Starter Pack:
Movement Songs to Meet This Moment
This is a living document, compiled + updated by Liz Digitale Anderson at singingforliberation.com.
Email them at liz@singingforliberation.com with corrections, questions, + suggestions.
Short link to this doc: https://bit.ly/singingforliberation. This doc in SPANISH LANGUAGE VERSION.
Why do we need singing in this moment?
I return to Lu Aya + the Peace Poets’ HARMONIZING ORGANIZING manifesto over and over; it’s an invaluable primer laying out all the ways songs function in organizing work. Organizers and songleaders alike have lots of tangible lessons to absorb here.
No One is getting left behind this time! We get there together or never get there at all! by Josh Blaine
https://www.patreon.com/posts/we-get-there-or-63841347 or on youtube here
SOLO EL PUEBLO SALVA EL PUEBLO
AND IF ONE OF US FALLS, WE ALL RISE UP! (Only the people save the people!)
Song by The Peace Poets and Francisco Herrera
It's OK to change your mind! Show us your courage, leave this behind! – Annie Schlafer
https://www.instagram.com/p/DUPcj7XkXN2/
Ceasefire Now Nigun: Sol Weiss + ilana Lerman (Not in our name, put the weapons down, ABOLISH ICE…) with ABOLISH ICE lyrics: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUPtBxNjYjp/
original: https://soundcloud.com/sol-yael/ceasefire-now
More verses to zip in: Abolish ICE!
De-ice our streets!
Keep our neighbors safe! We keep us safe!
Nobody is free.... until everybody's free!
Welcome immigrants!
We love our neighbors here!
This is for the families who are locked inside! Together we will Abolish ICE.
by Lu Aya of the Peace Poets THIS IS FOR OUR FAMILIES - YouTube
We are many (echo); We are one
We won't stop fighting- Til ice is gone!
We are many; We are one
The fight ain't over- Til love has won! -- Katie Eckeberger
https://www.instagram.com/p/DT4L2a4DA_X/
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DU6tM9zkcQT/?igsh=MWYxNWQxZzZmaHp6MA==
No están solos, no están solas: juntos hacemos la liberación!
By Emma’s Revolution and The Peace Poets (translation: you're not alone, together we are making liberation!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXEfd_jqjcQ
All of the children are always ours! Together we’ll abolish ICE, together, unidas, la gente will rise! By Martín Urbach https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-SysqJZZ7I
ORGANIZE ORGANIZE ORGANIZE adapted by Charon Hribar + Jose Vasquez, as passed down by Wendi Moore-O’Neal, zipper song for the Poor People’s Campaign
(“We want *housing*/*safety*/*justice* for our people, so let’s get organized for what we believe!”) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMu2j-uBBvc
-I send my hope, I send my prayer, I send my strength to those resisting everywhere by Jordan Mudd https://jordanmuddsings.bandcamp.com/track/i-send-my-hope
I am not Afraid, I will *live* for liberation cause I know why I was made - The Peace Poets for the Poor People’s Campaign (**zipper in work, play, bike, cook, breathe….)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfBCzLUev4g&feature=youtu.be
Who Keeps Us Safe? We Keep Us Safe. Our Love for Our People will conquer hate- by SKOR: Songs in the Key of Resistance from the Kairos Center Saturday06 Who keeps us safe copy.mp3
Keep hope alive: We see you, we love you, we’re here with you/La esperanza esta aqui, Luchamos por ti By formerly detained community leaders of Dignity not Detention coalition with The Peace Poets; they asked folx, what do you want to tell folx who are detained? THIS.
https://youtube.com/shorts/SVYqdIQ83gg?si=dxXoWoU57aT44sXm
—READY (I know we’ve been prepared for these times, I know in my bones) by Ahlay Blakely https://ahlayblakely.bandcamp.com/track/ready-2 (support the artist!)
READY: live at Singing Alive Here Alexandra "Ahlay" Blakely teaching at Singing Alive 2022
Oye Mi Gente/Rise up my people: No human being can ever be illegal (We belong, we belong together) - Peace Poets and Anu Yadav https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k4YhYiiSRg
Tune: Oh when the saints go marching in. Requires dancing ✊🏽❤️🔥🎉
Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE, right now, right now! We're gonna love and protect all our neighbors! Abolish ICE, right now, right now! #BrassSolidarity
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTdzzZIEm4F/?igsh=MTRwY3lxN3VrYm83ag==
They tried, they tried, they tried to bury us (x2) They didn’t know that we were seeds 🌱
JP Villanueva, tune, Lyrics attributed to Dinos Christianopolous, contemporary Greek queer poet
they tried to bury us.m4a- scratch recording by liz
CHICAGO ICE: Power to the People! By Airika Cross and Malu Brooks of Dream Defenders
Satuday08 - Power to the people.mp3–scratch recording from the Songs in the Key of Resistance Gathering, Oct 2025
-Over/Under (WE DO THIS TIL WE FREE US ❤️🔥) - Lyndsey Scott and A-Rhodd
https://lyndseyscott.bandcamp.com/track/over-under
Trans rights are human rights - Liz Digitale Anderson
https://soundcloud.com/lizdigitaleanderson/trans-rights-are-human-rights
You Do Not Carry This All Alone by Ahlay Blakely
https://ahlayblakely.bandcamp.com/track/carry-this-all-2
-Liberation, Solidarity, Grounded in love, Til everybody’s free! - liz digitale anderson
Virtual Singing Circle Led By Liz Digitale
liberation solidarity updated lyrics.m4a < recording, song rolls straight call and echo
(old tune: attributed to Nicole Sangsuree Barrett. New liberation lyrics by liz here)
Who makes the future? WE do, we do! Abigail Bengson https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCH5TFBvTYs/
We Belong to Each Other - tune in canon by Annie Schlaefer
https://soundcloud.com/annie-rambeau/we-belong-to-each-other
Lyrics from this poem by Nikita Gill, based on the words of James Baldwin: “Every one of these people are ours, Just like we are theirs. We belong to them, and they belong to us.”
What are we gonna do with all this grief - main lyric from Prentis Hemphill’s book, “What It Takes to Heal,” tune by Liz with melodic frame influenced by Ana Hernandez’s “Set it right again” what are we gonna do about all this grief- lyrics prentis hemphill tune liz.m4a
Courage is not the absence of fear = Ahlay Blakely "COURAGE" The People's Echo 2020
Risk More for Love (“the interlocking systems of oppression”)- text Casper ter Kuile, “The Power of Ritual”, tune liz digitale anderson
https://soundcloud.com/lizdigitaleanderson/risk-more-for-love
Another world, another world, it’s not just possible, it’s on its way – Kerri Meyer
(otro mundo, otro mundo- Spanish translation by Liz with help from Jen Arnold)
https://www.mothersylvia.com/song-of-the-month/august-2019-another-world
Summons- Ahlay Blakely Last night I dreamed that 10000 grandmothers “It will have to be us” (round based on this poem by Aurora Levins Morales)
We keep us safe #DefundThePolice - Liz Digitale Anderson
https://soundcloud.com/lizdigitaleanderson/we-keep-us-safe
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round– Civil Rights era freedom song
Howard Gospel Choir - "Aint Gonna Let Nobody"
Neighbor Neighbor Can’t You See by the Vermont Solidarity Singers Neighbor, Neighbor.mp3
Neighbor, Neighbor.mp3 (zipper song, put your cause into the verses)
MY LIBERATION IS YOUR LIBERATION by the Peace Poets
I teach the chorus, and then break down the bridge call and echo something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOzShEgxWIg
https://open.spotify.com/track/0bgKQvmBrjO3af6wAqHhKS?si=CYmuV_FfQ1SThff8XtWSsQ
Cuando Luchamos - GANAMOS! When we fight we Win: for CTUL- by Liz Digitale Anderson, https://vimeo.com/934697981
Stand Up and Make Good Trouble; Words by Congressman John Lewis, Music by Elizabeth Melvin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nGomUt8gLQ
You cannot erase us! Lydia Violet
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DW4kRD8ktnc/?igsh=MWxoMnoxdGt1em1qbg==
-I did not come here alone: I carry my people in my bones- peace poets
Peace Poets: "I Have Not Come Here Alone" | Live at #IFTJ 18
When Times are Hard (We Lead in Love) - Liz Digitale Anderson words, tune Julius Chajes
https://soundcloud.com/lizdigitaleanderson/when-times-are-hard
Essential compilations to learn more movement songs:
Songs for the No Kings Marches and Rallies
No Kings 2025 Songs and Chant Sheet
Songs for the Free Families Movement: for families detained and abducted by ICE
Poor People’s Campaign Songbook
https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/SON001_Songbook_2019_V2-LR.pdf
Kairos Center Movement Songbook
https://kairoscenter.org/resources_cpt/a-movement-songbook/