Ep 2 - Fighting Chance by Charlie West
Trigger warning - issues of suicide are featured in this podcast.
The Stories of Resistance Podcast Series produced by Miranda Rae - Sound Women SW aka Sound Women Bristol CIC
Charlie lives in Bristol and has a keen interest in music - playing and listening - radio, podcast and social justice issues. She has a residency on Noods Radio - Double-Bind - which explores socio-philosophical topics such as language, rituals, identity and more, through music and other audio forms. Charlie decided to take part in the Art of Resistance course as she wants to develop her creative practice to include making podcasts and audio storytelling. She was in the process of mapping a new, collaborative radio show about protest and resistance movements, when she saw the opportunity to get involved in the Art of Resistance podcast project.
Having been boxing at Bristol Boxing Gym for four months, and also having come into contact with Empire Fighting Chance through her other youth and charity work roles, Charlie knew straight away that she wanted to spotlight the radical, positive impacts of the work that Empire Fighting Chance does with young people in inner city Bristol and to demonstrate how much positive social transformation is rooted in organisations that aren’t necessarily labelled as “activist organisations”, but whose work enact long-lasting, positive, social change, and sometimes, over time, policy change. Through collaborative, sustained and community-orientated actions, which focus on directly addressing needs and removing barriers, the ultimate outcome, much like the work of self-titled activists, is an improvement of the lives of people subjected to disparate, discriminatory, or oppressive conditions.
At a time when we are collectively faced with a wide range of complex social and environmental issues, Charlie feels it is crucial that we broaden peoples understanding of what activism can and should look like, and to remove stigma associated with the word. Instead of seeing activists and activism as belligerent people railing against the system, what if activism was about imagining what a different future might look like? And moving towards something better? Less knife crime.
Equal pay and rights. More libraries, youth clubs and social spending. Cleaner city air. Wild spaces in urban areas. “Activist issues” are too often seen as a problem to be solved by a few passionate people who care about a particular issue. For those who undertake such work, it’s because these people recognise the need to make change; it’s not a ‘passion project’, it’s a responsibility.
The main thing about redefining “activism”: It needs to be integrated into the careers, the work and the daily habits of many people. If you’re a lawyer, who are you representing and why? If you’re a chef, curb the impact of the food you’re using, If you’re a business person, do you really need to be travelling across the world or can you make do with video calls? And if you see an issue within your local community, what small action can you take to help? Because as Martin and Jamie from Empire Fighting chance show, no action is too small and more often that not, one positive impact leads to another, in an upward spiral of positive change - the impacts of which can reach further than you might ever have imagined.
During this podcast, we hear from Martin and Jamie, the co-founders of Empire fighting chance, Courtney and Steven, coaches and boxing therapists at the organisation and we’ll also hear from three of the young people who’ve gone through the boxing programme at Empire Fighting Chance, to learn about the impact that boxing, and the organisation, has had in their lives.
Exploring the work and impact of Empire Fighting
Trigger warning - issues of suicide are discussed.
Please note that all the music featured throughout the series has been made by the people featured in the podcasts and with the full permission to use.
The toppling of the Colston statue has put Bristol under the global spotlight.
This, along with the wider Black Lives Matter movement, has led to an outpouring of creative responses - from poetry, to illustration to performance. But this is by no means a new occurrence in Bristol, which has been a city noted of radical art and activism for decades.
Capturing that spirit, The Trinity Centre in Bristol launched the Art of Resistance project which included the Art of Resistance free Intergenerational podcast course to learn how to capture oral histories and tell the stories of creative activism in Bristol. This project was produced by leading community journalist, broadcaster & producer Miranda Rae from Sound Women SW. The free course was aimed at participants of all ages and interest in activism. The successful applicants have received as much group and 1:1 training from Miranda that they needed to enable them to produce their own podcasts, we are proud to announce the launch of the series made by the 9 successful applicants.
Most of the participants discovered that there are so many people battling injustices and fighting against social injustices and yet so often don’t see themselves as an activist.
The series was about exploring 100 years of social activism, protest and civil disobedience in Bristol and the art that underpinned each movement.
We researched and documented just some of the lived stories of inner-city Bristolians and, explored the city's history of grass-roots artistic, community and cultural movements.
Miranda is currently the Station Manager at Ujima Radio in Bristol and founder of the support and media group Sound Women South West aka Sound Women Bristol CIC.
Miranda is a full-time multi award winning podcast & radio producer and also teaches people of all ages in a variety of radio/podcast & media skills.
About: Sound Women SW aka Sound Women Bristol CIC
The mission of Sound Women SW is to address the lack of gender and racial diversity in the media, radio and audio industries, to provide a safe space for women and girls of all ages to learn. Our key mission is to empower and create confidence and addressing some of the many barriers that we, the founders have faced. Sound Women is about giving a voice to the voiceless and reaching out to marginalised groups particularly from the global majority communities providing a safe space for women to learn and thrive as well as providing training for the private and third sector. Sound Women SW aka Sound Women Bristol CIC is committed to empowering women of all ages and giving a voice to the voiceless.
https://soundwomensw.com/
