Slamnestys: where spoken word poetry meets activism!

Written by Fundile Maphanga, Education Research Volunteer.

What are Slamnesty events?

Poetry is a great format to explore human rights and bring important issues to light. Through live performance, you can bring these ideas to a wider audience and also raise vital funds for Amnesty International UK. 

As live poetry events are often called ‘slams’, we have dubbed the Amnesty International version of a live poetry event a 'Slamnesty'. 

Practically setting up your own Slamnesty!

With support of Amnesty International UK, you can organise your own Slamnesty event 
The six elements are needed to host a fun Slamnesty, namely: 

1. The venue
2. The equipment
3. Poets
4. Promotion
5. Fundraising
6. Awareness raising

For more detailed information on hosting a smooth-running Slamnesty, there is a student guide to Slamnestys to be found below.

Take action through your slam!

By writing about global human rights issues, you are sending a message of solidarity for campaigns. For example, you may choose to write appeal poetry advocating to reunite refugee families which have been separated by war and prosecution and are kept apart by restrictive UK rules on family reunion. By responding to the inspirational work of human rights defenders, you show support to the work of amazing activists such as Seyi Akiwowo. Seyi defends the right of freedom of expression of women without fear of threats and abuse which they face online. 

 
Submitting your own poetry!

Take the ‘Make a Difference in a Minute’ challenge and submit your poetry here. 

Your poetry actions will be used to support the Families Together campaign, which calls for more refugee families to be able to live in safety in the UK. 

You could use one of these lines to get started:

• Being with my family is like…
• Family is…
• Being without my family is like…

A selection of poems will be chosen and showcased on our website. We will let you know if a poem is selected.

Share your poetry on social media using the #wordsthatburn hashtag and the title of your poem.

For some poetry inspiration, have a look at award-winning poet Joelle Taylor had to say about why she writes poetry and how to get started.

You can also have a look at Inja perform his poem titled ‘Freedom’ to get some inspiration on how to perform your poem pieces.

Take action, lend your voice to more campaigns and human rights defenders

About Amnesty UK Blogs
Our blogs are written by Amnesty International staff, volunteers and other interested individuals, to encourage debate around human rights issues. They do not necessarily represent the views of Amnesty International.