I’m a campaigner at 38 Degrees, and have been since March following on from a successful years internship at the organisation. Working at 38 Degrees means I spend my time running and working on campaigns on a whole range of issues, from helping a 38 Degrees member with a local campaign to keep their library open, to organising 600 flyering events against the trade deal, TTIP.
I have worked within the third sector over the past ten years, engaging in issues around women’s rights.
Tatiana Garavito is a migrant woman who has been campaigning and advocating for Latin American migrants for over 10 years since she first arrived to the UK, first for the Indoamerican Refugee and Migrants Organisation (IRMO), a community led organisation supporting Latin Americans in south London and recently as the Director for the Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS).
During these past years, Tatiana has coordinated projects supporting young Latin Americans from first and second generations including refugees and unaccompanied children negotiating their way in the UK to make it their home, struggling with identity issues and trying to improve their current opportunities. She has also provided immigration advice to families and members of the community; and this year, she started working for an organisation supporting Latin American women facing multiple discrimination on the basis of: gender, immigration status and race.
This year, LAWRS also established a national network of migrant led organisations that have put together #MigrantsContribute, a campaign that aims to challenge the negative and harmful discourse towards migrants in the run up of the next general election.
Jessie is one of the new network organisers at the New Economy Organising Network (NEON) – a community of campaigners and activists run from the New Economics Foundation (NEF). She moved to this role after two years in NEF’s communications team working to communicate new economics research and ideas online and through the media.
Professor Jeremy Gilbert is a writer, researcher and activist whose work has appeared in various British, continental, American and Australian publications and has been translated into French. His most recent book is, Common Ground: Democracy and Collectivity in an Age of Individualism and he has written widely on cultural theory, politics and music. Lots of information, free work, a blog, links to social media, and other material can be found at jeremygilbert.org.
Jeremy was a founder organiser of both Signs of the Times and the London Social Forum, a convenor of the Radical Theory Forum at the European Social Forum, Paris in 2003 and London in 2004, and has been involved with many political and cultural projects inside and outside academia.
Rosie Rogers is a political advisor at Greenpeace and former national co-ordinator of Compass. She has been involved in various kinds of campaigning, including UK Uncut and the feminist movement.
Neal Lawson is chair of the pressure group Compass and author of the book All Consuming. He serves on the Boards of UK Feminista and the AV Referendum Campaign and was previously an adviser to Gordon Brown.
James was previously the senior economist at NEF, where his work focused on developing responses to the recession and austerity. Before joining NEF, James worked as a policy advisor at HM Treasury, covering regional economic development, and science and innovation policy, and as senior policy advisor at the Royal Society. James has a first from the London School of Economics in economics and economic history, and a masters with distinction in economics from Birkbeck College, University of London.
Shilpa Shah is a professional learner and sharer of skills and knowledge, with her eye on transformational social change. Her community empowerment projects at Akashi and Friends of the Earth pioneered techniques to close the gap between the experience and leadership within marginalised communities and a powerful campaigning sector which often seems over-privileged and remote. She is now a freelance facilitator, trainer, strategist and mentor, supporting effective and inclusive participation and well-being in communities and organisations. The heart of her work is to transform the power dynamic and ways of working between the mainstream and the margin in any context, to help change-makers who think big to align their methods with their values and objectives. She also runs community singing workshops in London.
Carlos became the national coordinator for the United We Dream Network, the first immigrant youth-led national organization in the United States. He led the organizing and campaign efforts that took the network from a loose, 7-member coalition to a 52-member organization organized by regions in 30 states. Most recently, Carlos was key in organizing the End Our Pain and Right to Dream Campaigns (2011-2012) that led to the victory of legal relief for 1.7 million undocumented youth. At age 26, Carlos has trained over 4,000 people in the arts of organizing and social change in 20 states.
