As part of our ongoing reflections this week, we have been thinking about boundaries. What does it mean to hold a boundary, for yourself and for others? Why are boundaries so important to us and our members? How can boundaries help to strengthen our communities and movements? Thinking through these vital questions will help us to forge strong foundations and relationships that will go on to nourish our work for years to come.
Peace and strength,
The 4Front Project Team
Highlights
4FRONT talk Youth Empowerment at Working With Chaos
Last week, our Director, Temi Mwale and Youth Activism Coordinator, Carlos, delivered a talk as part of the Working with Chaos event series organised by Sound Connections in partnership with Bollo Brook Youth Centre. The series is exploring issues that young people face, and how music can be a critical support. Temi and Carlos shared what youth empowerment can look like in the context of an unequal society. They highlighted that our work which focuses on transforming the way peace and justice are understood in society, is developing youth leadership and prioritising sharing power.
4FRONT Celebrate Youth Activism Fellowship First Anniversary
This week, we celebrate the first anniversary of the Youth Activism Coordinator Fellowship programme. Our paid fellowship programme empowers our members to identify the structural issues that impact our communities, speak truth to power and fight for the changes they wish to see in society. Over the course of the last year, our first cohort of Youth Activism Coordinators have collectively invested more than 1500 hours into building our community and changing our society. We are extremely proud of all they have achieved this year and we can’t wait to see what they achieve in the future.
Newsbite
Rethinking Our Justice System: Understanding Abolition in the UK
By Hajera Begum:
Terms like “Defund the Police” and, indeed “abolition” have been pushed into the mainstream. Activists have been building around it for years. But what does it mean, especially for the UK? And what is the difference between police reform and abolition? Abolition is about working towards a world where the police are not seen as the answer to our social problems. It is NOT about just snapping away the police and expecting everything to be ok, but a process of rethinking how we deal with social issues, from the ground up. Read more…[via Amaliah]
Spotlight
Interrupting Criminalization
This week, we’re spotlighting Interrupting Criminalization - a project which aims to interrupt and end the growing criminalisation and incarceration of women and LGBTQ people of color for criminalised acts related to public order, poverty, child welfare, drug use, survival and self-defense, including criminalization and incarceration of survivors of violence. They recently released a collection of Abolition Imagination Cards to increase education and mobilisation towards abolition. These postcards are free to access and print. Take a look at the collection here.