The recent budget did not make it any clearer when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is likely to call the general election, although he has resisted calls to rule out going to the polls in May. (1) With the UK now in recession, many will be hoping to bring to an end the fourteen years of Conservative government that some are calling “the worst ever”, amid austerity, a public sector crisis, economic turmoil, affordable housing shortages, Brexit, Covid (and the response) and “Victorian” levels of poverty. (2)
The impact of these willfully swingeing policies has had a devastating effect on the Afrikan community given that “up to 25% of black households were already more likely to be living in persistent low income after housing costs.” Consequently, “21 per cent of households headed by someone from a Black African, Black Caribbean or Black British background didn’t have enough food to stay healthy and active. This figure is three times more than the UK average of 7 per cent.” (3)
These statistics are the result of structural inequalities that the current government refuses exist. (4) The opposition Labour Party has proposed a race equality act, which may give an extra incentive to vote the government out when the election is finally called. However, commentators are suggesting that their proposals are “unlikely to be enough to end race disparities.” (5) More broadly, given that both parties are ostensibly “converging” around several policy areas, the likelihood is that a Labour government will not transform the fortunes of Afrikans in the UK. (6)
Food insecurity is a particular concern, evidenced for example in the exponential rise in the number of food banks, given its long-term effect on mental and physical health. (7)
With the low prospect of substantive assistance from the government whatever the denomination, self sufficiency is becomes imperative. A major challenge is the fact that Afrikans are over-represented in tower blocks meaning reduced access to a garden. (8) The alternative option of allotments can have up to ten-year wait times so are similarly remote. (9)
Enter Coco Collective – Ital Community Garden, an Afro-diaspora led community garden that is the brainchild of Sis. Valerie Goode. Amazingly, her background is not in gardening but sustainable and ethical fashion that worked in for 15 years. But the pandemic “sparked a period of personal and professional reflection during which all paths kept calling her to reconnect with the land and dive deeper into her rich ancestral knowledge.” (10)
The garden opened in June 2021 at a council-owned allotment in Bellingham, South East London, that had become overrun with brambles. Since then it has grown to become a valuable community hub, growing culturally appropriate produce. They have also gone on to open another, youth-led, garden in nearby Catford as well as running food growing workshops and Well-being Wednesdays focusing on mental health. They are also involved in research project intended to address the public health challenges facing the community.
Coco Collective – Ital Community Garden has certainly provided a model not only for addressing the issue of food insecurity but also the factors that cause it. As Founder Sis. Valerie puts it:
“Everyone is aware that systemic racism occurs but you may not be able to connect the dots until you put your hand in the soil… This past eighteen months I’ve completely understood why we are in the space we are in. Exactly what imperialism, colonialism and this capitalist structure actually looks like.” (11)
(1) Ben Riley-Smith and Jack Maidment (07/03/24) Sunak refuses to rule out May election . https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/07/rishi-sunak-latest-news-jeremy-hunt-national-insurance-tax/
(2) Sam Freedman (06/12/23) 13 years of failure. https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/64162/13-years-government-failure-sam-freedman-data; Frances Ryan (24/10/23) The Tories have created a new poverty – one so deep and vicious it requires Victorian vocabulary. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/24/tories-poverty-destitute-history-politics
(3) Leah Mahon (15/03/22) Black families more likely to go hungry due to ‘food insecurity.’ https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2022/03/15/black-families-more-likely-to-go-hungry-due-to-food-insecurity/; Nadine White (06/04/22) Black households up to four times more likely to be starving than national average. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/black-cost-living-households-food-b2051285.html
(4) White. Op. cit.
(5) Pippa Crerar (16/03/23) Labour’s proposals unlikely to be enough to end race disparities. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/04/labours-proposals-unlikely-to-be-enough-to-end-race-disparities
(6) George Eaton (15/03/22) The quiet consensus: how Labour and the Tories are converging. https://www.newstatesman.com/thestaggers/2023/03/the-quiet-consensus-how-labour-and-the-tories-are-converging
(7) DWP Central Freedom of Information Team (18/05/18) Reply to Freedom of Information request of 24 April 2018. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/continual_exponential_rise_in_fo/response/1160556/attach/2/FOI%202070%20reply.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1; Mahon. Op. cit.
(8) Danny Dorling (15/05/1) Unique Britain. https://www.dannydorling.org/wp-content/files/dannydorling_publication_id2257.pdf. Prof. Dorling states: “Most children who live above the fourth floor of tower blocks in England are Black or Asian. High-rise living with children in Britain is almost always not luxury living. Most of these children are poor and Britain tolerates a much high proportion of its children living in poverty than does anywhere else in Western Europe.”
(9) Capital Growth (2022) Coco Collective – Ital Community Garden. https://www.capitalgrowth.org/coco-collective/
(10) Ibid.
(11) Cococollective (03/02/23) Big up Amber Smith from Reprezent Radio for inviting us down to their studio to talk community gardening, activisim, black history & youth leadership. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1103237574411000&extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C&mibextid=2Rb1fB&ref=sharing
we ask the question
Food Security:What does it mean?
1) How/Why does one become food insecure?
2) Are community gardens the answer?
3) How does gardening impact mental health?
4) What is the link between, imperialism, colonialism, capitalism and food security?
Our Special Guests:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 40 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.
Sis. Valerie Goode: is the founder the Coco Collective Ital Garden and previously worked in sustainable and ethical fashion. Founded in 2021 Coco Collective operate community Gardens in Bellingham and a youth-led one in Catford. The sites also run workshops on different aspects of gardening as well as mental health.
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