{"id":3512884,"date":"2025-06-03T08:42:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T08:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/?p=3512884"},"modified":"2025-06-03T09:50:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T09:50:53","slug":"stick-together-an-anthem-for-the-community-resilience-and-resistance-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/stories\/2025-06-03\/stick-together-an-anthem-for-the-community-resilience-and-resistance-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cStick Together:\u201d An Anthem for the Community Resilience and Resistance Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first time I heard <a href=\"https:\/\/lukeconcannon.com\/\">Luke Concannon<\/a> sing \u201cStick Together,\u201d I thought, \u201cWow, that\u2019s the song for the multi-faceted crisis moment we\u2019re in.\u201d\u00a0The song juxtaposes the rising authoritarianism and climate disruption with an uplifting chorus:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>We could take this so much higher<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>If we just stick together and stay together<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Your tonic to toxic politics today is to listen to the song and sing along to the chorus!\u00a0 You can listen <a href=\"https:\/\/orcd.co\/lukedariussticktogether\">here<\/a> and see the newly released video, with Darian Christian and a great group of backup singers.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1Ha-HdN5qPY?si=lzc0hA_oX0i5I2Ha\" width=\"100%\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m fortunate to know Luke now as a neighbor in a small Vermont town where he and his wife Stephanie and newborn baby live off-the-grid in a yurt down the road from me. He\u2019s a humble and thoughtful songwriter, and most neighbors don\u2019t know he was a real pop star in England before moving to the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>In 2005, Concannon was part of the folk duo, Nizlopi.\u00a0In their UK and Ireland chart-smashing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rGkseGFQLh4\">number one song \u2018JCB,\u2019<\/a> Luke recounts getting a childhood ride home from school on his father\u2019s road digger, a JCB (the UK version of a John Deere).\u00a0 A young future musician, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/teddysphotos\/?hl=en\">Ed Sheeran<\/a>, was Nizlopi\u2019s guitar technician, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XixJSjoIzHI\">he celebrates Luke<\/a> as a major influence on his musical development.<\/p>\n<p>I asked Luke a few questions about this new song, \u201cStick Together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chuck: What inspired this song?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Luke:<\/strong> I was sitting outside our yurt in Southern Vermont in the wild woods one March morning.\u00a0 There was a cold crisp light, fresh wind, dawn waking, and I was listening to the trees and heard this song coming through\u2026<\/p>\n<p>I heard the riff then: \u201cWe\u2019ve got one hundred years and then fires.\u201d My sense was that the trees were saying, \u201cWould you humans please wake up and change course or we\u2019re all screwed?\u201d\u00a0 The verses are a kind of litany of grief for our warming and violent world, so cut off from the wholeness we hunger for. And then that presence in nature calling us to grow to the light, to go for the heights of our potential, and how we can do that if we stick together and stay together. It\u2019s the embodiment of the Margaret Mead saying, \u201cNever doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it\u2019s the only thing that ever has.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chuck: The chorus is positively uplifting\u2014it seems like a phrase that could be an anthem for the warriors for Gaia. What does it mean to be a warrior for Gaia? What are your hopes for the song?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Luke:<\/strong> Well, the song needed some balance! It\u2019s interesting that going to the darkest places as I do in the verses of the song, calls us to the lightest places in the chorus.\u00a0There is extraordinary potential in this moment and in communities, when things are in such crisis. We can make that an opportunity. Here in Guilford, Vermont, we are together gathering, sharing food and perspectives, growing community care, making music, telling stories, and sharing insights.<\/p>\n<p>How much do we want liberation, justice, and healing? Evidently not enough yet, but I believe in us and our potential to do anything worthwhile. Sometimes things may have to get worse before they get better: how good can we stand it and how committed can we be to making a positive difference for our children? What are you willing to sacrifice? What are you most passionate about? For me, it\u2019s art and liberation and being grateful. Being happy is a major act of peace work if you can share it out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chuck:\u00a0 You set up at the beginning by talking about our moment: \u201cA hundred years and then fires, humans are burning in the mire.\u201d\u00a0Yet we are \u201csuckling on TV like vampires.\u201d What do you see in this moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Luke:<\/strong>\u00a0 In 2009, I went on a pilgrimage to Palestine. I returned feeling so much passion, commitment, and idealism that I wrote an album, \u201cGive It All.\u201d\u00a0 It was about the inspiration I felt hitchhiking around the region and doing service work on the West Bank, the possibilities for making a better world.<\/p>\n<p>That intensity led me to some burnout, followed by my getting captured by YouTube and the internet. For some months, I was literally stuck on YouTube until 4 or 5 am. We all need play, fun, nourishment, and rest. But the technologies that have come online since 2006 (Facebook, YouTube, etc.) have hacked our attention, needs, and weaknesses. Most everyone I know has some degree of struggle with internet addiction and screen time. The antidote is community and nature, healing ourselves and the world. It may be that our survival depends on our dedication to waking up together, and one major thing blocking that is our vulnerability to becoming kind of androids attached to these screens.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chuck:\u00a0 You sing, \u201cAaron Bushnell is wearing a crown.\u201d What caught your attention about Aaron Bushnell?\u00a0Is he a warrior for Gaia?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Luke:<\/strong> I think<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-68405119\"> Aaron Bushnell<\/a>, who self-immolated in February 2024, could not stand by and watch the suffering in Gaza. I think he\u2019s a warrior for Gaia.<\/p>\n<p>Chuck, I really enjoyed your novel, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chuckcollinswrites.com\"><em>Altar to an Erupting Sun<\/em><\/a> (what a title!). The human guiding lights in that story are so committed to a better world that they are willing to make huge sacrifices for it. The stories include the history of the Vietnamese monks who self-immolated to protest the war in their country. And the Quaker activist Norman Morrison who self-immolated outside the Pentagon, also in protest of the war in Vietnam.\u00a0I\u2019m deeply moved by people who are willing to give something as precious as their lives for the greater good, for peace, for oppressed peoples. I suppose you\u2019d need to feel some clarity that that act would have more weight than say, giving your life to serving your community and being a happy person.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chuck:\u00a0 One of your lyrics goes: \u201cStarving children getting sick of the sound of white people laughing as they are put in the ground.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty harsh and jarring\u2014and particularly the image of white people as laughing at genocide.\u00a0 What moved you to write those lyrics?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Luke:<\/strong> Oh, this shows me a weakness in some of my writing. My mind is moving across the horrors of our current world quickly without helping the listener understand exactly what I mean. I\u2019m moving from Gaza in my mind to the millions of children who die globally of malnutrition each year, all while the dominant global media projects images on TV and in advertising that are often of happy, healthy, laughing white people. Just the cognitive dissonance of this\u2014it\u2019s a wonder we don\u2019t go mad in a world this crazy.<\/p>\n<p>Luke\u2019s song underscores the power of music and art at this moment. I know it helps me personally to stay grounded and sane as we face the topsy-turvy days we are living through. I\u2019m lucky to live in a community with artists and other creative souls like Luke who offer resistance and inspiration through their art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luke\u2019s song underscores the power of music and art at this moment. I know it helps me personally to stay grounded and sane as we face the topsy-turvy days we are living through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128238,"featured_media":3512895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79718,79720,213535],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3512884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-society","category-society-featured"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3512884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3512884"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3512884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3513406,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3512884\/revisions\/3513406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3512895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3512884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3512884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3512884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}