I am an activist and black feminist. I am a strong believer in having safe spaces (eg. Women only, black or POC-only spaces) as a core part of the ways in which I organize. I am a freelance Social Sciences researcher. I have done work on the politics of food, gender, social change and race, for the Institute of Development Studies, Oxfam GB and the European Network Against Racism. I am interested in thinking about solidarity and intersectionality, not as boxes we tick or ‘cards’ we wave but as a commitment and a working understanding that the major systems of oppression are interlocking. I believe that intersectionality must be a framework for action and a blueprint for practice.
I have been an active campaigner on environmental and global health justice issues for over 8 years. I’m currently working at STOPAIDS coordinating the Missing Medicines campaign – aiming to reform our profit-driven model for developing medicines into one that is driven by public-health need. I feel a real rage when I encounter injustice and I’m passionate about systemic change which is why I’m so interested in the international access to medicines issue.
I really enjoy creative activism (getting dressed up and being surreal) and believe in its potential as a powerful campaigning tool when used correctly. I first experienced it’s influence as a member of the University for Strategic Optimism campaigning against the rise in tuition fees and it was a big part of my previous role as coordinator of the Student Stop AIDS Campaign.
I think that our ability to progress as a society and be the best humans we can be rests on our ability to build a cohesive movement and I’m excited about how campaign lab will help us do that.
I’m from Armagh in Northern Ireland, but went to uni in Lancaster. After graduating in advertising, and having realised I never wanted to work in advertising, I spent 18 months working on HIV projects in Tanzania and then Ethiopia. I learnt more than I achieved and came back keen to tackle the systemic causes of the poverty I’d witnessed – in particular the trade laws that prevented access to life-saving HIV medicines. I interned at People & Planet and a few other organisations before getting a job with the STOPAIDS coalition, first leading the student campaign network and then coordinating their campaigning and advocacy with a focus on access to medicines. Over recent years it’s become increasingly clear that the profit-driven pharmaceutical industry model is not only undermining the AIDS response and the right to health across the developing world, it is threatening the health of everyone, and the future of the NHS. I’m now working with others to build a campaign in the UK to challenge the pharmaceutical companies, end the current medical R&D model and replace it with a publicly funded, health needs driven system. I also like cycling and bad dancing.
I am currently Operations Officer for Compass, having previously worked in a similar role at openDemocracy, and in Peace and Security Conflict Resolution work for the Oxford Research Group. I am completing a Masters in Postcolonial Culture Studies and Global Policy, with a research focus on decolonising organisations/rethinking the worker within anti-capitalist and social change organisations. I also teach a weekly Beyonce dance class!
I’m head of communications at 10:10. We’re a small climate change charity with a focus on positive, practical action. We do a lot on community energy at the moment. I manage a small team there, and have a fair bit of the project planning responsibility. It’s also my job to lead on engaging new audiences, and plan media and marketing activities. I’ve been in this role for about a year. Before then I worked as a freelance journalist, specializing in science, technology and the environment. Before that, I worked as an academic. I taught part-time at City Journalism School and the Science and Technology Studies department at UCL. I was also head of public engagement at the Science Policy Research Unit at the Uni of Sussex and lecturer in science communication at Imperial College. In my free time, I’m a guide with the London Occupy Tours and active in the Art Not Oil collective. I still do the odd bit of freelance work in science policy and am constantly putting off writing a book on the politics of science. And I knit loads, walk loads, am really into bats, do yoga and go for the occasional run.
Max focuses on energy and climate work by day (and sometimes by night too). As lead campaigner at 10:10 he’s responsible for creating and building campaigns that can inspire collective participation in the fight against climate change. Alongside, he runs Demand Energy Equality, a small social enterprise that does practical energy education at the grassroots through hands-on workshops, and builds DIY off-grid energy systems. He also helps coordinate Occupy London Tours, where he is a tour guide for the Energy Tour, which tells the epic tale of energy with an adventure through the streets of central London. Previously he’s worked for a student union, as a food campaigner and most recently as a member of the Brixton Pound team in South London. Beyond this Max enjoys cycling, gardening, music, friends, food and sausage dogs.
Katherine Connelly is a writer and historian. She led school student strikes in the British anti-war movement in 2003 and co-ordinated the Emily Wilding Davison Memorial Campaign in 2013. Her book, ‘Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire‘ was published by Pluto Press last year.
Ralph is quite loud but he genuinely means well. He prefers other animals to people but is trying his best to treat both equally. He works for the Public Interest Research Centre on Common Cause and is a Director of Ad Brake, a new organisation campaigning against advertising. He is also a cartoonist specialising in environment and political issues and has done work for Greenpeace and RSPB. He loves mountian biking and wild swimming