Countering Divisive Narratives – solidarity and sharing best practice

In early September Kathy Holmes – Public Health and Commissioning Manager from Nottinghamshire County Council – posted a question to the Sustainable Food Places (SFP) RiseUp email list*. 

As Kathy put it in her question:

In the current climate of right-wing protest, division and overt racism we have been discussing the impact this is having on certain communities accessing food support... (and) ...experiencing further fear and isolation, especially when already in a minority in communities.  It would be useful to hear what others are doing and feel that as a body of partnerships, there is solidarity in our approaches.

Kathy’s question got a lot of people thinking and generated a great deal of interest on the platform – our network’s email group was doing its job! The responses reflected the important concerns of many like-minded people who are disgusted and extremely worried by recent right-wing marches and events in communities around the UK and the increase in racist abuse faced by People of Colour working to provide food in communities. 

Our programme actively supports connection and sharing of good practice between food partnerships across the SFP network, by developing and sharing resources and tools, supporting clusters of partnerships, highlighting relevant opportunities for learning, and convening sessions that bring together food partnerships from across the UK to consider specific challenges.

In my role as SFP’s Lead on Representation and Justice, at the beginning of October I hosted and facilitated an online discussion session, responding to Kathy’s question and providing a wider opportunity for the sharing of thoughts and approaches. The focus was to explore positive action to Counter Divisive Narratives and racist abuse in our food work. 

The session was attended by 53 participants, sharing their thoughts as a large group and in small break-out rooms of 4 to 5, and documenting key comments and suggestions on a shared Google doc.  We began by setting ground rules for how we should engage with the discussion (with a caring and curious spirit, and with consideration of our power and privilege) and how we should behave towards each other (gently, non-judgementally, and with consideration of the language we use).

The discussion was energetic and wide-ranging, bringing together experience from across the UK (Stirling, Manchester, Bury, Leeds, Hull, Carmarthenshire, Leicester, Suffolk, Bristol, Plymouth amongst others) and from different communities.  Participants shared personal experience of the impact of the right-wing narratives as well as approaches to counter them.  We heard from Zarina Ahmad, Director of the Women’s Environment Network in Tower Hamlets, who shared their statement of solidarity for others to adapt and use where they are. And Simone Riddle from Good Food Lewisham shared their report on Welcoming Refugees and Asylum Seekers to our Community Food Projects.   Nick Weir of the Open Food Network shared his experience of the value of food projects (growing, harvesting, cooking and eating together) as a bridge across divides of all kinds, including many enterprises that are part of the OFN platform. Nick also mentioned a free resource developed by the Organization for Identity and Cultural Development, Reclaiming our Narratives: a practical guide for countering identity-based disinformation. 

To collect these and other examples of good practice Zoe Miles from Tower Hamlets Food Partnership, has set up a Google doc – Resources for Food Partnerships interested in building bridges across social, cultural and political differences – another great example of the SFP members connecting and sharing good practice (toolkits, reports, videos) from around the UK. 

As part of our follow up a summary of key outputs has been written and shared, including four core actions that emerged from the discussion:

Speak out: Demonstrate solidarity where you are, in your food system, your communities and in your organisations, by making statements to counter racism and express solidarity

Celebrate food: Emphasise the power of food to bring people together, across communities where you are

Build on what’s already happening: Look at what is already happening on community cohesion where you are (in the council, organisations, projects etc.)

Gather evidence: Recognise the value of data that provides evidence of the impact of racist rhetoric, divisive narratives and racist violence on food insecurity, wellbeing and health.

These are Kathy Holmes’ reflections on the session:

For me this demonstrated the strength, agility and skill of SFP team to enable and facilitate a workshop so swiftly, responding to the needs of the food partnerships and to give an opportunity for discussion and sharing of experience in this hugely important area. 

After the initial responses in the RiseUp group, it was clear that food partnerships have a huge part to play in supporting and galvanising communities and challenging and changing divisive narratives. The workshop didn’t disappoint! A wealth of fantastic work and activism on the power of food to bring communities together was shared openly and democratically for the benefit of all.

Food partnerships are open to share their knowledge, learning and time and it was amazing to see this generosity in this space. The wider conversation around how our food partnerships embrace shared values strengthened a sense of solidarity in our approaches which I think was very much needed at this time. Knowing this is part of further work by SFP on representation and justice strengthens that further for me as part of the wider food movement. I am always blown away by the wealth of passion, skill, activism and willingness to work together in our food partnerships and this workshop (and all that follows on from it) showed that in buckets.

All of this contributes to SFP’s overarching ethos on representation and justice under the banner of FAIR Food: Framework for Action on Inclusion and Representation, co-developed this year by SFP members (to be launched late autumn) and building on our existing anti-racism work – REDI for Change. 

The Countering Divisive Narratives session is an example of SFP at its best – responding to challenges raised by members, bringing the network together to share practice, and digesting outputs into clear ways forward.  This approach will continue to be a core part of SFP’s approach, alongside training to support action planning on representation and justice and the sharing of best practice on diversity, equity and inclusion across the SFP network.

Ben Messer – Food Matters – SFP Lead on Representation and Justice

Kathy Holmes – Public Health & Commissioning Manager, Nottinghamshire County Council

* The SFP RiseUp List is an online platform, bringing together people involved and interested in working towards sustainable food systems across the UK, either as local food partnerships in the SFP network, or interested people and organisations from outside.  RiseUp allows its members to ask questions, share great examples of their work, and find people facing similar challenges to explore responses together.  It’s a key part of SFP’s joined-up network approach.