Black Lives Matter UK Festival of Collective Liberation 2024
Date: Sat 13 July 2024 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Location: Friends House Euston, NW1 2BJ
WHAT: Black Lives Matter UK’s Festival of Collective Liberation
PRICE: £10 – Free solidarity tickets
Festival Programme
10:45am – Festival Welcome and Opening
Host: Emma Dabiri
Opening message from our host
Introduction of our exclusive showing of DYLEMA’s Last Madonna’s Exhibition
Meet the team: introducing Black Lives Matter UK Coordinating Group
Cultural performance
11:30am – Honouring our Black Women Elders – British Black Liberation, past and present
Chair: Lola Okolosie
Speakers:
– Zainab Abbas, founder member of the Black Liberation Front
– Dorothea Smartt, Brixton Black Women’s Group
An intergenerational discussion on understanding the British Black Power movement of the 1970s and 80s through a Black feminist lens.
Lola Okolosie leads our panellists from organisations such as Black Liberation Front and Brixton Black Women’s Group to reflect on material and organising conditions during their struggles for housing. We invite all to contrast those conditions to 2024 foodbank stricken and post-universal credit Britain.
2.30pm Sessions
Keynote Session: Becoming Abolitionists
Chair: Leah Cowan (author, Why should feminists trust the police?)
Speakers: Derecka Purnell (Hammer and Hope Editorial Board), Shanice McBean (Black-Jewish Alliance), Sara Bafo (No More Exclusions)
| Panels |
| Black Liberation and Palestine Chair: Sammarah (Palestine Youth Movement) Speakers: Annie Olaloku-Teriba, Reem Abu El Fadl, Kevin Ochieng Okoth |
| The Struggle for Bodily Autonomy: from Eugenics to Reproductive Justice Chair: Edem Barbara Ntumy Speakers: Ammaarah Z (Ad’iyah Collective), Almaz Ohene (Freelance Journalist), Mimie Wite-Nkate (Congo Action Youth Platform) |
| Reflections on Sudan: 1989 – 2024 Chair: Lina Dohia Speakers: Mohanad Hashim, Hamid Khalafala, Asil Sidahmed (Madaniya) |
| No Borders, No Nations: Resisting the Hostile Environment Chair: Hope Chilokoa-Mullen (4Front) Speakers: Nadine El-Enany (University of Kent), Tyrone Scott (War on Want), Parishma and Akli from Solidarity Detainee Support |
| Workshops |
| How to Organise Your Workplace Facilitator: Grace Franklin (Unite the Union) |
| We Keep Us Safe Facilitators: Copwatch London |
| Radical Joy – Musical Meditation Workshop Facilitator: Arowah |
| Racial Capitalism 101 Facilitator: Mohammed Elnaiem (The Decolonial Centre), Jerusalem Barnabas (Tigray Youth Network) |
| Stand for Congo: Building a movement Facilitators: Kojo Kyerewaa (Black Lives Matter UK) |
4.15pm Sessions
Black British Film Screenings curated by Campbell X
| Panels |
| Blood and smartphones: The Genocide in DR Congo Chair: Tatiana Giraud (TG Foundation for Congo) Speakers: Luc Kangele (Genocost), Mimie Wite-Nkate (Congo Action Youth Platform), Sly Mido (Congo Action Youth Platform) |
| Colonised Bodies: Gender, Sexuality and Disability Chair: Aviah Sarah Day (Black-Jewish Alliance) Speakers: Aderonke Apata (African Rainbow Family), Kym Oliver (Triple Cripples), Almaz Ohene (Freelance Journalist), Jason Jones |
| Pay, precarity and power in a union Chair: Mel Mullins (BLM Croydon / RMT) Speakers from Independent Workers of Great Britain and United Voices of the World |
| The Great Rolling Back Show Chair: Kesewa John (Goldsmiths University) Speakers: Ellen E. Jones (Broadcaster and author of Screen Deep), Clive Nwonka (UCL), Kojo Koram (author of Uncommon Wealth) |
| The Climate Crisis, Anti-imperialism and Palestinian Liberation Chair: Kanwal Hameed Speakers: Hamza Hamouchene, Shanice McBean, Rob Knox |
| Workshops |
| Complicit No More: strengthening the Sudan solidarity movement Facilitators: Leena Habiballa, Eva Khair, Inès Belliard (Madaniya), Rania Ibrahim, Rayanne Idris (Sudanese Legal Network) |
| Disrupting Prison Pipelines Facilitators: Micha Frazer-Carrol (Author of Mad World), Sara Bafo, Watusi87 |
| Resisting Borders Facilitators: Mariam Bafo, Hafsa (Captain Support) |
| Imagining Reproductive Justice Facilitators: Reproductive Justice Initiative |
6pm – 7pm Reflection Sessions
Keynote Session: Until all of us are free
Chair: Mohammed Elnaiem (The Decolonial Centre)
Speakers: Lina Dohia (Sudan), Sly Mido (Congo), Akram Salhab (Palestine)
| Reflection Labs |
| Oral Archive Reflection Lab Facilitator: Alicia Graham |
| Release the Body Workshop Facilitator: Jay |
| Unapologetically Black Somatic Dance Liberation Facilitator: Oya Heart Warrior |
7.15pm – Closing Session
Music Performance: Louis Culture
Closing comments by Host – Emma Dabiri
End 8pm