The Design Museum in London has announced the winners of the 2020 Beazley Designs of the Year, honouring see-saws connecting children on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, improvised brick arches created by Hong Kong protesters and vegan burgers. The Beazley awards don’t only consider aesthetics and user experience. They look at the bigger picture … Continue reading “Design as Activism Honoured in Beazley Awards”
Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot are commemorated on 5 November every year in the UK on Bonfire Night. Pupils from A2 can discover the background to this annual event. Lycée pupils can investigate how a failed terrorist from the seventeenth century has become the face of the Anonymous protest movement. The British Parliament site … Continue reading “Guy Fawkes Webpicks: Protest and Plot”
The 17-year-old founder of the School Strike for Climate movement has been awarded the inaugural Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity. And immediately announced that she would donate the one million euro prize money to environmental projects through her foundation. This is the first year the Portuguese philanthropic Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation awarded the Prize for Humanity, which … Continue reading “Greta Thunberg Donates Million Euro Prize”
The speech young climate activist Greta Thunberg made to the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019 is a great example of a speech for students. It can be added to work on several Shine Bright 1e themes. Greta Thunberg would also be interesting to study in connection with the LLCER literature curriculum The Curious … Continue reading “Greta’s Speech”
It’s been quite a year for Greta Thunberg. As well as leading millions of people in climate protests around the world, the 16-year-old activist has addressed the United Nations, met and harangued world leaders. It’s no wonder that Time Magazine named her its Person of the Year. Thunberg never imagined her solo protest would have … Continue reading “Greta’s Year”
Students from across the New Zealand city gathered for a vigil in honour of those who were killed or injured in the Christchurch mosque shootings. They performed an emotional haka together. The vigil, one of several which have taken place, was organised by Okirano Tilaia, the Head Boy of nearby Cashmere High School. At least … Continue reading “Christchurch Students Perform Haka for Shooting Victims”
A quiet revolution is building momentum around the world as school pupils strike and march to try to get their elders to take serious measures to limit climate change. It started with one Swedish 15-year-old missing school to go and be a one-person picket line in front of a government ministry in September 2018. She … Continue reading “School Strike for the Planet”
The silent protest of two African American athletes on the podium at the 1968 Mexico Olympics was an iconic moment in civil-rights history. We’ve selected some teaching tools for language classes on the Black Power protest. In 2016, the prestigious Smithsonian opened a new, and long-awaited museum, the National Museum of African American History and … Continue reading “Mexico Olympics Black Power Protest Video”
Fifty years after the Mexico Olympics, when African-American medallists Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a Black Power salute to protest at discrimination, all three men on the podium that day have been recognised for their courage. On 16 October, 1968, two American sprinters made a symbolic gesture that became an iconic image of fight … Continue reading “Black Power at the 1968 Olympics Fifty Years On”
NFL American football star Colin Kaepernick brought attention to Black Lives Matter’s protests about police brutality towards African Americans with his silent protests, kneeling instead of standing when “The Star-Spangled Banner” played before NFL games. Two years on, Kaepernick has been frozen out of the football league but has won two major human-rights awards for … Continue reading “Kneeling for His Rights”