Journey to Justice engages people through events and courses which combine human rights history, the music and arts of social justice and understanding social change. We connect with, invigorate and empower people at a community level to campaign for social justice and human rights using an intergenerational approach.
Our aim is to attract and enable groups of people who feel discriminated against, people who do not see themselves as powerful or ‘having a voice’. A related aim is to get the wider community to understand the lives and needs of the most marginalised people in our society and to advocate for them and confront prejudice.
Our first project is a unique, multi-media travelling exhibition and programme about the role of ‘ordinary people’ men, women and children in the US civil rights movement and its links to the UK, highlighting local UK histories about struggles for justice and applying them to today. We reach thousands of people via our travelling exhibition programme and we are looking to reach a cross section of people within each location. One of our target audiences is young people including those that are not in education, employment or training or who are in danger of being NEET. We will also focus on school students: upper primary and secondary school age, Further and Higher Education students and those who work with them and with youth and community groups. In addition, we want to connect and invigorate people at a community level using an intergenerational approach. We want to attract people who do not yet see themselves as powerful or having a ‘voice’ as well as those who are active. Our way of working is to inspire and equip people to take action for social justice/human rights which they define and includes learning from history to identify strategies which might achieve change.
The young people we worked with in Leyton are negotiating with their head teacher for a student advisory panel on decisions about school exclusions; and young people in the North East are trying to influence providers to introduce fairer practices for those on free school meals.
Our evaluation shows that all participants developed a deeper understanding of key concepts such as social justice, human rights and activism and, most vitally, of their own ability/right to have a ‘voice’: ‘Our voice is the next generation, there are people too scared to say what they think and we have to be role models.’ ‘Since I joined JtoJ I found the confidence to make a change and speak out. I learned a lot about who changed history and that there are different ways to fight back without using violence.' 80% of visitors to our exhibition said it increased their knowledge and understanding of the US civil rights movement and the UK’s history of struggles for freedom. 65% of participants said involvement with Journey to Justice had inspired them to take action for social justice.
For short films showing our impact: https://vimeo.com/127012579 12 minutes, pilot with school students at George Mitchell School, Leyton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyRtbEh4cWU 5 minutes, the exhibition& music workshops, Newcastle
We inspire and empower people to take action for social justice through learning about human rights movements by:
1. Reawakening public awareness of the long history in the UK and globally of individuals and movements who take a stand for freedom, equality and human rights.
2. Educating through creative arts and multimedia programmes which excite debate.
3. Motivating people to see that injustice can be challenged and that they have the knowledge and skills to play an important role in bringing about change.
4. Equipping people to take practical action for social justice with an intergenerational approach.
5. Building networks of people working for social justice and human rights.