shado-lite

In our final episode of our bookshelf mini-series, Isabella interviews Black feminist artist-researcher, writer and curator, Nydia Swaby.  While often referred to as the first wife of Marcus Garvey,  Amy Ashwood Garvey and the Future of Black Feminist Archives  documents Swaby's work to recover Amy's life as a political activist, cultural producer and Pan-Africanist in her own right...

In today's episode, author A.S. Francis is joined by guest host Isabella Kajiwara for a powerful conversation on the life and legacy of Gerlin Bean - otherwise known as "Mother of the Movement."  Together, they explore Bean's vital contributions to youth work, Black Power politics, gay liberation, and her deeply relational approach to leadership. Bean's efforts in intergenerational organising...

In today's episode, guest host Isabella Kajiwara is joined by black feminist writer and researcher Lola Olufemi in discussion of  Claudia Jones: A Life in Exile  by Marika Sherwood ,  the first book to chart her work in the movement for racial justice, focusing on her time in Britain. They discuss the importance of remembering Claudia Jones as a communist, acknowledging the exile an...

In the last few years, we’ve seen the idea of ‘radical rest’ explode - but is rest always radical? Or has it been coopted by the wellness industry to placate us? Zoe and Larissa go back to radical rests’ roots in Black Womanist Thought and Crip Theory to understand how we actually tackle the social conditioning of toxic productivity under white supremacist capitalism. What does doing the bare mini...

Since anti-apartheid activism, South Africa has been a beacon for people of conscience across the world to learn from. In this episode, Zoe and Larissa speak with a PhD student, Raees Noorbhai, who is an organiser with 10 years of experience fighting for free education at Wits University. Trialling a different episode format (feedback welcome!), Zoe and Larissa reflect on some of the learnings fro...

From the peasant revolution in 1300s England to the Debt Collective’s abolishing nearly $200 million in student loans, debt resistance has long been a tool to bring people together. This week, Zoe and Larissa discuss historical wins and how debt abolition is a necessity in our demands for climate justice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do I make my street into a renewable power station? Speaking with Dan Edelstyn from the Power Project, this episode discusses how people power is fuelling renewable power generation on a street in Walthamstow. In Ann Pettifor’s seminal book, The Case for the Green New Deal, she wrote, “every building a power station”. Filmmaker duo Dan and Hilary have rose to the occasion alongside their...

What happens when riders refuse to pay, and do it together? In this episode, we explore the fare strike as a bold social justice tactic, where collective refusal to pay transit fares, or drivers' refusal to collect them, becomes a tool to demand more equitable public services. From Chile to Japan, fare strikes have been used to demand better public transport, job protection and wage increases - bu...

This week, Zoe and Larissa are in conversation with community organiser, youth worker and educator, Sara Bafo. This episode draws on her extensive experience to consider how we can use the media, the limitations of mainstream channels, and how we build alternatives. They also discuss how to take these decisions collectively with accountability to those we organise alongside. N.B. this episode was...

This week, Zoe and Larissa throw it all the way back to the medieval period to explore the history of the commons and the violent enclosures that helped birth capitalism. What can this forgotten legacy teach us about reclaiming shared resources and reimagining collective power? By revisiting the commons, the duo digs into how past struggles over land and labor can illuminate the tactics social mov...

Serbia's students have sparked the country's largest mass mobilisation in the country's history - and they're not stopping at protests. Zoe and Larissa are joined by Kata from Extinction Rebellion Serbia to break down how radical solidarity between students and workers turned campus anger into nationwide power. From occupied universities to decentralised rural organising, this revolution is writin...

Zoe and Larissa are back with Season 3 of Shado-Lite. This season we are focusing on organising tactics from across the world and history that actually work. First up: the classic protest march. With fascism rising, military-industrial-complex raging, and borders hardening, are we still marching toward change or just marching in place? Time to get strategic about resistance. Let us know your thoug...

Are you interested in learning more about the role of art and cultural production in resistance? Listen to this episode to find out about a book that is for you. In another guest episode with the inimitable Isabella Kajiwara, we are discussing ‘I, Rigoberta Menchú’, the autobiographical account of Rigoberta Menchú, a Mayan Indigenous K’iche woman. Rigoberta tells the story of her community’s resis...

In our previous episode, we spoke about the importance of supporting political prisoners, but how do we better understand their experiences? The Trinity of Fundamentals by former Palestinian political prisoner, Wisam Rafeedie, is a semi-autobiographical account of his nine years in hiding from the occupation, penned from an Israeli prison. We often hear that each of us has a part to play in the re...

What does it really mean to live a revolutionary life? Assata Shakur’s autobiography offers deeply personal – and candid – reflections on struggle, survival, and liberation. This is why it is such a must-read for organisers across the world. Led by Isabella Kajiwara, the latest bookshelf season – Literature for Liberation – is exploring seminal autobiographies from revolutionaries across...

In this episode actress and Quechua storyteller, Nathalie Kelley discusses with contributing SHADO editor Samara Almonte, her journey as an Indigenous storyteller amidst growing-up in diaspora. Nathalie is a graduate of Kiss The Ground's Soil Advocacy program, and on the board of the Fungí Foundation. She is passionate about using her IG platform of 1.6 million followers to highlight the thre...

How is our energy system intertwined with the Israeli occupation of Palestine? Mariam and Felix, members of Energy Embargo for Palestine—an anti-imperialist climate collective—join us to explain how the fossil fuel industry sustains the Zionist project. After months of investigating BP, they discuss the company's involvement in historical repressive regimes, political maneuvering, pipeline constru...

Do you often feel hopeless? Do you find it hard to imagine a better future for our world? So do we - which is why we’re bringing you this 3 part mini-series: World Building and Re-Imagination: How Fiction Can Free Us Our bookclub - shado’s bookshelf - ran earlier this year, and was a journey through some of the best science fiction, speculative and political fiction of past and present. How can fi...

Do you often feel hopeless? Do you find it hard to imagine a better future for our world? So do we - which is why we’re bringing you this 3 part mini-series: World Building and Re-Imagination: How Fiction Can Free Us Our bookclub - shado’s bookshelf - ran earlier this year, and was a journey through some of the best science fiction, speculative and political fiction of past and present. How can fi...

Do you often feel hopeless? Do you find it hard to imagine a better future for our world? So do we - which is why we’re bringing you this 3 part mini-series: World Building and Re-Imagination: How Fiction Can Free Us Our bookclub - shado’s bookshelf - ran earlier this year, and was a journey through some of the best science fiction, speculative and political fiction of past and present. How can fi...

Contributing SHADO editor Samara Almonte is back to discuss the power of storytelling through a First Nations worldview with distinguished professor  Larissa Behrendt AO . Larissa has a legal background with a strong track record in the areas of Indigenous law, policy, creative arts, education and research. She is a Native Title holder and member of the Yuwaalaraay (yuwalarai) Euahl...

In this episode, contributing shado editor Samara Almonte is back to connect with Natasha Berting, a designer and writer from Bali, Indonesia and the communications editor for What Design Can Do (WDCD). WDCD is an international organisation that seeks to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, fair and just society using the power of design. Samara and Natasha discuss how WDCD works to address...

We always come back to how everyone deserves a right to home: somewhere safe and dignified to live. And over this season, shado-lite has traversed histories and geographies to understand how people have and still are fighting for that basic right: from Indigenous communities reclaiming their land, to the fight for Caribbean communities to access their beaches, to squatters in Brixton housing the h...

On this week’s episode we are joined by Sarona Bedwan, on behalf of Makan, a Palestinian-led transformative education organisation that strengthens voices for Palestinian rights. Continuing on our series centred on the concept of home, this time we’re talking about how Israeli settler colonialism not only violently displaces Palestinian people from their homeland but commits psychological and ecol...

We’re talking about the importance of home this season, and it’s crucial we understand the impact of homeless and landless peoples on the world. This week we’re sitting down with Dandara, representing the MST or Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement - one of the largest peoples movement in Latin America, celebrating 40 years of action. Since 1984, the movement has lead more than 2,500 land occupation...