In mid-2005, Andrew Slack met Harry and the Potters, two brothers, both indie rock musicians who dress up as Harry Potter and sing wildly popular punk songs at concerts with hundreds and sometimes thousands of spectators. He and a few others founded the Harry Potter Alliance (HPA), and began using social media to organize the Harry Potter fan base.

Andrew thought: “If Harry Potter were in our world, he would do more than talk about Harry Potter. If we were truly fans of the books, we would have to fight injustice in our world like Harry did in his.” The need for students to be activists (Harry starts “Dumbledore’s Army”) and focus on the exploitation of workers (House Elves), discrimination (against Muggle-borns and werewolves), media consolidation (when the Daily Prophet doesn’t report on the real problems), and incompetence of those in power (when the Ministry ignores Voldemort’s return) is as pressing here as in the Wizarding World.

Harry and the Potters reposted the action alerts to their 60,000 followers. Soon, other Wizard Rock bands reposted the warnings. The biggest fan sites, such as The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet, joined in and media attention followed, with J. K. Rowling praising the group in Time magazine and on her own site. Soon, the HPA organized itself among almost every facet of the Harry Potter fandom, growing to more than 70 volunteer staff members and more than 100 chapters around the world.

In its more than 10 years of existence, the HPA initiated and led a successful campaign to get Warner Bros to make all Harry Potter chocolate Fair Trade, built libraries throughout the US and around the world (Rwanda, Uganda, Detroit, Brooklyn, Puerto Rico, the Mississippi Delta, etc.), and has sent five cargo planes with relief supplies to Haiti. With chapters in more than 30 countries, the HPA has organized YouTube celebrations on net neutrality, advocating for human rights and equality across class, race, sexuality and gender. It runs a leadership training program called the Granger Leadership Academy.

Its groundbreaking methodology has been featured in nearly every major US publication, best-sellers and documentaries, influenced the direction of a $65 million MacArthur study, and is consistently cited as one of the pioneers of cultural activism in the 21st century.

Andrew calls it ‘cultural acupuncture‘. He explains, “it’s finding the psychological energy in the culture, and moving that energy toward creating a healthier world. We started with “Harry Potter,” one of the most popular and widely read works of fiction, and from there we started working with fans of various books, TV shows, films and YouTube celebrities. Imagine if people were as energetically committed to global warming, racism and genocide as they are to movies. Imagine them leaving Avatar with an organization that says, “This is how we can unite to protect Pandora by fighting the ‘Sky People’ in the coal industry.” […] it’s time to launch a movement of mass heroism. A marketing campaign that goes beyond the importance of a brand of soap and instead focuses on a brand of becoming something bigger than ourselves, something that matters because it speaks to the higher nature of who we really are on this interdependent planet, where each of us plays an indispensable role.”

Sources:
Cultural Acupuncture and a Future for Social Change, Huffpost, Juli 2, 2010
Harry Potter Aliance, Beautiful Trouble Toolbox

Note: In the books Harry doesn’t stay nonviolent himself eventually. Therefore we recommend the less well-known books about the heroine Ari Ara, by Rivera Sun that focus on peacebuilding with nonviolent methods.