Enough!’s series of fortnightly online conversations explores how we can shift narratives together and amplify mutual support in response to the interrelated crises of the covid-19 pandemic, capitalism and climate change.
Past events:
Searching for a Decolonised Childhood, with Sapna Agarwal
Thursday 9th July, 7pm – 8:30pm
Creating a decolonised environment for children to grow up in is not straightforward, especially given that most of us have been socialised within a white supremacist, patriarchal context. This conversation will examine the importance of narratives that don’t perpetuate the dominant, capitalist, post-colonialist worldview, looking at examples of helpful and damaging resources available and sharing ideas of how to use your existing materials to promote critical analysis in children of all ages. Brought to you with humility and an understanding that working towards decolonised parenting is not a linear progression, that we are all learning all the time and how much we can learn from each other.
Sapna Agarwal is community activist, parent and long-term home educator. She is the founding member of Glasgow’s longest running home education group, a non-hierarchical, all ages, social group based on mutual respect and support. She is also a partner at Aye-Aye Books, a radical bookshop based in the CCA, Glasgow. She initiated the children’s section there which stocks books featuring children under-represented on the high street and in mainstream media.
Kuwanda Huuya, with Tawona Sitholé
Thursday 18th June, 7pm – 8:30pm
The idiom kuwanda huuya from ancient people of what is now called Zimbabwe is a sense of living that acknowledges the collective as the unit of society, not the individual as our contemporary life suggests. How can these values positively affect how we perceive ourselves, each other and the wider family of nature?
About Tawona Sitholé: Better known as Ganyamatope (my ancestral family name) my heritage inspires me to make connections with other people through creativity, and the natural outlook to learn. I am widely published as a poet and playwright, and short story author. A storyteller and musician, I am co-founder of Seeds of Thought, a non-funded arts group. I am currently UNESCO artist-in-residence at the University of Glasgow, with research and teaching roles in the school of education and medical school. Other educational roles are with Glasgow School of Art, University of the West of Scotland, University of Stirling and Newcastle University, and Scottish Book Trust.
From Separation and Scarcity towards Collaboration and Gifting, with Miki Kashtan
Thursday 4th June, 7pm – 8:30pm
Patriarchy, capitalism, and all forms of domination are not just abstract systems affecting us. They are also internalised within us to such a degree that they affect our capacity to live our values and commitments. In this informal conversation Miki Kashtan addresses challenging questions related to our internalised powerlessness, habits of scarcity and separation, and systemic limitations to support us in finding practices and reflections to anchor new ways of functioning. Agreements and inner work can then combine to make robust structures of support to increase our alignment and effectiveness.
Miki Kashtan is a practical visionary pursuing a world that works for all, based on principles and practices rooted in feminist nonviolence. Miki is a founding member of the Nonviolent Global Liberation community and has taught and consulted globally. She is the author of Reweaving Our Human Fabric and blogs at The Fearless Heart.
Pandemic Media: how is the media responding to the crisis? with Mike Small
Thursday, 21st May, 7pm – 8:30pm
Mike Small, editor of Bella Caledonia, organised the discussion into the following topics:
Print – the crisis in the newspaper industry and the problems of state sponsored press
Broadcast – the rise of radio and the failures of STV News and others
Online – some data on lockdown online usage and some looking at the memes and myths of lockdown internet, plus some of the emergent ideas about post-covid recovery
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Digital Divide – democratic digital infrastructures must be central to a just recovery
DIY responses have accelerated in the lockdown, for example DOCMA, a challenge to make 5-minute documentary films in 5 different documentary styles, led by Glasgow-based filmmaker Yasmin Al-Hadithi , and You Call That Radio
Untold Stories: What issues and stories are being shunned and mislaid in the lockdown experience?
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Patriotic media – some discussion of the fervour of the right for lockdown ‘liberty’
Media and devolution – how the reporting has stretched and changed understanding of devolution across the UK
Media addiction and media withdrawal – our responses to the crisis has bifurcated media use, some becoming addicted to coronavirus news and some withdrawing completely
Crypto-Knitting-Circles, with Ailie Rutherford
Thursday 7th May, 7pm – 8:30pm
Crypto-Knitting-Circles – a year-long research collaboration between artist Ailie Rutherford and designer Bettina Nissen based at Swap Market in Glasgow exploring potential applications of new technologies within feminist and community currency and the potential for emerging tech to disrupt established power structures.
Ailie will introduce the project, followed by a group discussion about the questions and provocations it raises.
Bio: Ailie Rutherford is a visual artist and activist. For over twenty years she has been collaborating and inviting people to become co-producers of works that activate public space and collectively imagine alternative systems. Her work explores the relationship between community activism and creative practice, deliberately provoking, asking difficult questions in order to propose new models for living and working together. A recurring feature in Ailie’s work is the use of playful and creative visual process to engage people in conversations about the social and economic landscape, thinking of play as a means to radically re-imagine our collective future.
Pandemic economics: what the crisis means for degrowth activism, with Matthias Schmelzer
Thursday 23rd April, 7pm – 8:30pm
Enough! invited folk interested in degrowth activism in a Scottish context to join us in a discussion about what the pandemic means for post-growth and ecological economics, with special guest Matthias Schmelzer.
As the economic fallout from the pandemic is looking likely to severely affect us in the coming decades, the cries for stimulating growth are likely to be louder than ever. We will discuss why a return to normal won’t be possible, and the need for degrowth narratives and ideas to be amplified and implemented in this context.
Matthias Schmelzer is an economic historian, networker and climate activist. He is a post-doctoral researcher at the Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany, works at Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie (Laboratory for New Economic Ideas), and is active in the climate justice movement. His main interests include the political economy of capitalism, social and environmental history, climate catastrophe, and alternative economics.
