This November, we bring you a full selection of music, poetry, art and debate in London and Bristol. Please join us to celebrate the life of artist-activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and to mark 14 years since 10th November 1995, as the struggle for justice in the Niger Delta continues. View original.

Upcoming Events

NNEKA Live + support act Amazigh Kateb

4 November, University of London Union (ULU)

Doors 7.30pm – Show: 8.30pm.
Tickets: £12 advance

MOBO award winning artist-activist NNEKA will play in London’s ULU next month, and when NNEKA sings, the outrage of the Niger Delta meets Afrobeat, soul and reggae. Her sound is spectacular and her intense performances have made her music a huge success.
This is one act not to miss. Visit NNEKA’s MySpace page for your free download and for a chance to win concert tickets.

‘Shaping the Future’ – launch event and anniversary

Tuesday 10 November: 4.30pm – 6.30pm
The Stephen Lawrence Centre, London

PLATFORM is delighted to announce the launch of a temporary residency at the Stephen Lawrence Centre, which brings together PLATFORM’s art and activism projects in a programme of workshops and collaborations into 2010 and beyond.Please join us to celebrate this exciting launch, and to commemorate the 14th anniversary since the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his fellow Ogoni activists.The PLATFORM residency will complement the Stephen Lawrence Centre’s vision to lift young people out of poverty, by providing workshops on art, activism and social justice.

RSVP ben@remembersarowiwa.com.
Directions: Deptford Bridge DLR, (follow the canal heading south, cross over footbridge and Centre is the large building on your left).
The Stephen Lawrence Centre, 39 Brookmill Road, London SE8 4HU

As part of PLATFORM’s season of events at Bristol’s Arnolfini Gallery, we present…  
No Condition is Permanent

an event by African Writers Abroad and Remember Saro-Wiwa

Saturday 7 November

6.30pm – 8.30pm, Arnolfini Bristol, Gallery 3, free admission.

Poetry and performance with Dorothea Smartt, Simon Murray, Zena Edwards, Ross Martin, Edson Burton and others. Hosted by PLATFORM’s Remember Saro-Wiwa project.Join three performance poets and young writers, on intimate journeys that take you from the frontlines of climate injustice to radical hopes for a sustainable future. The event marks the 14th anniversary since the writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by Nigerian government for his campaign against the impact of oil companies, in particular Shell, on the environment in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

What’s the future of the Niger Delta?

Sunday 8 November, 2pm – 5pm
Arnolfini Bristol, Gallery 3, free admission.

Join a panel discussion with presentations from artist Sokari Douglas-Camp CBE, human rights campaigner Alice Ukoku, Stakeholder Democracy Network and Remember Saro-Wiwa.PLATFORM’s C Words exhibition highlights our uncomfortable dependence on Nigerian oil, asking the how can we respond, as artists and activists to the ongoing environmental devastation and injustice, corporate power and conflict? Where is the struggle for justice today, and what lies ahead for the region?Speakers:

Alice Ukoku is a campaigner from Delta State, who witnessed to the remarkable protest of hundreds of women who barricaded Shell’s office at Ogunu in July and August 2002 and managed to shut-in 25% of Nigeria’s oil production for 10 days, before the military forced the protestors from the site.

Sokari Douglas-Camp CBE is a British artist of Nigerian origin and the creator of the groundbreaking Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa. She has worked with large-scale steel sculpture for over two decades. Short-listed for the Fourth Plinth in 2003, she currently exhibits nationally and internationally, including at the British Museum.

Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) works to empower those worst affected by the activities of extractive industries in Nigeria and to help them to get a better deal.