Thank you to Assitej and Assitej SA for making it possible for me to participate in this fantastic meeting!

Thanks also to Vincent Meyburgh from Jungle Theatre in Cape Town and Chantal Snyman from Arley’s Workshop in Durban. Check out their work now! Uber talented theatre makers and Warm-Hearted Kindred Spirits of the very finest kind. What a jol I had walking around Copenhagen with you!

Cycling in Copenhagen...the ONLY way to commute!

So, we’ve visited around 20 schools so far and it has been very exciting to see the positive response from pupils and teachers alike.  Here is what some of the teachers have had to say about our play and programme:
“Your teacher pack is fantastic, thanks!” – Head of Academics, St Stithian’s

“It was a super play.” – Teacher, IH Harris Primary

“Well Worn Theatre came to our school 2 weeks ago and were amazing!
The pupils loved it and they were so funny – I think I enjoyed it more
than anyone! It helps with grade 8 and 9 syllabus and global warming
discussions!” – Head of Leadership and HOD Geography, Beaulieu College

We’ve travelled as far as Orange farm and Ivory Park but also a little closer to home in Hillbrow and Emmarentia.  It has been a fascinating and enlightening experience visiting these primary schools all over Gauteng.

We have a policy that we will visit any school that shows an interest in becoming ‘Climate Conscious’ and so as a result we have met teachers, learners and Principals of all cultures, colours, languages and backgrounds.  It is both heartening and daunting meeting these people: daunting because you get a sense of how much work is truly needed to make a difference in the way that we as a nation confront energy, water and waste issues, but heartening too to realise that most children and schools are actually very knowledgeable about the subject as well as up for the challenge and very much in agreement on how big of an impact this crisis is for our future.

Just to remind everyone that we are still actively seeking Primary Schools to participate. If you are a teacher, parent, learner, facilitator or even just a curious and concerned citizen, please give us a call to book the play for your school. It is free of charge as we are fully funded by the National Lottery so, really, there are very few reasons why you shouldn’t just give us a call right now….?

(011) 023 9440 or 076 7152414 or wellworntheatre@gmail.com to book.

Looking forward to visiting your school soon!

We’ve been busy getting everything together so we can deliver an awesome programme to schools in Gauteng. We picked the cast for the play- a group of four immensely talented actors- and the show is now, quite literally, on the road! As it is with most journeys, we’ve had a few hiccups along the way, but we’re now well on our way.   So far we have visited 7 schools  and the response form teachers and pupils has been fantastic.

We have also performed at two environmental events for children.  The first was at the Johannesburg Zoo for the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) expo and the other was at the Better World Village Festival, which aimed to promote conversation on global social issues.  It was a great opportunity to get our message out there and both were well attended and our show was well received.

We’ve had a bit of a break due to the World Cup (how exciting has that been?!?!) and the school holidays, but the new term is around the corner and we have more shows lined up that we are very excited about.  Our resource packs for the schools are also coming together nicely and it’s going to be great giving the schools we’ve visited and the ones we’re due to visit, some resources to get them started in becoming Eco warriors!

That’s all for now folks!  Watch this space for more updates.

So up I got and away I went and found myself not only in a room full of real people, but absolutely extraordinary ones at that. There were teachers and social workers and CEO’s and bank managers and artists and IT -guys and nuns and clergymen and ecologists and entrepreneurs and musicians and actors and activists and all in a range of colours, genders and languages that would have made any Rainbow Nation PR person fall over themselves to photograph us. If ever there was a moment for celebrating true and honest diversity, this workshop was it. I was honoured just to be in the room. Before I’d even poured milk in my coffee I’d made two new best friends.

The first day started with Louise admitting nervously that Peter Block would not be with us until the following day due to Visa complications. She was bold and brave in saying however, that the nature of the workshop was not about Guru-worship but rather about ‘the people in this room’. I was instantly hooked. I really appreciated her saying that we did not need a ‘leader’ to embark on the process of Community Building and that in fact, particularly in South Africa, this requirement is often a hindrance to ordinary people just getting on with it. It’s not rocket science really, it’s just listening and being and engaging.

Good start to the day as far as I was concerned.

I’m not the kind of person who takes notes, preferring instead to absorb all the information at once, let it settle and then see what sticks. So what you get here is not a blow by blow account of the ‘outcomes’ and ‘objectives’ of the workshop but rather, as Peter himself so succinctly puts it, ‘what struck me’ about the many conversations, discussions and connections made in the space.

The first conversation that struck me is the response to the question that we were asked: ‘What is the crossroads you are at in your life’. As with all the group discussions, we were asked to sit in groups of three or four, with our knees no more than 9 inches apart. I loved this! After having a particularly passionate discussion over teatime with another young person about how we missed travelling by tube and bus in London because, despite the often stinky discomfort, connections made between us humans are not always verbal. Sometimes touching knees or elbows with a stranger is enough to feel part of something bigger. It was certainly good for my soul and I miss it now, living in Jo’burg. So did my teatime-mate. Bring on Rea Vaya…I’m ready to move!

But back to the conversation, I was struck by how my ‘personal crossroads’ which I explained as not being able to separate the personal from the political in my life was echoed back to me by my fellow group members. We were all experiencing versions of the same dilemma. How to conserve enough energy and joy in our private lives and hearts in order that we may continue on our journey as Changemakers in the big, wide, unaccommodating world. I think this feeling of fatigue resonates for a lot of community-builders in SA. The mountain seems so very high and wide, the change needed so immense, that to look at it head-on is to feel instantly exhausted. How do we integrate building community in this land into our everyday lives so that it does not have to mean self-sacrifice and constant heartache. Because the journey is indeed a tough one. No answers here. Just a reflection. And comfort found in finding that I am not alone on this ‘mountain’.

The next thing that stands out for me as an Aha-moment (sorry to get all corporate on you there, but it was!) is Louise’s fantastic story of the time when she was told at a company board meeting at which she was being her passionate, motivated, ideas-factory self (and please excuse the para-phrasing, this is how I remember it): ‘You are so certain Louise, there is no room for my uncertainty. I need you to hold your certainty a little more gently.’ Wow. It could have been good advice specially for me. I realised, when I heard this story, a couple of things. Firstly, the idea of holding ‘certainty a little more gently’ is revolutionary. What a wise woman who said this. Rather than jumping on the defensive and telling Louise to back off or, worse yet, telling her to change her personality, she was saying ‘Stay who you are, keep your style, your tone, your passion, your ideas but, in that strong space, make room for others to contribute’. Beautiful. It implies also, that in Community Building, there is no room for arrogance or surety because nothing in life is for certain. We are all building this together, blindly, and so the future needs to be held gently by all of us, each of us contributing what we can, how we can and leaving room for others to do the same. Big lesson for me that and, now that I think about it, perhaps the answer to my Crossroads Dilemma above?

The next day was no less awesome. After a night of fitful sleep which Peter said would happen (he said if you are not getting up between the hours of 3 and 4am, the Watchmen’s Hour, you’re not really working) I arrived looking forward to more gems and insights. The thing that struck me on the second day was the the notion of dissonance and diversity. I often fall into the trap (and I think it is one that gives the very word ‘community’ a bad rap) of thinking that if we are all to live peacefully together, we must just get along and feel like sunshine and roses ALL the time. Not so. Dissonance is good. Argument is good. Conflict is good. It is only by recognising what you don’t want that you are able to see what it is that you do. Not some fabricated hippy village where we all borrow each other’s clothes but rather a robust and open society where everything is held up to the light and examined intelligently for it’s flaws and virtues. Taboos, values, ethics, ideas, plans, relationships, all should be seen for what they are and not accepted at face value just because someone tells us they are good and proper.

It was on this day that I found myself (me the tree-hugging, outspoken, fossil-fuel bashing activist with my ostentatious earrings and youthful defiance…) in a knee-touching discussion with a high-up employee of a Coal Mining company. Ah, the irony of community. The cruelty of synchronicity. Now then, our rules tell us that we don’t belong together in the same circle. We are enemies, we are on the ‘other side’, we are both, according to each of us, not helping with any kind of Progress at all. But life tells us different. And open, honest, genuine communication tells us even more: that we absolutely are on the same side and furthermore, that that side is the Human side. We find ourselves, all of us, thrust into a society (nowhere more true than here in SA) where all around us we see foes. Different colours, different cultures, different languages, different professions and different religions or morals. It’s difficult to even look strangers in the eye, let alone trust them or listen to them. But listen we must, and accept differences without trying to smooth over them with a steam roller and we have to try, above all else, to be empathetic. Not helpful (another one of Peter’s suggestions: Don’t be helpful) but empathetic. Therein lies grace. Therein lies an honest community strong enough to weather any storm.

Needless to say, me and Mr Coal didn’t become best friends (that’s kind of the point) but we also left with each finding a new understanding and compassion for where the other was coming from and, in some respects, noticed that we had a fair amount in common in terms of our ethics and lifestyles.

These profound moments of insight were of course just highlights of a consistently profound and meaningful two days. I can’t even go into all the snatched moments of deep conversation that were happening all around me during teatime, lunchtime, inbetween tasks and even in the queue for the toilet. Everywhere I went, everyone I sat down next to had something utterly inspiring to say about who they were and what they did. It’s true that the people in this city who are working hard to make change happen will always find each other at some point. Not fate, not luck, just inevitable. The inexplicable law of pulling into your life and surrounding yourself with exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.

In closing (although I feel I could still go on at lengthy detail about my full two days), I just want to share the most wonderful statement I heard during the workshop. A deeply passionate woman who had just explained to me that, in her mind, she has been building community her whole life with her grandmothers and mother told me that her version of community is ‘no one leaving until the last dish has been done’. Perfect. The image that that statement evokes in me is so powerful I could weep.

When I see my community, I see a place where work gets done, often menial but necessary work that someone’s gotta do. A place where women: mothers, grandmothers, sisters (obviously with the men amicably nearby…) are central. A place where information is shared, gossip is mongered and silliness and laughter happens. A place of care and love and meticulous attention to detail. A place where we are all squeezed together in a tiny space and yet everyone has their part to play, their job to do, their voice to raise. A place where tragedies and triumphs are shared and celebrated. An ever-moving, ever-changing, ever-growing sense of belonging somewhere and being invested in something. A place of passion. That is my idea of Community.

What with Well Worn so often wearing its brightly coloured Activist Hat and making such an almighty noise about Climate Change and eco-social-awareness issues, I occasionally forget the reason for being of this company: to make theatre. That (to steal a phrase from Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes’s ‘Woman who run with the Wolves’)  is our Soul’s Work. Eco-consciousness may indeed be our subject matter, but Theatre is most certainly our language. It’s the way we communicate with the world, the way we share information and the way we reflect on what is real and what is not.

And so, with Well Worn about to dive head-first into the manic and exciting process of making, rehearsing and performing our new Climate Change Play for 150 Primary Schools in Gauteng throughout 2010, I thought it would be fitting to mark and honour the occasion of International Theatre for Children and Young People World Day.

Today recognises the importance of theatre in the lives of children and young people. The utterly irreplaceable role that it plays in shaping young hearts, minds, imagination and experience.  And yes, I know that sounds a little tired, that statement, but really, how else would you put it? Think back, if you were lucky enough to be exposed to any theatre when you were a kid, to the first play you saw.  Maybe the play and players came to your school? Maybe it was a puppet show or an entertainer of some kind? Maybe it was a pantomime, a musical or a Christmas show? Maybe your strongest memory, like mine, is of being IN a play? Whatever it is,  I would be surprised if that first experience or encounter did not pick you up right out of your seat, hold you in the air in some delightfully intangible space for about an hour, and then deposit you back down, bum cheeks firmly on the floor again! Did you not feel transported, invigorated, slightly hysterical, totally enlightened and changed somehow?  Ok, maybe I’m putting words in your mouth by describing how I felt after my childhood theatre experiences. Oh but come on! Didn’t you!?!

Theatre was the most formative element of my young life, my ultimate means of expression and joy and, while I know that’s not necessarily the case for everyone, I do feel that every child should at some point, cross paths with the intoxicating nature of theatre.

Well Worn is a member of  Acyta which is Assitej International in Africa.  Assitej is the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People. The Chairperson of Assitej South Africa is Yvette Hardie, a contagiously energetic and wonderful woman who believes that every child in South Africa, no matter where they live or what their circumstances, should see at least one play a year.

This year, Well Worn with our  Climate Change Play, commits to contributing to this vision. Furthermore, Kids of Gauteng, I  go on to promise you the following about our new piece:

• the play will not be twee
• the play will not be cheesy
• the play will not underestimate your innate intelligence and youthful wit
• the play will not be a ‘day job’ for out of work actors with nothing better to do
• the play will not be a quick money-making scheme for Well Worn

The play WILL be:

• Fun
• Meaningful
• Edifying
• Intelligent
• Engaging
• Generous
• Devised and performed especially for YOU.

Right. Now that the pressure is on, I may as well continue to put myself in the line of fire. I’m going to try and wrench my little brother away from his TV games and see if he’s interested in going to see something at The Festival of Fame. It’s the last day today. If you too do not mind the petulant glares, grab a kid and do the same….

In closing, go and visit the articles written for today on the Assitej International website: http://www.assitej.t-com.hr/english/products/world-day.aspx. Certainly food for thought.

Thanks for reading and  have a lovely day.

Kyla

• 4 Actors, male/female, aged 20-35 years. They will make up two teams of two and should be interchangeable so that all 4 actors are comfortable performing with each other.
• Actors need to be highly creative, have experience of devising new work, be good movers and sharp thinkers and have a boundless reserve of energy and vitality on stage. This play is for kids, to make a big impression on them, and kids can sniff an insincere and tired performance a mile away.
• Actors need to have a good grasp of English although other languages will also come in useful.
• Actors need to be willing to commit themselves to being in Jo’burg for at least the next year or until we have reached 150 schools, whichever comes first. This doesn’t mean you can’t do other jobs for this year, performances will be mornings only and that’s why we have two teams, to cover each other when unforeseen circumstances arise, but this project will have to stay your big priority for 2010 and until we reach our 150 mark. We can negotiate time off for other work between us as we go.
• Actors with own cars are preferable.
• Actors need to have a strong work ethic and a flexible, approachable nature. You will be visiting many different schools in totally diverse areas of Gauteng (some rural, some urban) and actors who can ADAPT to these diverse performance spaces, circumstances and audiences would be most valuable to Well Worn.
• Actors should ideally have some interest or knowledge of the subject (Climate Change/Energy) and, if not, at least be willing to learn more about it and get in touch with their inner hippy/activist. It helps to be able to walk your talk when communicating this stuff to kids.
• Actors need to invoice monthly for the shows they have appeared in in order to get paid so some admin capabilities would be welcomed.

What Well Worn is offering:

• A six week R&D and rehearsal period starting 1st April 2010. R3 000/actor per week.
• R1 000/actor per show with each actor performing in at least 75 shows over the next year or until we have visited 150 schools, whichever comes first.
• R200 per actor per follow-up visit with each actor performing approximately 35 follow-up visits each (Each school needs to have a repeat drop-in visit from one of the actors they saw in the show, just to rekindle their enthusiasm…)
• Each show is 45 mins long with no more than two shows a day.
• Follow-up visits will be no more than 20 minutes.
• A warm, supportive, relaxed and ethical employer for the next year who values people and artists more than profit and wants to contribute towards a juicy future for South Africa and the world. Check out the rest of our website to get a feel for our tone and style.

If this project appeals to you, please don’t hesitate to send your CV and a letter of interest to kylalliandavis@gmail.com and I will contact you for a workshop audition later in March.

Very much looking forward to hearing from you!

• Starting on the 1st April 2010 with a 17 month contract or on completion of 150 schools, whichever comes first.
• Part time. Hours are negotiable but will definitely have to include most mornings (school hours).
• R4 500 per month to start, rising after a 3 month probationary period.
• Based in Westdene, Jo’burg. Working from our home office. A very informal and relaxed environment. Lots of coffee, lots of laughing, lots of hard work.
• Duties will include: confirming and coordinating school bookings and meetings, drawing up actor’s schedules, contacting interested schools, keeping records of school’s visited and contact details of teachers, checking and answering emails, calls and faxes.

Our perfect candidate would be:

• Super organised and efficient
• Able to multi-task. I.e. handle many duties concurrently such as scheduling, calling, emailing and keeping records
• Computer literate. Just the basics like Word Documents and Excel and emailing. Your own laptop would be ideal too.
• Vivacious and friendly. You will be our point of contact for teachers and schools and so need to have a warm and welcoming manner.
• Able to get to Westdene (near UJ) easily every day and also able to occasionally run errands (own car is therefore preferable)
• Great English writing and speaking skills.
• Flexible about working hours, they may change according to the tasks at hand (but always daytime, no nights).
• Passionate about Theatre, Climate Change, Education or, if we’re lucky, all three together
• Ready to get stuck in immediately and take the initiative on all tasks rather than wait to be told what to do and how to do it.

This position will suit someone who is looking for a friendly and relaxed but also dynamic and busy working environment. Someone who is looking to become part of a small but extremely passionate theatre company with big and bold plans for a juicy future for South Africa. A creative, warm-hearted spirit with a solid, unshakeable work ethic, that’s really what we’re after here…

Could that be you? Or someone you know in Jo’burg? Have a look at www.wellworn.org.za and if our tone and style and work ethic strike a chord deep within you, get in touch! Write us a letter saying why you think you would be good for the job and what relevant experience you may have. Do it soon. We are very much looking forward to reading it.

Looking forward to finding you, meeting you and working with you on this amazing project together.

Warm wishes,
–
Kyla Davis
Artistic Director
Well Worn Theatre Company (066-694-NPO)
cell: 076 715 2414
kylalliandavis@gmail.com
www.wellworn.org.za

Here’s what happened at the Johannesburg Climate Justice Now! March this morning, 12th December 2009.

This morning, 1000 Climate Activists from Earthlife Africa (ELA), Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC), Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA), the Anti Privatisation Forum (APF), Ceasefire Campaign, Greenpeace Africa, Well Worn Theatre and other community based groups gathered outside the Gauteng Legislature in Johannesburg to add their voice to the thousands worldwide calling for Climate Justice Now!

We demand that world leaders institute a scientifically valid and socially just agreement at Copenhagen. We need a post-Kyoto agreement that is Fair, Ambitious and Binding and that listens to the science that says 350 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere is the safe upper limit for our future.

Makoma Lekalakala, Programme Officer at Earthlife Africa Jhb, states, “While politicians and business leaders all seek to protect their carbon intensive industries, the world’s climate is degrading rapidly. Africa, in particular, will see droughts, famine, floods and rising sea levels. We will be doing the dying if nothing is done. We demand a just and fair deal at Copenhagen.”

The overwhelming message of the day was ‘We here in Africa will not die quietly. We demand Climate Justice Now!’

For further information, press, photos or interviews. Please contact Kyla on 076 715 2414 or Makoma on 082 682 9177.

In Solidarity,

So. It’s been a powerful 3 days. To mark the start of the Copenhagen Climate Negotiations, a week of Climate Activism in Jo’burg has also kicked off with a bang and is getting stronger and stronger as preparations mount for our Big Day of Action outside the Gauteng Legislature on Saturday the 12^th December.

On Monday, Earthlife Africa Jhb and Well Worn Theatre attended a Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA) meeting in Sebokeng in the Vaal. Phineus from VEJA highlighted the social and economic plight of local residents and tied it very succinctly to the larger Climate Justice struggle and how what is happening in Copenhagen related to local residents.

Later that day, we also attended a community meeting in Kwa Thema in Springs where we discussed Climate Change at length: what it is and what it means for us here in Africa.

Tuesday began with us at the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee showing the film 6 Degrees and Africa Speaks on Climate Change. Makoma and the Earthlife team also visited the ‘Off the Ground’ group in Alexandra later that day for more of the same.

But today. Wow. Today was really something. A small group of us piled in a mini-van headed for Sasolburg, home of Sasol, one of the biggest polluters on the planet, where we joined with VEJA, Groundwork, the Sasolburg Air Quality Monitoring group and concerned residents of Zamdela to march to the Sasol Plant and stage a Die-In. We all lay down on the ground with tombstones above our heads that read things like: ‘RIP Mama Afrika…killed by Eskom, Sasol and Dirty Energy’ and ‘Sasol you killing us!’ and, my favourite ‘Don’t take us to the grave!’

Management tried, unsuccessfully, to move us but we stood our ground and remained by the main gate until an executive came down to receive our memorandum. More can be found here: http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/c1ae6d740c374554852791622a0e313d/09-12-2009-02-05/Stop%5C_polluting%5C_our%5C_air.

We also made it onto SAfm and SABC news this evening. Hooray!

I was struck speechless by how filthy the air is around the plant. 3 hours in Sasolburg and I felt nauseous and was reminded, in a very real sense, of what we are up against here. Sasol produces 72.68 million tones of Carbon Dioxide annually (17% of SA’s total) and wants to construct a new plant that will add a further 37 million tones annually.

We, as civil society groups, NGO’s and environmental and social justice alliances, cannot allow this to happen. It is unthinkable. When you are right up against the Smoke-Spurting Monster, you realize how unthinkable it is first hand. And it’s because of unthinking, unsustainable and earth-damaging plans like Sasol’s, that Copenhagen should produce a fair and binding treaty that limits such unchecked growth of Fossil Fuel-based industry.

What I was also moved by, was how so many different people, from so many different groups and backgrounds, joined together so wholeheartedly under one banner: Climate Justice Now! It is amazing how the various social/economic and environmental justice movements are married so well to the larger global threat of Climate Change. This ecological crisis that humanity is facing does not see race, class or gender, it affects us all, and there is no escape. No denial.

And, after attending a talk tonight on Eco-Socialism with Joel Kovel, during which we debated, amongst other things, the mingling of Red and Green issues, it was agreed that a new model/system is to be forged. One in which we count ourselves as part of nature and nature as part of us and move forward from there. We also talked about how this challenge facing us now, is to be viewed, however difficult, as an opportunity for new and encouraging possibilities. A different way of living where the emphasis is not ‘To Have’ but rather ‘To Be’.

Joel ended by saying that certainly, during this time of transformation our ‘Souls will be tested’. Which, I have to say, is exactly how I feel this week. Slightly scared. Slightly thrilled. But quite emphatically defiant and hopeful.

But I digress: tomorrow Earthlife will visit Thokoza and I will visit the National Zoo for more discussions and screenings and mobilization for Saturday. Also, there is the Jozi premiere of ‘Age of Stupid’ in Observatory. Then, Friday we will be picketing outside Sasol and Eskom offices in central Jo’burg as well as holding a Candlelight Vigil outside the US Consulate, a symbolic gesture to urge and remind the US to lead the way and not  block the talks any further or give into the very powerful lobbying from the major Fossil Fuel companies.

And Saturday. Oh boy I can’t wait. Singing, Dancing, Theatrics, a Die-In and the most vibrant, potent and heartfelt rally that Mzansi has ever seen on this issue. Oh Yes. Jo’burg is here, in amongst the global cries and civil disobedience actions calling for Climate Justice now!

You need to be there. If you care about your future, the future, ANY future in fact and your children’s, children’s future: you need to be there. Why?

Because now is the time, this is the place, and you are the person.

10am. Meet outside the Gauteng Legislature in Rissik Street.

Wear black and come prepared to lie down and take a stand!

Climate Justice Now! (South Africa Chapter), Earthlife Africa Jhb and Well Worn Theatre invite you to join in a week of Climate Change activism, theatre, screenings and noise from the 7^th to the 12^th December 2009. On the 12^th of December 2009, South Africa will join with thousands upon thousands of voices nationally and internationally in a global call for Climate Justice Now!

The Global Day of Action has occurred every year since 2005 and usually happens on the Saturday mid-way through the United Nations Talks on climate change (the COP or “Conference of Parties” to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ).

This year, the stakes just got higher.

In fact, this year, as the Copenhagen Climate Talks are potentially the world’s last chance to secure an emissions reductions agreement that will replace the Kyoto Protocol before it expires, the voices on the street will be louder than ever before.

Climate Justice Now! (South Africa Chapter), Earthlife Africa Jhb and Well Worn Theatre are organizing a week of activism and protest from the 7^th to the 12^th of December 2009. There will be film and documentary screenings all week from Soweto to Observatory followed by discussions and Movement Building for the GDA on the 12^th. A Die-In will be held outside SASOL’s monstrous polluting plant in Sasolburg on Wednesday the 9^th December.  A Candlelight Vigil will also take place outside the US Consulate on Friday 11th December and then the week’s activities will culminate in a jaw-dropping Mock Funeral Procession, a rally and mass Die-In outside the Gauteng Legislature on Rissik Street at 10am on the 12th December. The message behind this is that, if our leaders don’t do the right thing in Copenhagen, we are pretty much doomed. Depressing, but true.

So, please join us for some or all of the following activities as Johannesburg adds it’s voice to the cry for Climate Justice Now!

For more information including press and media, please contact

Makoma: makoma@earthlife.org.za 082 682 9177 or Kyla: kylalliandavis@gmail.com and on 076 715 2414.

Schedule of Events

Monday 7^th December 3pm.

Screening ‘Power of Community’ and ‘Africa Speaks on Climate Change’ followed by a discussion.

Venue: Sakwele Primary School, Khumbisa Street, Masimini Section, Kwa Thema, Springs.

Tuesday 8^th December 10am.

Screening ‘Power of Community’ and ‘Africa Speaks on Climate Change’ followed by a discussion.

Venue: Careers Centre, SOWETO next to Chris Hani- Baragwanath Hospital. Hosted by the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC)

Tuesday 8^th December 6.30pm

Screening of ‘Age of Stupid‘

Venue: Johannesburg Zoo, entrance on Lower Park Drive. Cost R40, bring a picnic. Book with Louise at education@jhbzoo.org.za

Wednesday 9 December 9am

Die-in outside Sasol. Venue: Sasolburg SASOL plant. Call Makoma for details 082 682 9177

Wednesday 9 December 6.30pm

Screening of ‘6 Degrees‘ and ‘Power of Community’ followed by a discussion at Sci Bono Centre in Newtown. Reservations bookings@sci-bono.co.za

Wednesday 9 December 6pm.

A discussion with Joel Kovel on Eco-Socialism.

Discussants include: Trevor Ngwane; Jackie Cock and Tristen Taylor (EarthLife Africa).

Venue: AMEC Boardroom, 38 Louw Geldenhuys Street, corner Ingalele

Road, Emmarentia. Contact: 082 802 5936

Thursday 10 December 6.30pm

Screening of ‘Age of Stupid‘. Venue: Pretoria Zoo. Cost R40, bring a picnic. Book with Ulrich ulrich@nzg.ac.za

Thursday 10 December 7pm

Screening of ‘Age of Stupid‘ at The Cottages, 30 Gill Street, Observatory. Cost R40. Reservations jeremy@pes.org.za

Thursday 10 December 5pm

Screening of ‘Power of Community’ and ‘Africa Speaks on Climate Change’ followed by discussion.

Venue: Thabo- Ntsako Secondary School Thokoza Ext 2. Hosted by the Kathorus Concerned Residents.

11th December 1pm

Screening of ‘6 Degrees‘ and ‘Power of Community’ followed by a discussion at Sci Bono Centre in Newtown. Reservations bookings@sci-bono.co.za

Friday 11 December 10am

Pickets outside Eskom, Smit Street, Braamfontein, Jhb and SASOL, 1 Sturdee Ave, Rosebank, Jhb

More details makoma@earthlife.org.za

Friday 11th December 3pm to 5pm

Candlelight Vigil outside the US Consulate in Jo’burg. US Consulate, 1 Sandton Drive
Sandhurst. A 350.org action.

Saturday 12th December, 10am Global Day of Action

Mock Funeral Procession, Rally and Mass Die-in outside the Gauteng Legislature, Rissik Street, Jhb.
Dress up, bring banners and noisemakers and come and add your presence.

Thank you and see you at the events!!