Local poetic activists are coming together at the Youth Anti-Racist Open Parliamentary School (YAROPS) to perform material on the impact of living in a culturally diverse society, the legacies of enslavement and colonialism, violence, exclusion, and disadvantage.

The featured artists have been creating a storm in the spoken word arena for some time. With material that speaks out about the impacts of living in a culturally diverse society, the legacies of enslavement and colonialism, violence exclusion and disadvantage, this event is the first of its kind that will bring young black voices before today's national policy and decision makers.

The event will create a platform for expression and dialogue with the true mission of empowering the silenced to raise their voices and to be heard on issues at the heart of the community. It is set within the United Nations Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against the Slavery and its Abolition and draws its inspiration from movements that mobilised ordinary peoples -- in particular the 1865 Morant Bay and 1960 Sharpeville uprisings -- and finally brought about changes in policy. The abolition of enslavement and the ending of apartheid happened because of global collective resistance and this event will reflect how we all have the power to create change now and for the future.

The event is organised in connection with Infinite Promotions and Excell Promotions and supported by Praxis, SAVO, Rendezvous of Victory and Anti-Slavery International.

Date: Thursday 25 March
Time: 5.00-9.00pm
Place: Houses of Parliament, St Stephen's entrance, Committee Room 6

Programme:

• Talks and discussions with Jeremy Corbyn MP and other MPs
  
• Performance poets speak truth to power
• Study tour of the UK Houses of Parliament

Contact Serenity on 0798 5555 248 or email serenity_refine@hotmail.com for further information about this event

About the organisers:

Infinite Promotions was founded by Serenity, a spoken word artist, vocalist and painter who has been working in the community for several years. Infinite aims to provide people of ethnic minorities the opportunity to express themselves freely in a positive way, breaking the clichéd stereotypes associated with the black community.

Excell Promotions is a non profit organization, founded by Winsome Duncan aka Lyrical Healer. We support and cultivate disadvantage teenagers in their creative endeavours by taking positive steps, especially towards the inclusion of young people who are deemed as social outcast or rebels due to deviant behaviour.

Praxis is concerned with the problems faced by displaced people in the UK, largely in relation to refugees and migrants and in particular those coming from Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Southwark Action for voluntary Organisations (SAVO) was launched in 1999, to support voluntary and community action. SAVO provides a framework for policy development and information, builds the capacity of local groups, seeks representation on key committees, partnerships and working groups, facilitates networking and communication in the sector and develops shared agendas and common goals.

Rendezvous of Victory, inspired by the words of one of world's greatest beacons of spiritual and political empowerment, Aimé Césaire, Rendezvous of Victory, is a critical political, social, cultural and economic movement, which is the natural consequence of centuries of struggle for justice and reparations in the widest sense. It is a movement which seeks to recognise and incorporate historical experiences of the past to create a context for real change in the future -- in thinking, in action and in policy.

Anti-Slavery International, founded in 1839, is the world's oldest international human rights organisation and the only charity in the United Kingdom to work exclusively against slavery and related abuses. We work at local, national and international levels to eliminate the system of slavery around the world today.