Who gets to lose faith, and who doesn't? Can refusal be an act of faith? In this conversation, Isabella speaks with poet, organiser and essayist lisa minerva luxx about sacrifice not as loss but as a practice of choosing what deserves our loyalty. Through poetry, political organizing and cultural resistance, they explore how revolutionary disobedience, refusal and moral clarity become acts of faith in themselves. Drawing on their experience in the Lebanese uprising, mutual aid work across Syria and Lebanon, and their current role coordinating the Filton 25 Defense Committee, luxx articulates a framework for understanding faith as embodied, grounded and inseparable from direct action.
About the Guest
lisa minerva luxx is a British Syrian writer, poet, organiser, and essayist. They are the author of Fetch Your Mother's Heart (Outspoken Press, 2021) and a PhD researcher on militant poetics at the University of Manchester. luxx is a long-time transnational community organiser with deep experience in the Lebanese uprising, mutual aid networks across Syria and Lebanon following the Beirut blast, and currently coordinates the Filton 25 Defense Committee, which supports 25 Palestine Action activists arrested for breaking into Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems in Filton, Bristol, in August 2024.
Resources & References
- David Graeber (Anarchist Anthropologist), "Protest is begging the powers that be to dig a well. Direct action is digging the well and daring them to stop you." The Make Believe The Make-Believe World of David Graeber
- Fetch Your Mother's Heart by lisa minerva luxx (Outspoken Press, 2021)
- Poets Liberation Front: an 8-part literary salon that took place in London across April 2025, bringing together poets, organisers and political prisoners into a conversation about cultural resistance and militant poetics
- Filton 25 Defense Committee: Supporting 25 Palestine Action activists arrested after breaking into Elbit Systems (Israeli weapons manufacturer) in Filton, Bristol, August 2024
- Umer Khalid @freeumerkhalid:Palestine Action-linked activist held as a political prisoner in relation to the RAF Brize Norton action
- Jordan Devlin @beforeisneeze: former Filton 25 political prisoner who spent 18 months in jail for targeting an Israeli weapons factory
- Heba Muraisi: Palestine Action-affiliated activist. Whilst in prison Heba went on hunger strike for 73 days, the longest in UK history, which ended in victory for the hunger strikers
- CAGE International @cageinternational: London-based independent advocacy organisation challenging war on terror-driven state oppression around the world
- Muslim Social Justice Initiative (MSJI) @msji.uk: is a Muslim-led site of political education, cultural work, publishing, and community infrastructure based in Manchester.
- Grace Lee Boggs: Chinese American revolutionary philosopher and Detroit-based activist
Credits:
Host & Editorial Lead - Isabella Kajiwara
Producer - Ornella Mutoni
Executive Producer - Sylvia Hong
Guest - lisa minerva luxx
Editor and Video Engineer - Andrew Shaktah
Development & Research Support - Micha Frazer Carrol
Final Edit Review - Hannah Azuonye
Studio - Podcast House
Link to episode transcript here.
About Making Meaning
Making Meaning is a Skin Deep podcast series emerging from our editorial season on faith. It's a space for people of all faiths and none to think creatively and critically about how faith shows up in how we produce culture, make meaning of our times, and build our movements.
About Skin Deep
Skin Deep is a grassroots organisation that makes culture in service of racial justice and liberation. Working across editorial and events, we produce and facilitate creative work that informs, motivates, and nourishes people in the fight against racial capitalism.
For more information, visit skindeepmag.com.
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