Latest news in about three of Shake's brilliant young participants from 2010/11 programme!
Nuha Baruti and Rotimi Skyers are taking part in Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust's 2012 architecture and design exhibition 'People & Places', held with Scott Brownrigg in Covent Garden. Nuha was a Bursary recipient at SLCT and has played a key role in curating and organising the exhibition of young talent. Rotimi is studying architecture at University of the Creative Arts, Canterbury, and has developed a close ongoing relationship with the Trust since Shake! It's on til 30 Nov so if you're in London, get over there.
Meanwhile, Selina Nwulu is responding to a challenge: to write a brand new 20-minute poem as part of Apples and Snakes event 'The Word's a Stage', 21st November, in Hackney, London. Selina's been mentored by Malika Booker along with three other up and coming poets. Should be a brilliant night.
Those good people at RMC have now put up a great compilation of videos from Shake's session "The Unheard: Youth, 'the riots' and the media" at the 2011 conference in London.
Watch recordings from the session itself, plus interviews and poetry performed by Rotimi, Samia, Selina and Kadish (Leeds Young Authors).
Also watch interviews with Shake! poet-facilitators Sai and Zena from Ceasefire magazine's Adam Elliot-Cooper over on our videos page.
We had more good news from RMC organiser Gabriel Carlyle recently. He told us that once they'd digested all the written evaluation forms, Shake's session got the most number of glowing reviews. People were energised by hearing directly and unmediated from young people, and they loved the structure (a mix of poetry, commentary, and discussion).
This was the fruit of all that brilliant planning from the team: Selina, Samia, Ed, Sai, Rotimi, Jane. And big thanks to Ed from New Left Project who kept the team cooking across 4 cities in the run-up...
One of the most successful aspects of Britain On Trial was the coming together and sharing of experiences between active, articulate, dedicated young people from two different parts of the UK and from two different artistic organisations - Leeds Young Authors and Shake!.
Zodwa Nyoni, a Leeds Young Authors alumni (Leeds Superheroes of Slam winner 2011 & Voices of A New Generation winning poet coach 2011 just the latest of her long list of acolades...) was a part of the 15 minute speed-lecture on "Racism, Young People and the Police" and followed poetry from Shake!'s Rotimi and Selina - who opened proceedings with Britain on Trial and her response to Stephen Lawrence's murder, Thou Shalt Not Kill.
Zodwa provided the perfect closing contribution to this opening speed-lecture by bringing the topic back home to Leeds with a dedication to David Oluwale - a Nigerian killed in police custody back in 1969 and still, over 40 years later, the only case ever of criminal convictions for officers involved in a police-related death since records began in 1970.
> Consumer Capitalism, advertising, and young people; Media portrayal of youth
featuring: Sai Murai - overview of consumer capitalism + powerpoint presentation on evils of advertising Samia Aziz - talk on women & consumerism (ref: UNICEF report + Consumer Kids book) Paris Kaur - poem: Barbie Girl
> History of displacement; contemporary refugee/asylum seeker realities
featuring: Dr Carl Hylton - overview of history of displacement: trans-atlantic Afrikan enslavement Dr Stuart Hodkinson - Britain's immigration system on Trial inc. powerpoint presentation Germain Naruhana - harrowing personal testimony of asylum seeker experience
Jane, Rotimi, Samia and Selina from the SHAKE! collective took a day trip to Leeds yesterday to meet up with Khadijah and Simon, facilitators from Leeds Young Authors and Stuart, a researcher from the University of Leeds MA in Activism & Social Change. The meeting was planned to lay down the groundwork for the "Britain on Trial" arts and activism event that will take place on October 29th as part of the ESRC's Festival of Social Science.
This event, which will take place in Leeds, will use the Stephen Lawrence re-trial as a starting point to ask, "where are we now" through a day of workshops and an evening of performances to expose Britain's countless injustices. Exploring themes such as identity, justice and race through creative workshops, 10 minute speed-lectures and evening speakers, the day will aim to inspire the young people involved in the day to think honestly about themselves and the country they live in today. Britain on Trial, an initiative created by SHAKER Selina, aims to question unjust aspects of British society through creative mediums such as poetry, illustration, photography, short film and essays. The idea to use this as the umbrella theme for the event came organically with a view to unite the various disciplines of the group and the discussions that will take place in the day.
It was a great first meeting that allowed us to get to know each other better and we are looking forward to the planning that will follow. Big thank you to Simon for lending us his house, beautiful garden and making homemade bread - beats a stuffy boardroom any day! No thanks to the pompous man on the train who told us to be quiet in the middle of a full-on discussion about race, empire, language, identity and culture. He could have joined in, eh?
Watch this space for more updates on the Britain on Trial event! Also, check out the Britain on Trial website to find out more and get involved in Selina’s project: http://britainontrial.wordpress.com/
Following the success of Afro 1, Railroad7, a leadership network project, came back for its second and final instalment with an event at the RSA. The event saw six artists showcase ideas after an eight month developmental process and brought together creative entrepreneurs across an array of disciplines for an evening of music art and other visual forms. Shakers Kavi, Nuha & Selina volunteered at the event and Eric, Shake facilitator and one of the showcasing artists, interviewed the Shakers to find out their impressions of the night...
I wrote, Thou Shalt Not Kill, as I was really struck by how despite the fact that Stephen Lawrence was murdered, there is so much of him still alive somehow. And after spending a week in the Stephen Lawrence centre and seeing his pictures in the reception area, I wanted to pay tribute, not only to the people that pushed for Stephen's case to be brought to media attention and to the centre, but also to the strength of the human spirit, that can still reign despite every injustice.
It's so easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged after hearing about injustices such as the murder of Stephen Lawrence, mainly because it often is so overwhelming and discouraging. But I wanted to use this feeling and take inspiration from Stephen Lawrence to create a poem that highlights that together we can be much stronger than any gang, knife or racist crime and the injustices that arise as a consequence. - Selina Nwulu
Thou Shalt Not Kill a poem for Stephen Lawrence who would be 36 on 14th September 2010.
Here is the image of a man-child
Eyes wide,
Future Full
Black and white lines on his shirt
Snapped hope ‘93
Political gangsters
Squat on humanity
As it sinks further, deep
In pain and misery
Swirls in red tape and the queen's democracy
Democracy becomes
Blood drenched
Stabbed, five inches deep
Justice made blind
Moral imposters
Banking on flimsy legislation
Minds behind those black and white lines
Blood on their hands,
Drip drops a trail on the ground
Swirls turn justice monochrome
Stephen Lawrence
You miss the colors
You miss the freedom love can bring
You miss
Everything an 18-year-old saw and you didn't
Impotent fools
Loaded with steel hatred
Unaware that
The pen will forever trump the blade
The power you crave from that
Phallic metallic stick…
We are repelled
Powerless powerless fools
Thou shalt not kill
A battle waiting to be won
Thou shalt not kill
Education.
Words from a mother to a son
Thou shalt not kill
Knowledge.
The wisdom to walk away
Thou shalt not kill…
