All We Are Saying

John Lennon said many things that sound impossible in practice, but incredible in theory: “All you need is love,” “Give peace a chance,” “Imagine there’s no countries.” Trying to turn these things that most people would call mere dreams, into realities, was one of his main goals in life.

Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono used their fame in the ‘60s and ‘70s to bring the cause of peace and anti-war to the forefront of people’s minds. They used their honeymoon as a chance to do this, staging what they called a Bed-In, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada. Lennon wanted to use the media to sell the idea of peace the way companies “use it to sell soap.”

Lennon and Ono also took the ideas in his song “Imagine” to new levels with Nutopia, a mythical country they created in 1973. Everyone was already a citizen of Nutopia, no one needed passports, there were no boundaries, and any piece of white cloth could be the flag. The announcement of this country was in the album “Mind Games.” Lennon and Ono also requested that Nutopia be admitted to the UN:

“DECLARATION OF NUTOPIA
We announce the birth of a conceptual country, NUTOPIA.
Citizenship of the country can be obtained by declaration of your awareness of NUTOPIA.
NUTOPIA has no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people.
NUTOPIA has no laws other than cosmic.
All people of NUTOPIA are ambassadors of the country.

As two ambassadors of NUTOPIA, we ask for diplomatic immunity and recognition in the United Nations of our country and our people.

YOKO ONO LENNON (with signature)
JOHN ONO LENNON (with signature)

Nutopian Embassy
One White Street
New York, New York 10012
April 1, 1973”

Although it should be noted that this declaration was made on April Fool’s Day, the idea of something that would bring people together in a peaceful way was a very serious goal for Lennon.

The idea of giving peace a chance was important to Lennon as well. During the Vietnam War clashes between people who supported the war and those against it were heated. Lennon disagreed when people said that peace was impossible. He believed that if people would just give the idea of peace a chance, it would, in time, come to be a reality.