Fictional character Hermione Granger announces her 2020 presidential campaign. Bold of her to announce it after the Iowa caucus!
Okay, so, this isn’t a real campaign, but it is tackling real-world issues. The Harry Potter Alliance, a non-profit that uses pop culture to teach about civic engagement and activism, just launched Hermione Granger’s fictional campaign to encourage people to get out to vote.
The Harry Potter Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that channels fan passion into solving real-world issues. The organization is a beloved group in the Harry Potter fandom and has had a number of success stories since it started making the world a more magical place in 2005. In 2010, the HPA raised over $123K for earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. In 2014, the nonprofit won its six-year battle to convince Warner Bros to switch to fair trade practices for making Harry Potter brand chocolates. Every year, the Accio Books program donates thousands of books to libraries in need, amassing 400K books since 2009. For many HPA members, this is their first brush with social justice and has made them life-long advocates for positive social change.
The Granger 2020 campaign aims to champion large scale issues in a variety of areas such as democracy, immigration, climate crisis, LGBTQ+ equality, gender equity, racial justice, and more. The nonpartisan organization isn’t endorsing any candidate actually running in 2020, but has partnered with a number of organizations to write the planks of Granger’s platform. These organizations include the ACLU, Protect Democracy, Black Girls Create, Latinx Geeks, and more. Fans are also encouraged to add to the candidate’s platform through a form on the Granger 2020 website. With this platform, Granger 2020 will challenge fans and activists to imagine a better world and engage locally to make that vision a reality.
The HPA plans to channel the passion of fans into community organizing and civic engagement. Throughout 2020, the organization will train and mobilize thousands of fans to do a number of direct actions such as canvassing, phone banks, voter registration, and more. The main goal is to connect with “magical beings” of all ages and backgrounds to imagine a better, more just world.
“The Granger 2020 campaign will channel the passion of fans into imaginative, effective organizing during and after this election cycle,” says Katie Bowers, Director of the Harry Potter Alliance and Team Granger’s campaign manager. “Elections, at their heart, are public conversations about the stories we believe about ourselves, our country, and our future. We want the story of our shared future to be one of imagination, vision, and love triumphing over hate and fear. Who better than fans to tell that story and work to make it real? At Team Granger, we believe that nothing is impossible.”
The Granger team’s first big event will take place on Leap Day (Feb 29). Fans will come together in “Campaign Circles” to imagine the kind of world they want to live in and work together on direct actions in order to leap into that future. These events will take place all across the country as well as during a livestream hosted by the HPA.
Are you a magical being? Get involved with fan activism by signing up to join the campaign at granger2020.org and be sure to follow @thehpalliance on social media for further campaign updates.
Note: The author of this article volunteers for The Harry Potter Alliance.
Feature photo courtesy of The Harry Potter Alliance.