Deconstructing Power: A Preview of the Anti-Racism Network’s Upcoming Event

Written by Ciara Garcha, Anti-Racism Network Committee Member

Amnesty UK’s first event, Deconstructing Power, is set to take place in a few weeks, with a lineup of powerful speakers and a range of thought-provoking discussions. Deconstructing Power seeks to pose questions about identity, race, racism and power, and open up important and timely discussions about anti-racist activism and mobilisation. 

The event will open with two keynote speeches from Aisha Thomas and Imran Manzoor. Aisha’s talk “Being Black and British: Living in the Hyphen” will draw inspiration from the works of seminal thinkers Frantz Fanon and WEB Du Bois, applying their work to questions surrounding Black British identity. Founder of Representation Matters, Alisha Thomas’ organisation provides workshops and consultancy on diversity and inclusion. With extensive experience in education, Aisha speaks to the challenges facing young people who experience racism in British schools. Her 2018 BBC documentary highlighted the lack of Black teachers in schools and raised questions around the necessity of representation at every level of leadership and authority in combatting racism. 

Imran Manzoor will follow with his talk “Breaking the Silence”. Imran will draw on his experience with his organisation of the same name. Originally based in West Yorkshire but now operating nationally, Breaking the Silence is dedicated to supporting Black and Asian men who are victims of domestic violence. The organisation seeks to offer support to survivors of domestic abuse, which is sensitive to the specific challenges that Black and Asian men face in terms of speaking out against domestic violence, including racism and cultural conceptions of honour and shame. In his talk, Imran will draw out the intersection between national security and mental health, seeking to psychologise the threat of terror. Imran, argues that social and institutional problems have instead been located in the individual, thereby negating the wider societal problems of racism and Islamaphobia.

Far-right riots earlier this summer have highlighted the urgency of identifying and challenging the racism embedded in British society. Our committee member Peter Radford will be chairing a panel ‘Race, Resistance and the Far Right’, which promises to be an interesting, important and timely discussion. We will also be joined by Zara Manoehoetoe, of Kids of Colour, a grassroots organisation based in Manchester. Kids of Colour is an anti-racist youth organisation, that provides support and community to racially marginalised young people in Manchester. Its emphasis is on building community and solidarity, creating a safe and welcoming space. More recently, it was doing vital work with minority communities, safeguarding those targeted in the recent far right riots. The workshop will focus on the importance of community and dreaming in activism. Zara’s creative and hopeful session will ask us to consider what community means to us and how we can build relationships and systems that are grounded in liberation. 

Israel’s genocide in Palestine has reaped unimaginable horrors and suffering, as well as anti-genocide mobilisations around the world. We will be joined by Emili Stevenson from Na’amod, an organisation of British Jewish activists dedicated to organising against the Israeli apartheid regime and genocide in Palestine. Na’amod has been fearlessly publicly opposing Israel’s human rights abuses and atrocities in Palestine. Emili will be facilitating a workshop on Jewish anti-racism, looking at the importance of Jewish solidarity with other marginalised groups, particularly pertinent in the context of the genocide in Gaza. Emili will also highlight the importance of combatting antisemitism in the wider struggle against racism, absolutely vital in building a powerful anti-racist movement. 

Amnesty UK’s own Ilyas Nagdee will also be hosting a workshop on “Reclaiming Anti-Racism”. Ilyas’ book Race to the Bottom offers a powerful exploration of race and racism in Britain, exploring the history of the ‘race relations industry’ in the UK. Race to the Bottom argues that anti racism has been robbed of its radicalism and grassroots energies, as it was institutionalised and mainstreamed over the course of the later 20th and 21st century. Ilyas’ workshop will pick up these topics discussed in his book, looking at the ‘race relations industry’ in the aftermath of the 1981 uprisings, asking how we can reclaim the radicalism and solidarity historically at the heart of antiracism in Britain. 

Our event will conclude with a final keynote address from Stacy Johnson that speaks to our title: “Deconstructing the Powerful: One Conversation at a Time”. Stacy will discuss her experience with reverse-mentoring, a practice she credits with transforming her perspective over the past decade. Reverse-mentoring often takes place in a workplace setting and involves a junior colleague sharing their experience and processes with a more senior colleague, thereby turning conventional power dynamics on their head. It has been introduced in various NHS Trusts across the country, in addition to other workplaces and organisations. Stacy is also an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham in the school of Health Sciences and has previously advised Chief Nursing Officers for England on matters affecting racialised patients and staff. Stacy’s talk promises to share insights gained from The Reverse Mentoring Practice, the organisation she founded, and her extensive career in healthcare and as an educator. Stacy’s keynote will close the event by returning to our central theme: how we can disrupt and deconstruct power structures, and how we can imagine and build alternative systems and an alternative society.

We hope that this event creates discussion and encourages us to explore and develop our own anti-racist activism. The event, we hope, will be a thought-provoking and inspiring afternoon for those who have experienced racism and those looking to better anti-racist allies. Our committee will be at the event throughout the day, in case you want to find out how to be involved with the network, or just want a friendly face to chat to. I hope the event will illuminate the different dimensions necessary to anti-racism; the importance of solidarity; of combatting hate in all its guises; and of liberation for us all. So much hard work has gone into this event. I’m so excited - I know it’ll be full of interesting discussions, thoughtful speeches and a hopeful Amnesty spirit. 

We still have tickets available if you want to join us! The event will take place at the Human Rights Action Centre in Shoreditch, London and tickets are available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/amnesty-international-uks-anti-racism-network-88623299743