The Harry Potter Alliance: Sign up and Get Involved

[Ian David]

About Us

Did you ever wish that Harry Potter was real? Well it kind of is. After all, both our worlds face "dark and difficult times”:

* Genocide, Poverty, AIDS, and Global Warming are ignored by our media and governments the way Voldemort's return is ignored by the Ministry and Daily Prophet.

* People are still discriminated against based on sexuality, race, class, religion, gender, ethnicity, and religion just as the Wizarding World continues to discriminate against Centaurs, Giants, House Elves, Half-Bloods, Muggle borns, Squibs, and Muggles

* Our governments continue to respond to terror by torturing prisoners (often without trial) just as Sirius Black was tortured by dementors with no trial

* A Muggle Mindset pervades over our culture…a mindset that values being “perfectly normal, thank you very much” over being interesting, original, loving, and creative

So Harry’s world is not very different than ours. And just as in his world, Dumbledore will remain here as long as there are those that are loyal to him. As long as there are those that are aware that the weapon we have is love and that more than ever, it’s time to use that weapon.

And so the HP Alliance is dedicated to bringing together Harry Potter fans from everywhere to spread love and fight the Dark Arts in the real world and we need your help!

Help us replace the Dark Arts with love. Help us build the real Dumbledore's Army. Help us create an Alliance in the name of Harry Potter.

Sign up and Get Involved

The HP Alliance is always growing and looking for more people to help it do so (on a volunteer basis). Any one who wants to contact the HPA should write Andrew at [e-mail]. Please send us all relevant experience, and whatever clips, resumes, examples, etc., you would like to send. If you have applied and not heard back, please be patient; we have received your application and will get to it as soon as possible. With EVERY application, please be sure to send in links to relative sites showing examples of your work; if you have attachments you'd like to send, mention it in the email and someone will get back to you about them. All current volunteers at the HP Alliance are welcome to apply if they seek to switch tracks. Thank you so much for your interest!

http://www.thehpalliance.org/involved.html






Harry Potter Phenomenon Sparks Global Youth Activism

'Harry Potter Alliance ' Uses Popular Series to Mobilize Over 100,000 Young Harry Potter Fans on Social Issues

BOSTON -- This July, as the Harry Potter phenomenon heats up, so does the Harry Potter Alliance (HP Alliance) -- an organization that uses online organizing to mobilize over 100,000 Harry Potter fans around social justice issues, drawing on parallels from the book.

"JK Rowling used to work for Amnesty International," says Andrew Slack, the 27-year-old founder of HP Alliance. "And it's clear that the values of Amnesty resonate throughout Harry Potter. Take the upcoming Harry Potter movie: Harry must start an underground activist group called 'Dumbledore's Army' to wake the Ministry of Magic up to the fact that Voldemort has returned. The HP Alliance is working to wake our government leaders up to the fact that they need to end the genocide in Darfur ."

In anticipation of the back-to-back release of the final Harry Potter book and the fifth movie -- HP Alliance is working with the Genocide Intervention Network and several human rights groups to organize hundreds of house parties all over the world.

On July 14, each house party will listen to an HP Alliance podcast where Joe Wilson, former U.S. Ambassador; John Prendergast, senior advisor to the International Crisis Group; Dot Maver executive director of the Peace Alliance; and John Passacantando, executive director of GreenPeace will discuss the history of the Sudanese genocide and how regular people can do something to stop it. The podcast will also feature "Wizard Rock" bands like "Harry and the Potters" and is co-sponsored by the popular Harry Potter news site, the Leaky Cauldron.

Using house parties to connect Harry Potter with a serious issue like the genocide in Darfur has helped capture the attention of young adults all over the world. "I'm 16 years old and have been actively trying to do just what you guys are planning for years!" said HP Alliance member Michelle. "I'm just a teenager, but I have a voice and a big heart and want to put all my effort into planning an awesome party to help spread the word and help Darfur !"

Recently, the HP Alliance's quirky quest for social justice was mentioned in the New York Times best- selling book -- Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond -- co-written by actor Don Cheadle and John Prendergast, with a foreword by Elie Wiesel and introduction by Sen. Barrack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. Sam Brownback(R-Kansas).

Though Darfur remains a top priority for the young organization -- the HP Alliance is active on a number of social justice issues. Critical of Wal-Mart's policies toward its employees, the HP Alliance worked with watchdog Wal-Mart Watch and comedy group The Late Night Players to produce the YouTube smash hit -- "Harry Potter and the Dark Lord WaldeMart."

This summer, they will team up again to unleash a sequel to the viral video, along with a Harry Potter-themed Web site (www.waldemartwatch.com) that gives practical ways young people can pressure Wal-Mart into bettering its policies.

For more information about the HP Alliance or to schedule an interview, please contact Andrew Slack at 617-943-9434 or at [e-mail]

The HP Alliance (www.thehpalliance.org or myspace.com/hpalliance) is an international , nonpartisan organization that engages Harry Potter fans in social activism. By using the examples of Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore, and various parallels between Harry Potter and the real world we help connect young people to build awareness and action on issues as wide ranging as the genocide in Darfur, global AIDS, worker’s rights, gay rights, as well as issues around self esteem and body image.

http://www.thehpalliance.org/news/globelYouthActivism.html

[Meeker Morgan]

1. What a wonderful way to get people to ...

... take you seriously. :silly: