Festival Show Reel
Festival Report
The Festival of Collective Liberation took place at Friends House, Euston on Saturday 13th July 2024.
It was Black Lives Matter UK’s first in-person event since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. We brought 800 people together to develop Black and brown self-organisation and international solidarities. We were inspired by activists and the peoples of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Palestine. We ran 22 workshops, debates and sessions ranging from precarious worker union organising to dancing as healing.
We wanted to create a unique gathering in Britain, that was a welcoming majority Black space which could hold insightful discussions regarding Black-led anti-racist struggle both in Britain and beyond. We also felt it was important that it would also be a day of healing and restoration for Black people and other people of colour who may have been fatigued by discussions on racialised violence. So we worked to ensure that the day could be experienced purely through attending artistic and dance workshops.
Our festival was adorned by the luminous art of the Nigerian artist DYLEMA. She generously donated, for use at the festival, four portraits of African women painted using pure gold. This special and stunning work emphatically set the stage of our theme of uplifting and honouring Black women. We were delighted and grateful to have the privilege of hosting her work. This artistic contribution to the day centred the work of Black women creative and formed the backdrop of our keynote sessions as a statement of our intent.
Our day started with opening ceremonies followed by our keynote session, “Honouring Black Women Elders”, where we had the remarkable Dorothea Adebi (Smartt), Zainab Abbas held a discussion chaired by Lola Okolosie on reflecting on organising in 1980s and compared to the struggle now. During this joyous session, notable Black women in the audience were asked to join Zainab and Dorothea on stage:
Barbara Beese of the Mangrove Nine
Leila Hassan-Howe of the Race Today Collective
Margaret Busby, Britain’s first Black female book publisher
As captured in this incredible photo, including Kayza Rose, Festival Producer and Lola Okolosie:
The day had 21 other sessions which you can see on our programme page. The first afternoon sessions included panel discussions on the Struggle for Bodily Autonomy including resisting anti-LGBTQI legislation in Ghana and Uganda, Reflections on Sudan. We were fortunate to have Black feminist author Leah Cowan, 4Front community organiser Sara Bafo and award winning author Shanice McBean lead the talk named Becoming Abolitionists. We also had workshops led by Global Majority Copwatch on “We Keep Us Safe”, a discussion on “What is Racial Capitalism” with Mohammed Elnaiem of The Decolonial Centre, and Black trade unionists ran a workshop called “How to organise your workplace”. We also had a music led somatic workshop led by Healing Justice artist Arowah called Radical Joy.
The day continued with more panels with an important discussion on how prison logic is embedded in education, social care and wider society in the “Disrupting Prison Pipelines” panel led by Mad World author Micha Frazer-Carroll and Mariam Bafo.
There was a lively and joyful discussion chaired by Aviah Sarah Day with Aderonke Apata, Kym Oliver, Caribbean queer activist Jason Jones and journalist Almaz Ohene on “Colonised Bodies: Gender, Sexuality and Disability”. We felt it was important to discuss Palestine not only in the context of the ongoing genocide but also of the climate crisis with Dr Hamza Hamouchene, activist and author of Dismantling Green Colonialism.
The strong theme of organised workers continued with a session called “Pay, precarity and power in a union” with an all Black women panel organising for better pay and conditions from IWGB union and United Voices of the World union that was chaired by Mel Mullins, convenor of RMT Black Solidarity Committee and Black Lives Matter Croydon. We were also blessed with a selection of Black and Queer film screenings curated by Film writer and director Campbell X.
Our day came to a near end with our keynote session: “Until all of us are free” led by Mohammed Elnaiem with speakers from Lina Dohia on Sudan, Sly Mido on DR Congo and Akram Salhab on Palestine. This discussion invited everyone to think through how mutual solidarity could be built during these acute crises. Lina urged us not only to build solidarity through the recognition of a common enemy but also shared values and desires for safety and flourishing for all people.
Our final session was a performance by Louis Culture who performed two songs for us all and the audience joined in to close the event. It was day full of nourishment and joy, and in no small part thanks to our festival team and our incredible volunteers. Their combined efforts made the long day a great success and overcame all the unexpected issues and obstacles which meant everyone was able to have a great and memorable experience.
Audience Demographics and Festival Feedback
From our ticket sales, we had some interesting statistics about our attendees; over 50% identified as Black and around 30% identified as people of colour and the remaining as white. Though 75% were from London, we had attendees from all over Britain, including Wales, Scotland, Yorkshire, West Midlands, South West England and more. Through our travel bursary, we ensured at least 50 people from asylum and refugee backgrounds were able attend, with support of groups such as the West Yorkshire Racial Justice Networ, African Rainbow Family, Manchester Migrant Solidarity, MORE Glasgow and Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action Group (CARAG)
We humbled by the many feedback forms we received from attendees and the overwhelming response was that people felt nourished but wanted more. It showed that our age range was very diverse, 40% of respondents were 30 or under, around a third were between 31 – 50 and the remaning 33% were over 50.
Below are some quotes from our feedback form
thank you so much for an energizing day, it has stayed with me and inspired a lot of food for thought and actions!
Really good day, I learnt so much, connected and felt I found my people. More please, and soon!
Very well organised and the team were very engaged, polite and helpful.
It was great to see so many people invested in learning more about changing the world for the better, it helps remind you that you’re not alone in all of this.
We’re grateful for the time and effort detailing improvements and feedback. We have resolved to run it again and so watch this space as we announce the details for Festival of Collective Liberation 2025!