events
RISC organises a variety of events and exhibitions on global issues to increase public understanding of the economic, political social and environmental forces, which shape all our lives. We create a platform of speakers from the Majority World (Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America), organise workshops, feasts, films and meetings that inform people about how we can take action to create a more just, equal and sustainable world.
upcoming events organised by risc
Mon 13th October @ 8:00 am - Sun 9th November @ 5:00 pmReading International Festival 2025
The Reading Interntional Festival celebrates Reading’s diverse communities and action groups. The programme highlights the many international activities, twinning links and solidarity in Reading. Click on the image for more
Fri 7th November @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pmFilm Screening – Nae Pasaran!
Director: Felipe Bustos Sierra Winner: Best feature Film, BAFTA Awards Scotland, 2018 A heartfelt documentary that tells the true story of Scottish workers who managed to ground half of Chile’s
Thu 13th November @ 1:30 pm - 4:30 pmRace, Racism &Anti-racism in Education
An introduction to Global Citizenship & the issue ofracism in education. Exploring different aspects of racial inequality in the British education system. With current research & strategies to combat racism
Wed 26th November @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pmTrump & the New World Disorder
Nick Dearden, the inspiring director of Global Justice Now will outline the tough choice we face in a changing world: capitalism or a livable planet. He believes that climate change
previous events organised by risc
Fri 24th October @ 7:30 pm - 10:00 pmBurkina Faso – Daring To Invent Its Future
Learn about how Burkina Faso is leading Africa towards self sufficiency and full sovereignty. Wend-Panga Compaore will update us on the latest news and events. Historic photographic exhibition from the
Fri 17th October @ 7:30 pm - 10:00 pmMatt Kennard – Uncovering Empire from Palestine to Haiti
Free please register https://www.eventbrite.com/e/matt-kennard-uncovering-empire-from-palestine-to-haiti-tickets-1742492083729 Matt Kennard former Financial Times investigative journalist, author of the Racket and Silent Coup, will draw on his in-depth investigations of violence, exploitation and resistance by
Wed 15th October @ 7:00 pm - 9:30 pmWomen of Hebron – Supporting Fair Trade Livelihoods in Palestine
Talk by Nawal Slemiah founder and director of Women in Hebron, a cooperative that produces traditional Palestinian embroidery. She will be speaking about the work of the cooperative in helping
Fri 22nd August @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pmFrom Peru to The World Shop – Drink & Chat with our Jewellers
An evening with Cristina Sotomayor from Hope Jewellery, Peru & Laura Cave from Just Trade UK. info: Silvia@risc.org.uk
Sat 26th July @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pmBurkina Faso – The Upright People Are Rising
Talk by Wend-Panga Compaore from Burkina Faso community in the UK (BFCUK) & a photographic exhibition by Dave Richards.
Sun 20th July @ 12:00 pm - 4:00 pmrisc roof garden summer events: 2025
Sun 20 July • Sun 14 Sept Rdg Heritage Trail ….. Award-winning sustainable garden: 185 species, low maintenance, multi-use perennial planting, edible forest, water harvesting, hard landscaping with renewable/recycled/reused materials
Wed 9th July @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pmThe Future Of Food
A small number of corporations control our food. Does this make our food supply vulnerable? What can we do about it? There will be a book stall provided by RISC.
- Sun 8th June
risc roof garden summer events: 2025
Sun 27 April • Sun 8 June Big Green Week • Sun 20 July • Sun 14 Sept Rdg Heritage Trail ….. Award-winning sustainable garden: 185 species, low maintenance, multi-use
Thu 29th May @ 1:30 pm - 3:30 pmRooftop Garden Climate Action Crafternoon
Join us in RISC’s rooftop garden to find our where in the World our food comes from. Have a go at zine making, collage art and global food growing. This
Sat 10th May @ 6:00 pmTrade for Peace
Philippe Adaime (CEO, Fair Trade Lebanon), Donal Guerin (Zaytoun), Shiwa Masoudian (Papital Gallery) & Roy Scott (One Village) will talk about their success stories & update us on the current
Wed 28th May @ 7:30 pmClimate Change, Women’s Health & Aid
What can save trees, reduce carbon emissions & help the poorest?’ Simon Batchelor, Research Coordinator of a huge ‘clean cooking’ African & Asian project, has an exciting new approach that
Wed 26th March @ 7:30 am - 9:30 pmStand up to corporate courts
A Uk trade deal is letting companies undermine action and human rights. It is using corporate courts to enable multinational mining firms to sue Colombia for $13 billion. Colombia is
Wed 29th January @ 7:30 am - 10:00 pmWater, a right or commodity?
Water is an essential resource. We all need it to stay alive. Yet a number of major cities are warning that they could run out of water unless their water
Sat 9th November, 2024 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pmA celebration – Palestine, Lebanon & Yemen
Tickets £10 https://www.tickettailor.com/events/whitekitecollective/1446380 Join us in solidarity, bring your passion & voices. Funds raised from this event will go directly to charities working on the ground in Palestine, Lebanon &
Wed 6th November, 2024 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pmViva Reading – San Francisco Libre
Fri 25th October, 2024Film – Where Olive Trees Weep
Short Event Description Award-winning documentary that gives a searing picture of the struggles
Thu 17th October, 2024Invest For Change – Investing in a Fairer World
Short Event DescriptionSince 1990 Shared Interest has enabled millions of people across the world
Sat 12th October, 2024Meet Mixy Fandino @ The World Shop
Short Event DescriptionMeet Mixy Fandino @ The World Shop
Wed 25th September, 2024ilm A crude mistake? Uganda’s oil rush & the fight for climate justice
Uganda is banking on major oil projects to create growth
Wed 28th August, 2024Messages From Gaza
An evening of monologues, poetry, testimonials and music at Reading International Solidarity Centre. Bear witness to the experience of Gazans on the ground read by a variety actors, performers and
Tue 23rd July, 2024Event Title
Short Event Description
Wed 22nd May, 2024There’s Water & then …There’s Water
Mick Lacey (taga Marikina ang asawa ko) uses his lived
Sun 12th May, 2024Palestine – News From Fair Trade Producers
Cathi Pawson, co-founder of Zaytoun, will talk about the
Sun 28th April, 2024Rooftop Garden Open Day
Part of the Good To Grow week 2024
Wed 27th March, 2024Let’s clear the way for a FOSSIL-FREE FUTURE
Fossil fuel corporations are making billions from driving the climate crisis. Further climate chaos will negatively affect us all with extreme weather events. However, a global exit plan from coal,
Thu 14th March, 2024Are You A Global Teacher?
Short Event Description
Thu 25th January, 2024CLIMATE EDUCATION & ACTION training & resourcesKS1-4
Short Event DescriptionUnderstand how to implement the government’s
- Wed 24th January, 2024
COURAGEOUS CAMPAIGNERS in COLUMBIA
Cleodie Rickard from Global Justice Now will tell us about her factfinding trip to Colombia. She met people who are fighting for justice, members of the Wayúu community who are
Wed 15th November, 2023Global Teacher Award Training
The national Global Teacher Award (GTA) is suitable for teachers, HLTAs and TAs in all phases and subjects. GTA promotes skills, confidence and practical approaches to incorporate global learning into
Thu 9th November, 2023This Xmas, don’t just buy! BUY JUST
Hear stories of our fair trade producers & a chance to browse our new ranges of toys from Sri Lanka by Lanka Kade & Weaving Hope, Christmas decorations from Kashmir
Wed 8th November, 2023pharmanomics
How big pharma threatens global health. Pharmaceutical companies make billions while billions of people are left without essential medicines. Author Nick Dearden exposes the current problems and shows a pathway
Fri 3rd November, 2023hood in the wood
McAlistair Hood talks about his journey towards a more sustainable lifestyle that brings together sculpture using recycled stone and wild living & foraging in the woods of West Berkshire.
Fri 20th October, 2023Slavery, Free Labour & Fair Trade
Dr Joseph Yannielli of Aston University will explore how society has been grappling with the issue of fair trade since early industrialisation.
Sat 14th October, 2023Incredible Small Actions: Community food growing in Reading and beyond
Presentations and discussion on the Incredible Edible Reading vision to protect our environment and planet
Wed 27th September, 2023The Debt Crisis
Heidi Chow, Executive Director of Debt Justice, argues for a more just system requiring radical system change to redress this exploitation.
Sun 10th September, 2023heritage open days – risc roof garden
Come and visit the RISC roof garde as part of Heriate Open Days.
- Sat 9th September, 2023
heritage open days – risc roof garden
Come and visit the RISC roof garde as part of Heriate Open Days.
Wed 26th July, 2023PRACTICAL STEPS to living within planetary boundaries
Our society is wasteful and unfair. How can we make a planned reduction of excess energy and resource use to bring the economy back into balance with the living world
Thu 22nd June, 2023Global Teacher Award Training (Part 2 of 2)
The national GTA promotes skills, confidence and practical approaches to incorporate global learning into the curriculum, and active global citizenship into the school.
Sun 18th June, 2023Reading Climate Festival ‘Incredible Edible Reading’ Event
Thu 30th April, 2020risc book club: the sound of things falling
By Juan Gabriel Vásquez – No sooner does he get to know Ricardo Laverde in a seedy billiard hall in Bogotá than Antonio Yammara realises that the ex-pilot has a
Thu 26th March, 2020risc book club: stories from the romani world
By Janna Eliot – Spokes is made up of stories from across the Traveller world, featuring British Gypsies, settled and still travelling; Irish Travellers, East European Roma; and people whose
Thu 27th February, 2020risc book club: our women on the ground
By Zahra Hankir – Nineteen Arab women journalists speak out about what it’s like to report on their changing homelands in this first-of-its-kind essay collection, with a foreword by CNN
Thu 30th January, 2020risc book club: paradise
By Toni Morrison – Spanning the birth of the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, the counter-culture and politics of the late 1970s, deftly manipulating past, present and future, this novel reveals
Thu 19th December, 2019risc book club: the lime tree
By César Aira – In the town square of Coronel Pringles stands a lime tree from which the author’s father used to brew a sedative tea. This Proustian infusion evokes
Thu 28th November, 2019risc book club: the death of musrat idrissi
Two venturesome women on a journey through the land of their fathers and mothers. A wrong turn. A bad decision. They had no idea, when they arrived in Morocco, that
Thu 31st October, 2019risc book club: we, the survivors
Ah Hock is an ordinary, uneducated man born in a Malaysian fishing village and now trying to make his way in a country that promises riches and security to everyone,
Thu 26th September, 2019risc book club: resistance
In the terrifying atmosphere of late 1970s Buenos Aires, a young militant couple engaged in the resistance against the military regime adopt a child. Matters had reached a nadir; people
Thu 29th August, 2019risc book club: celestial bodies
Set in the village of al-Awafi in Oman, we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla, who
Thu 25th July, 2019risc book club: the reluctant mullah
Alone in his room in a London madrasah, Musah tries on an abaya, a hijab and a shawl: he has crossed over – to outsiders he has become a Muslim
Thu 27th June, 2019risc book club: disoriental
By Negar Djavadi (tr by Tina Kover) – Iran/France Kimiâ Sadr fled Iran at the age of ten in the company of her mother and sisters to join her father
Thu 30th May, 2019risc book club: freshwater
By Akwaeke Emezi – Nigeria (hardback £10) Ada is the second child of Saul, a Nigerian doctor, and his Malaysian wife Saachi, a nurse. When Ada is still a child,
Thu 25th April, 2019risc book club: No Knives in the Kitchens of This City
by Khaled Khalifa (tr by Leri Price) – Syria Khalifa portrays his native city under the grip of the Assad regimes though the lives of one family over three generations.
Thu 28th March, 2019risc book club: pachinko
By Min Jin Lee – Korea/Japan Yeongdo, Korea 1911. In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a fifteen-year-old girl. The
Thu 28th February, 2019risc book club: silence is my mother tongue
By Sulaiman Addonia – Eritrea/Sudan Saba arrives in an East African refugee camp as a young girl, devastated to have had to abandon her books as her family fled. In
Thu 31st January, 2019risc book club: musical youth
By Joanne Hillhouse – Antigua/Barbados. Zahara is a loner. She’s brilliant on the guitar but in everyday life she doesn’t really fit in. Then she meets Shaka, himself a musical
Thu 20th December, 2018risc book club: The Incomplete Manuscript
By Kamal Abdullayev – Azerbaijan. Translated from Azerbaijani by Anne Thompson, this is a novel narrating the imaginary life of medieval icons. When a young researcher accidentally comes across a
Thu 29th November, 2018risc book club: The Hundred Wells of Salaga
By Ayesha Haruna Attah – Ghana. Aminah lives an idyllic life until she is brutally separated from her home and forced on a journey that turns her from a daydreamer
Thu 25th October, 2018risc book club: The Museum of Innocence
By Orhan Pamuk – Turkey. The Museum of Innocence – set in Istanbul between 1975 and today – tells the story of Kemal, the son of one of Istanbul’s richest
Thu 27th September, 2018risc book club: Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race
By Reni Eddo-Lodge – UK. Writing on black life in Britain has long been the poor relation of its African American equivalent, not least because, in the hierarchy of suffering,
Thu 30th August, 2018risc book club: flights
By Olga Tokarczuk – Poland. Flights interweaves travel narratives and reflections on travel with an in-depth exploration of the human body, broaching life, death, motion, and migration. From the seventeenth
Thu 26th July, 2018risc book club: codename butterfly
By Ahlam Bsharat (tr Nancy Roberts) – Palestine. A young adult book. With irony and poignant teenage idealism, Butterfly draws us into her world of adult hypocrisy, sibling rivalries, girlfriends’
Thu 28th June, 2018risc book club: the ministry of utmost happiness
By Arundhati Roy – India. In a graveyard outside the walls of Old Delhi, a resident unrolls a threadbare Persian carpet. On a concrete sidewalk, a baby suddenly appears, just
Thu 31st May, 2018risc book club: the investigator
By Margarita Khemlin (tr Melanie Moore) – Ukraine Set in the Ukrainian SSR, The Investigator is rooted in a specific time and place. Lilia Vorobeichik’s death is given as 18
Thu 26th April, 2018risc book club: the gurugu pledge
By Juan Tomas Avila Laurel – Melilla On Mount Gurugu, overlooking the Spanish enclave of Melilla on the North African coast, desperate migrants gather before attempting to scale the city’s