Peoples Army Presents...
Session One
Everyone met at the Brixton six Hub, our base where Amy & Logic introduced ourselves and explained the process of the workshops to the young people. The young people then introduced themselves, many of them saying " This is needed in society..community based workshops that educate and form unity when the world seems to be desensitised by media illusions and trickery" ..Sean smith then added " After all the misuse of power from certain police officers past and present inside the UK and worldwide, its time that we start to learn our rights so we can prepare ourselves for future issues".
We all seemed to connect on this topic and further discussed our own stories/facts regarding this matter, from Mark Duggan to the London riots past and present and the recent massacre made by suspect Dylan Roof on the black victims in Charleston, South Carolina. We then discussed "..are the police force and system racist and quick to judge the youth and certain ethnic minorities, when its seems that they themselves are conducting misuse of their power on innocent human beings".
We were then joined by Saddiq Khan ...who spent many years studying law and the Magna Carta. Giving us his facts and interpretations so the young people could then make sense of some of the difficult legalese language used that can make many confused. He then handed out pieces of information from 'Judiciary Of England & Wales' - 'The Right Honourable The Lord Chief Justice '. The young people were very engaged with Saddiq and had their own questions like "Was the Magna Carta enforced to protect us the people?" and Dialect D asked " what forms of literature/lectures and documentaries would you suggest we study to learn more to broaden our understanding'.
After Saddiqs very insightful talk, Amy True & Logic thought it would be good to wind down with a live spoken word/rap cypher encouraging confidence and sharing knowledge between the young people and also recognising each others skills and passions. After which the young people left on a high over enthusiastic about the whole project. Luke Liddiard one of the young people who travelled from Runnymede ironically, as this was the place where certain Magna Carta documents were prepared said " i'm so glad to have met you guys, everyone is on the right page of progression, we need more of this all over the UK and i cant wait for the final performance. This is more than just poetry and art this is evolution".
Session Two
Monday 24th August they met as normal at the Brixton hub. However, today they traveled to the British library to to view the exhibition of the magna carta and learn in depth more historical attributes. though pictures were not allowed to be taken inside the exhibition due to legal reasons. The young people took in alot of information that day. After two hours of taking it all in the young people from London over 16 registered to the British Library so they could use it for future. For many of them it was their first visit.
They there after took themselves outside to discuss what we had learnt and added some video footage for documentation of the end project.
Session Three
After a weekend of soaking up all the information from Saddiq Khan, the young people all met Amy True & Logic at the Brixton Six Hub were we travelled together in taxis to the British Library. With help from Sheila at the British Library Education department we were able to view the 'Magna Carta Exhibition' and also register to the British Library to study further at later dates.
Many of the young people had never visited the British Library before so they were quite excited about this. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pictures or film in the exhibition as there were many old artefacts that must be protected of course, But we all took many notes and took in more information in and around the Magna Carta. We all learnt something new that day, some of the young people saying " wow..how are we ever gonna learn everything about this its so intricate and its been changed over the years" which i replied "as long as we understand the basics and then some, further knowledge comes with time and patiences".
The young people were so engulf by the exhibition spent an hour longer than expected at the library! There after the young people over the age of 16 then registered to be a member of the Library, Lashelle stated " i really enjoyed the trip today and the serious environment of research..shell definitely be returning to ther library for further topics to be researched". Maverick 20 & Malachi 16 agreed with her on this.
We all left the Library for a healthy bite to eat and then the young people each had an interview with Logic on what they had learnt from the trip today, many of them saying 'there s so much we learnt today, we didnt realise how many times the Magna Carta had been changed" ..Malachi then said " i always thought the Magna Carta only benefited the upper classes, but really its for the freedom of all".
Mason said " Magna Carta is an 800 year old document containing the idea that no-one i above the law...but in all reality it doesn't seem that way when we look at the world".
Luke Chaudry stated " The Maga Carta is Latin for 'Great Charter" and Charlie said " i learnt many things today but mainly that No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exhiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judment of his equals or by the laws of the land" . Mason followed by saying " Yea you know it it states ...to no one deny or delay right or justice. Salute"
On this day we were to meet with Aaron Sonson at 'Green man Skill Zone" in Brixton, where he gave us a detailed talk on why he decided to create the app " Stop & Search" and how its actually works. We all spoke about incidents and experiences either from ourselves or people we know regarding negative situations relating to the police and spoke of positive ways and how best to deal with this in future, what our rights are when stopped by the police and how we should articulate our language and compose ourselves.
We all then downloaded the Free app with intentions of getting 10 of our friends or family to do the same.
The young people took this further information to completion of their written piece with guidance from Amy & Logic.
With instructions to practice, practice over the weekend to friends and family, memorise what they have and make sure the engage with the audience so they fully connect and get their point across in a way that best suits their character.
We then gave them some flyers and sent them all e-flyers to promote the final performance day Monday 31st at Brixton East Gallery.
Session Four
The Performance
On this day we all met at the venue of performance - Brixton East Gallery, SW9 7FJ.
Myself and Logic prepped the young people in a quiet room upstairs and made sure everyone was comfortable and ready to go! We had T-shirts made for everyone performing and informed the young people on the structure of the performance so everyone knew who was 1st up and so and so forth.
The young people did not seem at all nervous apart a couple who had never even written yet performed a spoken word piece to a live public audience. Never the less they were ready and the all encouraged each other which was beautiful to see.
All got on the stage and totally excelled with their performance, the crowd was totally engaged and fully appreciated the topics that the young people covered receiving a warm welcome and a big round of applause. The young people showed passion and well researched work on their delivery. Amy True, Logic, Saddiq, RU1FAM and Femi Santiago were very pleased and proud at how they had taking in serious issues and information and broke it down into the art form of spoken word and rap. Lashelle adding singing vocals and a small dialogue to her piece she truly shut it down. With Luke Chaudry never before performed, forgot about his nerves and proved with more experience his deep thinking can truly be mastered into spoken word performances with a great meaning. Dialect D amazed the crowd with her piece, while the other guys charlie, very confident and well delivered to Sean travelling from Blackburn showed true dedication and passion. Luke Liddiard proved he really took in alot of the information giving and really helped him boost his confidence same as Mason who has already rapped before but his first experience of spoken word showed himself from a different angle. Maverick impressed the audience with his beat boxing skills along with his piece and his brother Malachi who is already a talented rapper showed us how he breaks his form down into spoken word.
Following their performance came an atmospheric intro from positive conscious UK HipHop Group ' RU1FAM' who open up their set with an african drum performance to get the energy levels up, followed by them performing tracks from their album "We Are 1". They then congratulated the young people and said how amazed they were with their performance.
After that Femi Santiago - former contestant on 'The voice' Congratulated the young people on their performance also and gave them a few tips/pointers on expressing their art in the best way to fully engage with the audience, although he said they actually done so well anyway. Femi then performed his set using acoustic guitar wooing the audience with his high vocal range and soulful style, there after totally switching up the vibe to a funky house set from his forth coming album.
All in all everybody fully enjoyed the whole performance and all received an overwhelming response from the crowd.
Freedom of speech was the topic and that is exactly what resonated throughout this project.
Special thanks to Small Green shoots & the arts council for all the support given for Amy & Logic to mentor such a lovely group of young people on such Great topics.
