Uppity PresentsUppity: The Intellectual PlaygroundTue 30 Jan

This month’s edition begins with a surprise performance, a couple of intellectual warm-up questions and special interactive workshop Getting a Pay-rise and Promotion… while Black or Brown.

For this edition’s main debate, prosecution and defence teams will then explore the question: Is Labour working for ethnic minorities?

The Labour Party is projected to win roughly 70% of the votes of ethnic minorities in the next election. This is no fluke. No matter the political, social or economic weather, Labour always performs better with ethnic minorities than any other group. Does this mean that Labour is always great for ethnic minorities? Or does it mean that Britain is not an effective democracy for ethnic minorities? Or something else?

The prosecution is made up of:

• Ava Vidal, writer and political commentator.
• Dr Adam Elliott Cooper, academic and author of Black Resistance to British Policing
• Ali Miraj, LBC presenter, financier and DJ. Founder of the Contrarian Prize.

Defending the Labour Party are:

• Abdi Duale, Member of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee.
• Johnson Situ, former Labour councillor, currently shortlisted to be Labour parliamentary candidate for Croydon East
• Busayo Twins, political analyst and founder of ‘Everything is Political’

The Honourable Dane Baptiste will serve as judge. The Jury, however, is you. The audience will vote on the outcome of the conversation and are encouraged to contribute to the debate.

For the final part of the evening the team will be joined by Yemisi Adegoke in conversation. A senior reporter at the BBC, she is part of the team responsible for the recent documentary and podcast exposing the crimes of rockstar Nigerian pastor TB Joshua.

Uppity™ is a monthly intellectual playground™ founded by the writer, broadcaster, satirist and former banker, Nels Abbey (author of Think Like A White Man and the upcoming The Hip-Hop MBA).

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