Journey to Justice Economic (In)Justice series

In this episode our speakers Chrisann Jarrett, Kimberly Garande and Dr. Charlotte McPherson talk about challenging the hostile environment for migrants and young people’s opportunities and futures.

Chrisann and Kimberly from the organisation We Belong, who challenge the ‘hostile environment’ and its impact on young migrants tell us how they appeal to common values of politicians across parties, to bridge political divides. They raise awareness of the issues, telling their stories and being strategic, equipping and galvanising young people to become changemakers. By making their action constituency-led and being persistent, We Belong were eventually invited to speak to the Home Affairs Select Committee in the UK Parliament to give evidence of the impact of the ‘hostile environment’ on their lives.

Dr. Charlotte McPherson is currently working with Kings College London on a project that looks at the barriers to young people’s opportunities. Here she discusses what makes a society economically just; the effects of Covid-19 on people already experiencing poverty; in-work poverty and the lack of guaranteed income that comes with the gig economy; the importance of a living wage, work, education and the urgency to address the cultural devaluation of young people.

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In this episode our speakers from PSOOL (Police Spies Out of Lives) and Professor Gurminder Bhambra talk about confronting undercover police infiltration and understanding the legacy of Empire.

Two of the women who founded PSOOL – Police Spies Out of Lives in 2012 talk about their campaign for justice. The women were political activists and brought a legal case against the Metropolitan Police for deploying undercover police officers into their personal lives, including deceptive intimate relationships with them. PSOOL began as a support group and expanded to campaigning for justice and change to prevent such deception.

Gurminder K Bhambra is Professor of Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies at the University of Sussex. She discusses the scale of the wealth extraction from former British colonies to fund British institutions; and the idea that an economically just world is about human value and fair distribution. She also explores nationalism during the Brexit referendum in contrast to a view of multicultural Britain helping the nation to get through Covid.

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In this episode our speakers Luke Aaron and Helen Barnard talk about theatre, class and a redesigned economy.

Luke tells his story of being from a rural working class area and the lack of access to jobs, housing support, and opportunities that he needed. Now, as a drama student in London, Luke’s experiences inform his work - he uses theatre as a representational tool to give voice to those facing economic injustice.

Helen is Deputy Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.  She analyses what makes a society economically just; how the causes of poverty interlink with employment, housing and social security; the need for a redesigned economy and housing market; the effect of the pandemic on low-income families, how the recovery should look and what form effective activism should take.

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In this episode our speakers, Georgia Elliott-Smith and Professor Robert Beckford talk about the economics of waste, the morality of extreme wealth and the legacy of colonialism.

Georgia talks about how she began a legal case to demand the UK government tax incinerator pollution after recognising that not only is the air pollution produced harmful to the environment, but Black and disadvantaged communities are disproportionately affected. The case  proceeded to the High Court in the UK after Georgia raised £30,000 in crowdfunding.

Robert Beckford is Professor of Climate and Social Justice at the University of Winchester and a broadcaster with TV and radio.  Here he discusses some of the roots of social and economic justice in Britain; austerity as a political choice; the pay gap between workers; the gig economy and exploitation, colonialism and economic justice.

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In this episode our speakers, Lola McEvoy and Professor Barry Supple talk about working conditions during COVID-19 and a recipe for economic justice.

Lola is a GMB organiser. She talks about the vital role of trade unions for economic justice. During the COVID-19 pandemic Lola contacted the national press to expose the PPE crisis in care homes. Her action led to a government investigation to ensure adequate PPE and full sick pay for everyone working in NHS hospitals who is not paid directly by the NHS.

Barry Supple is Emeritus Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge, and a former Director of the Leverhulme Trust. He explains what an economically just society looks like and explores degrees of justice and fairness. He describes three important ingredients for achieving economic justice in society: the provision of education, a well-resourced welfare state and a progressive taxation system.

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In this episode our speakers, Professor Helen Storey and Tania Aubeelack talk about fashion, social justice and an economically just world.

Professor Helen Storey MBE, RDI is Professor of Fashion and Science at London College of Fashion. Her work includes helping Syrian refugees in the Zaatari camp in Jordan, particularly women and girls, gain creative and economic power through making clothes, growing vegetables, creating businesses, dancing, and poetry.

Tania Aubeelack is a human rights campaigner and community worker. She is Journey to Justice Chair of trustees and an aural historian with On the Record. She discusses what makes a society economically just; Covid-19 and the revealing of social and structural inequalities; generation rent, evictions, and the land monopoly; and links between the value of making work more meaningful, leisure and the gig economy.

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In this episode our speakers, Dr Mya-Rose Craig and Lela Kogbara talk about diversity, equality and access to nature and anti-apartheid campaigning and tactics.

Dr Mya-Rose set up Black2Nature when she was just 13. Black2Nature houses activity camps in Bristol to help give young people in visible minority ethnic communities access to nature and tackle the lack of diversity in green spaces.

Lela campaigned for the anti-apartheid movement in her local area of London, handing out leaflets, encouraging people to boycott South African goods, and building networks with churches and trade unions. Here Lola talks about how she helped organise letter writing to Members of Parliament, national days of action, and music benefit events to raise awareness of the issue.

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In this episode our speakers Costa Christou and Hero Austin and Margaret Agyapong talk about the urgent issue of affordable and healthy homes.

As Chair of the Lambeth Community Land Trust, Costa who, along with the organisation Advocacy Academy, led a campaign using creative direct action, lobbying local councillors, and taking advice from a range of community members and organisations to ensure affordable housing was available in Lambeth, South London. He talks about how their years of campaigning resulted in a site on which to build affordable housing.

Hero and Margaret are from PEACH: People's Empowerment Alliance for Custom House. They talk about tactics used by the group to successfully campaign for their homes to be returned to council ownership and secure repairs and rent reductions for all.

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In this episode our speakers Louise Cooke and Kiren Shafiq talk about combating clothing poverty and taking community action to feed people during COVID-19.

Louise tells us how she set up Sharewear Clothing Scheme in 2012 as a clothing referral scheme with bases across the Midlands and Yorkshire. It allows those who struggle to afford clothes to personally choose their own items for free.

Kiren is part of Islamic Help which delivered food and other basic supplies to people of all communities in Birmingham and other cities in the West Midlands in response to panic buying at the start of the pandemic. During Ramadan, the group cooked and delivered hot meals, and during Eid, they delivered sweets to the local community and people were delighted with this personal touch.

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In this episode our speakers Sam Spong, John Ratomski and Jessica Prendergrast talk about pooling resources for community benefit in the distinct areas of football and a community arts and employment creation initiative involving biomanufacturing.

Sam and John are from Fans Supporting Food Banks who use creative tactics to organise foodbank collections at the West Ham and Charlton Athletic football stadiums. The response has been fantastic, with significant amounts of money, food and other basic provisions donated to Newham and Greenwich foodbanks in the UK.

Jessica along with others in 2013 set up Onion Collective CIC, a social enterprise, in Watchet, a harbour town in Somerset. She talks about how, following a successful community arts project, Onion Collective consulted the community about use of land when plans for a major development of flats fell through. As a result, a Visitor Centre and Boat Museum were created and later, working in partnership with Biohm UK they brought a biomanufacturing project to a closed-down mill in order to create local jobs.

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In this episode our speakers, Pam Warhurst and the Lewis family talk about growing food; growing communities and challenging large corporations.

Pam Warhurst created Incredible Edible in the UK to encourage groups of people to grow food in unused places such as car parks and grassy verges, and share what grew to create more connected communities and sustainable living. She talks about the aims and success of the movement.

The Lewis family were part of a local campaign in Leicester which challenged the building of a Tesco in their area. They describe how community members set up ‘Tescno’, lobbying the city council’s planning department to refuse planning. They marched and used a variety of creative tactics, challenging Tesco to a public debate. The campaign galvanised people of all ages and backgrounds. It built a huge base of support and was eventually successful.

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In this episode our speakers, Khady Gueye and Tessa Gray talk about the themes of education, racism and support for refugees, and asylum seekers.

Khady talks about how she and a friend organised a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Gloucestershire. She received a huge backlash and racist abuse as well as tremendous support including from the local police. As a result, she recognised the need for a long term approach to counter racial and economic injustice which are so linked, and set up the Local Equality Commission which works with partners to tackle racial, political and economic injustice especially through education.

Tessa is a senior legal adviser at the Hub Drop-In project in Newcastle and Chair of Recovering Justice. She discusses how economic injustice affects migrants, refugees and asylum seekers and other vulnerable people; the chronic unemployment in the North East of England since the closure of shipyards and mines in the 1980s; the flawed welfare system and the need for a living wage on top of a basic minimum wage; and what sort of changes are needed to bring about economic justice.

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In this episode our speakers, Jane Wheeler and Rowan McCabe talk about building connections through song and poetry.

Jane is the founder and director of Living Song CIC, a Community Interest Company rooted in the community and centred around singing. She talks about providing opportunities for young people from diverse backgrounds to develop a sense of self and connections with each other. And how this builds community and support through the belief that singing is levelling, and can help people rise above differences.

Rowan is a door-to-door poet. He knocks on people’s doors all over the country, asking members of different communities what they care about, and offering to write a poem for them on the subjects they choose. Rowan tells us how he has met a range of people – teachers, Romany Travellers and Syrian families and writes for them, all the while making poetry moving and exciting.

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In this episode our speakers, Paul Rutherford and Professor Sir Michael Marmot talk about housing benefits, complex care needs and health equity.

Paul and Susan Rutherford fought to overturn a UK government policy that would have seen housing benefit reduced for those with a spare room, quickly dubbed the ‘Bedroom Tax’. The family, who needed the room for an overnight carer to help look after their disabled grandson, took their case to the High Court and won. The law in the UK is now changed – anyone caring for a disabled young person is exempt from the ‘Bedroom tax’.

Michael is Professor of Epidemiology at University College London and Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity. Here he explains that social inequality is about more than economic inequality alone, it is also part of being able to live a dignified healthy life. Equity of health and well-being, as well as income, can ensure people are able to participate in society

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In this episode our speakers, Sonya Hundal and Siana Bangura talk about the intergenerational legacy of trade union action and tactics used by Campaign Against the Arms Trade.

Sonya's father was a member of the Indian Workers Association, known for its campaigns to protect the rights of early immigrant workers in the 1950s and 1960s. Through her father and mother’s stories, Sonja talks about how hard it was for migrants, many of whom overcame tremendous hardships and how strong the trade union movement made them.

Siana Bangura talks about the wide range of tactics used by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) and working collaboratively with similar organisations to campaign against the international arms trade on intersecting issues for a world where conflict is resolved without the use of force.

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In this episode our speakers, Keith Hodgson and Helen Barnard talk about the power of creative tactics and how to campaign 'smart'.

Keith worked for the trade union NUPE (National Union of Public Employees) in the 1980s. He tells the story of a care home’s staff in the North East of England who were sacked after they blew the whistle on poor treatment of residents and went on strike. Keith helped create a campaign using music and performance to raise its profile. The campaign was so successful it led to the sacked staff getting compensation and new jobs in their local area.

Helen is Deputy Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Here she shares ‘smart’ tips for activists campaigning for a better future. Her advice is to: seek common ground, not the high ground; use language the public can engage with and let those with lived experience lead.

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In this episode our speakers, Professor Nadia Valman and Dr Adam Elliott-Cooper talk about workers’ lasting bonds of solidarity and advice for anyone arrested by the police.

Nadia is Professor of Urban Literature at Queen Mary, University of London. Here she tells the story of solidarity between Jewish tailors and Irish dockers exploring how lasting bonds can be formed when people from different minority backgrounds come together to face injustice and defend their rights, supporting each other in times of need.

Adam is a Research Fellow in Sociology at the University of Greenwich. Here he offers tactics to prepare people when they are approached, stopped and searched, or arrested by the police. He advises people stopped on the streets, in a vehicle, at a protest or any situation that the main priority is to de-escalate the situation and ask for representation from Police Action Lawyers if necessary.

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In this episode our speakers, John Cotton and Rosemary Corcoran and Brian Mahony talk about challenging in-work poverty in Birmingham and rural isolation in Monmouthshire.

John is a Labour councillor in Birmingham and Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, Community Safety and Equalities. He discusses the issue of in-work poverty and his campaign to make the local council redress this and be a model for action. John introduced the Real Living Wage (RLW) for all council staff and 17,000 employees are now paid a RLW. Birmingham City Council has set up a Poverty Truth Commission to listen to those with lived experience of poverty.

Rosemary and Brian are from Friends of the 65 Bus based in Wales. The group was founded to keep the 65 Bus route going. They lobbied councillors and MPs, started a petition and encouraged support by talking to the community about rural isolation and climate change. Today, the bus remains vital for those who are isolated, vulnerable or without a car, but is now increasingly popular with other residents and visitors.

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In this episode our speakers, Sandra Hulme, Mark Palmer, Peter Wyman and Jane Hatton, talk about the theme of disability and economic justice.

Sandra, Mark and Peter, staff at Greenbank College, tell the story of the founding of the college by Gerry Kinsella MBE, elite athlete, medal-winner for Great Britain wheelchair basketball team in World and European championships. The College offers education, training, employment, sport and recreational activities for disabled and other disadvantaged local people in Liverpool.

Jane talks about how she set up Evenbreak after coming across discriminatory attitudes that affected disabled applicants getting jobs and becoming disabled herself. Evenbreak is a UK job board connecting employers and disabled candidates. The organisation is now a living wage employer and social business which has over 600 employers and 50,000 disabled candidates registered on the site.

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In this episode our speakers Dr. Abi Rhodes and Carrie Supple introduce Journey to Justice’s Economic (In)Justice podcast series. The series explores action for economic justice and understanding wealth inequality in the UK.

Journey to Justice is a national human rights education charity. We believe that learning about human rights movements, the arts, and stories of so-called ordinary people taking action for change can inspire us to become active citizens too.

The podcasts in this series are part of our Economic Injustice project, a unique resource housing stories of action, non-violent tactics and expert analysis of the roots of economic inequality.

Abi is the volunteer Project Coordinator for the Economic (In)Justice project and Carrie is the former Director of Journey to Justice and now volunteer.

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