Your Right to Protest: Activism Panel With Christian Weaver and Leah Cowan

Join Christian, Leah, and a host of Nottingham activists for a panel discussion on organising, your protesting rights, and the future of activism in Nottingham.

We’re lucky enough to have two national experts on law, law enforcement and how it interacts with your democratic rights, coming to our shop in December. Both Christian Weaver and Leah Cowan have released excellent, informative books this year; however, this event is not just to talk about their books, but to engage in discussion with local activists on what organising does and could look like in Nottingham.

In his new book Your Right to Protest Christian brings together everything you need to know about your rights when taking a stand. Whether you are marching on the streets or making your voice heard from your own front room, organising in your workplace or writing a letter to your MP, this essential guide equips you with your fundamental rights and the laws that protect you – as well as the ones you might inadvertently break. In it, you’ll find up-to-date information on a whole range of topics, including: public assembly and who to notify when you’re on the move; striking in the workplace and action your employer can take against you; direct action and when it crosses over into trespass; stop and search and how to access help if you are arrested; online activism and what to do if you accidentally libel someone.

Why Would Feminists Trust the Police? traces the history of British feminism’s alliances and struggles with the law and its enforcers, to ask: how did feminists come to rely on the police to make them safe? And how can we change course? Drawing on the history of Black British feminism and police and prison abolition, Leah Cowan issues a corrective: the police are not feminists, and they will not bring us safety.

Christian Weaver is a human rights barrister, campaigner, Nottingham Law School alum and author of The Law in 60 Seconds. In 2023, he was named Legal Aid Newcomer of the Year for his work representing the family of Awaab Ishak, which culminated in a new landmark law. Christian has worked at INQUEST and Liberty, and his work has been featured on BBC News, The Guardian, Radio 4 and more.

Leah Cowan is a writer and editor. She is the former Politics Editor at gal-dem, and has written for publications including Vice, Huck, and the Guardian. Leah speaks and lectures, including for UN Women, in the House of Commons, at the Trades Union Congress, and at Queen Mary University of London. Her first book, Border Nation, was published in 2021.

We will be joined by a panel drawn from local organisations who do protest, not to convince people about their campaigns, but to discuss how they protest and the limitations and difficulties of protest. The panel includes Chris Cann (Save Nottingham Libraries), Louise Regan (Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign), Anna Preston (Nottingham Against Transphobia), and Alan Tuckman (Nottingham Unite Community Branch)