The AWETHU School of Organising

AWETHU’s first cohort - a curriculum covering the basics of climate justice, colonial history, anti-racism and anti-capitalism, as well as organising principles to build successful campaigns and wellbeing in activism to ensure this work is truly sustainable - was delivered from September-November 2024 across 8 Saturdays. We are currently in our second year of delivering this curriculum which is again running over 8 weeks from September-November 2025 also. We are a transformative educational initiative dedicated to empowering individuals and communities through political education and tools for grassroots organising. 

We believe political education has the power to liberate and that through organising, we can build a better world.  We believe our "politics" are not mere labels but tools to transform our surroundings. We recognise that Black and Global Majority people have too often been excluded from climate justice and social change conversations in the UK - at AWETHU we aim to play our part, alongside others, to change this. We believe that it is crucial for knowledge around the climate crisis and how it is connected to all of our struggles to be available to our communities, so that we can lead the solutions, and the efforts that will shape our collective future. 

We are committed to ensuring our future centres on Black liberation, true liberation for the most marginalised means LIBERATION FOR ALL.

Founded by Mikaela Loach, climate justice organiser and author of ‘It’s Not That Radical’, and Jess Mally, anti-racism educator and host of ‘The Third Way Podcast ’, AWETHU was established to address the lack of political education in movement spaces and the prevalent culture of merely "reading the right books" without translating that knowledge into action. Inspired by the educational models of the Black Panthers, Ella Baker in SNCC, The People’s Forum in NYC, and The Ella Baker School of Organising in the UK, AWETHU aims to provide a robust framework for political education and organising. Together, Mikaela and Jess have over a decade of experience in organising for climate justice,
Black liberation and social change.