Some larger actions have substantial group appear more commanding. When props that require planning, but entering the group holds silence, even the police a space and holding a silent occupation can and security officers tend to talk in hushed happen on a moment’s notice. tones, such that one hears the echo of every In spring 2018 I led a performance of footstep of a PECO employee. The silence my above-mentioned protest piece in the conveys a sense of holiness, encouraging PECO lobby as a Power Local Green Jobs authority figures to respond with respect, action, featuring a mix of musically inclined as if in a religious service. Sometimes members of EQAT and music students at a PECO publicity video plays quietly in my university. The participants’ background one corner of the lobby, the commercial in presentational music and their comfort sound in juxtaposition with the worshipful with going through a rehearsal process silence. In a quiet indoor setting, when a made EQAT the perfect group to try out person finally speaks up, their words are the piece. The protest was a success— far easier to hear than in a large outdoor thoroughly enjoyed by EQAT members rally. Similar to our singing, silent worship and music students, and confounding and is a seemingly unthreatening way of posing unwelcome to PECO. That said, the need a threat to PECO’s ability to conduct for rehearsal and for things to work out business as usual. precisely as planned can be a hindrance to In this particular silent-worship action, nonviolent direct action; it also goes against an older Quaker man unexpectedly began the values of spontaneity that Carroll and to sing Simple Gifts. At other times, action Taylor associate with early Quaker music. participants—typically older men—have Our recent experience underscored the broken from an action design to recite importance of “moving with the Spirit” in a poem that strikes them in the moment. nonviolent direct action. By luck we were This can be powerful, and such practice able to enter the lobby unimpeded to perform embraces the Quaker tradition of acting as the piece inside, which was important moved by the Spirit in the moment, even both for acoustics and for the musicians’ if it can sometimes be problematic for the instruments. However, in a typical Power messaging or flow of a carefully planned Local Green Jobs action, the lead would action. Such spontaneity creates a sonic simply have accepted that the doors were unpredictability that could be disarming to locked, adapted the action design to work police and PECO officials in conjunction outside, and claimed it as a win. Typical with the sense of spirituality. Perhaps more actions are flexible in terms of length; in this important, the privileging of spontaneity case we decided to perform the music twice can make for easily adaptable, flexible to take up more time in the PECO lobby. actions that work in unpredictable settings, For a stronger finish once the piece was over, a strong asset to nonviolent direct action. EQAT members broke into This Little Light EQAT values its nimbleness and is able of Mine as we exited. Although my piece to pull off a higher rate of actions with already made several accommodations in

94 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) consideration of direct-action logistics, such of the action design involved an individual as flexible instrumentation and adaptable singing a mourning song with a dance as text, these additional changes to the musical presentational music, one individual asked, action design were driven by the openness “Is this a performance? Because with Quakers and spontaneity of the Power Local Green if you don’t say anything some of them are Jobs campaign. going to join in.” The action featured a mix of chore- “Day of Mourning” Action ographed and improvised elements. Our Before Easter and Passover in 2018, EQAT rally on the PECO plaza was moderated by planned a series of actions tied to Holy Week. an emcee chosen in advance who introduced One, which we called a “Day of Mourning” the speakers and announced what would action, was the first action of Power Local happen next. The action featured the Green Jobs in which some participants Judaic Mourner’s Kaddish, led by rabbis would risk arrest. It was followed the next from POWER, along with the Zulu song day by a “Day of Vision” action led by Senzeni Na?, which has a history as both a children, and the following day by a “Day funeral song and a . The action of Reckoning” planned to include a larger also used songs from Christian traditions, number of people risking arrest. The “Day though, as usual, there were no songs that of Mourning” action, which I attended, were specifically Quaker. These songs consisted of a wake-like silent march to were borrowed from other traditions and the PECO building while carrying a “coffin” their use may raise issues of , made of painted cardboard, followed by a though they were led by people with ties rally with speakers that ideally would have to those religions. At the same time, their been held inside the corporate lobby. As we religiosity indexed an air of sincerity and expected, PECO knew we were coming and respectability. The props for the mourning prevented us from entering. Instead, we action, including a giant hourglass made held our rally on the company’s plaza, while of plastic and the cardboard coffin, had an those risking arrest occupied the customer obvious not-realness to them; our “funeral service center. This action showcased much procession” to the PECO building felt of the musical culture of the campaign, theatrical in nature. Such fakeness can be the utility of that culture, and some of its effective in a humorous, mocking action, relationship with racial identity. but this action was quite serious, and At an action preparation meeting I had the seriousness was primarily conveyed attended two days earlier, participants through sound. The procession to the expressed a desire to convey a sincere sense PECO building was undertaken in silence, of mourning for the lives and opportunities apart from the steady, slow beat of a bass lost in the Philadelphia region due to drum. Once at the PECO building, the such challenges as disinvestment and soundscape included the songs, moments pollution. Quaker values were on display of silence, and speeches by those impacted when considering the soundscape and by Philadelphia’s pollution and economic music of the action. “Silence can be really disinvestment. We heard from a North powerful,” observed a participant when Philadelphia teenager who could not afford we were planning the march. When part her bail and spent months in prison after

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 95 being falsely accused of a crime. We also best” for sit-ins or marches to portray the heard from a North Philadelphia reverend respectability that was being violated by about challenges facing his community, and “white local ruffians.”57 from a member of another environmental When authorities are seen as attacking activist group who spoke about the health or disrespecting widely shared symbols, problems faced by those living near the they may mobilize people in defense South Philadelphia oil refinery. Such of shared collective identities. Thus, speeches were deeply moving to both tactics that symbolically invoke events the EQAT and POWER crowds, even if or principles that are deeply embedded the connection to the campaign was not in collective memory and identity can take on an almost sacred quality and always made explicit. Other participants’ present a dilemma to authorities who interactions with PECO employees, want to repress a movement but would including security guards, suggested that do so at the risk of offending a much many of them were also supportive. Despite larger population. 58 the group’s predominant whiteness, several In the case of Power Local Green Jobs, this participants observed that support for the is accomplished by sonic choices around action appeared to be higher among PECO music and silence, which ensure that the employees whom they took to be people movement indexes good virtue at potentially of color. risky moments. Inside the customer service center, the In alignment with Quaker values, a attendees who were risking arrest tried sense of honesty and forthrightness “preaching” about PECO to customers. marked our sonic choices. At the “Day of The security guards, who initially seemed Mourning” action, the emcee declared over prepared to ignore the protestors’ presence, a microphone beforehand that seven people were sufficiently alarmed by the preaching would be entering the PECO customer to bring in police quickly to carry out their service center with the intention of risking arrests. Evidently we had a touched a raw arrest. Amazingly, they were still permitted nerve, participants noted. The arrestees to enter. Upon being arrested, they were also reported that some customers—who issued citations and released on the spot. were not the primary target of the action— The one arrestee who was black, a reverend seemed genuinely engaged by the preaching. from a POWER congregation, told us Lee Smithey and Lester Kurtz suggest during a debrief that his arresting officer that successful political performances told him that he really did not want to make “coordinate narratives and codes to condense the arrest. He noted that this was not the meaning into symbols and narratives that typical arrest experience for a black man, 55 are agonistic, pitting good against evil.” and that he had been afraid that the police They observe that performances can signal would find an excuse to separate him from shared values between challengers and the other arrestees, all of whom were white. the regime in order to make oppression Another of the arrestees, who was also a 56 less likely. For example, during the clergy member, said that her arresting officer U.S. civil rights movement, protestors told her that he believed she was exercising choreographed their actions to appear as a constitutional right, while still another upstanding citizens, wearing their “Sunday arrestee said that her officer allowed her to

96 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) tell him about the vision of 20 percent solar creation of a space in which participants by 2025 while her arrest was taking place. were not just acting as if in mourning but The group’s sonic choices as well as its overall were in fact earnestly in mourning. In this demographics enable such interactions with sense, the borrowed music was what allowed police across racial lines. for true original expression. Singing occurred throughout the action, including as the arrests took place. An older Music and Strategy Formation in Power white male member of EQAT who had not Local Green Jobs risked arrest recalled during the debrief how The use of contrafacta to reinforce the the action reminded him of his experience appearance of peacefulness is convincing participating in 1960s civil rights marches, to participants and the general public where protestors “sang with heart, sang and strengthens the group’s already fairly with soul, and sang with spirit.” Arrestees privileged standing with police. Relatively reported that they could hear the rest of us safe nonviolent direct action is also singing This Little Light of Mine outside and made possible by the Philadelphia Police tried to join in from the customer service Department’s policies toward protestors, center, but that the acoustics prevented them which as of 2018 can be regarded as from accurately synching up. The emphasis relatively permissive thanks to past legal on singing with heart, soul, and spirit, an settlements and the philosophy of the authentic and honest expression, evokes the current district attorney. The campaign’s desire for music to reflect an earnest “truth” financial resources are another factor. In rather than an imitation, a desire rooted in actions during which protestors intend early Quaker thought. This Little Light of to risk arrest, EQAT has ensured that Mine, especially with the addition of verses arrangements are made in advance for like “All over PECO, I’m gonna let it shine,” bail and legal support so that activists can is an appropriation of a song not originally expect to spend little or no time in jail. In written for that purpose, which we might the one instance in Pittsburgh during the expect to be frowned upon in a religion that BLAM! campaign where bail was higher values original expression over imitation. than expected, EQAT was able to fundraise But the discourse in Power Local Green the difference very quickly. This contrasts Jobs presents such contrafacta as authentic, sharply with the experience of some 1960s original, and directly originating from the civil rights movement protestors, who heart, soul, and spirit. adopted a “jail-not-bail” strategy in order Props such as a fake coffin are by to put a strain on the white-supremacist definition imitations of an original, which institution of incarceration. This does not may seem contrary to Quaker ideology. The mean that Power Local Green Jobs faces no campaign’s use of songs that are largely risks at all in its interactions with police. borrowed from other traditions might also Philadelphia has had its share of police seem to contradict the original expression brutality, and some actions have occurred promoted by Quakerism. Yet the emotion outside the city limits. Still, the performed was genuine. The music, while different identity of the group gives it privilege from the songs’ original meaning, was in encounters with police in any locale; essential—along with the speeches—to the

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 97 participants in EQAT’s direct actions However, a few participants noted later that face a far lower risk than the civil rights they still would have preferred upbeat music activists whose music the campaign for the arrests. Videos from the BLAM! borrows. As with those activists, the campaign show smiling arrestees being campaign’s song choices help it seem handcuffed while others look on, cheering nonthreatening to law enforcement. and singing spirituals. Watching the scenes, Even though the “persecution” EQAT one is struck by the thankfulness of all faces is mild compared to that of either involved and is led to interpret the arrests as the early Quakers or other contemporary a triumph for the campaign, not PNC bank. activists, direct action can still feel scary. The gratitude imparted by these spirituals is Actions like occupying a corporate lobby tied to their religious origin, and EQAT can or interrupting a private event go beyond claim a place in a lineage of loving, faithful, what is generally considered acceptable in grateful activists. The act of joyful singing everyday life. EQAT members have observed when performing scary actions that run that our middle-class upbringings teach us counter to societal expectations can serve to be polite and avoid causing disruption, the dual function of invoking righteousness especially for those raised as female. Singing and calming nerves. We sing to each other emboldens us by connecting singers to a to embolden ourselves, and we also sing to lineage of activists. The combination of the public to present our bold identity. taking a moment of silence before actions, Although cultivating legitimacy can be in the Quaker tradition, and singing has useful in nonviolent direct action, activists helped me and other participants feel must ensure that a desire for respectability grounded, reassured, and empowered during does not prevent them from being frightening actions. Singing together builds disruptive. There can still be a tendency a sense of solidarity, and by conveying love, among some—myself included—to feel bad joy, and faith even in the midst of arrests, about making people upset, even though song can make people feel more comfortable upsetting people is part of being a “rebel” with riskier actions. In both of its campaigns, group. On one hand, music can embolden EQAT actions have consistently included us to feel comfortable making people upset. singing by nonarrestees as arrestees are On the other hand, our Quaker values limit being taken into police custody. In BLAM! how upset we will feel comfortable making actions, the singing was typically upbeat and them. So can musical choices. As the social accompanied by cheering. Such behavior meaning of the civil rights movement has runs contrary to societal expectations for changed and become less controversial behavior when one’s friends are being in contemporary collective memory, its arrested and is empowering for the arrestees. music retains its historical meaning of Singing joyfully in such a scenario can also peace, love, and gratitude, but does not be compared with the singing in the face of necessarily index radical action. This could persecution that Carroll discovered among create the potential for trouble when used early Quakers. In the “Day of Mourning” by activists who, like us, are naturally action, there was a somewhat less upbeat inclined to be conflict-averse due to their attitude to the singing, in keeping with own backgrounds. While this is music the nature and messaging of the action. that can potentially embolden a movement,

98 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) it is by no means guaranteed to do so. In life-affirming, egalitarian ‘themes’” in her fact, depending on the way the music is music for religious reasons, EQAT can interpreted by those making it, it could have be seen as preferring positive, uplifting the opposite effect, turning participants song choices, even though none of them toward passivism instead of nonviolent are explicitly “Quaker.” Whereas most disruption—a Quaker stereotype instead nonviolent direct-action campaigns protest of the historical reality. against something, after our previous A minority of participants have campaign against mountaintop removal occasionally expressed concern over EQAT’s there was a desire that we campaign for tactic of crashing private events, seeing any something positive instead, which is why sneakiness as irreconcilable with Quaker we chose the somewhat complex demand honesty. Some degree of stealth and secrecy around local solar and jobs. In this way, is often necessary to implement direct action, PECO may owe its status as the target of and has sometimes been essential within the Power Local Green Jobs in part to choices campaign to disrupt powerholders. That of music. said, there is much less emphasis on secrecy within Power Local Green Jobs than in other Power Local Green Jobs’ use of music nonviolent direct-action campaigns I have places activists within a history of civil witnessed that are otherwise comparably rights activism; conveys the group’s confrontational. EQAT leaders describe identity to targeted corporations, the this as a conscious decision, and it appears police, the public, and one another; and to make it easier for newer members to emboldens, grounds, energizes, and more quickly take on different action and entertains activists both before and during planning roles. actions. Despite the religion being known It seems conceivable that our choices for its historical animosity toward music, in music may have contributed to the Quakerism’s historic values have in fact collective sense of wanting to be for fostered the musical culture within Power rather than against something, which in Local Green Jobs and shaped its ability to turn led us to pick our current campaign function effectively as a “rebel” nonviolent targeting PECO. As sociologist Lee direct-action group. Smithey—another EQAT participant— The goal of nonviolent direct action notes, a social movement’s tactical choices is not to convince powerholders that they are shaped by its identity.59 Music forms are morally wrong, but rather to create a part of the positive, uplifting “culture problem that becomes impossible for them of feeling”60 that has always permeated to ignore.61 The ability to claim moral EQAT. This stands in stark opposition to standing contributes to that end, and the predominantly negative cultures of together music and spirituality can help feeling that shape contemporary society. In to construct this moral standing. Pedelty deliberating on which campaigns we want observes that although some environmental to undertake, the culture of feeling within musicians explicitly transgress identity our movement governs what campaign expectations in their performances, in choices are seen as appropriate. Just as the general a musician’s identity must be seen composer Gwyneth Walker prefers “lyrical, as legitimate by the audience.62 Smithey

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 99 and Kurtz argue that it can be effective action, but was frequently used in BLAM!, for social movements to appropriate is ’s 1978 Singing for Our Lives. hegemonic symbols to build legitimacy, This song epitomizes EQAT’s identity, even symbolic ideas such as patriotism beginning with the lyrics: “we are a gentle, that are often used to justify oppression.63 angry people, and we are singing, singing EQAT’s use of cultural symbols within the for our lives.” When the campaign picks Power Local Green Jobs campaign supports such songs, it may risk being perceived as it well as it acts as a small, unorthodox “gentle” but not particularly “angry.” By the group on the fringes of the mainstream standards of self-identified rebel groups environmentalist movement. doing direct action, that perception might One could argue that the result of be about right. the spiritual influence is the opposite Hopefully, awareness of their music’s of Quaker forthrightness and honesty: indexicality along with campaign strategy the movement’s use of music and sound can allow campaigns to control their poses a threat to PECO’s operations musical culture such that it displays both while simultaneously affirming an gentleness and righteous anger. In that identity for itself that can be perceived case, participatory music will continue to as nonthreatening. One song that I have strengthen nonviolent direction campaigns yet to hear in a Power Local Green Jobs for both the people and the planet.

100 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) NOTES 1 Mark Pedelty, A Song to Save the Salish 9 Dan Graves. “Singing out of the Silence: Sea: Musical Performance as Environmental Activism A Survey of Quaker Choral Music,” Choral Journal (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016); 34/5 (December 1993): 15–24; Taylor, “Richard Noriko Manabe, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Farnworth and Thomas Atkinson.” Protest Music after Fukushima (Oxford: Oxford 10 Taylor, “Richard Farnworth and Thomas University Press, 2015). Atkinson.” 2 Global Nonviolent Action Database, 11 Ibid., 83. https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/ (accessed June 12 Ibid. 5, 2019). This is the stance of Global Nonviolent 13 Taylor, “Richard Farnworth and Thomas Action Database founder, EQAT cofounder, and Atkinson”; Carroll, “Singing in the Spirit”; Nicholson, sociologist George Lakey, and it appears to be Meditations; Graves, “Quaker Choral Music.” supported by the database based on my skimming 14 Carroll, “Singing in the Spirit,” 6. of the hundreds of campaigns added by dozens of 15 Ibid., 12. contributors contained therein. 16 Taylor, “Richard Farnworth and Thomas 3 Erica Chenowith and Maria J. Stephan, Atkinson,” 87. Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of 17 Ibid., 91. Nonviolent Conflict (New York: 18 Nicholson, Meditations, 10. Press, 2011); Gene Sharp, Social Power and Political 19 Collins, “Quaker Music” American Freedom (Boston: Extending Horizons Books / Porter Phrenological Journal 49/6 (June 1869): 242. Sargent Publisher, 1980). 20 Ibid. 4 Thomas Turino, Music as Social Life: The 21 Nicholson, Meditations, 11. Politics of Participation (Chicago: University of 22 Ibid., 2. Chicago Press, 2008), 215–19; William G. Roy, 23 Ibid., 6. Reds, Whites, and Blues: Social Movements, Folk 24 Graves, “Quaker Choral Music,” 15. My Music, and Race in the United States (Princeton, NJ: undergraduate music professor at Princeton University Press, 2010), 3. blamed the college’s historical Quaker affiliation for 5 Turino, Music as Social Life, 218. the department’s low stature within the college. 6 While Christianity might index virtue to 25 Graves, “Quaker Choral Music,” 18. authority figures within American society, the use of 26 Rise Up and Sing, https://www. religious music for this purpose in American activism riseupandsing.org/songbooks/rise-up-singing is not limited to Christian faiths. The Philadelphia (accessed June 13, 2019). chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace makes frequent use 27 Graves, “Quaker Choral Music,” 17. of traditional Jewish music in its actions and meetings, 28 In contrast, Graves notes that Ned Rorem, often sung in Hebrew. Although the organization perhaps the most well known Quaker-born composer, denounces what it sees as the cultural litmus tests saw his identity as a composer as inconsistent with on valid Jewish identity used by other Jewish-led Quakerism, and mostly used non-Quaker inspirations organizations, the indexicality of traditional Jewish and texts within his music. music along with the links the 29 Graves, “Quaker Choral Music,” 22. movement to a notion of spiritual “authenticity.” 30 “Campaign,” Earth Quaker Action Team, Denounced by prominent Jewish organizations due http://www.eqat.org/campaign (accessed March 29, to its support for the BDS movement targeting , 2018). Jewish Voice for Peace’s use of traditional Jewish 31 Bill Moyer, with JoAnn McAllister, Mary music may allow it implicitly to assert its legitimacy Lou Finley, and Steve Soifer, Doing Democracy: The by emphasizing its Judaism. MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements (Gabriola 7 Thomas F. Taylor, “Richard Farnworth and Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2001), 24. Thomas Atkinson: The Earliest Quaker Writers on 32 April Carter, Direct Action and Democracy Sacred Music,” Quaker History 75/2 (Fall 1986): 83– Today (Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2005), 3; Chenowith 101; Kenneth Carroll, “Singing in the Spirit in Early and Stephan, Civil Resistance, 12. Quakerism,” Quaker History 73/1 (Spring 1984): 33 George Lakey, “Non-Violent Action Defined,” 1–13; Bertha May Nicholson, Meditations on a D Global Nonviolent Action Database, August 18, Major Scale (Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill, 1987), 10. 2011, http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/ 8 Carroll, “Singing in the Spirit,” 5. nonviolent-action-defined.

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 101 34 Sharp, Power Freedom, 120. 44 Barry Shank, The Political Force of Musical 35 Peter Ackerman and Christopher Kruegler, Beauty (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2014), Strategic Nonviolent Conflict (Westport, CT: Praeger, 148. 1994), 7; Marc Pilisuk, JoAnn McAllister, and 45 Ibid. Jack Rothman, “Coming Together for Action: The 46 Kurt Mosser, “Cover Songs: Ambiguity, Challenge of Contemporary Grassroots Community Multivalence, Polysemy,” Popular Musicology Online Organizing, Journal of Social Issues 52/1 (Spring (2008), http://www.popular-musicology-online. 1996): 16. com/issues/02/mosser.html. 36 Kurt Schock, “The Practice and Study of 47 Ibid. Civil Disobedience,” Journal of Peace Research 50/3 48 Pedelty, Salish Sea, 36. (2013): 277–90. 49 Ibid., 156. 37 Mary King, A Quiet Revolution: The First 50 Manabe, Protest Music, 316. Palestinian Intifada and (New 51 Majken Jul Sørensen, Humour in Political York: Nation Books, 2007), 11. Activism: Creative Nonviolent Resistance (London: 38 Kate Galloway, “Ecotopian Spaces: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). Soundscapes of Environmental Advocacy and 52 Manabe, Protest Music, 194. Awareness,” Social Alternatives 33/3 (2014): 71–79. 53 Paul Kivel, Uprooting Racism: How White 39 John Parkinson, Democracy and Public Space: People Can Work for Social Justice (Gabriola Island, The Physical Sites of Democratic Performance (Oxford: BC: New Society Publishers, [1998] 2011); Andrew Oxford University Press, 2007), 146. Cornell, Oppose and Propose: Lessons from Movement for 40 Nonviolent Action Database; King, Quiet a New Society (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2011); Linda Revolution. Alcoff, “The Problem of Speaking for Others,”Cultural 41 Turino, Music as Social Life, 28. Critique 2 (Winter 1991): 5–32. 42 For example, these songs tend to avoid 54 Pedelty, Salish Sea, 239. the leading tone, and may therefore have a modal or 55 Lee A. Smithey and Lester R. Kurtz, pentatonic feel. Even Work Well—the movement’s “Culture and Repression Management,” in The Paradox first original song to enter regular usage—reflects the of Repression and Nonviolent Movements, ed. Lee A. musical aesthetic of these traditional protest songs. Smithey and Lester R. Kurtz (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse The melodic contour of the refrain of Work Well University Press, 2018), 167. roughly parallels that of What Will PECO Choose?, 56 Ibid., 178. which is a contrafactum of the traditional protest song 57 Ibid., 180. Which Side Are You On? Two of the most commonly 58 Ibid., 176. used songs, This Little Light of Mine and Woke Up 59 Lee A. Smithey, “Social Movement Strategy, This Morning with My Mind (on Freedom), share a Tactics, and Collective Identity,” Sociology Compass 3 contour, much of the same melodic line, and even (2009): 658–71. certain vowel sounds. EQAT members sometimes 60 Ben Anderson, Encountering Affect: add an upper neighbor tone within the last word in Capacities, Apparatuses, Conditions (Surrey, UK: This Little Light of Mine, which makes the songs even Ashgate, 2014), 109. more similar. Similar songs create a familiar aesthetic, 61 Pilisuk et al., “Coming Together”; Sharp, and—importantly for successful participatory music— Social Power. may also be easier to learn. It should be emphasized 62 Pedelty, Salish Sea, 245. that these are not “easy songs” per se; in particular, 63 Smithey and Kurtz, “Culture Repression many of them are quite wordy. Handouts with lyrics Management,” 172. to specific songs are printed for some actions. 43 Thomas R. Grunning, Millennium Folk: since the Sixties (Athens: University Press of Georgia, 2006), 32.

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