When we set out to make a magazine that serves the community of Govanhill, we always intended to be focused on solutions. We wanted to counter the negativity that dominates much of our media by introducing you to people who are trying to make a difference.
We know that, when it comes to the future of our planet, we’re at a crucial point in history when our actions make all the difference. We all need to change our ways, and ensure that those that wield power do too. Yes, anger has a place in this battle, but we won’t get anywhere without hope.
And the stories shared in this magazine give me hope.
Hope that our community is meeting the climate challenge head on and is doing everything it can to come together and make a change whether through initiating conversations, radical activism, lifestyle changes, community action, or taking care of our local green spaces. The eyes of the world will be on Glasgow this autumn, and I hope they see what’s happening in Govanhill.
In other news, we’re delighted to announce that we’ve been shortlisted in the ‘One To Watch’ category of the Social Enterprise Scotland awards. Keep your fingers crossed for us. And we’ll be holding the second of our Greater Govanhill LIVE events on the 25 September, at the Govanhill Community Market (see News in Brief pages for more).
Throughout August we ran a campaign to encourage new people to join Greater Govanhill. Thanks so much to Gemma Zidel-Watt for their support with this and a huge welcome to our 60+ new members. If you want to get involved with community journalism that aims to make a positive difference, visit www.greatergovanhill.com/members.
We are about to launch a free eight-week multimedia journalism skills training programme specifically for people from backgrounds typically under-represented in the media. For more information, email hello@greatergovanhill.com.
Yours sincerely,
Rhiannon J Davies Founder/EditorA special thanks goes to our advertisers: AlKhair Foundation, Gobike, LifeSense Therapies, Sustrans, Tramway, The Knowledge Hunter, Rags2Riches, Swipii, The Institute of Physics
Editor-in-Chief Rhiannon J Davies
This magazine would not be possible without the support of our community. If you want to help keep it going, become a member to be the first to receive each issue: greatergovanhill.com/support
Creative Director Laura Hurst www.laurabelle.co.uk
Cover Image Lauren Macdonald by Alexander Hoyles
Words by
Aara Abdullah, Annie Tothill, Clare Harris, Claire Larkin, Danny Macphearson, Eve Livingston Francis Brewer, Fraser Stewart, Giacinta Frisillo, Jess Steel, Jude Mckechnie, Kate Samuels, Kev Kiernan, Marzanna Antoniak, Mina Baird, Mikey Jarrell, Naomi Magnus, Patrick Harvie, Rahela Cirpaci, Rhiannon J Davies, Rob Wannerton, Romano Lav, Ruth Cape, Sam Doak, Sehar
Mehmood, Sharah Shaharun Ali, Sophie Unwin, Tegan Mordin
Editing Support
Anbrien Nazir, Andy Logue, CJ Lazaretti, Craig Hunter, Mikey Jarrell, Rachel Carmichael, Sam Doak
Translation from Romano Lav, Mada Basbous, Mohamed AlIssa, Nadia Hassan, Najid N., Shehla Sohail
Featuring the Photography of Alexander Hoyles, Audrey Bizouerne, Becky Duncan, Christian Gamauf, Eoin Carey, Ginny Allwood, Iain Mclean, Kate Holford, Martyna Maz, Michael Paley, Mikey Jarrell, Simon Murphy, Susanna Hotham, Tracy, Virginie Chabrol
Illustrations by Giacinta Frisillo, Rachael Procter, Suzie Cichy
Printed by Gladstone Media Ltd
is a young married Roma mother of two beautiful little girls aged one and three. She is Project Coordinator of Romano Lav and loves being part of this community.
Read about life in her grandmother’s village in Roma News and Views on page 10.
Sam Doak
is a journalist and freelance researcher. He graduated last year with a master’s in Human Rights and International Politics. He joined Greater Govanhill in the summer of 2021.
Read Sam’s solutions focused article on a new community energy project on page 42.
Naomi Magnus
is a policy worker who sits on the board of Greater Govanhill as well as Na’amod: British Jews Against Occupation. You can find her playing records as Mag on her monthly Clyde Built radio show.
Naomi shares the recipe for her mum’s chicken soup on page 9.
Pull-out-and-keep Community Trail!
Your map and guide to the community projects along the South City Way
18
An Act of Resistance Fraser Stewart on community climate action
20
What it’s Like to be Trans in Govanhill
The good and the bad
21
Five Ways to Stay Positive In the face of the climate crisis
22
Queen’s Park Fun Facts
How well do you know the ‘green lungs’ of Govanhill
24
You don’t need to fly to experience different cultures Travelling while keeping both feet on the ground
25
Journey into community on the South City Way
How small grants enabled groups to transform spaces
28
I’m 21 and scared for my future Climate activist Lauren Macdonald on the Green New Deal
30
Crosshill Quad
How one group of residents transformed their shared space
By Marzanna Antoniak
Can
As restoration work continues at the Govanhill Baths, a new book on the building and its role in the history of this community, written by historian Bruce Downie, is set to be published.
The Govanhill Baths are currently undergoing substantial renovations ahead of their eventual reopening as a community space. Their closure by the council in 2001 resulted in significant backlash and an occupation of the building by community members. It is now owned by the Govanhill Baths Community Trust, a group that formed in the wake of the occupation and which now plays an important and wide-ranging role in Govanhill as an organiser of arts programs, community outreach initiatives, and more .
‘99 Calder Street: A History of the Govanhill Baths and Washhouse’ has been written by Bruce Downie in anticipation of the venue’s eventual reopening. Speaking to Greater Govanhill on the importance of the building, he said:
“People were hugely attached to the building on Calder Street. It was theirs, and that’s why people fought for it. It wasn’t the council’s to take away.
“The charm and the beauty of it is that you can still see a lot of the original features. That’s part of what people love about it. If they were building Govanhill Baths now you’d get a big glass fronted corporate style leisure centre. What you’ve got there has charm, character and historical value.”
Details on where you can buy the book will be available at govanhillbaths.com
Glasgow City Council is yet to announce reopening plans for a number of public facilities across the city more widely. The council and Glasgow Life, an organisation that fulfills a number of functions on its behalf, have attracted widespread criticism from many who are concerned about the future of the city’s public amenities.
Among the venues yet to be reopened is Couper Library in Cathcart. It is currently one of nine libraries in the city that are not currently scheduled to reopen. Pollokshields and Langside Library, both of which were closed from early last year, reopened in late August.
In early September, the Scottish government announced the establishment of a £1.25 million fund “to help get and keep libraries open”. While details on how this money is to be distributed are yet to be made public, campaigners remain sceptical on whether this will be sufficient to safeguard libraries across the country.
Glasgow City Council has been under a fair amount of scrutiny in recent months as many Glaswegians have become concerned about its commitment to maintaining public venues. A plan to transfer ownership of a number of public facilities to community groups has been particularly controversial and has resulted in a number of demonstrations in recent months.
On Sunday 19 September, Climate Camp Scotland are joining Glasgow Against Closures to “stand in solidarity with Glasgow communities to remind the council that public services are not a luxury, but are at the heart of any cohesive community.” They will be marching from Langside Hall to Queen’s Park Arena. Details can be found in our What’s On pages in the back of the magazine.
The local branches of Scotland’s tenants’ union, Living Rent, have achieved a number of successes in recent months, demonstrating the effectiveness of union membership and collective action in securing the rights of tenants.
Living Rent, in collaboration with the Govanhill Law Centre, successfully resisted the attempted eviction of a Govanhill resident who had fallen into rent arrears. Over 250 locals signed a petition opposing the eviction and more than 50 members of the community formed a ‘phone tree’ in order to facilitate a rapid response to any attempt to remove him from the property.
Following a protest outside their offices, Govanhill Housing Association agreed to rescind its eviction notice and accept the terms of an affordable payment plan. This result was hailed as victory by the union, which praised Govanhill residents for their response and solidarity.
In neighbouring Pollokshields, Living Rent’s member defence team was able to secure a meeting between another local tenant and his landlord after issues that reportedly included a rat infestation and water damage went unaddressed.
The Govanhill Community Market is set to be held on the 25th of September. This event, which will include music, food, art and a range of stalls, will take place at the Batson Street Laboratory adjacent to the Govanhill Picture House.
The Batson Street Laboratory may be familiar to anyone who attended events there as part the Govanhill International Festival and Carnival. This new purpose-built site, constructed in a disused lane from shipping containers and recycled materials, hosted screenings and talks throughout the festival.
The market is being organised as a joint project by G42 Pop-Ups and Glasgow Artists’ Moving Image Studios with support from the Govanhill Baths Community Trust and the Glasgow Connected Arts Network. Greater Govanhill will be there hosting Greater Govanhill LIVE with discussions and workshops.
Ando Glaso has produced a report detailing the various ways in which the Roma community has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Glasgow based charity’s report is the first to take a specific look at the Scottish Roma community’s experience of the pandemic and the social changes that have accompanied it.
Writing on why this research was conducted, Eva Kourova, one of its authors explained:
“The purpose of this research was to bring forth the lived realities of Roma in Scotland during the pandemic because they, too, were hit by the severity of the situation, but their voice was not heard and their anguish remains largely unseen.”
According to the report, the members of the Roma community who were interviewed mentioned family life most frequently as an area that had been impacted during the pandemic. Interviewees discussed worries concerning the safety of their family members and the possibility of transmitting the disease to loved ones. Other topics highlighted by researchers in Ando Glaso’s report include stigmatisation, poverty and culture. Overall, the report makes it clear that the Covid-19 pandemic has had distinct and substantial impacts on members of the Roma community.
Its authors argue that it is of great importance that the voices and experiences of Scotland’s Roma population are taken into account by policy makers and the wider public as the country decides on how best to recover and return to normality.
Read more on our www.greatergovanhill.com
In early August, the Govanhill Law Centre announced that its application for a £75,000 grant from the Scottish government’s Equality and Human Rights Fund had been rejected. This news immediately raised concerns about the future of the centre, which has played an important role in supporting vulnerable individuals and communities in the Southside for years.
The Govanhill Law Centre was founded in 2008 and, until this summer, has relied upon funding from the Scottish Government. The organisation provides a number of vital services which include offering free legal advice on issues relating to housing, social security, education and employment. While Govanhill Law Centre has made itself available to all members of the community, it has placed an emphasis on aiding members of minority communities and works with translators in order to make its services as accessible as possible for these groups.
The decision to deny Govanhill Law Centre government funding has received a significant amount of attention from those involved in politics and the third sector locally. Without government funding, the future of the law centre is now unclear.
Rachel Moon, a senior solicitor at the centre, spoke to Greater Govanhill on what this means for the organisation, saying:
“This isn’t a case of ‘well that’s half of our funding gone’. This is all of the funding for Govanhill Law Centre being reduced to zero… I guess it’s just assumed that we’ll find or do something, but that’s certainly not guaranteed.”
A working group made up of residents and representatives of local organisations has been formed to focus on a strategy for community engagement and information in Govanhill. The group is analysing the results of a community survey conducted earlier in the year which explored how people of Govanhill meet each other, make decisions about their neighbourhood, and access information. The group’s recommendations will be included in the Locality Plan developed under the Thriving Places programme. The joint efforts of this diverse working group are key to ensuring that any recommendations and decisions that will be made reflect the views and wishes of the local people, working towards meaningful change in Govanhill.
As one of the survey participants said: “Community consultation and campaigns can only be successful if they genuinely are representative of all groups and seek to address their expressed concerns.” That is something that we strive to achieve through the Thriving Places approach.
If you’d like to get involved, sign up via: www.tinyurl.com/ TPGovanhill. For updates, follow Thriving Places Govanhill on Facebook or visit: www.govanhill.info/locality-plan.
My interest in gardening started at a young age. My mother was a botanist and a florist. I learned from her and used to help out my family and neighbours.
My brother passed away in 1999 from vCJD, a rare fatal brain disease. I moved to Govanhill two years later and started volunteering. My first role was as Vice Chair of a charitable support organization which had helped me and others through the bereavement process. I got to travel to the USA several times in that role then became Information Resource Manager for a global alliance support network. I have been doing voluntary work ever since.
I currently live in a Govanhill Housing Association (GHA) flat. Three years ago, I showed a housing officer what I’d done in our back court and he told me I should get involved with the Govanhill Community Garden. It’s through the Samaritan House car park at 79 Coplaw Street. It’s fair to say that comment was close to life changing.
At home, we have a garden that’s shared between three closes. It’s mainly just paving slabs. But you don’t have to have earth and soil to create a garden. You can do things in pots, planters and build raised beds. It was a real pleasure to have our garden recognised in the GHA Community Awards for the best back garden in 2019.
I love the informal nature of volunteering in this community garden. You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. I’ve made lots of good friends and new connections through the garden. I’ve also got to meet lots of schools and headteachers who get the kids to visit the garden sometimes. I love to see the smiles it brings to their wee faces when they are in.
We once did an event called the Ten Ton Challenge. The group invited schoolkids to shift soil into planters in preparation for a fruit tree planting day two years ago. It was honestly one of the best days of my life. It would be so cool if they might come back some day in the future and see the trees they planted.
It’s been tough over lockdown. COVID ended all the events the group had planned. But it’s been nice to see people come down and just enjoy the peace and quiet. Now the restrictions are continuing to ease, more people are coming. The school groups are starting to return, and the volunteer team are working on a memorable fairy garden area.
Flowers have always been my passion. This year, the group received around 3000 summer bedding plants donated by a branch of M&S. What we weren’t able to fit in the garden, the group gave out to schools, community members, a GHA pensioners’ court, and some to the planters outside Wok Star on Cathcart Road.
When I got involved, the first thing I wanted to do was get the garden group on social media. So I created a Facebook group and started sharing news online. Word is slowly spreading, but slower than the group would like. It’s still something of a hidden gem
Due to the publicity the garden got from being featured in Issue 2 of Greater Govanhill Magazine, about eight new people pledged to volunteer. Some of them have now become very involved in the garden and come up with their own ideas.
Community gardens are usually very small ventures and are always on the lookout for new volunteers. The current team has a
real passion for this place. It’s a lovely space to come and sit, chill out and have a cuppa.
I volunteer using the skills I have. You don’t need any gardening experience. When I started, I had some experience, but I said ‘I’m here to learn and I’m here to help’. When folk start, we explain what tools to use for what jobs etc.. But there’s always something to learn from each other.
The plants and flowers are good for attracting wildlife and bringing some biodiversity into Govanhill. For me, it makes it all so worthwhile when visitors come in and say how fantastic the garden looks.
It’s a privilege to be part of the team that maintains the garden on behalf of GHA.
Check out an aerial view of the garden in Issue 2 of the magazine or on greatergovanhill.com
As told to Rhiannon J Davies
Portrait by Eoin Carey
There’s nothing quite like your grandmother’s cooking to transport you to a more familiar setting. And the kitchens of Govanhill tenements are filled with the aromas of a multitude of different cuisines reflecting the diverse make-up of the neighbourhood.
In this series, we ask people to provide a recipe that transports them to their family kitchen.
Got a recipe to share?
Get in touch:
hello@greatergovanhill.com
When I was asked to write about the food my grandma used to make, I knew I’d have to be a bit creative with the brief. My dad’s mum died when I was little, while my mum’s mum has had a long-term mental illness since I was about the same age. Although this makes it hard for me to pinpoint an exact dish my grandma used to make, it was easy to think of one that represents family cooking for me.
Every Friday night, to celebrate the start of Shabbat – the Jewish Sabbath – my mum will cook some version of the same meal: chicken soup, usually followed by chicken with roast or sweet potatoes, finished off with some variety of strudel or apple crumble for dessert. Of these, it’s the chicken soup that always stands out for me.
While chicken soup may be seen as a traditional food of Ashkenazim (Jews originally from Eastern or Central Europe), its origins are likely to be either Spanish or Portuguese, having been brought to Greece by Sephardi Jews (Jews from Spain or Portugal) who fled the Spanish Inquisition.
Traditionally, the chicken required to make this soup was too scarce or expensive to be consumed every Friday. However, there was one day a year when every family would prepare the soup – on Erev Yom Kippur, the evening before Yom Kippur. Usually falling in September, Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It’s usually translated as the ‘Day of Atonement’ in English – a day to atone for misdeeds and become cleansed and purified of them. It’s also marked by a 25-hour fast from both food and water, so eating a good meal beforehand is crucial to sustaining yourself.
As well as offering sustenance, chicken soup has also been claimed to have medicinal properties – which is why it’s sometimes nicknamed ‘Jewish penicillin’. Twelfth century Jewish philosopher and scientist, Maimonides, claimed that chicken soup could cure asthma, weight gain and even leprosy. For many Jews, chicken soup still remains synonymous with medicine and healing. For me, it’s synonymous with home, and the only dish worth breaking my vegetarianism for.
Serves: 8
Ingredients
The carcass of 1 large chicken (or four chicken giblets if preferred)
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped and peeled
2 sticks of celery, chopped
2-4 bay leaves (optional)
Chicken stock
Salt and pepper
2 handfuls of Jewish fine egg noodles or spaghetti
A small bunch fresh leaf parsley and/or dill (optional)
1. Rinse the chicken in cold water, pat dry with kitchen paper, then put it into a large pot – ideally a pressure cooker.
2. Chop the vegetables and add them to the pot alongside the carcass and bay leaves (if using).
3. Cover the carcass and vegetables with water, until all ingredients are covered, with water coming two or three inches above.
4. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to low and cook for around an hour and a half. Skim any froth off the top while cooking, if needed.
5. After an hour and a half, slowly add chicken stock and salt and pepper according to taste.
6. Leave to cook, uncovered, for a few minutes.
7. Remove the soup from the heat and strain it through your biggest sieve or colander, reserving the carrots and celery, but sieving out the onions.
8. Return the soup to the boil, adding noodles and the veg and cooking for a further 10 minutes.
9. Finely chop and add the fresh parsley or dill if using.
10. Best enjoyed with a piece of warm challah – sweet, brioche-like bread traditionally eaten on Shabbat.
Alot of Roma people don’t actually know how much they are contributing to the community and helping efforts against climate change just by the way they live their lives. Our ancestors lived off the land, only taking what they needed. They respected the environment and the surrounding nature that provided them with the nourishment they needed.
My grandmother Etica, like many of her Roma neighbours, still lives in much the same way. She resides in Semlac, a small village in Western Romania. She has been growing her own vegetables for over 15 years, and making the best, most healthy Roma meals with them. She saves a lot of money doing this, but what is also very important to her is that it means she doesn’t need to buy any plastic wrapped vegetables – she hates anything that is packaged, as she doesn’t want it to go to landfill.
She explained to me that the way she lives was never the result of any conscious decision to be environmentally friendly. It was just the way in which she had always done things. “I haven’t really talked about climate change until now and didn’t realise, until now, how much I am actually helping the planet!”
We also have our own water pump. It’s easy for us to use and we don’t have to buy bottled water. We have one in our garden but there is also a pump in the middle of the village that churns out fresh water for the community. I sometimes use the community pump because I like that villagers often gather around it and catch up! (Perhaps we should have one in Govanhill?)
There is also a big focus on bicycles in the village. My grandmother says that everyone cycles in the village, and that: “our little village is not polluted by cars”.
Glasgow still has a long way to go in this respect, but it’s great that there has recently been more space given to bicycle paths in our area, as well as the recent addition of on-street bike storage.
Overall, the way my grandmother lives is how I think we all should live. Not just because climate change is happening and we need to do something, but because we should just want to live in this way.
Unfortunately many Roma in Eastern Europe are not given the opportunity to live like this. They are forced to live in the most appalling and unsanitary conditions, which can be seen as ‘environmental racism’. This is where Roma are pushed out of towns and cities and forced to live in ghettos that are often filthy and contaminated, with little to no access to even basic amenities such as clean water and electricity.
This horrific quality of life goes to show that it is often the poorest and most marginalized people, who bring the least pollution to the table, that have to live with the effects of global pollution most deeply.
Climate activism must also therefore include anti-racism work, and we must look further than individual changes we make to our lifestyles. We must look outward to how we can help our brothers and sisters who are forced to live in such terrible situations.
We also need to make bigger changes for the community in Govanhill and for the future of our planet and children.
Mulți romi nu știu de fapt cât contribuie la comunitate și ajută la eforturile împotriva schimbărilor climatice. Strămoșii noștri trăiau de pe pământ, luând doar ceea ce aveau nevoie. Ei respectau mediul înconjurător și natura înconjurătoare care le oferea hrana de care aveau nevoie.
Bunica mea Etica, la fel ca mulți romi care locuiesc în apropierea ei, trăiește în același mod. Locuiește în Semlac, un mic sat din vestul României. Ea își cultivă propriile legume de peste 15 ani și face cu ei cele mai bune și mai sănătoase mese de romi. Economisește o mulțime de bani făcând acest lucru, dar ceea ce este foarte important pentru ea este că înseamnă că nu are nevoie să cumpere legume învelite din plastic - urăște orice este ambalat, deoarece nu vrea să meargă la depozitul de deșeuri. . Ea mi-a explicat că felul în care trăiește nu a fost niciodată o decizie conștientă de a „salva planeta”, ci doar modul în care se trăiește. Mi-a spus -
„Nu am vorbit cu adevărat despre schimbările climatice până acum și nu mi-am dat seama cât de mult ajut de fapt planeta!
De asemenea, avem propria noastră pompă de apă, este ușor de utilizat și nu trebuie să cumpărăm apă îmbuteliată. Avem una în grădina noastră, dar există și o pompă în mijlocul satului care produce apă proaspătă pentru comunitate. Uneori folosesc pompa comunității pentru că îmi place că sătenii se adună adesea în jurul pompei și ajung din urmă! ”
Poate ar trebui să avem unul în Govanhill?
Există, de asemenea, un accent mare pe biciclete în sat. Ea îmi spune că toată lumea merge cu bicicleta în sat și că „micul nostru sat nu este poluat de mașini”.
Glasgow mai are un drum lung de parcurs în această privință, dar este extraordinar faptul că recent s-a acordat mai mult spațiu pentru pistele de biciclete din zona noastră, precum și adăugarea recentă a depozitului pentru biciclete pe stradă.
În general, modul în care trăiește bunica mea este modul în care cred că ar trebui să trăim cu toții. Și nu doar pentru că se întâmplă schimbări climatice și trebuie să facem ceva. Dar pentru că ar trebui să ne dorim doar să trăim în acest fel.
Din păcate, mulți romi din Europa de Est nu au ocazia să trăiască în acest fel. Sunt forțați să trăiască în cele mai îngrozitoare și insalubre condiții, care pot fi văzute ca „rasism de mediu”. Aici romii sunt expulzați din orașe și forțați să trăiască în ghetouri care sunt deseori murdare și contaminate, cu acces puțin sau deloc chiar și la facilități de bază, cum ar fi apă curată și electricitate.
Această oribilă calitate a vieții demonstrează că deseori oamenii cei mai săraci și cei mai marginalizați au adus la masă cea mai mică poluare care trebuie să trăiască cu efectele poluării globale.
Prin urmare, activismul climatic trebuie să includă și activitatea anti-rasistă și trebuie să privim mai departe decât schimbările individuale pe care le facem stilului nostru de viață, trebuie să privească în afară modul în care ne putem ajuta frații și surorile care sunt forțați să trăiască în astfel de situații cumplite.
De asemenea, trebuie să facem schimbări mai mari pentru comunitatea din Govanhill și pentru viitorul planetei și al copiilor noștri.
CZECH
Mnoho Romů ve skutečnosti neví, jak moc přispívají ke komunitě a pomáhají v boji proti změně klimatu. Naši předkové žili ze země a brali si jen to, co potřebovali. Respektovali životní prostředí a okolní přírodu, která jim zajišťovala potřebnou výživu.
Moje babička Etica, stejně jako mnoho Romů, kteří žijí poblíž ní, žije v podstatě stejným způsobem. Žije v Semlacu, malé vesnici v západním Rumunsku. Více než 15 let pěstuje vlastní zeleninu a připravuje s ní nejlepší a nejzdravější romská jídla. Šetří tím spoustu peněz, ale co je pro ni také velmi důležité, je to, že to znamená, že nemusí kupovat žádnou zeleninu zabalenou v plastu - nesnáší vše, co je zabaleno, protože nechce, aby to šlo na skládku . Vysvětlila mi, že způsob, jakým žije, nikdy nebyl vědomým rozhodnutím “zachránit planetu“, byl to jen způsob, jakým člověk žije. Ona mi řekla“Dosud jsem o klimatických změnách nemluvil a neuvědomil jsem si, jak moc planetě skutečně pomáhám!
Máme také vlastní vodní čerpadlo, které se nám snadno používá a nemusíme kupovat balenou vodu. Máme jednu na zahradě, ale uprostřed vesnice je také čerpadlo, které chrlí čerstvou vodu pro komunitu. Někdy používám komunitní pumpu, protože se mi líbí, že se vesničané často shromažďují kolem pumpy! “
Možná bychom měli mít jeden v Govanhillu?
Ve vesnici je také velký důraz na jízdní kola. Říká mi, že ve vesnici jezdí všichni na kole a že „naše malá vesnice není znečištěná auty“.
Glasgow má v tomto ohledu ještě dlouhou cestu, ale je skvělé, že v poslední době je v naší oblasti věnován větší prostor cyklistickým stezkám a také nedávné přidání pouličního úložiště kol.
Celkově je způsob, jakým žije moje babička, myslím, že bychom měli žít všichni. A nejen proto, že dochází ke změně klimatu a musíme něco udělat. Ale protože bychom prostě měli chtít takhle žít.
Bohužel mnoho Romů ve východní Evropě nedostává příležitost žít tímto způsobem. Jsou nuceni žít v těch nejděsivějších a nehygienických podmínkách, které lze považovat za ekologický rasismus“. Zde jsou Romové vytlačováni z měst a měst a nuceni žít v ghettech, která jsou často špinavá a kontaminovaná, s malým nebo žádným přístupem k základnímu vybavení, jako je čistá voda a elektřina.
Tato strašlivá kvalita života ukazuje, že často jsou to ti nejchudší a nejvíce marginalizovaní lidé, kteří přinesli na stůl nejméně znečištění, kteří musí žít s důsledky globálního znečištění nejhlouběji.
Klimatický aktivismus proto musí zahrnovat také protirasistickou práci a musíme se dívat dále, než na individuální změny, které provádíme v našem životním stylu, musí se dívat navenek na to, jak můžeme pomoci svým bratrům a sestrám, kteří jsou nuceni žít v tak strašných situacích.
Musíme také provést větší změny pro komunitu v Govanhillu a pro budoucnost naší planety a dětí.
nejhlouběji
it is often the poorest and most marginalized people, who bring the least pollution to the table, that have to live with the effects of global pollution most deeply de cele mai multe ori sunt cei mai săraci și cei mai marginalizați, care aduc cea mai mică poluare la masă, care trebuie să trăiască cu efectele poluării globale cel mai profund
často jsou to nejchudší a nejvíce marginalizovaní lidé, kteří přinášejí na stůl nejméně znečištění, kteří musí žít s důsledky globálního znečištění
Debbie Ruzzak is one half of the husband and wife duo that comprise Seamster Vintage. Together, Debbie and Steven work to make and produce a fabulous upcycled range of clothing from their shop in the Cooperage at 674 Pollokshaws Road.
Hi Debbie! Tell me about what you’re wearing today.
Today I am wearing one of my most recent vintage finds. I was so excited by this, I had to buy it for myself! It’s a late 60s/early 70s orange Crimplene mini-dress with green and gold embroidered trim round the neckline and cuffs. It’s so fun and colourful and I feel it is definitely an outfit that sums me up perfectly.
Do you have a favourite article of clothing?
This is an impossible question to answer! I have so many pieces that I love. I am a great believer in dressing how you feel. So some days I will have on an elaborate silk dress and go full Stevie Nicks and other days I can feel just as great in a pair of high-waisted 80s ‘mom’ jeans with a Hawaiian shirt. Most of the time it will be colourful.
What accessory could you not live without?
I can mostly be seen cutting about the Southside with one of our big workbags. Like most of the products we make, they have been designed around our life and the things we needed but could never quite find. They are large enough to fit my sketchbooks, folders, lunchbox, headphones and any other random bits and pieces needed for a busy working parent. These have been a great addition to our handmade range as it means we can use the marvellous fabrics that may have been binned or lain unloved due to marks and holes. Using some clever zero waste pattern-cutting we give them a new life and offer a unique product to our customers.
Who’s your style icon?
Two very obvious influences on my style have always been David Bowie and Debbie Harry. I have always loved the absolute freedom that Bowie used in his fashion – no rules, just fun and colour and complete refusal to adhere to the norm. He had total fluidity through clothing. Debbie Harry has been a huge influence on my style too. As a broke musician in New York, she used to scour thrift shops and find incredible outfits from the 40s/50s teaming them with punk styles so you get this elegant society lady mixed with mad punk. It is definitely a look I would say describes me well.
Are your shop’s clothing style and your upcycled designs your personal style?
My style is a true reflection of the shop. We try very hard to offer everyday wearable vintage clothing and try to make it more the norm for people to shop more sustainably. It can be helpful for people to see how we style a lot of the items as often we put things together that folks may not have thought to do. This allows us to run a business in line with more sustainable practices and show that you don’t always have to buy new if you know that the vintage clothing you are purchasing is of a high quality.
Where do you get most of your clothes?
Honestly, the majority of my clothes come from the shop. It can be really difficult to not take all the fun home with us, so we try to
regulate what we wear from the shop and leave some of the gems for the customers.
How do you decide what to wear to the shop?
It really depends on what it is that we are working on that day There are days where we are stock processing so long floaty dresses can get in the way. A solid pair of jeans and some high tops are the best for moving stock, but when it’s the weekend or an event, I like to dress up a little more and show some of the styles we sell.
We are planning to present short, introductory courses in “Reading with a purpose” and “useful structured notes” , using digital books as practice materials and producing edited reviews in precis style for each book (up to 10% of the original length).
kennethtomory@gmail.com
DIGITAL LIBRARY over 10,000 titles selected for
I am planning to present short, introductory courses
To express interest in courses please contact: kennethtomory@gmail.com
Tauseeb Aslam, the Engagement Officer for Scottish Ethnic Minority Deaf Club (SEMDC), spoke to Ruth Cape and Jess Steele of the South East Integration Network, about SEMDC’s climate challenge work amongst the deaf ethnic minority community in Glasgow.
Concerns about climate change arose from SEMDC members after a workshop delivered in 2017 in which they identified three key areas to focus on in their ‘Y Waste’ Climate Challenge Fund project. These were energy efficiency, food waste and climate literacy. This project brought a minority population into a conversation from which they had previously been excluded.
‘Y Waste’ offered free support to help the ethnic minority deaf community of Glasgow and surrounding areas to move towards a low carbon lifestyle by reducing both energy use in the home and food waste going to landfill. Activities and community events served to increase understanding of climate change in the deaf ethnic minority community.
During the project, SEMDC and Home Energy Scotland worked together to create a referral process which was suitable for the deaf community. Prior to this there were barriers to accessing the service, which advises individuals how to efficiently use energy, water and transport.
SEMDC were also able to offer educational workshops to their members which greatly
increased their awareness and engagement in climate conversations. Tauseeb reflects:
“It was extremely gratifying to see members eagerly requesting more information on renewable energy. Prior to the educational workshops, renewable energy was a completely unknown term to many members.
“Their additional questions and information requests on the topic have confirmed that, as a result of the educational workshops, they are now able to fully comprehend the new terminology and concepts, and build on their knowledge to affect behavioural choices and influence changes which can have a positive effect on the environment.”
The project wasn’t without its challenges though: climate literacy proved complex to navigate due to it being a new subject to many members. As
(made-up gestures within the family). Some members have no signed language at all.
Lockdown brought its own challenges, with members unable to source or use new technology. This enhanced feelings of loneliness, isolation and anxiety. SEMDC adapted their programmes online and provided new equipment and training. They also ran a series of regular climate change workshops on a twice-weekly basis.
This project has officially ended, but SEMDC continues to provide climate-related support, including promoting the Home Energy Scotland referral service, providing specialist support including deaf relay communication and delivering information sessions. Speaking about the project, Tauseeb commented:
“The Climate Challenge Fund was a fantastic resource which helped SEMDC members to become aware of climate change. Our members require consistent education on climate change and continuous support to tackle energy efficiency and food waste issues. It is vital to continue this funding and ensure equal opportunities are open to all community groups. Because of ‘Y Waste’, the Scottish Government has better access to data and depth of information about the understanding of climate change and the experiences of people with protected characteristics like deafness.”
sign language is an evolving language there are often no signs for climate terminology or jargon. The process of translating from English to British Sign Language, to ensure clarity of information and translation, can take a long time. Word order, grammar and syntax differ completely. It requires repetition and reinforcement for understanding and often needs the services of both a BSL and Native Deaf relay interpreter.
On top of that, many of the SEMDC members are not fluent in BSL, and instead use their origin country’s sign language, or use only home signs
Aside from their environmental work, SEMDC have regular English/BSL classes, craft workshops, afternoon teas, and biweekly meetings.
The South East Integration Network (SEIN) is a network of community groups and organisations working across the south east of Glasgow providing services & activities to promote diversity & support community integration.
Interfaith Glasgow are one of SEIN’s 70+ member groups. Meet the rest of SEIN’s members at: www.seinglasgow.org.uk/meet-our-members
Long before the Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre was opened in Polmadie by Viridor in 2019, the site has been used for processing the city’s waste.
The Polmadie Refuse centre opened in 1958. This 22 acre plant consisted of a refuse disposal works, garage, vehicle repair workshop, vehicle lubrication block, vehicle washing stance and pump room, petrol and diesel installation, weighbridge and office, amenity block, boiler house and engineer's house.
Learning from the construction of power stations, Polmadie was the most advanced disposal works in the country at the time, in terms of keeping emissions low. That's what it says in the brochure anyway. The chimneys in this picture were pulled down to make way for the future of waste disposal in 2013.
To read more about how the current centre has stayed ahead of the curve by turning waste into heat and electricity through state-of-theart technology, read ‘The Power of Rubbish’ online or in Issue 2 of the magazine.
Do you have a favourite spot in Govanhill?
I’ve been going to Crema a lot and also the Transylvania Café. There is a fun vibe and they always have seasonal produce. The baked goods are also amazing... I feel like I’m getting fatter every time I go!
What was it like opening the café at the beginning of the pandemic?
That was a really bad time to open! But my dad wanted it opened for my mum’s birthday. He built it with my little brother from the ground up. Rather than hiring anyone, he put all his love and effort into it.
Have you had much support?
Yes, mostly family and community members come and help out when they can, including the Gurdwara. They bring fresh gulab-jammin and Indian sweets and help make samosas. We have a strong connection to the Gurdwara and the Langar kitchen.
Why did your family open a place on Victoria road? We’ve owned this property for a long time. It used to be an electronics repair shop where my dad would fix machines. But it was his dream, to make a space where my mum could do what she loved, which is to cook. It’s a stress reliever for her, and she loves hearing feedback. It makes her feel more confident in her skills.
How do you celebrate South Asian culture and cooking with this café?
We try and keep the traditions alive by making it festive during holidays like Diwali. The window has a traditional henna style pattern painted on it and then we’ve got the food as well!
What is your favourite part of working here?
What was your first impression of Govanhill?
I feel that the people here are lovely and so supportive. At first I was worried no one would come, but I’ve loved it so far. We try and keep it relaxed and friendly to encourage people to come in. I used to hear stories about this place, but it’s such a nice area and the park is lovely!
The customers. Honestly I just love chatting to them, hearing about their days, what they do, if they’re enjoying the food. And they get to know me too, asking how uni is. I get to meet people who are into the same subjects or topics I am interested in, then I end up finding opportunities or help with stuff!
Churnjit Kaur, affectionately known as Churn, works as a waitress for her familyrun business, the Vegan and Veg Café on Victoria Road.The café opened at the beginning of the pandemic, as a birthday gift for Churnjit’s mum. The family wanted to create a space where her cooking could be celebrated. The food is a homage to South Asian cooking, serving traditional dishes suitable for vegetarians and vegans, using healthy and organic ingredients. Interview by Sehar Mehmood Photos by Audrey Bizouerne
Daniel Radu
Photo by Simon Murphy
Interview by Rhiannon J Davies
Daniel Radu is one half of the couple behind Transylvania Shop and Coffee, which opened on Victoria Road in May 2020. Just as many businesses were considering closing up for good, Alex and Daniel took a leap of faith and, despite the challenges of the past year, their business has thrived. Not only that, but they have livened up the neighbourhood with their Christmas market, halloween spectacular and pride celebrations – taking just about any opportunity to bring something a little extra to Govanhill.
This photo forms part of Simon Murphy’s Govanhill series. Follow @smurph77 for more.
I used to go horse-riding all the time back home. This is where this outfit is from. I still have four horses back there. My plan is to find a wee farm and bring them here. The horses that have been at our events in Govanhill belong to a friend. They are all rescue horses and ponies.
In Romania, horses are an important part of our culture. They even have their own special day. On the 7th January, St John’s Day, horses are taken on a tour through the town and priests go out and bless them.
I am not a city boy, I’m from a village. I used to live in the Highlands. When we had to move to Glasgow in 2016, I started crying, saying ‘I hate it, I hate it’. But I got used to it.
I’ve been here for such a long time, this is my home. This is everything to me now. But I still like to go to Romania for holidays.
During the pandemic we were made redundant from our jobs in hotels. We looked at our savings and went to the bank to see if they would lend us more to start something of our own. I wanted to be independent. We weren’t sure how to introduce our food to new customers. When you come to our home, we always have a bottle of wine on the table and a platter with salami, cheese, eggplant, all sorts of food. We decided to do the same and offer everyone a chance to taste our products first.
We are Christian Orthodox. When we are fasting, we are not allowed to eat anything that comes from an animal. So we have lots of vegan food too.
Around 95 percent of our customers are British. It’s the opposite of most Romanian shops. People are even coming from Mull and Iona to buy things from our shop. It’s crazy.
I think it’s because we are different. Some people say it’s because we are gay. I think it’s because we offer something to the community. We are very open. We are always telling people that we are happy about where we come from.
We have decorations in our shop that belonged to my boyfriend’s great great grandmother. They’re more than 150 years old. Normally they are given to a daughter for her wedding present.
There’s a huge difference between the people in Transylvania and the people in Bucharest. We are much more relaxed. They alway seem like they’re running around. We’re not in a rush.
My grandma is very proud. But I can’t call her just my grandma. She is like my mother and my father too. She used to take care of us.
People are people. My grandma was very open minded about me being gay. Who cares what you’re doing as long as it’s not causing anyone harm.
We have big plans, but want to take everything step-by-step. We just opened a second shop, but if you go too fast, you get complaints. At the moment, this is enough.
There are not a lot of flowers on Victoria Road. Once I saw many bees trying to feed from the flowers for sale outside the hardware shop. I thought ‘there is something wrong here’. So I plan to put out barrels of flowers to attract more insects and birds.
I think we should all plant more trees. I used to buy Christmas trees that were on sale and plant them by the hotel we worked at in the Highlands. Earlier this year, I went to visit them and they were so big. It made me very happy.
We never had trouble, but some kids stole some flowers once. I was like ‘ok you can steal them, it doesn’t matter’. As long as they take care of them, they can steal them. What can I do?
I met Alex on Facebook through a mutual friend. We got chatting and after four days he flew to Bucharest to come and see me. He said he was coming to meet a friend, but he came to see me.
I feel like the shop is our baby. Even when we’re taking days off, if our staff are very busy, we’ll come in and help out. From working in hospitality, we know how to speak to customers, how to deal with complaints.
We have our standards. We clean everything. I think we’re a little obsessed. If the council are late, we’ll clean the street outside too. We are more than happy to do that here.
Many people have preconceptions about Romanians. We’ve had people tell us that if they had known that Romanians were like us, they wouldn’t have voted for Brexit. We changed their minds.
COMMUNITY CLIMATE ACTION IN GOVANHILL IS NOT JUST ABOUT GOING GREEN: IT IS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE
by Fraser Stewart
Imoved to Govanhill in the summer of 2017. At the time, my partner and I had lived in both Dennistoun and the city centre and were looking to move somewhere more affordable, slightly further out of town. We had been looking around the Southside, as skint young couples these days are wont to do, and found a few places that looked a good fit. One of those places was in ‘Big Bad Govanhill’
Before we had even been to the Southside, we had heard stories about Govanhill. Taxi drivers and many others were quick to suck their teeth and warn us of the state of the place; the litter, the run-down flats and closes, the hordes of ‘menacing men’ lining the pavements of Allison Street. The more emboldened would begin tirades about sex crime and trafficking. As someone who grew up working-class in a scheme, I find myself naturally drawn to places with a bit of ‘character’, but the stories we were fed made Govanhill sound like a warzone.
Most of those horror stories came from people who, it would invariably transpire, had never actually lived here. Due to a combination of being highly ethnically diverse and falling smackbang in the middle of Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency, Govanhill has served in recent times as a lightning rod for the ‘legitimate concerns’ mob. It’s hard to think of an area in Scotland that has been more baselessly targeted by racists, bigots and xenophobes than this one.
Whenever we spoke to people who actually lived here, though, they couldn’t speak about the area highly enough. We heard about the festival, the various cultures and carnivals, getting fed inordinate amounts of midnight snacks from neighbours during Ramadan, the community work that goes on in everything from tackling food poverty to teaching English as a foreign language, and how the area is generally not what its detractors make it out to be. Without rose-tinting anything too much, this is far closer to the Govanhill we’ve come to know and love deeply in these last few years.
As ever with Govanhill, the story is complex. Govanhill is a nuanced, homely and lively place, full of contradictions and coalescence alike. There are still issues – the slum landlords, the people like us moving in and driving the meteoric rise of rents (and artisanal bakeries), as well as an infuriating lack of council services, mostly around bins – but at its core, it is an area of real heart, solidarity and hospitality.
It is also an area that is more active against climate change than many places I’ve lived in. Turn just about any corner in Govanhill and you’ll meet someone running a community garden or trying to wrestle derelict land back from developers to create new green space. At the top of Victoria Road we have South Seeds, which runs community gardens but also helps low income households bring down their energy bills through efficiency measures. Cross the street and there’s a smorgasbord of cycling charities to choose from.
Undoubtedly, Govanhill is a community that cares about itself, its people and the environment in which we live. Maybe it’s a siege mentality, a response to people from the outside talking so often about what a disaster site Govanhill is, that stokes that sense of pride and civic responsibility. Whatever drives it, it has generally become a force for good for the planet and people alike.
When we think about the climate crisis, it can be easy to get lost in despair over this enormous, planetary problem – a problem
that feels insurmountable from our own homes and communities. But it’s in these spaces where real change begins. When we think about community gardens and cycling charities and outfits like South Seeds, all of whom do amazing work, it can be easy to think about how small their impact on global emissions is, compared to that of fossil fuel companies and governments intent on opening oil fields and coal mines. That’s fair. But these community initiatives mean so much more than that, especially in a place like Govanhill.
Climate action in communities serves a more fundamental purpose than reducing emissions or creating green, liveable spaces – important and positive as these things are. Community initiatives serve as social spaces, where people can come and feel part of something. Within those spaces, we can build solidarity and human connection. This not only makes us more resilient to deal with the pressures of climate change, which impact lowest-income and marginalised communities like Govanhill most sharply, but also more adequately equips communities to form the building blocks of the broad and inclusive coalition we need to make sure leaders act on climate urgently, fairly and equitably. It may feel small. It may feel insignificant. But community climate work serves a much bigger social, political and planetary purpose. And Govanhill has that work going on in spades.
There is one small caveat. While the work that goes on in Govanhill is visibly transformative, we still have a way to go to break out of the precarious middle-class bubble these initiatives can often unintentionally become. I mean this constructively and with love, and with awareness of the work being done to be more inclusive. But we still have more to do to bring along people from outwith the usual interest groups in the area and to recognise their needs, perspectives and concerns.
We can do more to involve the Roma community, to support them to take a lead in shaping their area, and to include diverse working-class residents who often find themselves on the outskirts of much of the work that goes on. We can bring more parts of the community on the journey, to bolster that solidarity and build something much bigger; to improve streets and homes and lives for everyone; to avoid squeezing local people any harder than they already have been by gentrifying forces; to take landlords and developers to task and to represent neglected perspectives more centrally in our community vision. This is crucial, and I believe key to maximising the wide-ranging impact this type of work can have.
In Govanhill, building those more inclusive networks serves one final, fundamental purpose. External forces have tried to create fissures between members of this community, stirring up xenophobia, racism and bigotry to seed division between the people that live here. Building solidarity and networks that are truly inclusive of everyone sends a powerful message. It strengthens our ties and lets all groups within the area know that we truly stand with them, equally and unequivocally. It brings together strands of a community in Govanhill that many have tried to rip apart. It makes clear that climate action is justice action, and that our vision for the future of this community is one that weaves these ideas intrinsically together.
With a little more work to bring people from all corners of Govanhill into the fold, community climate action can become an act of resistance against the growing pressures of gentrification and the negative forces that have long tried to pull us apart.
COMMUNITY INITIATIVES SERVE AS SOCIAL SPACES WHERE PEOPLE CAN COME AND FEEL PART OF SOMETHING
BUILDING SOLIDARITY AND NETWORKS THAT ARE TRULY INCLUSIVE OF EVERYONE SENDS A POWERFUL MESSAGE
Harassment from local children was one of the universal experiences reported by the trans people I spoke to. Jo, a 27-year-old genderqueer woman (she/her), recalled how: “Some kids tried to run me over in a toy car once, but they crashed into a tree.”
However, sometimes the interactions with local children can be more positive in unexpected ways, as reported by Hayden, a 21-year-old nonbinary lesbian (he/they):
“Once there was a kid who kept coming up to me to ask me if I was a boy or a girl and when I said I was a boy he high-fived me. This happened multiple times.”
Sometimes children’s parents can set an example that can contribute to them believing that harassment is acceptable. Heather, a 30-year-old trans femme (she/they), told me about an instance of this, which took place on Victoria Road in front of heavy pedestrian traffic:
“I was once told by a mother, outside with her two children: ‘You're a fucking disgrace and you should be ashamed of yourself.’ All I did was walk past her. Her two children stared at me with grinning malice as they went.”
of tolerance, acceptance and respect for one another; to try not to oppress anyone who is different regardless of what one individual’s or group’s opinions are of one another.”
Heather shared that Muslim women have been especially welcoming to her as a trans woman:
“The day after I came out, a hijabwearing colleague wore a t-shirt to work saying LOVE YOURSELF. And she did her best to let me know I was her colleague and that she respected and enjoyed my company. An older woman with Pakistani parents, told me that she learnt about transgender people when she'd visit her grandparents in Pakistan. She said she was initially confused, but her grandfather told her how they must be treated with utmost respect.”
There’s also a difference in terms of people passing in the street. Heather said that she no longer gets transphobic harassment because she holds herself confidently. When she does get harassed, it’s on the rare occasions she leaves Govanhill.
As a “six foot eight trans person whose style choices include not wearing much at all and the not too often exposure of tiny breasts” Mallaidh said it would get abuse and harassment wherever it lived, but that “it’s actually pretty chill here.”
Trans people in the UK live in a hostile environment. Newspapers regularly publish articles using the same attacks that were used against gays and lesbians in the 1980s. Certain wealthy celebrities use their platforms to speak out against trans rights, and a very vocal group of so-called feminists argue for the right to discriminate against trans people.
But what is it like for a trans person to live in the Govanhill area? I got in touch with some local members of the trans community to find out about their experiences – both good and bad.
“I had a lovely interaction with some kids in the park,” says Mallaidh, a 30-year-old non-binary person who uses ‘it’ pronouns. “They asked if I was a boy or a girl, and I said that I was neither. They then asked if I was gay, and to keep things simple I said yes. They looked at me disgustedly and said ‘gross’ then ran away.”
While most trans people would be offended if you referred to them as ‘it’, feeling it to be dehumanising and insulting, some trans people use ‘it’ as their pronoun, just as others use he, she, they, or other pronouns.
Mallaidh shared that adults are not always vocal with their negative reactions: “They stand and stare disapprovingly, often with a disgusted look, or they wait for me to pass before bursting into laughter and suddenly going silent when I turn to look. Others get up in my face and make various comments or simply shout that I'm a man as they walk by, though this is more common mid-evening as opposed to the morning or afternoon.”
Despite all of these incidents of harassment, many of the trans people I spoke to consider the Govanhill area to be a good place to live as a trans person, especially in terms of the diversity of the community.
Mallaidh compared its experience of living in Belfast, which it described as a “very white and Christian place” where people are often “aggressive and violent” with living in Govanhill:
“With its more recent population of hipsters and queers, and the numerous people of various ethnicities and religions that have lived in this area for decades, I feel there's a very good level
Finally, some of the trans and queer supportive businesses in the area have made a big difference to local trans people. Melissa, a 26-year-old genderfluid person (they/them) who has lived in the Southside all their life, said:
“When Category Is Books established in the area, I felt so welcomed by both Fin and Charlotte. Category Is Books does so much for the trans community by just being there, especially as a disabled trans person.”
Trans people face harassment wherever they live, and Govanhill is no exception. However, the diversity of the community makes it a positive place to be trans.
The Small Trans Library has created a grocery fund for trans people in Glasgow. If you’re looking to support local trans people by donating, or if you’re a trans person looking to access the fund, you can find the information here: www.smalltranslibrary.org
If you are a trans person in the Southside and looking to connect with other local queer and trans people, you can join the Facebook group ‘Queers Park’: www.facebook.com/groups/queers.park
Some of the names in this article have been changed for anonymity. By Mina BairdWhen my son turned six recently, I took him for a milkshake at the café down the road. It was one of those days when the rain came down in hard torrents and we watched as puddles turned into rivers outside.
“Mummy,” he said, “does this mean Bangladesh is getting smaller?”
“Yes,” I said. “Yes, it does.” We finished our drinks.
When small children are processing the catastrophic impact of human activity on the world's climate as part of their daily conversation, you know that times are changing – and fast. The enormity of the situation that faces us (and I say “us”, knowing that many are facing it in far starker, far more tragic ways than I am at this moment) can feel too big to contemplate. But there are ways to arm yourself – with knowledge, with mutual motivation, and with a way to grieve the loss of what we knew without losing the will to fight for a future.
The climate crisis is huge and scary. Even the most environmentally aware of us instinctively want to suppress that fear, to put it on the bottom of the mental list and wish it would go away. But one of the most constructive things we can do for our mental health – and for facing the future – is to engage with the facts. Leading researcher and climate psychology expert Dr. Nadine Andrews calls this ‘adaptive coping’ and argues that we shouldn’t box away the powerful emotions the climate crisis evokes. Quite the opposite – we need those feelings to drive positive action.
Whether it’s a back lane, a spot in the park you particularly love, a community garden or even a houseplant, focus on the nature that you can nurture. By taking the time to care for the places and living things in our immediate environment, we can help shift our focus from the cacophony of doom that fills news feeds, not only improving our mental health but helping to strengthen local ecosystems. Sometimes it’s just as important to focus on what we can control.
You already know to turn the thermostat down and get on top of your recycling. But as galling as it is, fundamental changes to the way we live our lives are important (even though it’d help if Big Government got on board too). Moving to a plant-based diet and reducing food waste have been pointed to in the recently-published report from the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as two of the most important shifts you can make at home. Get a WhatsApp group on the go to keep the motivation up among friends. Shop locally for the meals you need and no more. Fall back in love with the charity shop trawl. You can do it!
Not everyone takes action in the same way, but it’s easier to make an impact together. Seek out local activities and groups that work for you – whether that’s
By Clare Harris Illustrations by Suzie Cichyyour local climate action group or Parents for Future, which is aimed at getting the climate on the agenda in educational settings. You could get involved with the COP26 Coalition, which is crowdfunding to bring Global South delegates to the COP26 conference in November. The Climate Fringe website is packed with events in Glasgow and beyond. These look at the issue of climate change and COP26, and present ways to meet and hear from campaigners, thinkers, artists and more.
Despite our myriad flaws, human beings are clever things. Do we deserve a future on this planet after what we’ve done to it? That’s debatable. But whenever I feel particularly nihilistic about the prospect of climate breakdown, I talk to friends, go see some art, remind myself of local community and of the strength of support networks. One of the positive emotions that tends to emerge at times of crisis is compassion. And that’s what will carry us through.
The Climate Psychology Alliance is a brilliant organisation that helps make sense of the impact on our mental health that the climate crisis can have –and what we can do about it. Head to their website or their Scottish Facebook page, which has regular updates on events, talks and webinars: www.climatepsychologyalliance.org
how well do you know the ‘green lungs’ of Govanhill?
There’s a racetrack, sort of. Ever wondered about the oval area ringed by the low fence just next to the Victoria Road entrance? It’s now full of exasperated dog owners clambering over the fence to retrieve naughty doggos, but it was actually made for four-legged friends of a different kind. In the 1960s, ponies would carry excited kids around the circuit all day long.
The beds of the Poetry Rose Garden form the shape of a thistle.
This lovely area of the park features carved stones carrying quotes from 12 famous Scottish poets through the ages, from Robert Burns to Violet Jacob. Since it was built, trees have grown that obscure the view from the air, so its thistle layout can no longer be seen, but it’s fun to wander around the garden, take in the carvings and try to work it out.
Not all castles are made of stone.
The view from the flagpole goes all the way to the Trossachs.
On a clear day up at the flagpole, visitors may be able to make out the sound of people arguing about which mountain is which when looking north. What isn’t debatable is that the view is incredible, with the Campsie Fells looming across the northern horizon, and a gap to their left revealing the distant Trossachs and the southernmost of the Munros.
The Halabja Tree commemorates those killed in the largest chemical attack against civilians in history.
In 1988, one of the final atrocities of the Iran-Iraq war saw thousands of Kurdish civilians killed in the Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq. The Friends of Kurdistan (Scotland) group planted the tree opposite the old farmhouse near the eastern bowling greens in remembrance. As well as another nearby tree planted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the UN, there’s also an unmarked beech tree planted by Belgian refugees in the First World War. More recently, a rose tree and plaque have been installed to mark the Roma Genocide Memorial Day.
Birds and beasts abound.
Many of the higher parts of the park – known as Hill 60 – feel like wild places, with uncut grass and wildflowers. They are deliberately managed this way, so that many different types of plants and animals can thrive. Uncut grass encourages flowers, which in turn bring insects, then birds, frogs and other wee beasties to join the party. This much biodiversity makes each species stronger than they would be alone.
The north-west side of the upper hill— the wooded bit with all the big trees— contains the remains of an ancient earthwork construction that’s thought to be from the Norman period, or even earlier. Excavators in the 1950s said that it can “best be described as a clay castle”, though later archaeologists have concluded that it was probably made of wood and clay.
There’s a tunnel beneath the park big enough for a doubledecker bus.
Following severe flooding in 2002, a plan was made to dig a vast wastewater tunnel beneath the south of Glasgow. Finally finished in 2018, the Shieldhall tunnel is five times as long as the Clyde Tunnel and runs from Craigton to Queen’s Park.
It’s not named after the Queen that you might think it is.
Although the park was opened in the reign of Queen Victoria, it’s actually named after a different monarch. The hilltop in Queen’s Park was where the Earl of Moray’s army gathered before entering into battle with that of Mary Queen of Scots in 1568. Mary’s army was badly defeated and three hundred of her men died. An unverified rumour has it that they were buried in an area of marshland that is now the duck pond.
Words and photos by Mikey Jarrell Translated into Arabic by Mada Basbous & Mohamed AlIssa
When I was growing up, travelling the world was always something I thought I wanted to do. Venturing to far-flung places seemed to grant a sense of worldliness and wisdom, which those who stayed rooted in the same place could never hope to achieve.
I absorbed travelogues in which global citizens recounted how their overseas adventures had expanded their horizons and helped them find themselves. As the rise of cheap flights made the world more accessible, I imagined myself one day riding a motorbike across South America and discovering my political convictions like Che Guevara, or stumbling across the pristine, pure shoes of a south-east Asian lagoon like Leo in The Beach.
In the Instagram era, timelines are filled with ‘inspirational’ quotes like: “Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport”, the words superimposed onto pictures of beach huts and waterfalls. The social pressure to jet off to exotic locales and enjoy once-in-a-lifetime experiences has only increased.
Crucially, travel isn’t sold as something solely beneficial to the individual. Instead it is a way of bringing people together, of breaking down outdated national barriers, helping create a new cosmopolitan global society, spreading economic prosperity, and promoting cross-cultural understanding.
While international travel unquestionably does many of these things, there is nonetheless a dark side that cannot be ignored. Eight percent of global carbon emissions can be attributed to the tourism sector. And, prior to Covid at least, aviation was one of the fastest growing causes of emissions.
In light of the dire warnings from climate scientists and the cataclysmic extreme weather events that have struck many parts
of the globe this summer, it is clear that an immediate move away from environmentally harmful activities is needed.
No matter the wider benefits it may bring, it is hard to argue that recreational air travel is essential. In fact, it is a massive privilege; in 2018, only 11 percent of the world’s population stepped onto a plane.
The relentless pile-up of alarming news around climate change can easily trigger hopelessness and apathy: when those in power have failed to make the difficult decisions required for meaningful change, why should I forgo one of life’s great pleasures? But change has to start somewhere. In the grand scheme of things, I may be powerless to save the world, but I can choose not to contribute to the problem. Given that a plane ticket is just about the most carbonheavy thing a consumer can buy, one of the best ways I can do this is by not flying.
I’m fortunate that this is an easy decision for me. If my family lived overseas it would be a different story. But how can I stay on the ground and not end up with narrowed horizons and a sense of claustrophobia? People say: “Why not get the train to Europe?” But until the obscene price discrepancy between train and air tickets is addressed, this option will not be viable for many people. The cost of getting from Glasgow to London is prohibitive enough, and that’s before you’ve even left the UK.
Travel can be interpreted as more than just physically displacing oneself from one location to another. Renouncing the act of flying doesn’t mean closing the mind to new experiences and different cultural perspectives. Art, culture and creativity have the power to open our eyes and send us on a journey to other worlds. Those of us who live in a diverse, multicultural place like Glasgow, and especially Govanhill, are blessed with the vibrant cultural perspectives of peoples and communities from across the world.
I may never visit the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, West Africa or Eastern Europe, but I can step out of my front door and taste their cuisines from a diverse range of local restaurants. Perhaps I won’t pick up some new vocabulary to fit in with the locals on holiday, but I can meet new people from across the world and practice conversation in language meet-up groups. I might not explore the world’s greatest art galleries, or experience famous cultural festivals, but I can enjoy an abundance of multicultural events and exhibitions here in my local community. There may be higher mountains and sunnier beaches elsewhere, but Scotland still has so many beautiful places to visit.
Once we get used to a certain level of material comfort and technological capacity, it can be very hard to give it up. But taking a moment to stop and reflect can be a sobering experience: here I am, feeling hard done by because I can no longer get in a massive flying machine which soars over the clouds at incredible speed and transports me to the other side of the planet. For the vast majority of human history, people have not been able to fly; most people alive today have never flown. But you can still experience different cultures, right here in Govanhill.
Take a trip – on foot or by bike – along the South City Way and journey into the heart of the local community. You may decide to take a rest on your way to the shops by the beautifully decorated planters or smell the flowers as you cycle into Govanhill. You might feel like dancing your way to school or stop and chat to a neighbour while you admire a mural.
These are just some of the ways that organisations local to the South City Way have contributed to shared community spaces – all of which encourage people to slow down, take a walk, connect with other people and take a rest.
Active travel isn’t just about getting from A to B to reduce our carbon footprint. We also need to create quality places as an important part of tackling climate change. If we are to focus on the local – and therefore reduce our emissions, invest in community business and share skills and resources – we need places that are attractive and inspiring.
The average pavement, road or cycle lane doesn’t inspire a sense of community. It is a conduit; a channel designed to carry you from one place to another, with as little fuss as possible. When construction began on South City Way – the 3km cycle route from Queen’s Park to the city centre – Sustrans and Glasgow City Council wanted to make sure it was more than just a way to get from home to work, school or the shops. They wanted it to become a part of the community.
So, the Small Grants Fund was born. Available to community groups and organisations throughout the area, the grants were intended to give people a chance to take ownership of the public spaces along the South City Way.
Organisations responded in different ways and went even further than expected thanks to the passion and enthusiasm of the community. People produced temporary knitting, ran cycle-confidence sessions, set up a cargo bike for local deliveries and created permanent art works and planting.
The results are incredible. Spaces which were blank tarmac and walls have been occupied by murals, planters, even a new garden terrace on Albert Avenue. They animate the spaces that might be used for social gatherings, performances and spilling out of local cafes.
The grants don’t just support the community, they also encourage people to make travel choices which are healthier and better for the environment. Bikeability classes enabled people to learn or re-learn how to cycle and to build confidence using the South City Way. Anne Milne has encouraged people to slow down and enjoy the space around them with the ‘Wander in Wonder’ audio walk.
All of this – spaces to enjoy, wide pavements, safe cycle lanes and an environment that makes people feel at home – makes it easier to choose travel options that will help to reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions.
A new walking trail (details overleaf) showcases everyone who created something for the good of the community and highlights where you can visit all the permanent projects. Pull out the map and guide found on the following pages and take yourself on a tour of the creativity and community spirit of Govanhill.
Recently, Lauren Macdonald caused a stir when she confronted Nicola Sturgeon at the opening of the Govanhill Carnival. She asked her to oppose the opening of Cambo, a new oil field off the coast of Shetland. The exchange put the First Minister on the back foot and, after the confrontation went viral, she asked the UK government to 'reassess' the project. Against the recommendations of the Climate Change Committee, Boris Johnson rebuffed this request and plans to continue with the expansion of oil production in the North Sea. I caught up with Lauren – a Glasgow native who splits her time between campaigning and working as a historical researcher – to find out why she felt compelled to act, and what she thinks needs to be done to overcome the climate and ecological emergency.
What got you involved with this movement?
“I was sick of politicians getting away with making empty promises and taking no meaningful action on climate change. I’m twenty-one years old and I’m scared for my future. Already we are seeing the negative effects of climate change across the world, and things are only going to get worse. I don’t want to wake up twenty years from now in a burning world thinking, ‘Did I do enough?’.
I started my activism with the school strikes and, after giving a speech to a few hundred people, I realised the power movements could have. Young people didn’t need to wait for someone else to come and help: we could do it ourselves. This led to me becoming involved with the more radical groups Extinction and Animal Rebellion, and eventually with Stop Cambo and Green New Deal Rising which led me to the confrontation with Nicola Sturgeon.”
Why Cambo in particular?
“The International Energy Agency recently stated that in order to stay below the 1.5 degrees celcius temperature increase there must be no new investment in fossil fuels – and Cambo is exactly that. It is expected to create a level of pollution equivalent to 16 coal fired power plants running for a year and is due to extract 170 million barrels of oil in its first period of extraction. This is oil we can’t afford to burn.
We want Nicola Sturgeon to oppose Cambo as we want to move away from fossil fuels now, not 25 years in the future. Opposing Cambo would show that the Scottish government is acting seriously and is willing to take the definitive action needed.”
But what about the oil workers? Won’t they be out of a job?
“This is where the idea for a Green New Deal comes in. People need to remember that we are on the side of compassion and fairness. We don’t want anyone to be out of a job. We want our governments to plan a just transition away from fossil fuels, which includes giving oil workers retraining and opportunities for work in green jobs. We do not want to see a repeat of closing the coal mines. Everyone agrees that we need to transition soon, but we must do it in a fair way which does not leave oil workers out in the cold. The Green New Deal is not just about tackling climate change, but about creating a society that is better and fairer.”
Climate change is something that worries a lot of people. What are some things that people can do if they want to get involved?
“I would recommend getting involved with the climate movement. Stop Cambo and Green New Deal Rising are good places to start as we are always looking for new people to help and we have a real chance of preventing this destructive new oil field and pushing the government to start a just transition.
We have already done so much damage that we can’t prevent climate change completely. It is important then, to think about what your community could be doing to prepare and how you could help. The most important thing is to talk to other people who are also worried because being part of a community of people who are working together on an issue is empowering and it makes you realise how strong we are when we come together. Individual change can also be empowering and is a good stepping stone into collective action. It is important to change our own behaviour and lifestyle, but the climate crisis is too big for individuals to fight alone. To achieve the level of change required we must come together and I would ask anyone who is concerned to start taking action now. We don’t have any time left.”
the green new deal is not just about tackling climate change but about creating a society that is better and fairer.
How one group of residents transformed their shared space
by Annie Tothill
Photos by Ginny Allwood
Enter the Crosshill Quad through the back door of a close and you’ll see a grassy mound surrounded by planters, trees and a carefully edged path. Sometimes children will be playing out, squirting each other with water pistols or collecting insects. Someone might be eating their lunch on the picnic bench or lounging in the sun reading a book. There is a ‘to do list’ on the community noticeboard of jobs that need doing.
Surrounding the mound, each yard is different; a gardener’s paradise full of vegetables, flowers and herbs or a freshly mown lawn and washing line for drying clothes. Painted bin sheds and fences brighten up the space, especially in the winter months.
A Facebook group with 176 members is regularly used for sharing garden produce, giving away household items and inviting people to litter pick the surrounding streets. But how did the quad become this sanctuary for more than 200 residents of Cathcart Road, Albert Road, Eskdale Street and Dixon Road to enjoy? We spoke to several people to find out…
One neighbour says when he moved in the quad in 2014, it was far from the beautiful communal space it is today: “It was full of furniture and fridges and nappies and rotting fish and dead birds. And rightfully everyone around it disowned it and said it wasn’t to do with them.”
He joined attempts to clean up the quad and make it a space that people could use, following in the footsteps of neighbours who had started strimming the mound and planting wildflowers:
“I found that there was this path that was totally buried, and I thought if I can clear the path and cut the grass then it might be a space people want to use. An informal group formed with the view that if we can get rid of the rubbish, cut the grass, paint the fences, we’d have a good blank canvas.”
South Seeds supported residents’ efforts through a community consultation, building planters and providing composters. They set up a Facebook group which allowed people to organise clean-ups and more neighbours to get involved. A constituted group was formed, the Crosshill Quad Committee, with its own bank account to pay for supplies such as paint for the bin sheds.
An active member of the Crosshill Quad Committee describes how the look and feel of the space can transform people’s attitudes: “It’s one thing to be clearing the rubbish, the next step is making it nice. If you clear up, then people might think there’s more space for dumping rubbish. But if you make it look like a garden, people know not to dump rubbish in gardens.” She recommended planting big flowers like sunflowers and poppies early on to bring colour into a shared outdoor space.
“This place has been really important to me in terms of getting to know neighbours, making friends, being outside, bringing wildlife in and having a space to go to. A lot of people don’t have the knowledge that you need to maintain a tenement flat. This was a hub to be able to do that, learn myself and pick up knowledge of other people.
Another resident also reflected on how essential the quad became to people during lockdown: “We never for a minute imagined that we’d have a year of lockdown. When we were closed in, it was literally at the centre of our world. Several times when I was off work I could just go outside and read a book, and before long someone would come out and see how you were.”
What’s next for the quad? New ideas are popping up all the time, such as the shared tool shed for gardening and maintenance of the mound. As one neighbour said:
“It’s there to get as many people involved as possible, build it and they will come! One of our neighbours dumped a wardrobe and we repurposed it and painted it.”
“It would be great to do workshops on tenement maintenance in the back garden. Project a film on a wall and share knowledge in a more communal way.”
Coming up with future plans is, in the words of one resident: “a case of ‘what do the community want, what would benefit the community?’ It’s a collective space for us all to enjoy together.”
If you are a resident of the Crosshill Quad and want to join the Facebook group or find out more about the committee, contact: crosshillquadcommunity@gmail.com
“This place has been really important to me in terms of getting to know neighbours, making friends, being outside, bringing wildlife in and having a space to go to.”
“This place has been really important to me in terms of getting to know neighbours, making friends, being outside, bringing wildlife in and having a space to go to.”
Recent heat waves, wildfires and floods in the world’s wealthier countries have brought the climate catastrophe home to people in the West in a devastating fashion. A problem previously deemed only to be affecting the Global South is suddenly also on our doorsteps.
Capitalism, with its drive for profit and endless growth, is the cause of environmental destruction. The fact that new oil and gas projects are being approved while the planet is burning further demonstrates this cold logic.
However, a major challenge to the belief that profits must come before all other considerations is now emerging. Increasing numbers of people are beginning to question the apparent inalienable right of corporations to make money at any cost. In the last couple of years, whether through youth climate strikes, Extinction Rebellion (XR) or other climate protests, tens of thousands of people have taken to our streets.
Despite the gloomy predictions of ecological disaster, it’s an exciting time for environmental activism. Lockdowns aside, it has been truly inspiring to see young people around the world seize the initiative, telling us that not all is lost, and that we can fight to win a better world.
The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) is set to meet in Glasgow at the beginning of November. This UN-organised gathering can be derided as a talking shop on how to tackle climate change, but it is also a battleground for ideas and action. The event will be met by an enormous wave of action, organised under the umbrella of the COP26 Coalition.
The immediate priority for anyone who cares about the planet is to get onto the streets and demand an international agreement underpinned by climate justice that makes a real difference to ordinary people’s lives.
But what happens after the talks? I caught up with Alex Cochrane from XR in Glasgow to discuss the future.
DO YOU THINK THE COP26 MECHANISM OFFERS ANY HOPE FOR ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING TO SAVE THE PLANET?
“There’s always hope, but so far it looks like failure is already hardwired into the conference. The UK leadership is a shambles but they’re not even in the top league of problem countries.
It’s amazing how many warning signs the planet is giving us, yet there’s hardly a single expert who thinks that enough is being done. But you have to keep fighting and it would be a trap to dismiss COP26 as a failure. Things would be even worse without it, and our voices are being heard through our protest. What’s so frustrating is that we’re facing a ghastly future but it’s possible to fix it.
No one thinks COP26 will be enough of a success. But we will push them as hard as we can, take what we can and keep going afterwards. One day, when we think we’ve lost, we may look back and realise that’s when we won. So there’s always hope.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA AT COP26 PROVIDE A HUGE SPOTLIGHT. HOW CAN ACTIVISTS TAKE ADVANTAGE?
“There’s an amazing and powerful simplicity in standing up to the rich and powerful and saying we are here and we will not be silenced. We speak for our people, our communities in solidarity with each other. There are so many ways people can get involved. XR is hosting events and hubs, and everyone is welcome to come along and join in and speak to us.
The COP26 Coalition is organising a Day of Global Action on 6 November through its network of hubs across the UK, and of course in Glasgow. XR will be there with all our noise, colour and spectacle. If XR are not your cup of tea then there will also be loads of other environmental organisations. There will be lots of cultural and educational events, protest actions, social events and digital activism.”
A POPULAR SLOGAN AT XR ACTIONS IS ‘SYSTEM CHANGE NOT CLIMATE CHANGE’. HOW DO WE GO ABOUT CHANGING THE SYSTEM?
“XR’s solution to this is through Citizens’ Assemblies which empower citizens to take the lead and politicians to follow with less fear of political backlash. They provide us, the people, with a way to decide what’s best for our future, even if that requires radical changes in the present.
Moreover, because they are informed and democratic, the Citizens’ Assembly’s decisions will provide political cover and public pressure for politicians to set aside the usual politicking and do the right thing.”
How can this energy become a sustained movement that actually forces the changes the planet so desperately requires?
“Good question and better minds than mine are looking at this. You can tell XR is having an impact when the UK government brings in authoritarian legislation designed to chill our protests and actions.
The problem for world governments is that there’s only so long they can bluster, lie and repress their way out of this. The reason why XR exists is getting louder by the hour. One way or another, change is coming.”
By Kev Kiernan
Now in their tenth year, Locavore has grown from a tiny shop in Shawlands to a business employing 100 people, which sells organic produce, much of it locally produced, from shops in Govanhill, Partick and Garnethill. As well as selling we also deliver around 7000 veg boxes across central Scotland. Earlier this year, we published a plan to have ten shops, the ability to deliver to four times as many veg box customers, and to work towards being carbon negative by 2023.
Expansion and growth might sound like pretty standard business plans, but Reuben Chesters, Locavore’s founder and Managing Director, explains the key difference from mainstream supermarkets: “Within Scotland we’ll be one of the biggest retailers, wholesalers and veg box schemes of our kind with an important position to play in the development of the organic market. We’ll also be a model for how to do business properly, a leading social enterprise, and a more prominent and influential voice calling for a fairer and more sustainable society.”
In a point made repeatedly through campaigning and lobbying work, the current food system works very well for multinational companies and big businesses, but not so well for the people relying on it. People working in food production and retail are often some of the most poorly paid. For any business with shareholders, the focus is to make profits, cut overheads, pay the lowest prices that can be negotiated, and to take money out of local economies.
In contrast, Locavore uses customer money to ensure a fair price is paid to everyone. It pays all staff at least the Real Living Wage, and supports a whole network of small scale producers with the same values.
This use of growth for positive change goes beyond economics – look at dairy farmers Mossgiel, supported by Locavore as they moved from the Big Dairy model, which focuses on low-cost and high yield, to a more traditional approach focussed on high animal welfare and regenerative agriculture. Alongside Locavore they have recently announced their first public procurement contract, providing sustainable organic produce for East Ayrshire schools.
It might be an overused expression, but in this case, every little really does help – switching a few pounds of spending away from the big supermarkets helps to fund changes in our local communities, puts more power back in the hands of producers and shows there can be a better way to feed ourselves.
Impact Coordinator at Locavore CIC
by Jude Mckechnie, administrations officer, GBCT
Photos by Martyna Maz
At Govanhill Baths Community Trust, we believe that through harnessing the skills, experience, and expertise of local people, we can find just and creative solutions to climate change. The goal? To live in a way that serves both the environment and each of us who depend on it.
Within the Govanhill community alone, there are countless climate groups, initiatives, and opportunities to get involved in the struggle for the planet which should make you feel optimistic.
It is pivotal that we, not only as individuals, but as a whole community, collectivise our response to global warming. We have a number of climate projects being run around sustainability and climate activism that we would welcome and encourage you to be involved in.
In the lead up to COP26, each of our projects will seek to unite artists, makers, workers, parents, pupils, teachers, and anyone else who wants to work towards a greener, more sustainable, and circular economy.
We have an opportunity with COP26 to rally together and demand governments prevent the pillaging of resources! We encourage you to get involved in community activism and our projects. We want “System Change Not Climate Change!”
Rags to Riches has provided educational programmes for over a decade linked to reusing domestic textile waste. It has grown into a social enterprise which provides opportunities for people to generate income by giving value to waste that would previously have gone to landfill. The employment of a circular economy model is at the forefront of the strategy to empower local people and create economic opportunities for local makers while simultaneously reducing and reusing waste.
The Uphub seeks to provide educational programmes to schools and community groups around climate change and waste reduction.
This is Not a Craft Market at the Deep End is a monthly market, on the third Saturday of each month, hosting some of Glasgow's most brilliant local makers and creatives.
The BIG ZERO WASTE MARKET held on the first Saturday of every month features everything from innovative zero-waste design and creative collectors to vintage and antiques – celebrating the idea that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!
Climate Cafes will be taking place in the lead up to COP26 as we try and think what tools we as a community have at our disposal to act against climate change. These are informal meetings, open to everyone interested or concerned about the effects of climate change on our environment, and how this is making us think and feel. More details on the ‘what’s on’ pages at the end of this magazine!
The People’s Pantry is a membership-led shop that provides good quality food at a subsidised rate. The aim of the Pantry is to empower its members to take control of their food system, and to celebrate and enjoy food, whilst also minimising food waste. It’s run by the community, for the community, so if you have any thoughts or ideas or would like to be involved please email peoplespantry@govanhillbaths.com.
With not long to go before world leaders gather in Glasgow for COP26, the global climate summit, the debate should be about the bold and transformative actions that are needed to build a world economy that’s sustainable, and able to meet human needs without destroying the rest of the living world around us.
These conferences have been taking place for decades, and the result has too often been the same; hope is built up, and then dashed. That mustn’t be the pattern this time.
We’re now long past the point of recognising that climate change is real, is serious, and that “something must be done.” Those facts have been beyond reasonable doubt since before the first COP, and over time the fraudulent climate denial industry, largely funded by fossil fuel interests, has declined in influence. When the conference met in Paris, it agreed that we must limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, but it’s strikingly obvious that current policies are far short of the mark to achieve that. The developing science paints an even more alarming picture now than it did when the Paris Accord was signed.
With Donald Trump gone from the White House and the US ready to at least return to the talks, the Glasgow COP takes place at a moment of both opportunity and urgency.
But what do we see from the UK Government, which is formally the host of the summit? Boris Johnson’s highest profile statement on this issue was at last year’s Climate Ambition Summit, an online event co-hosted with the UN, at which he denounced “tree hugging, mung bean munching eco-freaks”. Recently, his spokesperson Allegra Stratton started lecturing people about rinsing their dishes before they put them in the dishwasher (obviously unaware that most people don’t have one). Then, on a visit to Scotland, the Prime Minister actually started making jokes about the closure of coal mining under Margaret Thatcher, as though cutting emissions justified the brutal consequences.
People on the left in Scotland are often criticised for going on about Thatcher. And sure, it was a long time ago. We all still live with the consequences, but few people under 50 will have much memory of the politics of those days. It can be hard to relate to.
But the comments above stand out to me, not for anything they say about the 1980s, but for what they say about the UK Government’s values today. To them, climate action is about little individual lifestyle choices, yet anyone who goes ‘too far’ is fair game to be ridiculed by the most powerful person in the country. They see the mass unemployment and generational poverty caused by deindustrialisation as just a price worth paying. Their kind of individualism places all the responsibility on the shoulders of those who have the least power, and point-blank refuses to invest in the collective wellbeing of the communities we all depend on.
by Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow Region
Any serious response to the climate emergency will result in economic change. But any government which puts people’s wellbeing first will invest to build a new economy, one which offers livelihoods that can last for the long term. It will create the prosperity to meet people’s needs without trashing the planet, instead of serving only the short term greed of the wealthiest.
Let’s think about what this means for our own communities. Cutting energy use is still one of the best things we can do to reduce emissions, especially as we shift more demand away from fossil fuels and toward electricity. It’s also one of the best things we can do to help people cut their bills, at a time when Ofgem has recently approved the biggest price hike in years. But in a city dominated by tenements and flats, many in poor condition and with mixed tenure, leaving this to individuals is a recipe for failure. Only those with enough spare cash will invest in improving their homes or switching to cheaper renewables, so the emission cuts won’t happen and inequality will get worse.
It’s only through investment at community scale – by the government and by forcing it from energy companies – that we’ll get the environmental and social benefits we need. Putting the energy companies into community hands would make this so much easier, ensuring that the profits of the industry are invested in all our interests.
Transport also suffers from this individualistic mindset. So much emphasis is placed on electric cars and charging points, when most of our city’s households don’t have access to a car, and many more wish they didn’t need one. Private car use isn’t going away, but for far too long it has taken priority over investment in solutions for the whole community – affordable and accessible public transport, and streets that are safe and clean to walk, wheel and cycle.
I could make similar arguments on everything from housing to food, and from land ownership to the financial services that drive investment in every part of our economy. Community scale solutions, and community ownership, are so often the way to ensure that people’s wellbeing, and the health of the world around us, come first.
Years before the first COP was even thought of, Greens of my mother’s generation were already making the case for the changes we need. If the world had listened then, it could have been done slowly, gradually, and much more easily. But the world didn’t listen, and that’s why we’re living in a climate and ecological emergency that requires far greater urgency than any country is yet showing.
Each of us can choose to make small choices that do less harm, and that’s great. But the next time you hear someone in power – whether in government or in big business – trying to push all the responsibility on you and your individual choices, let’s turn it back on them, and demand the truly transformational change that’s so long overdue.
investment in communities not guilt-tripping individuals that offersPhoto by Christian Gamauf
In a world of fast fashion and cheap electronics, it can be too easy to buy new rather than repairing what we have. The Remade Network aims to offer an alternative with a one-stop shop for bringing life back into our goods. Founder, Sophie Unwin, explains more.
This November, when Glasgow hosts COP26, Remade Network will be three years old. It’s a chance for us to reflect on the impact of the work we’ve done. So much of this has been centred in Govanhill, where last summer, we set up our first project with Govanhill Baths. Our mission has always been two-fold; tackling both climate change and inequality. We see the two as inextricably connected.
This has translated, in practice, into three different activities: setting up affordable repair and recycling services for clothes, electricals and electronics (first in Govanhill and recently in Glasgow’s East End), refurbishing and redistributing 1200 computers, as well as running workshops and training around repair skills for the public.
Such has been the demand for our services, that we not only expanded to a high street shop on Victoria Road in April, but have also opened a new repair outlet in the East End with Cranhill Development Trust. Other communities regularly request similar services.
In this way, we are harnessing the energy of 15-minute neighbourhoods, rather than blaming people for not reusing, recycling and repairing enough. We make it easier for people to access affordable services. Our amazing technicians have fixed all kinds of things – radios, jeans, computers – helping people to keep their valued items for longer and avoid buying new.
Alongside these repair kiosks, we’ve opened up a new tech drop service with funding from the Recycle Your Electricals Campaign, a UK-wide movement aiming to make it easier to recycle electrical and electronic items.
Repair is our first choice. In fact, repair creates ten times as many jobs as recycling and that’s part of what motivates our work. In the past year we’ve grown from three part-time staff to twelve full-time staff and five paid trainees, which shows the level of demand for our services.
The collaboration of community groups across Govanhill has helped create a low-cost local model that works and has meaningful impact, and we’re proud that we can replicate it elsewhere. Whilst the support of local people is essential, our message calls for much more than behavioural change – it’s about systemic change. We need to replace our death-cult extractive economy with a regenerative economy, and we don’t have time to lose. This means campaigning for goods to be built to last and challenging vested interests, as well as championing making repair more accessible and affordable, not just through our own shops but through neighbouring projects and businesses.
It has been really encouraging that Glasgow City Council has supported our model of working with communities. We gained a contract from them to refurbish and redistribute computers, because all profits go back into the communities we serve. It’s an affordable model for them to support, with 250 tonnes of CO2 diverted in the past year, for an investment of less than £20,000.
This is not charity. It’s about democracy: showing that communities can come together to redistribute resources to where they are needed. Showing how scavenging and recycling can help us repair our world by changing our perceptions of the everyday objects we use and own. It’s not just wasteful to throw things away. It’s wasteful to buy new, and to overlook the people amongst us whose skills and talents are vital to regenerating their own communities.
As one customer said to me: “We need to look after the objects we own, like they look after us.” Repairing is about problem solving, learning and recognising that practical skills are just as valuable as academic qualifications. We all have something to give and we all have something to learn.
Ross Cameron doing an electrical repair for local residents at the opening of our East End kiosk. Martin Kane housing, association tenant in Springburn, receiving a computer.
Words and artwork by giacinta frisillo
While out for my daily dose of allotted exercise during the deepest days of lockdown, I began to take note of the dozens of facemasks strewn about the neighbourhood. No matter which way I walked, down streets and through parks, blue surgical masks appeared, trod upon and rain-soaked into slurry. I began to notice them stuck in bushes and on fence posts, in gardens, on benches, and once, stuck to the foot of a pigeon.
As the pandemic drags on and the need for masks as protection from the spread – even for those fully vaccinated – continues, there is no end in sight to this newest disease of the environment. These masks are degrading quickly into microplastics, polluting our waterways and filling the bellies of birds and fish. They might be dropped accidentally, like a lost glove in winter, or carelessly discarded after use, but whatever the reason, their introduction into the environment is overwhelming, unsightly, and dangerous.
I felt helpless.
And so I began a series of 19 performance paintings: 19, as a nod to COVID and the performance being an attempt to commune with my neighbours during an otherwise isolated existence.
Slogging about Govanhill with an easel on my shoulder, I find a jettisoned mask and set to painting. Without fail, at least one curious person comes to talk to me – every time I’m out. From young to old, of any ethnicity and every walk of life. We chat about the need for masks to protect, not destroy and we begin to rebuild community. While I don’t solve the environmental crisis, I pack up basking in optimism and kinship.
Keep an eye out around the neighborhood for more to come with this project and remember: wear reusable masks when you can and when you can’t, make sure single-use masks reach the bin.
Today I am going to tell you about the changes to our global climate that have, in recent decades, resulted in what is described as the climate crisis.
I’m sure you are all familiar with greenhouse gases. These are gases that trap heat and result in our atmosphere being warmer. The gases responsible for this include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. These gases are primarily being released through the burning of fossil fuels for things like electricity, heat, and transportation.
Recently, the weather in the UK has been getting warmer. If you ask your relatives what the weather was like twenty years ago, you would realise that a change has occurred. This is happening globally. These changes could harm many humans, the heat that we might face will cause serious problems for everyone. Living organisms could become endangered or even extinct. We must stop climate change not only for us, but for the animals and other living things as well.
Before we started burning oil and gas, we burned coal. Even then, carbon emissions were slowly rising. They started rising dramatically around the 1950s when we intensified our reliance on the industrial use of fossil fuels according to the data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
As carbon emissions increase, the world’s temperature is also going up along with them. If we do not change our ways, the world’s temperature rise will be up by three to four degrees by 2050. Four degrees may sound small, but it would have an immense effect on all the living creatures and the world’s natural balance. That would mean countless species would go extinct and human life itself would be at stake.
According to New Scientist, sea levels could rise by two metres by 2100 and many places, including large parts of Bangladesh, are in danger of being flooded. We are at the brink of extinction, and that is why I call it a climate crisis.
The real question is how we prevent this crisis from getting even worse? Really, the answer is simple, although the path will be long and complex. We need to keep the temperature increase below 1.5 degrees by 2050 and reduce carbon emissions to zero by then. This will be challenging, but it is possible.
by Shara Shaharun Ali, 13 years oldThe term ‘carbon footprint’ refers to the amount of carbon dioxide, usually described in tonnes, being emitted by a person or organization. I have found a few things that can be done to reduce our carbon footprint.
Insulating areas in houses like floors and walls, means that the building retains more heat during the winter and stays cooler in summer. This means you can use less energy, reducing your carbon footprint and household bills.
Some energy companies provide electricity from green technologies such as solar, hydroelectric and wind energy. The more energy that is produced this way, the less need there will be for fossil fuels like oil and gas. We can also choose to buy energy-saving light bulbs and other electric equipment to make homes more environmentally-friendly.
It is quite energy-intensive to heat up water. Unnecessary energy usage can be prevented simply by turning off taps and avoiding boiling water when it's not needed.
Meat and dairy products require a lot of land, water, and energy to produce. They also create a lot of methane, a greenhouse gas. Moreover, food shipped from overseas uses a lot of energy from fossil fuels. This means we should make an effort to buy from local producers and farms, and eat less meat and dairy overall.
Walking and cycling are two of the most environmentallyfriendly ways to travel. Not only are they good for the planet, but they’re also good for your health.
Everybody now uses a range of different products in their day-to-day lives. Whether it’s things like paper, electronic devices or packaging they all have carbon footprints. By reducing the amount of things we throw away, reusing what we can, and recycling waste, we can make a real difference.
Single-use plastics are convenient, yet dreadful for the environment. Not only do they pollute our waterways and oceans, but they also require energy to produce and recycle. We should avoid using them when we can.
Public transportation benefits the environment because it reduces the number of people driving single occupancy vehicles. By increasing ridership on public transport, less fuel is burned, air pollution decreases, and the region's carbon footprint is reduced. Laws are already being enforced to limit harmful vehicle emissions but more can be done to reduce the environmental impact of transportation.
It is not just a few people’s responsibility to prevent carbon emissions. We all have to do our fair share in making small changes and sacrifices in order to make our lives greener.
My head is in my hands as I sit on the stairs. My toddler screams on the floor in a tantrum. I was up all night feeding the baby and my body feels like concrete. I cannot move to comfort him. “He’s like this all the time now,” I hear myself say later to my mother-in-law on the pavement outside. I wonder if my husband even knows she’s there. He is upstairs with a fever, cough and loss of taste. It’s March 2020 and a new virus has taken hold in the UK. I don’t know if my husband will be ok, but I can’t think about that with three children to care for.
Just two months earlier, I’d visited work to show off my new baby. “I will never ask the universe for another thing, I’m just so happy,” I announced. As reports came in from China about COVID-19, I laughed at people who were concerned.
Coronavirus shattered my preconceptions. It demonstrated that our lives rely on complex, global systems. Coming out of lockdown, I felt uneasy – there are other news stories I’d also not been listening to: reports about climate change.
Scientists state that if the earth warms by 4°C, human life may become extinct altogether. We’re currently on track for a catastrophic average rise of 3°C by 2100, despite 30 years of international climate agreements. People are increasingly being displaced from their homes due to rising water levels, famine and drought. This has felt distant – like China at the start of 2020 – but climate change is already affecting us all. Heat-related deaths in the UK are set to triple within 30 years.
There is a small window of opportunity to change our systems, but it has to happen now.
I felt that anything I could change as an individual just wasn’t enough to make an impact
on this global crisis. I was tired of talking to other worried parents, seemingly with no platform to effect change. Through an internet search I found ‘Parents for Future’, a global movement inspired by Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement. They are seeking to bring about a culture shift among parents so that climate activism becomes the norm. Their central value is love – for all children, people and the planet. This was my movement. I decided to start a group in Glasgow, the first in Scotland.
At the same time Noy Basu, another Glasgow parent I’d never met, had the same idea. She had done work in her school to reduce its environmental impact and wanted to set up a Parents for Future group to support and inspire further action.
We’re a new group but we have already supported and encouraged parents to work with their parent councils and nursery staff to make schools and nurseries more environmentally friendly. This includes discussions on how the environment can be included in the curriculum, promoting active travel, school gardening/ planting schemes, reducing waste, etc. We have all been blown away by how receptive Glasgow schools and PTAs have been thus far. For COP26, we will be doing parent workshops across Glasgow regarding climate change.
We now have about 30 members and would love more parents from all backgrounds to join us and become a voice for environmental action within school and nursery communities. If we wait to become experts or to lead perfect lives, it will be too late. Wherever you are, please join us!
Meetings are the first Thursday of every month via Zoom. Contact parentsforfuture@gmail.com
The climate crisis requires responses on all levels. International agreements and national policy shifts will play a large and indispensable part in preventing catastrophe, but it is essential that communities take ownership of their futures.
One area in which communities appear able to make a substantial impact is the generation and management of energy. Initiatives have shown that, in many instances, green, local solutions can offer sustainable alternatives to reliance on large energy companies.
Glasgow Community Energy is an organisation that is attempting to demonstrate this point. Founded in 2015 and initially composed mostly of volunteers, the group has grown into a cooperative with over 180 members. Having recently completed a project to provide Glendale Primary School in Pollokshields with the capacity to produce its own solar energy, members of the co-op are hopeful that their efforts will serve as an example of what can be achieved through communitybased action.
When taken alongside a similar project carried out by Glasgow Community Energy at a school in Easterhouse, the solar project at Glendale Primary School, is estimated to be capable of offsetting the equivalent of 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. In periods such as summer holidays, during which the schools won’t require much energy, excess electricity will be diverted to the grid, providing the institutions with a source of revenue to cover installation costs.
While the carbon dioxide reduction made possible by these projects is substantial, they have the potential to have a much more far-reaching impact according to Bill Fraser, a director of Glasgow Community Energy.
“In the Glendale school, we’re going to be starting an educational program,” Bill explained. “We’ll be able to show them it works in practice. We will have equipment that we’ll be able to use to let them play with the idea, and get the principles of energy.”
“We’re hoping they’ll say ‘we’ve got one of those’ and take ownership of it. If we’re talking to primary-aged children, it's hoped that message will spread to parents.”
Aside from serving as an example to pupils and parents, Glasgow Community Energy hopes that their efforts will demonstrate that grassroots community initiatives should not be overlooked by policy makers as they gather in Glasgow for COP26. On this, Bill said:
While world leaders gather in our city for COP26, groups like Community Energy Glasgow are hoping to demonstrate the importance of local responses to the climate crisis.
“We want to say to all these big guys who are coming, that you can try and create the circumstances for change, but, if you don’t communicate with communities and allow them to be part of the decision-making process, you're not going to get any traction.”
Moving forward, Glasgow Community Energy hopes that by helping to provide technology and expertise to those looking to move away from traditional energy providers they can play a valuable part in transitioning Glasgow to a greener energy economy.
“We're taking the idea that we’ve piloted with these two schools and looking for other instances in the community in which we can offer a better energy solution for an existing building,” Bill explained. “These areas have very active communities and people who are interested in the idea of expanding renewable energy. With COP26 coming up, it's a very hot topic.”
It is important to note that community energy projects such as the one at Glendale school will play only a part in Glasgow’s move to a greener economy. With a price tag of approximately £50,000, for similar projects to proceed at scale across the city, individuals and institutions will need to be prepared to shoulder significant upfront costs. While those who opt for such solutions may expect to recoup these costs through the sale of excess energy, these returns are likely to be modest, making such solutions difficult in practice for organisations with limited financial resources.
While the economics of projects such as the Glendale School initiative are perhaps not overwhelmingly appealing, Bill was keen to point out that, in the views of many, these are not best thought of as purely financial investments. Rather than offering entities such as schools a lucrative way to generate large amounts of income, Bill said: “What we’re selling is our knowledge on sustainable energy and how that can be applied to a community-led situation.” He made clear that, for many institutions, the environmental and social benefits of these initiatives outweigh such concerns, and noted that, for the projects already completed by the cooperative, “the reaction from the schools has been very positive.”
If Glasgow City Council’s target to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2030 is to be met, significant investment will be needed across the economy. In a city that has frequently faced funding issues in the past, sourcing the tens of billions of pounds necessary to make these essential changes will be a formidable challenge in itself. This should not deter communities from being ambitious in how they plan to tackle the climate crisis, however. The situation requires nothing less. Initiatives from groups like Glasgow Community Energy demonstrate that, when institutions take the climate crisis seriously, and are prepared to invest in forward thinking solutions, there are those with the knowledge and motivation needed to help them turn determination into action.
By Sam Doak Photo provided by Glasgow Community EnergyHave you ever had a boss who bullied or sexually harassed you, or who ignored your complaint when another member of staff did?
How about one who faked your payslips and kept your tax contributions for themselves? Or who rejected your request for leave while your mother was dying, or while you were having a mental health crisis? Who wouldn’t turn up the heating when the office was freezing?
A boss who paid you less than your colleagues and then said you weren’t a team player when you complained? One who refused you shifts and then fired you for not working enough hours? Who demanded you arrive ten minutes early and penalised you for leaving on time, despite paying you below minimum wage and by the hour? Who sacked you after seven years of service in the midst of a global pandemic? Who paid you so little you had to claim benefits and use food banks? Who put you under so much pressure you drove your car into a tree in an attempt to take your own life?
These are not extreme examples cooked up to misrepresent the boss class by focussing on a few ‘bad apples’: they are real-life experiences recounted to me by a range of workers of different backgrounds and in different sectors throughout the course of researching and writing this book – and they only scratch the surface of the egregious power abuses that unions and their members confront on a daily basis. If you haven’t personally been mistreated at work, your friend, sibling, parent, partner or colleague has.
This kind of conflict is a feature of work. The interests of bosses and workers are not just different but opposed, and in a constant tug of war: we need to sell our labour at a rate that allows us to live a decent life, while they want to extract it at as low a price as possible, for as big a gain as possible. We rely on them for survival but we’re just one of many interchangeable and disposable workers they can pick up and drop as it suits them. Workers are the largest group in society, but power is concentrated with bosses; they choose how much to cede to you. The cards are always stacked in their favour.
Marx wrote of this dynamic when he defined ‘labour-power’ as a worker’s capacity to produce goods and services. It is this which a worker sells to the capitalist class, the owners of the means of production, who gain from their purchase not just the labour but the products of it too. This is capital: the accumulation of profit at the expense of the working class who produce it.
Because we’re indoctrinated into the world of waged labour from childhood – watching parents go to work each day; taking on Saturday and after-school jobs for pocket money; constantly being asked what we want to ‘be’ when we grow up and knowing instinctively it’s a question about paid work – it can seem like an inevitable and obvious feature of society. But take a step back for a moment and consider that our workplaces, where we spend one third of our lives toiling to prop up the other third not spent sleeping, can also be the places where we’re most in danger, where we’re most exploited, where we’re least in control. One of the relationships which has the most control over our lives is also one of the most fundamentally imbalanced.
Put simply, this is why we unionise. As individuals against capital, we’re largely disposable, replaceable and, ultimately, powerless. But the reverse is true of a collective working class; the bosses rely on us to make their profits. Collectivism shifts this power dynamic, clawing back some control from capitalism’s gatekeepers to those of us at its mercy.
Eve Livingston is a freelance journalist based in the Southside. She specialises in social affairs, politics and inequalities. This extract is taken from her new book, Make Bosses Pay: Why We Need Unions’ published by Pluto Press in September 2021.
“THE INTERESTS OF BOSSES AND WORKERS ARE NOT JUST DIFFERENT BUT OPPOSED, AND IN A CONSTANT TUG OF WAR”
Recently Degrowth, Decolonisation and Climate Action all took to the pitch for an unconventional game of football which prioritised forging allegiances over scoring goals. It was a means of looking into how these competing forces intersected and the importance of considering them when taking a feminist approach to economics.
Ecofeminism is a term coined by Françoise d'Eaubonne in 1974. It emphasises the unjust impact on both women and nature under the patriarchy. While it argues that capitalism is damaging for all of us, it highlights that women are often the ones who take most of the burden.
This subject is of interest to Ailie Rutherford, the artistic director of the Feminist Exchange Network. She is a visual artist who started working with the Govanhill community in 2015 through an artist’s residency with the Govanhill Baths. She became interested in alternative economies, after taking inspiration from J.K Gibson-Graham’s book ‘Take Back the Economy’.
Her work with the People’s Bank of Govanhill and the Govanhill Swap Market has seen her organise currency experiments, ad-hoc exchanges, workshops, discussions, and mapping exercises. More recently, she organised this unusual game of three thirds. I asked her to explain more.
How would you describe feminist eco-justice to someone who hasn’t heard of it before, and why is it important for Govanhill?
“A lot of the work we've been doing over the past six years through projects like Swap Market, The People's Bank of Govanhill, the feminist football project, and our upcoming Feminist Exchange for Climate Justice is about making connections across social and economic justice work.
The feminist economics work we do has always centred on the need for a way of living that prioritises care and love. We live under an economic doctrine built on rampant competition and the ongoing exploitation of people and natural resources. It's killing our planet and causing so much suffering because care has been completely devalued. At the same time, the bizarre gender norms created under capitalism and colonialism have left most of that undervalued care work to those of us who identify as women.
In a world where machismo, ableism, individualism, and profit at all cost are seen as signs of strength, we need to shift our thinking quite radically so that collective care (for people and our planet) becomes everyone's work.”
What steps can we make to improve things, and do you believe it is even possible to do so under capitalism?
“I think the only place to begin is to do this under capitalism because that's where we are. But we need to radically rethink what we value. And we need to fight for fair and equal pay as part of this struggle – because we all still need to exist under capitalism right now while we build and strengthen the alternatives.”
Do you think that working towards degrowth, decolonisation or climate justice can help achieve equality in other areas?
“The only way forward is for us to keep joining up our actions and thinking across these struggles. We can't have climate justice without addressing the ongoing impacts of colonialism, and moving away from continued economic growth is an essential part of this.”
I found watching the football game very inspiring because it showed an alternative to competition. Did people take to the new rules naturally?
“The game was a cooperative match between three teams: Degrowth, Decolonisation and Climate Action. They were all aiming to form allegiances rather than beat the other teams. The match was played on a hexagonal pitch (as devised by the original anarchist players of co-operative football in the 1960s) with hexagonal football strips upcycled by artist Mandy Roberts.
I worked with Sapna Agarwal to come up with a framework for the teams themselves to collectively decide how they would play the game, thinking about what each team might offer the others. The idea was to ‘bring something’ to the other teams rather than to score a goal against them. The game was played in three thirds, with players coming together again at each break to reflect on how the rules they had devised were working in practice.
By the first break, the players decided that they would rather work this out through a conversation together than in their separate teams. Sapna and I worked hard to create a scenario where collaboration was necessary and celebrated, which seemed to make cooperation happen quite easily and generously. Players decided to get rid of their goalies after the first third and introduce a second ball into the final third of the match. We had live commentators commentating on the allegiances formed between Degrowth, Decolonisation, and Climate Action. One of Sapna’s kids said: ‘If conventional football looks like an argument, cooperative football is a conversation.’”
”We will be running a series of Feminist Exchanges for Climate Justice at the CCA during COP26. This will be a week of talks, workshops, performance, and visual artworks connecting feminism with climate justice. It will feature work by artist Raman Mundair, a workshop with activist Elaine Gallagher, films and artworks by young activists from Scotland and Colombia. We'll also have a bikepulled mobile library designed by Hannah Brackston containing the resources and reading material we collated during the Swap Market project for all ages.”
Feminist Economics Football created for the Feminist Exchange Network by Sapna Agarwal and Ailie Rutherford, football strips by Mandy RobertOi Musica has launched its ‘Let it Grow’ project in the lead up to COP26. The organisation, which utilises street music to foster personal and community connections, is calling on members of the public to participate in this project in an effort to add pressure to policy makers as they determine the world’s response to the climate crisis.
This project centres around the song ‘Enough is Enough’, which was composed by a group of Scottish artists in 2020. It was written to be a piece of music upon which people within the wider public can build and make their own. In this way, it is intended to serve as both a call to action and celebration of grassroots collaborative action.
In order to participate in this project, members of the public are invited to listen to ‘Enough is Enough’ and submit their own versions on social media. People with any level of musical proficiency can do whatever they want in remixing or covering the song without any restrictions or requirements. If completed submissions are posted with the hashtag #MusicForCOP26, they will be shared by organisers across their social media channels.
The Southside-based community group, Brass, Aye? was one of the first groups to create a version alongside the Edinburgh’s Soundhouse Choir. The song is licenced through the Creative Commons meaning there is no restriction on how it can be adapted, reimagined or shared.
Further details about this project can be found at letitgrow.scot.
Govanhill Baths Community Trust have announced four of the five artists in residence that they will be hosting as part of the nationwide Culture Collective Scheme. This scheme was set up by the Scottish government and Creative Scotland with the goal of creating a nationwide network of creative practitioners in communities across the country. Working across a range of different disciplines, the artists will work in Govanhill for twelve months. Announced so far are:
• Mark Bleakly, an artist and choreographer. Bleaky’s work, which is centred around breakdancing and house dance, will involve the creation of spaces for the public and artists in the spirit of collaboration and dialogue.
• Ros Fraser, a radio and digital artist, who’s work frequently involves the evocation of visceral responses to audio and explores questions that range from the scientific to the philosophical.
• Mina Heydari-Waite, who has produced art across a wide range of mediums including sculpture, video, print and audio. Her work is focused in large part on community and place.
• Linus James Row, an interdisciplinary artist whose work combines diverse topics and disciplines such as folklore, queer theory, ecology, history, restoration and foraging.
Glasgow City Heritage Trust has launched a new podcast exploring our city’s built heritage. If Glasgow's Walls Could Talk explores the relationship between Glasgow's inhabitants and historic sites throughout our neighbourhoods.
Having already completed a number of episodes, Glasgow City Heritage Trust is calling on Glaswegians to submit their own thoughts on the topics that are set to be covered by the podcast in the coming months. These topics include tenement living, the legacy of slavery, queer spaces and the commuity ownership of historic buildings.
Anyone who wishes to be included in future episodes of If Glasgow's Walls Could Talk can phone 07902976218 or email podcast@glasgowheritage.org.uk. Further information can be found at glasgowheritage.org.uk.
The award-winning physical theatre company Megahertz will be hosting an evening of performances on the streets of Govanhill and Pollokshields on 6 October as part of this year’s Dance International Glasgow. The festival, which is held every two years, is a citywide celebration of dance and visual art organised by Tramway. This year it will be taking place between 1 – 23 October in Tramway, online and outdoors
STRUT, which is being organised in collaboration with Tramway and Govanhill Baths, will showcase “the power of freestyle dance as a universal expression of freedom, joy and sense of belonging”. With a rotating cast of performers, a one-person dance parade will make its way through our neighbourhood allowing spectators to view a series of individual performers in a variety of settings. Megahertz has not put any restrictions on style or genre for this event and, as such, performances will include bhangra, salsa, Romani, hip-hop and contemporary dance at the discretion of each dancer.
The five dancers that will be performing all come from the local area and were selected following an open call issued earlier this year. A community panel helped to pick successful applicants, the majority of whom will be dancing in a professional context for the first time. By allowing locals to present dance routines drawn from their own tastes, cultures and backgrounds, this event will be a celebration of the vibrancy and diversity of Pollokshields and Govanhill.
Details on the individual performers, route and exact timing of this event will be available on Megahertz’s website at m-hz.co.uk.
For more regular events and groups, see our noticeboard: greatergovanhill.com/ noticeboard
When: 18 – 26 September
Where: Scotland-wide and online
What: A week from Stop Climate Chaos Scotland to elebrate and support all the ways you can engage in climate activism across Scotland. More information can be found at climatefringe.org.
When: 18 – 19 September from 2–4pm
Where: The back garden of 61 Glencairn Drive, Pollokshields, G41 4QW
What: A photography exhibition in a tenement garden (entrance by back lane off Shields Road) by Brian Hartley and Dylan Lombard, with prints available to purchase.
When: 19 September from 12–4:30pm
Where: Assemble at Langside Hall before marching to Queen’s Park Arena
What: Climate Camp Scotland is joining Glasgow Against Closures to stand in solidarity with Glasgow communities to remind the council that public services are not a luxury, but are at the heart of any cohesive community.
When: 25 September from 12–4:30pm
Where: Batson Street Laboratory, G42 8SW
What: G42 Pop Ups and GAMIS have developed a Community Market in Govanhill to help strengthen bonds between different communities, support local economy and activate underused parts of the neighbourhood. The market will have a focus on sustainability in its wider sense. Greater Govanhill will be holding the second of our Greater Govanhill LIVE events, recreating the feel of the magazine with discussion, workshops and music.
Date: Until 10 October
Where: Street Level Photoworks, Trongate 103, Glasgow, G1 5HD
What: This exhibition by international award-winning photographer Mandy Barker, addresses the current global crisis of marine plastic pollution. Barker collects debris from shorelines transforming them into powerful and captivating images.
When: 22 September from 3–6:30pm
Venue: Glasgow Autonomous Space
What: Merry-go-Round and R:evolve have joined forces for the Climate Fringe with a sustainable clothing pop-up boutique.
When: 22 – 26 September
Where: Various venues
What: Take One Action are presenting a series of films that centre climate justice and solidarity in the buildup to COP26.
When: 25 September from 12–2pm
Where: The Deep End, 21 Nithsdale St, G41 2PZ
What: Growing new attitudes with your new child. Merry Go Round will join this session and facilitate the conversation about being an environmentally friendly parent.
When: 25 September
Where: Hampden Park, Letherby Drive, , G42 9BA.
What: This year’s festival is set to host over eighty stalls and will include talks and demos centred around veganism and animal welfare.
When: 25 – 26 September
Where: Kinning Park Complex, 43 Cornwall St, Glasgow G41 1BA
What: Active Inquiry are holding forum theatre workshops as part of Climate Fringe Week. Participants will learn the basics of forum theatre and how it can help foster dialogue on topics such as the climate crisis.
When: 26 September from 6:30–10pm
Where: Glasgow Autonomous Space, 53 Kilbirnie St, Glasgow G5 8JD
What: Stop Climate Chaos Scotland will be holding a celebration at the Glasgow Autonomous Space to mark the end of Climate Fringe Week.
When: 28 September at 3pm
Where: Bike For Good Glasgow South, Langside Lane, Glasgow, G42 8BH
What: Bike for Good is running a workshop on how to fix and build bikes for young people aged 10-18.
When: 29 September at 7:30pm
Where: The Glad Cafe, 1006A Pollokshaws Rd, Glasgow G41 2HG
What: Musician Polly Mackey will be performing her electronic musical project Art School Girlfriend
Date: 29 September – 1 October
Where: Online
What: Glasgow Science Centre is hosting a three day series of talks, workshops and exhibitions centred on the environment prior to COP26.
When: 30 September from 7pm–8.30pm
Where: Online
What: Hosted by Glasgow Zine Library, The Engine Has Many Parts is an exercise in collective writing which utilises the space of a mechanic’s garage as a prompt.
When: 1 – 23 October
Where: In Tramway, online and outdoors
What: A biennial festival of dance for the city, dedicated to pushing dance performance in new directions. Including STRUT – a night time outdoor performance and mobile projection parade by Megahertz featuring 5 local dance heroes from Govanhill and Pollokshields.
When: 12 – 13 October
Where: The Barrowland Ballroom and Barras
What: A free festival from the Institute Physics for all the family, with exciting and inspiring physics shows, workshops and drop-in activities at venues in the Barras, as well as a day of online activities.
When: 16 October from 12–2pm
Where: The Deep End, 21 Nithsdale St, Glasgow, G41 2PZ
What: You are not alone, more and more people are experiencing eco-anxiety; feelings of fear, guilt, stress and disempowerment in the face of the climate crisis. In this session, we’ll support each other to shift from a place of climate anxiety to one of climate action.
When: 27 October from 2–5pm
Where: Online
What: Dear Green Bothy are hosting a panel discussion on environmental history and the climate crisis. Further information and tickets can be found at deargreenbothy.gla.ac.uk.
Date: 6 November
Where: Glasgow, citywide
What: The COP26 Coalition and its allies will be hosting a day of action across the city during COP26 with the goal of pressuring policy makers to take action to address the climate crisis.
When: 20 November from 12–2pm
Where: The Deep End, 21 Nithsdale St, Glasgow, G41 2PZ
What: The climate crisis is connected to all systems of power and oppression. Join the Feminist Exchange Network in a conversation about the role of women in the fight against climate change and the intersectionality of environmentalism and feminism.
We’re here to fight for a change, we are here through sun and rain
Because we seem to be the only ones to feel the earth’s pain
They tell us we’re children, that we don’t need to worry
But in ten years’ time when the earth has given up, they’ll be the ones saying sorry
They say we don’t know what we’re talking about
But the only way they hear us is if we shout
And even when we’re being heard, they tell us that we’re being absurd
Absurd you say? As the earth crumbles and falls, through the vision of a million youth’s eyeballs
But we’ll stand tall, and we’ll stand proud, we’ll stand together as a crowd
We’ll never be disheartened, we’ll never lose our voice, we are the youth and we’re making this choice
The choice to fight for a chance, and a change.
I love being in nature, especially the Hidden Gardens. I find it so relaxing. I felt so peaceful when I saw this flower, because it was so beautiful. The vibrant yellow against the dark green leaves makes me feel happy. I knew I had to take a photo to capture the moment. I love photography because it allows me to save moments. When I see the photo later, I can remember the feeling and experience it all over again.
Tracy is an amateur photographer originally from Vietnam. She took this image while participating in the women’s summer photography group run by the Youth Community Support Agency (YCSA).
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