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Date and Time

31st July 2020

Location

Online

Speakers and Artists
  • David Lammy
  • Amina Gichinga

As part of our new #reconstructionwork programme, Stuart Hall Foundation is hosting a series of online one-to-one conversations.

The term ‘reconstruction’ is often used to characterize a moment in time where a series of events force a period of political, social and economic reorganisation. This past year, the Covid-19 pandemic and the sustained Black Lives Matter protests have prompted a collective reassessment of the past in order to make sense of present-day inequalities. Stuart discussed ‘reconstruction’ as an opportunity to “reinscribe the past, reactivate it, relocate it and resignify it” in order to work through the present, reinterpret the future and to imagine something else. Our #reconstructionwork series implements Stuart’s thinking through a series of online public conversations where we invite writers, artists and activists to critically consider how we can build a better society in response to the Covid-19 crisis and the Black Lives Matter protests worldwide.

In the second of the series you will meet David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor together with Amina Gichinga, an organiser with London Renters Union and founder of Nawi Collective singing group.

They will explore how the long histories of black cultural and political activism can help us construct just and equal futures, working across different generations and geographies.

Reflecting on their own personal experiences, David and Amina will discuss how best to effect political change through grassroots activism and the parliamentary system, taking into consideration the role of community, culture and theories of change.

 
Learn more about our #ReconstructionWork Programme here

Speakers and Artists

David Lammy

After being elected for the 7th time as the Member of Parliament for Tottenham in December 2019, David Lammy was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Justice. He became the first black MP to hold the Justice post, either in government or opposition. This appointment concluded a busy year for David, who has fought for justice on behalf of the Windrush Generation, spearheaded the struggle to resist Brexit, campaigned for a humane immigration system, sought to protect vulnerable teenagers from surging knife-crime, re-applied pressure on the Government to compensate the victims of the Grenfell Tower Fire and continued to expose racial bias within the British criminal justice system. These are just some of the issues that David explores in his recently published book, Tribes, an exploration of both the benign and malign effects of our very human need to belong.

Amina Gichinga

Amina Gichinga is a musician, a speaker and a community organiser. Amina became disillusioned with the elitist environment of parliament in her teens and turned to grassroots activism in Newham, where she’s always lived. Wanting to demonstrate a radical approach to how party politics could be done differently, she stood as Take Back the City’s GLA candidate for the City and East Constituency in the 2016 Mayoral & London Assembly elections. Since early 2018 she has worked as an organiser with London Renters Union, organising with local tenants in Newham & Leytonstone to harness their collective power. Amina combined her love of music with her dedication to social justice and founded Nawi Collective, an all-black women and non-binary femmes choir, in 2017.