IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT STRANGERS
Mez Joseph
“Each and every day is unique and special when we make it that way.”
Winter Monday morning blues instantly dissolved in Perth, Australia as an entire carriage of passengers spontaneously joined in singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow on their way to work.
Peter, the founder of the social movement enters the 7:51am express train to Perth and starts off by contributing a beautifully uplifting message. The intent behind this was to allow people to feel recognised for the work they do and to demonstrate how simple it can be to uplift each other when we come together through positive shared experience. It can be easy to feel unappreciated, disconnected and isolated from our community in a world that constantly desires exponential growth, busy-ness and expansion. Thankfully, we’ve discovered our shared humanity exists just cm’s beneath the surface of a seemingly ghost like public places. We decided to create this moment as a humanitarian check-point; a brief moment in time to see that beyond our differences there is love and humanity.
What happens next is quite incredible to say the least. Pete hands out the lyrics to the song whilst a young Ukulele player brings out a vintage uke and starts to hum out an angelic version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Within seconds other members of the public decide to join in on this outpouring of community joy.
“We had a few of the Liberators help get the ball rolling, however more than 60% of the passengers who sung along were complete strangers. We sung the entire song, progressively gaining confidence and participants as we went. When we finished an uproar of positive emotion, claps, cheers and smiles came streaming from the people.” Said Michelle, one of the Liberators who helped in the morning.
The Liberators are no strangers to these public participatory experiences having created multiple examples of freedom & human connection in Perth including the Perth Train Party which gained more than 40 million views online. The Liberators create these moments for the world to no longer be fearful of respectful self-expression in public. We expose an element of our own vulnerability as a way to give strength to those who are unable to do so yet. This is where the idea of Liberation comes in to the picture.
The next step for this Perth-based international social movement is taking their concepts of love and human connection through 5 capital cities in Europe to see if these acts of spontaneous joy are universally well received or if it’s just in Perth. Assist the Liberators in sharing the love to a global audience by supporting their crowdfunding campaign at www.pozi.be/liberatorstoeurope.