So We Stand activists recognised at the The Olive Morris Memorial Awards!
So We Stand are honoured to be celebrating and collaborating with the brilliant Olive Morris Collective. Look forward to seeing you this Friday!
If you haven’t booked your ticket please do at the email address below.
If your press, or would like to write/ document the campaign success and the awards please do get in contact on info@sowestand.com ASAP and we can discuss.
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The Olive Morris Memorial Awards have been organised by the Remembering Olive Collective (ROC) to celebrate the legacy of black woman activist Olive Morris. The Awards were created as an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of Olive Morris as it lives on in the work of a new generation of young women activists.
The Olive Morris Memorial Awards Friday 2 December 2011, 7.00 – 9.30 pm
Karibu Education Centre, 7 Gresham Road, Brixton, London SW9 7PH
Tickets £3 Inclusive of food
The Olive Morris Memorial Awards have been organised by the Remembering Olive Collective (ROC) to celebrate the legacy of black woman activist Olive Morris. The Awards were created as an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of Olive Morris as it lives on in the work of a new generation of young women activists.
Women aged between 16 and 27 years of age, of African or Asian descent and involved in grassroots political work of any nature were nominated for the awards by their friends, colleagues or mentors. Of the nominees chosen to receive an award ROC will be honouring the work of:
Brenda May Goodchild an artist creating powerful art for the current campaigns against the criminalisation of squatting in England and Wales. Brenda has designed many SWS related movement building designs.
Ria Hylton involved in the Movement for Justice campaign against the deportation of Edson Comas
Mirella working with So We Stand, a UK-wide popular education collective focusing on struggles for environmental and social justice particularly on ‘We Are Mighty – a community book and empowerment programme’ and ‘Women, our environments and justice’.
Nim Ralph a founding member of So We Stand, working with communities across the UK to highlight the social and racial injustice of environmental issues. Also works with MOSAIC, an anti-racist group in Brighton. Nim has been a central voice in strategising all the community defence campaigns from London to Aberdeen!
Rukayah Sarumi, who has organised lectures on black feminism and the history of the women’s movement in Britain and is now active in Streatham Labour Party
Each nominee will receive a cheque for £300 in recognition of their political activism.
A further award of £100 to will be presented to 18 years old Iman Hussein for her work in the Guides Movement challenging its lack of diversity and with Roots a self-education Black History collective of 6th form college pupils.
The Remembering Olive Collective was formed in 2008 to honour the life of Olive Morris, an inspirational community activist of 1970s Britain, who died at the young age of 27 leaving behind a significant legacy of activism. Olive was a member of the British Black Panthers, as well as a founding member of the Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) and the Brixton Black Women’s Group. The breadth of her political work spanned from her pioneer role in the local squatter campaigns in South London; to organising with Black women and the student movement in London and Manchester, and supporting liberation struggles throughout the world.
Formerly site of the Abeng Centre, the Karibu Centre is a fitting venue for the awards as the first national OWAAD Conference organised by Olive and others was held there in 1978.
“”Don’t just criticize. Organise!” is one of the slogans I associate with my memory of Olive.” said Liz Obi a member of the Collective. “So often I hear people of my generation bemoaning the lack of leadership and organization among young black people. It is therefore incredibly inspiring to know that there are young black women, who like Olive, are organising and are politically active. I am glad that ROC will be celebrating their achievements and can showcase to the community the breadth of activism that exists.”
ROC is a good example of what can be achieved when a group of people come together to organise around an issue. With the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, ROC was able to collect and archive papers, photographs and documents and a series of oral history recordings to form the Olive Morris Collection, which was deposited at Lambeth Archives in October 2009. The Collection has quickly become one of the most accessed items at Lambeth Archives and many young academics are using the collection as a resource for their work, with Olive’s story being included in books and references in many BA, MA and PhD dissertations. Other achievements of ROC’s work include a dedication to Olive on a plaque on the Black Achievers Wall in Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum (October 2011) and her inclusion in the Oxford National Dictionary of Biography. Olive was also featured on the Brixton Pound.
Notes:
The awards event will take place at 7 – 9.30 on Friday 2 December 2011 at The Karibu Education Centre, 7 Gresham Road, London, SW9 7PH
Tickets £3 Inclusive of food
There will be a live DJ set by Carlos Martinez (Agent of Change)
Spaces are limited so booking is essential
PLEASE RSVP to: olivemorrishq@gmail.com