Economic (In)justice
With the widening wealth gap and deepening economic and racial inequality, our latest project focuses on economic injustice in the UK.
This lies at the heart of so many challenges facing millions, concerning their employment, housing, health, education, recreation, relationships and family life – all magnified and amplified by the coronavirus crisis.
The aim is to galvanise people to take action for economic justice using our successful approach to human rights education. We have developed local partnerships and have created an Economic (In)Justice action pack & training programme to be used by local communities and the wider public.
See the action pack and resources here:
JtoJ is very pleased to be working with production company Rainbow Collective who are committed to raising awareness of human rights & children’s rights through powerful cinematic documentaries.
With thanks to everyone who shared their stories of challenging economic injustice, their tactics and analysis. You are all brilliant and inspiring. And thanks to Vanishing Point Creative for creating the beautiful new website and to Lush Charity Pot for helping to fund the ‘suitcase’ of hard copy resources.
Stories, tactics and explainers so far include:
Shahajahan Ali – teacher, on class and education
Costa Christou, Advocacy Academy – affordable housing
Councillor John Cotton – Cabinet member for Social Inclusion, Community Safety and Equalities
Helen Barnard – Director, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Professor Gurminder Bhambra – the legacy of colonialism
Professor Barry Supple – Economic Historian
Dr Brian W. Lavery and the Headscarf Revolutionaries, Hull
Fans Supporting Food Banks, Sam Spong and John Ratomski
Rosemary & Brian, Friends of the 65 Bus – saving a rural bus service
Georgia Elliott-Smith – UNESCO Special Junior Envoy for Youth & the Environment and environmental engineer
Greenbank Academy – sports and leisure facilities for disabled people
Jane Hatton, Evenbreak – accessible job search for disabled candidates
Dr. Elizabeth Henry – activist, adviser – social, structural, systemic (in)equality and (in)justice
Sonya Hundal – the Indian Workers’ Association and a family history
Kiren Shafiq – Islamic Help
Lola McEvoy – GMB organiser, London
Pam Warhurst, Incredible Edible – growing communities
Helen Storey – Professor of Fashion & Science, London College of Fashion
Khady Gueye and the Local Equality Commission – economic & racial justice
Lela Kogbara, Black Thrive Global
Luke Aaron, drama student – class and the arts
Professor Sir Michael Marmot – health inequalities
Mya Craig, Black2Nature
Professor Nadia Valman – solidarity between Jewish tailors & Irish dockers
Deb Neville – on class and education
Hero Austin, PEACH (People’s Empowerment Alliance for Custom House)
Pogus Caesar, multi media artist
Police Spies Out Of Lives (PSOOL)
Robert Beckford – Professor of Black Theology
Rowan McCabe the door-to-door poet
Dr Charlotte MacPherson – young people and economic injustice
Professor Sam Friedman – wealth, class and social mobility
Louise Cooke, Sharewear – emergency clothing, bedding & shoes
Susie Morrow – Head of R&D and Director, Avo Secure
Tania Aubeelack, JtoJ trustee – exploring spiritual, moral & ethical aspects of an economically just world.
Keith Hodgson, The Craigielea Care Home Dispute
The Lewis family and the TESCNO campaign
Jess Prendergrast, Onion Collective
Chrisann Jarrett & Kimberly Garande, We Belong – justice for young migrants
Read about some of the stories here with thanks to JtoJ volunteer researcher Hannah Simpson.
Volunteer Project Coordinator Dr Abigail Rhodes
Dr Abigail Rhodes was the Development Worker for this project (April-Sept 2020) and happily she chose to continue supporting the project as a volunteer.
We were delighted Abi applied for and became the project coordinator in March 2021, still as a volunteer.
Abi is a researcher, teacher and activist with a special interest in the third sector, charity, social movements and campaigning in the field of human rights and social justice. She is also a volunteer with Let’s Feed Brum and Sharewear Clothing Scheme, focused on the impact of poverty in the UK.
Journey to Justice welcomes Charlotte-Rose Kennedy to our Economic (In)Justice project team
Charlotte-Rose Kennedy is an AHRC Midlands4Cities funded postgraduate researcher, studying Linguistics at Nottingham Trent University. Charlotte’s research focuses on the daily national UK press representations of the pro- and anti-Brexit protests, the implications these representations may have on democracy, and the public’s perception of demonstrations. Charlotte recently co-founded and co-organised the Discourse and Politics 2021 international seminar series and is currently co-organising the Leicester Human Rights Arts and Film Festival.
We are delighted Charlotte chose JtoJ for her work placement. She was with us throughout April, helping, amongst many other tasks to develop, promote and plan the promotion and evaluation of our Economic (In)Justice project. She was an invaluable member of the team and we are thrilled she has chosen to stay with us a volunteer. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Journey to Justice is very grateful to Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for funding to support Charlotte’s placement.
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Our audiences include school students (in primary, secondary and special schools), FE, HE, youth and community groups, neighbours, trade unions, local councils, businesses, policy makers and the general public.
With heartfelt thanks to Garden Court Chambers, the Lipman-Miliband Trust, Matrix Causes, the Diana Whitworth CAF Trust, Heitman, Ian Caller, Andreas Welter and the MSN Fund for their generous grants towards this project and to everyone who has donated to our appeal or bought a postcard. Thank you for making it all possible.
We are also hugely grateful to the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG), in the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester for choosing JtoJ and this project as one of their 2000-21 Activist Museum Award winners.
You can support our project by donating and sharing: https://localgiving.org/charity/journey-to-justice-london/
Big thanks to everyone who has contributed so far! £12,243 & counting
Or you can buy our stunning art postcards – the perfect gift. Created by supporters specially for this project. See the gallery here
.THE PROJECT
We have started our next major project which will focus on class, economic injustice and poverty in the UK.
Economic injustice has always been of concern but is now amplified and magnified by the effect of this coronavirus crisis. It has highlighted the many ways in which people are advantaged and disadvantaged depending on class, ethnicity, housing, income, employment and associated health factors. “Coronavirus has seen an exposure of the underlying health inequalities and an amplification of them.” Professor Sir Michael Marmot author of Health Equity in England, the Marmot Review Ten Years On, February 2020
AIMS
♦ With stories of solidarity we will focus on what we can do about economic injustice through activities bringing together examples of struggles for human rights and the arts to encourage action for change.
♦ Emphasise the role played by people collectively which brought and bring change for social and economic justice.
♦ Challenge (often unconscious) bias about class and filters through which we see each other.
♦ Highlight often neglected articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights related to economic and cultural rights. i.e. everyone needs a decent income and home and access to a healthy environment and leisure.
PLANNING
The process is as important as the end product for this project.
We have a working party to develop ideas. Members include trustees, volunteers and partners with experience from working as benefits advisers, Citizens Advice, the Living Wage Foundation, Plan International UK, the charity sector, trade unions and schools. Research began with a Listening Project, consulting people living in poverty or working with those who are, via contacts in our local groups in the North East, Southwark, Nottingham and the Forest of Dean.
We are consulting relevant academics and organisations whose aims complement ours.
In addition to talking about the impact of poverty in terms of health, housing, stigma, food, clothes and lack of opportunities, access to activities, one finding has been people’s strong sense of isolation and loneliness, the lack of shared spaces to build a sense of belonging and – where such spaces exist – how poverty can make it impossible to make use of them. These experiences are shared in urban and rural areas.
We are creating a multi-media toolkit combining:
- stories of action to challenge economic injustice and examples of tactics taken by people past and present
- analysis of causes of wealth inequality together with a training programme to help activists share this experience in their communities, to achieve lasting change.
We want to pilot the toolkit and its impact in rural and urban communities: in the North East, Birmingham, Cumbria, Norfolk and London and all our partner communities, then offer a national Train the Trainers.
For more information and to become part of the planning, please contact: info@journeytojustice.org.uk
If you’d like to support the project, visit our stunning art postcard gallery here
Poverty Injustice – Building Power at the Grassroots!
Wed, 16 October 2019 19:00 – 21:00 BST
During London Challenge Poverty Week in October 2019, we ran a very successful event focused on addressing human rights and attitudes related to economic injustice and the causes and consequences of poverty. 70 people signed up for 50 seats – a sign of the significance and urgency of this issue.
Our speakers were:
Amina Gichinga, an organiser with London Renters Union, who campaign to transform the housing system. The London Renters Union works with youth, community, and migrant groups to amplify their voices.
Co-authors of Until the Sky Turns Silver, Jean Stallings and Diana Skelton highlighted their experience in working with All Together in Dignity (ATD) Fourth World, a human rights anti-poverty organisation tackling inequality and promoting social justice in the UK and internationally.
Luke Aaron, Drama School student at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and outdoor instructor from the Forest of Dean talked about rural poverty and class, drawing on interviews he ran with local residents for JtoJ.
This film of short extracts from the speeches touches on some of the key issues discussed: building community action, exclusion of rural communities, people in poverty speaking for themselves.
Until the Sky Turns Silver introduces Jean Stallings and the novel she co-wrote with Diana Skelton. It was shown at the meeting.
“There are 14 million people in the UK living below the poverty line and half of them are in work. Too often we accept the unacceptable as if there’s nothing we can do. But through learning from people in the past and today who take action for economic justice, we can find ideas and hope.”
Carrie Supple, director, Journey to Justice.
We asked the audience: What will you remember from the event?
“The talk and analysis of rural vs. urban economic and social situation”
“The many different ways and levels and views on how poverty works”
“Impassioned speeches from different speakers”
“The engagement of young people from outside London”
“Poverty is a serious problem& we need legislation in order to deal with it”
“That poverty is an ongoing problem and that legislation is vital”
“Fantastic collection of speakers – all with interesting viewpoints & very engaging:
- Collective action
- Hope & positivity
- Drawing connections between different groups, acknowledging
intersectionality”
“Challenging perceptions – Luke’s talk was particularly interesting”
“All the notes I made – brill speakers!”
“How inspired I felt – I love the career I have chosen, yet I know there is so much to do”
“The talk from Amina (London Renters Union) was wonderful and some excellent ideas on community organising”
“Positive images of contributions of people from ATD”
“The statement by ATD about poverty taking away your soul!”
This longer film includes the main part of all three speeches and the Q&A afterwards.
With thanks to everyone involved in making the event such a success.
