When & Where

Date Date Date

Time Time Time

Access to the space is from 5pm when I will be setting up, so you are welcome to pop in whenever.

The event will finish by 10.30ish but of course you can leave at any point

8 Lovelace Street, London, E8 455 The space is on the ground floor street level and fully accessible. The nearest TfL station is Haggerston, which is a 4 minute walk away and there are many buses that stop on Kingsland Rd by the station. There is no car park but some on street car parking in the nearby streets.

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Rachel's no: +447907482706

Dinner...

This is a pot luck dinner party, which means you are invited to bring a contribution to our communal meal. This might end up being completely random and the idea is to embrace the joy in sharing what we have. The offer doesn’t need to be extravagant, fancy or homemade (but absolutely can be!). I appreciate that the rise in the cost of living is being felt by all so please do not feel pressure to go beyond your limits. I will be providing a few pizzas - including veg and vegan option. (These will deffo not be homemade) if you have any allergies - please do let me know!

This is a dry event, please don’t bring any booze onto the premises.

There will be iced tap water with mint/cucumber/lemon/plain and some cordial on offer, but of course please feel free to bring any other soft drink you fancy.

I look forward to getting to know you over a vegan cheese slice with donut and hummus.

There is a good kitchen adjacent to the space for anyone who needs fridge/freezer/heat etc. I will provide all the plates and cutlery and whatnot, if you have any serving utensils that would be helpful please do bring along. I have included here a little poll that I would appreciate you taking a mo to select an option so I can also look at filling in any gaps. If you are bringing bags etc there are some cupboards we can use for storage, we are the only people using the space.

Kitchen / facilities etc

... Party

Why this dinner party?

The idea of prison abolition is not a new one, many people have been working and advocating in this area for decades, and it is an international movement. My own journey with Prison Abolition really started a few years ago when reading Are Prisons Obsolete by Angela Davis. The social awareness continues to grow, but it can remain a daunting idea - not in the least as the scale of the criminal ‘justice’ system and racial capitalism can make for complex considerations. Our dinner party is intended to be a compassionate space, that gives time over to creative dialogue and action imagining new ways of living and building a few tools on how to have the challenging conversations that come up when talking about Prison Abolition The dinner party came from a confluence of long tables; a recent experience encountering someone for the first time at a friend's dinner who's views and values I did not share which provoked passionate dialogue, and Patrisse Cullors advocation for courageous conversations. You might be coming to the dinner party with no particular position or experience with prison abolition, you might be coming with some difficult questions, you might be joining having passionately campaigned in this arena for a while. Everyone’s experience and views are valuable and I have taken care to consider who might be in the room. This includes inviting people who I know a little or not at all who are working in connection with these ideas, as well as some friends I know who work or campaign in various areas of social justice and/or hold creative spaces. In inviting a guest you also have the opportunity to anchor with someone you know well. In this model we also create a new network and community experience outside of our immediate circles.

What will we be doing?

Eating, meeting and sharing! Our table cloth will be our canvas of imagination and there will be plenty of materials for you to express ideas, thoughts, anything you want to share. I will break up the evening by offering a few key questions, that encourage us to dream, imagine, aspire to a future we want to be a part of. There will be table prompts and materials from the work of abolitionists to guide or provoke us. There will be no formal seating plan, and we can move about the space freely although I will encourage us to change it up a little between courses. We are free to use the courtyard for a break out space if anybody wants a break at any point. I will cover all of this in more detail during the evening :)

Covid-19

Whilst we do what we can, Covid is still in action and affecting people, particularly those who are in vulnerable circumstances and I have no wish to organise a spreader. If you are showing symptoms or testing positive on the day please just let me know you can’t make it. The space is more than large enough for the party (of 20-25) and has many doors we can open onto a courtyard for ventilation. Let me know any concerns around this.

Did it really happen?

This event is invite only and I have taken some care into considering who is in the room, I will have a camera to take a few pictures, to prove that it happened, I will try to avoid faces, if you are in a photograph I will seek your express permission before using it in my submission. You will be welcome to take photos of the space and the table, but if photographing each other, please check its ok.

What happens next?

This is an excellent question. I will ask you to share a bit of feedback/reflections (anonymously if this is your preference) on the event, this is not obligatory. I have to collate the work into a submittable form this is likely to be some sort of booklet or zine that covers the process and discoveries from the experience. You can ask me more about this and I can share with you when I am a little clearer on this too.

Resources

Here I am just sharing a couple of resources here, there is a wealth of material out there from incredible activists, artists, writers scholars, camapaigners, students, citizens - the list continues. I have selected a few things here that have been key to me, also as a way to acknowledge them .