“Food is very powerful in terms of social change, because it has that ability to bring people together. It’s something that transcends all barriers ? the universal language.”?Nikandre Kopcke is the founder of a London-based pop-up restaurant collectively run by women from migrant and refugee communities.

Maz? Mas has six women – all mothers – from six different countries currently working as part-time chefs while other women participate in a weekly training program, supporting them to adapt their skills to the restaurant industry while reducing their vulnerability to exploitation and their dependence on male partners.

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Squatting is now illegal in the UK, as is ‘skipping’ (salvaging waste food to feed oneself or others) But the Free Milk collective spent several months using both practices to set-up and host an autonomous community space. Their intention: to feed and support homeless people and to bring awareness to the absurd fact that the number of empty houses in the UK (over half a million) significantly exceeds the number of homeless people…
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[Dispatch posted by the Bureau for Agent G in the field]

A Hello Hub?is an outdoor computer kiosk hooked up to free, solar-powered Internet and running hundreds of educational games. It’s rugged enough to handle dust storms, rain, and thousands of users. Built and owned by the community, it’s available for anyone?adults or children?to use anytime. This report by Adele Peters outlines plans to bring Hello Hubs to communities without access to schools and/or teachers, including refugee camps.

It also raises interesting questions around how education looks when not rooted in human relationship, and whether the alliance of community and technology can replace, or re-shape the role of mentors.

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When the political purse-holders gradually eliminate financial support for universal education, a number of responses are possible. Protest is one way to respond. Resignation – either through opting out of education, or through studying but only by accruing massive debts – is another. Creating a new, parallel system is another… Cue the emerging model of Free Art Schools…

Read this report by Daisy Jones and check out an example to see how it can work…

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Stories from the forgotten zones of inland Spain where people are unfazed by the apparent obstacles to sustainable living and just getting on with it… article by Robert Alcock.
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