Mini-manifesto-ing change
Thanks for joining us last night, community events and reading recommendations!
Hi! Hello! Welcome to our new subscribers and community members!
Thank you for joining us at Lost in Leith Bar for our first SELL OUT Chicken Coop.
Cue internal and external squealing and celebration
It was lovely to see new and familiar faces alike and spend time chatting, writing and crafting together. I hope you enjoyed talking about local issues and thinking about creative solutions!
Everyone went deep whether you were thinking about a specific issue (like the Roseburn Path), a specific community, or the whole city, it was really heartening to hear your stories, thoughts, and desire for change and improvement. I can’t wait to see what new writing and changes come from last night’s session.
If you felt empowered yesterday and know someone who wants to write and hope with others, you can always…
Our sessions aren’t usually so intense, but with the state of the arts and creative industries at the moment, it’s important to remember our creativity and creative communities are political and taking that time for ourselves is already an act of resistance, hope and a refusal of the status quo. Your words and stories are necessary and wanted, and I hope that you’ll come back to play and be joyful with us again.
If you weren’t able to make it to this month’s Coop, why don’t you take a look at…
What we got up to last night
As promised for the last few weeks, we took a political angle this month. We rooted ourselves in hope, imagination and creativity to consider how we’d like our communities to improve and change in the future.
It can feel hopeless to face centralised politics, especially after almost a decade and a half of austerity and increasingly polarising opinions. But last night, we aimed to rekindle your hope, show you the value of local organising, and empower you to make a change in your communities.
Small changes at a local level can make big waves ‘up top’, which is why we focused on organising and campaigns in the Coop’s local areas of Leith and Edinburgh.
We looked at the importance of campaigns like The Pride Bridge regeneration, tenant and community union, Living Rent, and its campaigns for lighting on Leith Links and a tourist tax to fund council flats.
We then considered the literary and artistic movement, Solarpunk, which ‘offers an unapologetically optimistic vision of the future that imagines a radically different societal and economic structure in harmony with nature.’ You can read more about the Solarpunk movement here or check out these illustrations by Joan de Art.
Finally, last night one of our attendees (Hi Cleo!) shared their podcast Keeping Edinburgh which highlights stories from communities across Edinburgh who are working to keep each other well, healthy, and connected. This is the kind of local coverage we need to ensure people have access to community news and information about what’s going on in their neighbourhoods.
Now, let’s have a look at last night’s tasks!
Task 1: What does your community look like today?
We broke into groups to collaboratively consider and make notes about the following questions:
What are the issues in your neighbourhood?
How do these issues impact you?
How do these issues impact others?
Including unwaged, low and no-income people, people categorised by colour, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, children, young people, and the elderlyWhat is the impact on your neighbourhood (and community) as a whole?
What would you like to change about these issues?
How would you go about changing these issues?
Each group discussed these questions at length and considered each other’s lived experiences and knowledge to come up with straightforward solutions.
The best advice I have for this part of the task is to first look at the issues that affect you on a personal level, then zoom out to think about how the same issues impact others and your neighbourhood. Finally, keep your solutions simple, be as direct (childlike or idealistic) as you can, and worry about the logistics later!
For example, if your neighbourhood lacks public transport, it’s okay for your solution to be we need more buses! Simple, to the point, and most importantly, true.
Task 2: Write a mini-manifesto
Using the answers from task one, we continued with the community collaboration in each group and everyone was asked to write a mini-manifesto exploring between 3-9 ideas or changes we wanted to make in our local area(s).
If you want to try this at home, your mini-manifesto can take any form, from a list poem (find examples here) to a listicle (aka a Buzzfeed-style article like this one). You can also make visual or zine-esque manifesto using cut-outs from magazines or newspapers.
Reading recommendations
If you’ve caught the bug for organising or you’re curious about how to put your mini-manifesto into practice, I’d highly recommend* reading the following books:
Paint Your Town Red by Matthew Brown & Rhian E Jones
This easy-to-read book looks at how Preston City Council used Community Wealth Building to generate and democratise wealth at a local level. Paint Your Town Red explores this fast-growing movement across communities and businesses around the world. As well as providing a handy how-to guide for people who are looking to get involved in local politics to improve their communities, towns and cities.
Find Paint Your Town Red on the Repeater Books website
It’s Not That Radical by Mikaela Loach
Another easy-to-digest read, Mikaela Loach gives readers a deeper insight into organising and campaigning. Loach highlights the interconnectedness of everything, including the deep links between Palestine and climate injustice, as well as pointing out that change needs the contributions of ‘ordinary’ people to actually work. This book is so empowering and hopeful, it is a must-read for any new (or returning) activists and organisers out there.
Get It’s Not That Radical on Bookshop.org
The Value of a Whale by Adrienne Buller
Possibly the densest read on this little list, The Value of a Whale looks at how capitalism commodifies every aspect of the natural world and questions why everything needs a monetary value when living beings (of all kinds) often exist for the sake of existing. Buller provides a real, grounded philosophical and ethical examination of our current economic system and offers alternative ways of thinking about value in the natural world (and beyond).
Grab a copy of The Value of a Whale from Manchester University Press
*these recommendations are just recommendations of books that I’ve read over the last couple of years, there’s no affiliation or monetary reward. My only motivation is knowledge sharing!
If your interest is still piqued or you want to get organising or take action, you should check out Living Rent’s campaign for Rent Controls and a New Deal for Tenants, Back Off Scotland’s successful campaign for Buffer Zones to protect people who are seeking reproductive and sexual healthcare, Fossil Free Books who are organising for a book industry free from fossil fuels and fossil fuel finance, and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement which is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice, and equality that helps people understand how to leverage their own power.
All of these campaigns focus on helping people to have access to affordable housing, healthcare, and workplaces that prioritise people and the planet over profit.
Community events
It’s the last week of Pride Month and there’s a lot going on! There are open mics, panels, readings and so much more. Here are a few highlights:
Alba Writing Club is at Shrub Coop this Thursday, June 27, (and every Thursday) from 1-3 pm for Joyful Writing. The group is open to writers of all levels and experience with host Lily M. Frenette providing prompts to flex your imaginative muscles. Tickets are pay-what-you-can on Eventbrite.
Guid Crack, the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s monthly storytelling club is on Friday, June 28, at The Waverley and features non-binary, Scots-Indian writer and storyteller, Niall Moorjani. You might be familiar with Niall’s work including A Fairie Tale and Mohan: A Partition Story which were both at the Fringe and the Scottish International Storytelling Festival over the last couple of years. Niall is a brilliant storyteller and performer so you don’t want to miss out, their work is mesmerising and moving. Make sure you get down to The Waverley sharpish as this event is unticketed but they welcome donations of £5. Get more information here.
Women Who Write Edinburgh are holding their By the Beach Writing Retreat on June 29 at Tribe Porty from 10am-5pm. The group welcomes women and non-binary writers who are working on their novels, scripts, thesis, articles and much more. They charge £15 to cover venue and refreshment costs. Message Women Who Write Edinburgh on Instagram to book a spot or join their WhatsApp community to meet other Edinburgh-based writers.
It’s a busy weekend all over Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Climate Festival is this Saturday, June 29, and includes a Climate Activism Open Mic, the Coping with Climate Anxiety by 2050 Climate Group, and a Creative Writing Session with Shrub Coop. You can see the programme here.
The Typewronger Open Mic is this Sunday, June 30. They welcome writing and performances of all kinds, just stick to the time limit (no one wants to get gonged)! Sign-ups are open on the day, but you can get more information here or on the Typewronger website.
Porty Pride is this weekend on June 28, 29 and 30. and they’re running a brilliant programme of events including beach walks, wild swimming, open mics, workshops, picnics and so much more. A few highlights include creative writing workshop Exploring Queer Space, panel Queer and the Cost of Living, Speak Up! with the Loud Poets, and storytelling event The Story Sessions by Soapbox for Creatives. The full Porty Pride programme is available here.
If you’ve got an event coming up or there’s something you love that I keep missing (I’m just one person, after all), then please let us know what you’re up to here.
Thank you for reading!
I’m really happy with how last night went and I can’t wait to see you all in July for the last Coop before a summer (and Fringe) break in August. Pay-what-you-can tickets will be available soon (sooner for community members and paid subscribers)!
Until next week, take care and see you soon,
Naomi
P.s. If you want speedier updates, access to our community Discord Server, and two free in-person writing groups per month, you can become a paid subscriber for £5 a month!
P.p.s. My spooky cinnamon roll says don’t forget to vote on July 4!