“Don’t I know you from the movement?”

(A pick up line, downtown Honolulu, ca. 1979)

The Peace Orchestra presents a utopian vision that is not original, it comes from the collective human imagination of thousands of ordinary people who toiled in factory and field while dreaming of a world in which all could share freedom from want, and participate in joyful music making.  

Mari Matsuda is a lifelong participant in people’s movements to end all forms of subordination and violence.