Join the Solutionary Rail and Backbone Campaign Team for an interview with Jane Trowell.

Date: Wednesday, April 15th

TIME: 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK

COVID-19 comes hard on the heels of a racist xenophobic Brexit campaign in the UK. Both the right-wing British government and the right-wing media cast around for scapegoats for the social chaos and misery COVID-19 and Brexit have caused, never turning the lens on themselves and free market policy. They refute the connection between capitalism, privilege, borders, climate and justice, while our National Health Service is running on a heroic empty, 17,000 EU staff having returned home in the past 8 months, and 44% of the remaining staff medics of colour and ‘immigrants’.

But, are the cracks being laid bare? Are hopeful signs emerging in the UK at this frightening and critical juncture in human history, or is it far too early to know?

A cross-disciplinary arts educator, since 1991, Jane Trowell has been a member of Platform, a London-based, award-winning collective that brings together artists, activists, researchers and campaigners. Platform’s pioneering education courses, exhibitions, art events and publication projects challenge power and promote radical new ideas that inspire change. Since 1983, they have created over forty projects and have been involved in dozens of collaborations.

Their projects include: The Living Memorial to Ken Saro Wiwa (see 4-minute BBC TV interview with Nigeria-born sculptor Sokari Douglas Camp, 2020); as part of the Art Not Oil Coalition, making cultural divestment from fossil fuels a global campaign, successfully pressuring London’s Tate Gallery to end its 26-year BP sponsorship in 2017; and 2020 sees ten years since Platform incubated the influential youth-led race, justice and creative activism programme Voices That Shake!  Platform’s publications include The Next Gulf: London, Washington and Oil Conflict in Nigeria (2005), Culture Beyond Oil, Not If But When (2013) and Sea Change (2019) a game-changing report detailing how the UK can affect a just transition away from oil and gas in the North Sea.

Platform’s current campaigns continue to focus on the social, economic and environmental impacts of fossil fuels, and wider justice action to confront late capitalism. 

Check out Organising for Hope, a 2018 interview with Jane Trowell to learn more about Platform’s inspiring and evolving approach to creative activism. 

When you RSVP, you'll be emailed a link to connect to the Zoom call at the time of the interview. It will also be livestreamed on the Backbone Campaign facebook page.