2020: Creating fertile ground for KIN to take root.

We’re more than half way through the year and we (Ayeisha, Kennedy and Zahra) thought it was a good time to update on what KIN is up to since we’ve been relatively quiet on the external comms front since our 2019 international convening. 

Up to this point

In 2018 we held our first convening in Brixton at the Black Cultural Archive. 30 activists, campaigners and organisers over three days from across the UK. The conversations and political thought that cascaded through the space were testament to the incredible participants. See the 2018 convening report here. Then in 2019, we held our international convening in Manchester. Almost 30 participants that represented four continents and nine countries filled the space. Solidarity, internationalist radical politics are values that resonated throughout the weekend we spent together. Read the 2019 convening report here. We also held a number of large social events where we brought folks together to break bread, make new connections and discuss the big  questions of our time and what enacting change looks like. 

In late 2019, we floated the idea of holding another convening in 2020, but we knew we needed time to take stock and revisit our strategy, to ensure our next steps made sense for KIN and what we could offer the radical change-making landscape. 

What now?

2020: enter stage left. Early this year we held a number of strategy meetings and decided we needed to make KIN sustainable not only in strategy, but in structure too. Consequently, we were quieter on external communications and events, honouring the capacity we had and priorities we set. Since then we have been trying to secure funding to continue our work and to set KIN up as an independent organisation. 

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the disproportionate impact on people of colour and the hyper visibility of violence against black people in north America and the UK has only confirmed the need for a space where folks organising on the shoulders of black radical traditions to come together to learn, share, replenish and connect.

In the coming months KIN will be moving forward on plans to become incorporated giving us the ability to build a robust, sustainable organisation for Black activist, campaigner and organiser communities and individuals. Towards the end of the year we will be releasing our plans for 2021 and beyond so watch this space. 

Solidarity, 
Kennedy, Zahra, Ayeisha x