Incantation for Restoring Democracy (for when the people’s voice has been silenced by concrete and steel).
Ingredients:
- Three pieces of glass from a broken window from the 3rd precinct (as evidence of broken trust between people and power).
- One voter registration form destroyed because the address was incorrect (for proof of systematic voter suppression).
- A piece of concrete saved from BLM Plaza (for authenticity of ground zero resistance).
- Three bullet casings collected at the intersection of East 34th Street and Portland Avenue in south Minneapolis (for tangible evidence of federal bullets that silenced a mother's voice).
- The stethoscope that an ICU nurse used to care for veterans (to capture democracy's final breath).
- A chant whispered in German, Italian, and Sardinian, muttered in despair (for international solidarity with the fight).
Instructions:
- Stand tall and proud with your feet planted on the concrete, preferably in defiance.
- Place all ingredients on the nearest barricade, in front of you but just out of reach, so that it is difficult to grab them without stretching the system.
- Raise your fist in salute and recite the incantation with a sense of gravity and revolutionary contempt:
By barricades deep and wide
Democracy we shall revive
Destroy the lies, restore the rule
Join hands with us, renounce the fool
No more darkness no more shame
Justice and humanity shall prevail.
To encourage democracy to come back, you can create following sound effects:
RATTLE: scrape the broken glass on the concrete to simulate the voices that have been taken away;
DISTORT: crumple the voter form next to your ear to simulate the muffling of the people’s will;
AMPLIFY: cup your hands around your mouth while speaking to simulate the sound of someone calling for help while being shot by federal officers.
Now collect all the ingredients in a small, desperate pile and let them marinate in your frustration for at least one hour, during which you will check again all the back channels, secret meetings and encrypted messages.
Add one last sound effect: the hollow sound of immoral politicians who have been enabling the rambling of a sick mind, followed by a sigh that gradually fades to the sound of democracy that refuses to die.
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The protest sound at the end has been recorded on 9th January 2026 in Minneapolis - protest sounds 09jan2026 minneapolis ice by stevevader101 -- https://freesound.org/s/841767/ -- License: Attribution 4.0
