WORK

BURNING WORK, JUNE 22, 2020

Chaired by Asia Stewart

Paul Obina

Anti-Black Consciousness: The Twin Pillars of Consciousness process, developed by Dr. Molefi Asante, puts forward that although a consciousness towards victory exists in our society which promotes wealth, abundance and success, a consciousness towards oppression also exists and works to associate notions of inferiority, disease, poverty, failure & misery with blackness. Reflecting on his own upbringing, Paul noted how such internalised feelings of black inferiority were common amongst many of his black peers. He asked us to think critically about how such a consciousness is still reproduced in our media and in narratives that surround black political campaigns and how a knowledge of history must be used to counteract this and build self confidence in black communities.

Becoming Professionally Competent and Personally Confident: Building on the Twin Pillars of Consciousness process Paul reflected on a demarcation exercise he carried out at the University of Warwick which revealed an internalised anti-blackness that affected the black members of staff. Reflecting on his work in prisons as well as his work with the University of Warwick staff, Paul noted this pervasive feeling of inferiority must be seen in conjunction with wider professional practice whereby a lack of self confidence acts to impede professional competence. In this way, Paul notes that these two aspects of professional competence and personal confidence are inseparable, as such we must work as a community to develop methods to build personal confidence through the study of history and knowledge of self.

Lineage Timeline ‐ Education as Fundamental: Tying in these notions of consciousness and building professional competence and personal confidence Paul ended his presentation by noting the fundamental importance of education and knowledge of history for building self confidence within our communities. With the Lineage Timeline, an interactive map of world history that goes beyond a view of Black history beginning with slavery, he invites us to think practically about how our understanding of history affects our understanding of the world, our place in it and where our place ought to be.

Paul Davidson

Black economic exclusion: From his experience as an entrepreneur and as business owner over the years, Paul reflected on an awareness that he has built up of the lack of participation of black people in business ownership and economic development. Acutely so in Manchester, the fastest growing city in Europe, where he shared a feeling of disappointment of not seeing other black community representatives present in key economic development forums. This lack of representation led him to ask the question: Why are we not there?

TYFDSAI and the Black Pound: To answer the question of black economic exclusion and development, Paul challenges us to examine the value of the black pound and organise around black economic development. Through Thank you for Doing Something About It (TYFDSAI), Paul, alongside the African Diaspora Finance Initiative has developed a platform which asks members of the Diaspora to commit £2 week to the a worldwide democratic fund which aims to reach a spending power of £2 million pounds a week. The fund will then be invested in growing and creating black owned businesses in countries around the world.

Job Creation & Community Ethos: Paul argues that Black Lives will continue to not matter as long as the Black Pound and dollar are facing the wrong direction and not directed towards community economic development. Noting that the current organisation of the economy under capitalism fails Black communities, Paul notes that TYFDSAI aims to open up a space to support the Black community in light of these failings by directing the fund ' s capital to projects which will create well paid jobs in the community. Tying back to Paul Obinnas discussion of the Twin Pillars of Consciousness, Paul Davidson noted that this notion of positive consciousness is crucial to TYFDSAI's core aim of bringing the Black community together, which is reflected in its 4 key principles which guide the fund in; coming together, staying together, supporting each other and achieving together.