Greetings,

We started the year with a huge amount of inspiration from the Unite With The Global Majority event we hosted at the Kuumba Centre as part of the launch of the Decolonial Open Communiversity at the end of the previous year, and which you can read about in the two articles published by the community magazine Vocalise here, and here. Throughout 2015 we have dedicated significant time to one-to-one or small group reflections on how we can best take forward the reparatory justice programmes established by the International Preparatory Commission of the DOC, and very much invite those of you interested in the process to reach out.

The first activity of the year was a screening of Comrade Tambo’s London Recruits organised in partnership through their Peoples Release programme at the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft, followed by a panel discussion with the filmmaker, one of the original recruits, and PRALER organisers, on how we can restore and recover traditions of anti-colonial solidarity work.

During the spring we participated in Glocal PRALER activities, including local promotion of the Afrika Europe People-to-People Planet Repairs Action Dialogue Internationalist Forum (AEPPPRADIF) through a banner drop and flyposting, and participated directly in the forum itself in Berlin. We also highlighted the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and joined the international mobilisation in support of the progressive president of Burkina Faso  Ibrahim Traore, on the 30th of April in the Peace Grove in Castle Park.

Late spring and early summer we painted a mural at the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft Outdoor Gallery Wall, marking both the centenary of the birth of Omowale Malcolm X and further amplifying the call for solidarity with the Alliance of Sahel States and featuring images of both ancestors and current movement leaders (which remained in place from May to to October). in Connection with this we also helped organise two events, a screening of the film Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat and a panel discussion on the legacy of Malcolm X for anti-imperialist struggles today, featuring one of our colleagues from the Pan-Afrikan Reparations Internationalist Standing Conference (PARISC).

We also had a chance to Introduced PRALER during the talk and walk organised to mark the release of the book Breaking the Dead Silence in partnership with Bristol Transformed, and through a stall at their Festival of Socialist Ideas, Culture and Arts, and had the honour to be invited to contribute to the panel on allyship hosted by the Bristol Legacy Foundation at the Harbourside Festival.

In October, coinciding with Black History Month, we launched a Glocal Noticeboard at the Peoples Republic of Stokes Croft featuring updates from the grassroots reparatory justice struggle in the Alliance of Sahel States and a call for broader solidarity building in partnership with the Toega Centre in Burkina Faso and for contributions to the PRALER Fund.

One of our most important local reference points is the Bristol City Council Reparations and Atonement Motion which has set out steps for a process of holistic repair through the International Social Movement for Afrikan Reparations. The importance of these kinds of motions, and of stoppping the ongoing harm, was spoken to by Green Party Councillor Scott Ainslie at the UK Reparations Conference in London on the 18th October, documented in the video below.

We aim to build on the dialogues started with groups and individuals across Bristol during this year and continuie build a movement for Planet Repairs alongside others who share our aims. Please get in touch with us through our email; bristolcollsag(a)proton.me if you would like to speak with us or get involved, or join our whatsapp community.