Speakers Corner

Speaker’sCorner

Speakers Corner is a creative, political social space in Bradford City Centre led by a collective of women and girls with events open to everyone. Their events are aimed at bringing people together to create positive action. Taiba Qayyum, 22 spoke to fellow members Mariyah Kayat, 18, Madeyah Khan, 18, Sabahat Rani, 18 and Sajidah Shabir, 17 about the collective and their experiences within it.

What is Speakers Corner?

Madeyah: Speakers Corner is a political, creative and safe space where we can come and share our ideas and know that we’re not going to be judged about it. We know that we’re allowed to say whatever we want and that everyone has an individual opinion and we try to respect that...we respect each others individuality.

What makes Speakers Corner Political?

Sajidah: It’s political because we actively campaign for things that we want to change. We have our See Inside Me Campaign that raises awareness of the fact that in Bradford we’re trying to encourage parents and children

to share viewpoints and hopefully make these relationships better. Through our campaigns we’re telling the people in the big seats that we as young people are trying to make change.

Tell us a bit more about the See Inside Me Campaign?

Mariyah: The See Inside Me campaign was created because we wanted to bridge the gap between parents and their children. We focussed on Mental Health, Relationships, Dreams and Aspirations. We wanted to make it easier for parents to speak to their children and vice a versa, and for parents to gain more of an understanding of what we go through on a daily basis.

Where did the idea of creating a safe space in Bradford come from?

Madeyah: we took part in WOW- Women Of the World Festival Bradford in 2015 as volunteers and after the festival decided that we wanted to carry on with our campaigning and our political voice so we decided that we needed a space in the centre of Bradford where we can go without being judged.

What sort of events do you do at Speakers Corner?

Mariyah: We’ve done events like ‘Burn your Barriers’ where at the start of the New Year we write down what’s holding us back and then we go outside and we just literally burn our barriers by burning the paper that they’re written on.

We’ve done Peaceophobia where we tried to break the stereotype of young people in Bradford,especially young asian men in nice big cars. People think that they are into drugs but by getting together in their cars and speaking about

why they choose to have the cars it made people see that it’s just a hobby for them and lets them be creative.

We also campaigned for Kunan Poshpora which was highlighting all the mass rapes that have happened in Kashmir and how women not only in Kashmir but all around the world are silently suffering and we wanted to bring awareness to that.

Why is Speakers Corner important to you?

Sabahat: At times i’m saying things here that I wouldn’t normally say out allowed or things that I couldn’t speak to my friendship group about but when you’re around all these people there’s something that makes you say them naturally. The things you say here you know you’re not going to be judged about, because as soon as you walk through that door, even if it’s your first time, by the end of it you’ll feel like everyones a part of your family.

Could you tell me about some of the demonstrations or public speaking events that you’ve taken part in?

Sabahat: We took part in WOW London in a panel called What Next? That was about what young people want for our future and what young people want to improve in their society. It was good to do that outside of bradford because we had an audience of about 1000 people and it was talking about the change we want to a different group of people.

We also went to the Million Women Rise March which was really empowering, just seeing so many women do a campaign where roads were shut down for women’s justice and empowerment.

Where do you want to take Speakers Corner next?

Sajidah: Speakers needs to have its own event like WOW, because speakers in itself is not just about women, it’s not just about the negativity we face from society but it’s about us as individuals and how a few women coming together can think about change. At Speakers Corner we can think about things that will help the future of Bradford because it’s not just stuck on talking about one thing, it’s not just stuck on talking about youth or about women, it looks at what are the problems

in all these areas and how can we try solve them. Speakers Corner gives solutions and thats what we need. We don’t need people sat in chairs telling us what to do, we need people who’ve actually experienced these things to tell us what to do.

Madeyah: I see Speakers growing to a place where more young people come here to have an active voice. I see this place being put on the map of Bradford because I know how much this place can make a change to individual lives and i know that youth that are a part of the collective won’t rest until this place is actually on the map.

Why should you join?

Sabahat- Because Speakers is the platform where change is going to happen, it’s not just something you do once and create publicity and get people’s attention and then you just leave it thinking it’s going to stick in people’s heads. The topics you discuss here you come back to so many times that you people remember who are on the panels and the impact they have on them. I think people realise how much they can relate to what they hear.

To Join or for more info go to www.commonwealththeatre.co.uk