The Olive Morris Memorial Awards
Friday 2 December 2011, 7.00 €“
9.30 pm
Karibu Centre, 7 Gresham Road,
Brixton, London SW9 7PH
Tickets
£3 Inclusive of food
PLEASE RSVP to: olivemorrishq@gmail.com
The
Olive Morris Memorial Awards have been organised by the Remembering Olive
Collective (ROC) to celebrate the legacy of black woman activist Olive Morris.
The Awards were created as an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of Olive
Morris as it lives on in the work of a new generation of young women
activists.
Women
aged between 16 and 27 years of age, of African or Asian descent
and involved in grassroots
political work of any nature were nominated for the awards by their friends,
colleagues or mentors. Of the nominees
chosen to receive an award ROC will be honouring the work of:
·
Brenda May
Goodchild
an artist creating powerful art for the current campaigns against the
criminalisation of squatting in England and Wales
·
Ria Hylton involved in the Movement for Justice campaign against the deportation of
Edson Comas
·
Mirella
working with So We Stand,
a UK-wide popular education collective focusing on struggles for environmental
and social justice
·
Nim Ralph active on environmental
campaigns So We Stand, Climate Camp and with MOSAIC, a member-led black and
mixed parentage anti-racist group
·
Rukayah Sarumi, who has organised lectures on black
feminism and the history of the women's movement in Britain and is now active
in Streatham Labour
Party
Each
nominee will receive a cheque for £300 in recognition of their political activism.
A further award of £100 to will be presented to 18
years old Iman Hussein
for her work in the Guides Movement challenging its lack of diversity and with
Roots a self-education Black History collective of 6th form college
pupils.
The Remembering Olive Collective was
formed in 2008 to honor the life of Olive Morris, an inspirational community
activist of 1970s Britain, who died at the young age of 27 leaving behind a
significant legacy of activism. Olive was a member of the British Black
Panthers, as well as a founding member of the Organisation of Women of African
and Asian Descent (OWAAD) and the Brixton Black Women's Group. The breadth of
her political work spanned from her pioneer role in the local squatter
campaigns in South London; to organising with Black women and the student
movement in London and Manchester, and supporting liberation struggles
throughout the world.
€œ"Don't just criticize.
Organise!" is one of the slogans I associate with my memory of Olive.€
said Liz Obi a member of the Collective.
€œSo often I hear people of my generation bemoaning the lack of
leadership and organization among young black people. It is therefore incredibly inspiring to know
that there are young people out there who are organizing and are politically
active. I am glad that ROC will be
celebrating their achievements and can showcase to the community the breadth of
activism that exists.€
ROC
is a good example of what can be achieved when a group of people come together
to organise around an issue. With the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant,
ROC was able to collect and archive papers, photographs and documents and a
series of oral history recordings to form the Olive Morris Collection, which
was deposited at Lambeth Archives in October 2009. The Collection has quickly become one
of the most accessed items at Lambeth Archives and many young academics are
using the collection as a resource for their work, with Olive's story being
included in books and references in many BA, MA and PhD dissertations. Other
achievements of ROC's work include a dedication to Olive on a plaque on the
Black Achievers Wall in Liverpool's International Slavery Museum (October
2011) and her inclusion in the Oxford National
Dictionary of Biography. Olive was also featured on the Brixton Pound.
The
Karibu Education Centre will host the Awards ceremony on Friday 2 December
2011. Formerly site of the Abeng Centre, it is a fitting venue for the awards
as the first national OWAAD Conference organised by Olive and others was held
there in 1978. The Karibu
Education Centre was originally founded as the Abeng Centre by the Rev. Tony
Ottey in the 1970s offering supplementary schooling and youth services to local
children. Olive was a volunteer with the supplementary school. Thirty years on,
and the work continues.
The legacy of Olive Morris is alive
and well.
Notes:
The awards event will take place at 7 €“ 9.30 on Friday 2 December 2011
at The Karibu Education Centre, 7 Gresham Road, London, SW9 7PH
Tickets £3 Inclusive of food
There will be a live DJ set by Carlos
Martinez (Agent of Change)
Spaces are limited so booking is essential
PLEASE RSVP to: olivemorrishq@gmail.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ROC - Remembering Olive Collective
http://www.rememberolivemorris.wordpress.com
E: olivemorrishq@gmail.com