|
At least 20 race equality experts like Professor Gus John, Mia Morris OBE, Professor Paul Gilroy, Dame Professor Elizabeth Anionwu, have signed in support. The petition is also supported by actors/writers such as: Courttia Newland, Malika Booker, Dr Margaret Busby OBE, Kevin Legendre, Rudolph Walker CBE, and more. The debacle of the 17th January was covered by Black History Month magazine HERE
It is hard to imagine why the ‘anti-racist’ British Film Institute, as declared by CEO Ben Roberts in 2020, is ignoring thousands of people for such a simple request as required in any case by basic policy and law.
Since June 2024 the BFI stated to the public ‘we have no desire or intention for it (African Odysseys) to end and we remain committed to it’
However, as of 29th January 2025
· The present BFI brochure, prepared months ago, has no mention of African Odysseys.
· There are no African Odysseys events planned for 2025.
· The African Odysseys Steering Committee had 13 events in mind since October 2024, but the BFI cuts/redundancies meant there was no way to enact them.
· For the last 17 years, by January, the Committee would have programmed exciting films about Africa/Caribbean up until July. Here’s a sample of the type of films screened HERE
· The last three African Odysseys events all sold out in advance. The person who programmed these popular films for almost two decades is the same person the BFI wish to make redundant in order to ‘promote diversity and cut costs’. His last day would be 31st January if the cuts go ahead
Just as the 26th of September petition predicted, the cuts have led to the end of African Odysseys. The BFI has refused to even meet with the Steering Committee despite massive support from the public.
Short Timeline and important points
June 13th 2024 Steering Committee write to CEO Ben Roberts complaining about cuts and asking about REIA.
July 2nd Committee meets BFI management and convinces them to run a REIA.
August 9th BFI goes back on what it agreed and decides not do a REIA. They also unilaterally told the Committee that ‘no progress’ was being made and they would get back to them when they felt like it. As a direct result, the petition was launched on 26th September.
October 29th After ignoring it for a month and trying to take it down, the BFI finally responded to the petition, but that response included two lies HERE
November 13th BFI requests meeting but the Committee said they could not agree a meet until the questions in the Freedom of Information request submitted on the 18th of November are answered. The 11 FOI questions included; What is the budget for African Odysseys ? Who made the decision not to do a REIA and when? Exactly how will AO continue with such drastic cuts/redundancies? Such questions had been asked by the Committee since June but repeatedly ignored.
December 10th The FOI questions were answered but in an evasive, incomplete and dishonest manner as was reported on 24 December 2024 HERE
The date for the online meeting was set for 17th January 12pm The Committee told the BFI they would require two 90 minute meetings spread over two days.
The BFI said they could only spare one hour to discuss the 15,000 strong petition and the 5 years of complaints of institutional racism.
The Committee made the point that BFI staff regularly spend 3 hours watching films like Lord of the Rings, King Kong and Wicked so how could one hour be enough to discuss serious race issues about a 17-year-old programme?
The BFI insisted they could only spare one hour due to ‘time constraints’ but the time constraints were set by the BFI.
January 16th Thursday 4pm the BFI sent an agenda for the meeting the committee had never seen. The agenda did not mention the 15,000 strong petition. The agenda included signing a ‘memorandum of understanding’ which the committee had no idea about and did not ask for. The BFI stated the meeting would be chaired by an ‘independent facilitator’ who the committee did not know and had never spoken to. The BFI appointed this person, unilaterally, 18 hours before the meeting.
Friday 17th January 8.47am the Committee wrote back to the BFI saying they would not accept the imposition of an ‘independent facilitator’ at the last minute. That the agenda would be discussing racism at the BFI as previously stated and would meet online at 12pm that day.
The BFI were explicitly told that Committee are all volunteers with regular jobs, in 17 years they have never met at 12pm on a weekday as they always meet after work around 7pm. The BFI were told that the Committee had gone out of their way to accommodate the BFI and unlike the BFI staff, were not getting paid for attending the meeting. The BFI was also told that the committee, unlike BFI staff, were not full time, office-based and able to respond to last minute emails.
Friday 17th January 12pm The Committee were waiting to get into the Zoom. All had taken days off or re-arranged their schedules to attend, one had even booked a hotel to ensure internet access. They could not get in.
Attendees presumed there was a delay but discovered the BFI had sent an email at 10am cancelling the meeting. BFI reasons were that; the ‘independent facilitator’ they appointed the previous night had said the meeting should not go ahead. The Committee, who had organised the meeting, who have worked with BFI managers for 17 years without facilitation, who represented 15,000 people and who are worth at least 1.5 million pounds of labour/sponsorship/expertise, were not consulted about this decision.
The situation was made worse as Professor Gus John had written an Open Letter to the BFI Chair of Governors Jay Hunt and Ben Roberts on 1st October HERE offering a meeting as a solution. That offer was rebuffed by Roberts just before he had to apologise for race discrimination to filmmaker Faisal Querishi HERE.
Professor Gus John is one of the 20 race equality experts who support the petition. Professor John was an adviser to former Home Secretary Jack Straw and worked with civil servants on the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. He also conducted an evaluation of the race equality policy and action plan of each university/higher education institution in England, Scotland and Wales and provided guidance and training on REIA for individual institutions and other public bodies. The BFI had been told he would attend. Yet, the assistance he volunteered to the BFI, consultancy worth thousands of pounds, was shabbily dismissed.
The Committee were outraged at this latest disrespectful and inconsiderate behaviour coming on top of six months of evasion and delay. The bare minimum the BFI could have done is turn up at 12pm to state their case.
On 21st January the Committee sent a six page letter of complaint titled ‘BFI brought into disrepute by actions of senior management on African Odysseys and systemic racism’ and copied it to Professor Gus John and Jay Hunt Chair of BFI Governors. More details below
| 
