How do we create a hospitable environment within a hostile environment? With the uncertainties of Brexit, we are falling into a new era of instability. To soften a hard landing, we work together to move into a phase of renewal, turning leaves into mulch to stimulate new growth. We celebrate migration, and embrace a world on the move as our ecosystems continue to unravel. How can we actively nurture and strengthen old and new networks of solidarity and mutual support?
Programme
Wee Talks: 21 images X 20 seconds.
Sapna Agarwal: The Dispersal and Displacement of the Coconut Seed
Talk synopsis: Sapna will talk about the oppositional pulls climate activism can bring to a woman of colour who is a second generation immigrant – the tedium and necessity to represent and some of the questions that raises.
Sapna Agarwal is a community organiser and educator. Much of her work is informed by her status as a second-generation immigrant, woman of colour, parent. It is currently focused on climate activism and she is the coordinator of Wee Rebellion, the families group of Extinction Rebellion Scotland.
Ali Fleabite: Palestinian liberation struggles and the transformation of Jewish identity and practice.
Talk synopsis: Resituating Jewish narratives, symbols, ritual and practice to emphasise their commonality with liberatory ideas and struggle and evolving a progressive, anti-occupation Judaism from a Zionist orthodoxy.
In 2003, Ali Fleabite spent 4 months doing Palestinian solidarity activism in the West Bank and Gaza. Subsequently they have been involved with, communicated with, and visited, Jewish organisations and communities within the Palestine solidarity movements, many individuals and communities, and a homegrown chosen family of progressive Jews in Glasgow, from 2005 onwards.
Alvaro Huertas: When my Growth Days came to an End.
Talk synopsis: Exploring the end of the illusion of unlimited growth as a parallel story between the personal and the global, from a career in academia to working in solidarity projects.
Alvaro Huertas-Rosero is a scientist by formation, holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Glasgow and has worked as a lecturer in Chemistry and Physics (primarily Quantum Theory). He now spends most of his time raising his child and working for migrant solidarity and food justice in Glasgow.
Annie Lord: Graft
Talk synopsis: Graft uses hand drawn illustrations and photographs to explore borders, boundaries and unions between plants and people and weave together several story lines including the birth and regeneration of Edinburgh’s Botanic Gardens; the cultivation of the Bramley apple, and the formation of symbiotic and parasitic relationships.
Annie Lord is a performer and visual artist based in Edinburgh. Her work explores material processes, cultural and geological histories and the ways in which they shape the present. Recent work has examined the botanical origins of celluloid film and the art of apple tree grafting. You can follow Annie on Twitter and Instagram.
Nayab Khalid: Even dreams must fall to rules. A simple love story
Talk synopsis: Through narrative fiction, I tell a story about immigration, culture and society. The beliefs and values my characters orient themselves by are mirrors. They might clash because of their differences, but their similarities are what truly drives them apart.
Nayab Khalid is trying to rekindle her love for fiction and performance. Her stories often involve elements of science fiction and fantasy, but in this one instance she has found the real world strange enough.
Jonathon Shafi: Deconstructing Fortress Europe
Talk synopsis: Building solidarity beyond the EU
Jonathon Shafi works for Common Weal. He has played a long-standing role in anti-cuts and anti-war in Glasgow and a founder member of the Radical Independence Campaign.
World Spirit Theatre: Theatre and Raising Awareness: solidarity, community, creativity, borders, social movements and arts
Talk synopsis: Showing images from our recent production ‘Where are you are really?’, World Spirit Theatre present the communities we have engaged with, responses we received from the communities and challenges of using theatre as a method of raising awareness.
World Spirit Theatre uses Theatre of the Oppressed methods to create plays and discussion around migration, working with people with direct experience of migration.
Short film
Kotryna Ula Kiliulyte: Amateur Botanist film screening (5mins 59 sec) followed by Q&A.
Kotryna Ula Kiliulyte is a Glasgow based artist working with moving image, photography and objects. Her practice explores themes of migrations, ecology, histories and future projections. She holds a BA and Mlitt from Glasgow School of Art, and exhibits and works internationally.
Performance
Joyous Choir – songs about hope, solidarity, sisterhood and women’s rights.
Maryhill Integration Network’s Joyous Choir consists of women from many different backgrounds who come together every week to share songs from their own cultures. Its members include refugees or asylum seekers who have made Scotland their home to escape conflict or danger in their home countries.
For directions to the venue, have a look at this map.
We are grateful to the Network for Social Change for supporting this event.
Event synopsis: How do we create a hospitable environment within a hostile environment? With the uncertainties of Brexit, we are falling into a new era of instability. To soften a hard landing, we work together to move into a phase of renewal, turning leaves into mulch to stimulate new growth. We celebrate migration, and embrace a world on the move as our ecosystems continue to unravel. How can we actively nurture and strengthen old and new networks of solidarity and mutual support?
Programme
Wee Talks: 21 images X 20 seconds.
Sapna Agarwal: The Dispersal and Displacement of the Coconut Seed
Sapna Agarwal is a community organiser and educator. Much of her work is informed by her status as a second-generation immigrant, woman of colour, parent. It is currently focused on climate activism and she is the coordinator of Wee Rebellion, the families group of Extinction Rebellion Scotland.
Ali Fleabite: Palestinian liberation struggles and the transformation of Jewish identity and practice.
Talk synopsis: Resituating Jewish narratives, symbols, ritual and practice to emphasise their commonality with liberatory ideas and struggle and evolving a progressive, anti-occupation Judaism from a Zionist orthodoxy.
In 2003, Ali Fleabite spent 4 months doing Palestinian solidarity activism in the West Bank and Gaza. Subsequently they have been involved with, communicated with, and visited, Jewish organisations and communities within the Palestine solidarity movements, many individuals and communities, and a homegrown chosen family of progressive Jews in Glasgow, from 2005 onwards.
Alvaro Huertas-Rosero: When my Growth Days came to an End.
Talk synopsis: Exploring the end of the illusion of unlimited growth as a parallel story between the personal and the global, from a career in academia to working in solidarity projects.
Alvaro Huertas-Rosero is a scientist by formation, holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Glasgow and has worked as a lecturer in Chemistry and Physics (primarily Quantum Theory). He now spends most of his time raising his child and working for migrant solidarity and food justice in Glasgow.
Annie Lord: Graft
Talk synopsis: Graft uses hand drawn illustrations and photographs to explore borders, boundaries and unions between plants and people and weave together several story lines including the birth and regeneration of Edinburgh’s Botanic Gardens; the cultivation of the Bramley apple, and the formation of symbiotic and parasitic relationships.
Annie Lord is a performer and visual artist based in Edinburgh. Her work explores material processes, cultural and geological histories and the ways in which they shape the present. Recent work has examined the botanical origins of celluloid film and the art of apple tree grafting. You can follow Annie on Twitter and Instagram.
Nayab Khalid: Even dreams must fall to rules. A simple love story
Talk synopsis: Through narrative fiction, I tell a story about immigration, culture and society. The beliefs and values my characters orient themselves by are mirrors. They might clash because of their differences, but their similarities are what truly drives them apart.
Nayab Khalid is trying to rekindle her love for fiction and performance. Her stories often involve elements of science fiction and fantasy, but in this one instance she has found the real world strange enough.
Jonathon Shafi: Deconstructing Fortress Europe
Jonathon Shafi is organiser of the International Socialist Group (ISG) Scotland and works for Common Weal. He has played a long-standing role in anti-cuts and anti-war in Glasgow and a founder member of the Radical Independence Campaign.
World Spirit Theatre: Theatre and Raising Awareness: solidarity, community, creativity, borders, social movements and arts
Talk synopsis: Showing images from our recent production ‘Where are you are really?’, World Spirit Theatre present the communities we have engaged with, responses we received from the communities and challenges of using theatre as a method of raising awareness.
World Spirit Theatre uses Theatre of the Oppressed methods to create plays and discussion around migration, working with people with direct experience of migration.
Short film
Kotryna Ula Kiliulyte: Amateur Botanist film screening (5mins 59 sec) followed by Q&A.
Kotryna Ula Kiliulyte is a Glasgow based artist working with moving image, photography and objects. Her practice explores themes of migrations, ecology, histories and future projections. She holds a BA and Mlitt from Glasgow School of Art, and exhibits and works internationally.
Performance
Joyous Choir – songs about hope, solidarity, sisterhood and women’s rights.
Maryhill Integration Network’s Joyous Choir consists of women from many different backgrounds who come together every week to share songs from their own cultures. Its members include refugees or asylum seekers who have made Scotland their home to escape conflict or danger in their home countries.
We are grateful to the Network for Social Change for supporting this event.
Wee Talks by the Centre for Human Ecology is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by request at info [at] che.ac.uk.
