Hi,

At the start of 2015 we had a poll about whether to try to set up a 'real' Death Cafe in London. This would be a coffee and events venue established specifically to facilitate engagement with death. In the end 126 people (91%) voted 'Yes we should try to set this up' and 13 people voted 'No we shouldn't.'

Buoyed by this I have been busy taking Death Cafe London forward. It is going very well and is already the most exciting (and scary) work I’ve ever been involved in.

The proposal has taken on a life of it’s own and a wide range of amazing people are getting involved. Pretty much everyone I speak to asks about it, especially in London.

So now we now have a draft business plan for consultation and comment. If you’d like to help shape this work please email me to receive a copy: underwoodjon @gmail.com

There is an element of the business plan that is very important but has not been discussed before: our commitment to inclusion.

The proposal is that a very strong commitment to inclusion is to be at the core of Death Cafe London. This is because the alternatives, of either saying nothing or merely paying lip service, wouldn’t fit with our ethos.

More about why this is necessary and what it means for us are set out in the text below from our business plan.

Zoe Samudzi has been instrumental in guiding the development of this content and the thinking underlying it. Zoe is a social psychologist focusing in critical race theory and gender. Her Twitter handle is @ztsamudzi.

This is not a commitment to be taken lightly. Please do share any thoughts about this.

Thank you.

Jon

Inclusion

In October 2014, Bernard Crettaz (whose work inspired Death Cafe) was asked about the idea of setting up a ‘real’ Death Cafe in London.

He said “I am scared … that [when] you create a specific space, that you actually recreate a specialised space while we actually want to give death back to the city and people. But I just want to draw your attention to the dangers of creating a ghetto of death.”

This risk has been considered carefully. Death Cafe London’s response is that if we are to avoid becoming a “ghetto of death”, with its disturbing segregatory associations, then a commitment to inclusion must be central to this work.

We’re all going to die at some point. Death Cafe London’s view is that, despite what society might tell us, no one individual’s death is inherently more important than another’s. But we also acknowledge that in London, as in the world, some groups are privileged or oppressed by virtue of fairly arbitrary characteristics.

For example, and in general, white people are privileged over people of colour, men over women, straight people over queer-identified people, cisgender people over transgender and other gender non-conforming people, and so on.

These and other oppressions and privileges interrelate, and the varying prejudices accompanying these different identities are deeply woven into our culture. Discrimination is reproduced by our institutions, and as individuals we often internalise and then perpetuate different kinds of oppressions.

Death Cafe London explicitly recognises privilege and disadvantage along these lines. By actively addressing them in our way of working, Death Cafe London will seek to avoid becoming a specialised or exclusive space that caters to/catering to privileged worldviews.

As such, Death Cafe London is committed to enabling all people – especially individuals with marginalized identities – to safely buy shares in, work at, use and shape the venture. The ways in which we will achieve this are set our in our inclusion policy.

Draft Inclusion Policy

Death Cafe London is committed to enabling all people, especially those subject to oppression, to safely buy shares in, work at, use and shape the venture. This means including the following in our core way of working:

-          Having zero tolerance for any form of discriminatory, intimidating, or aggressive behaviour

-          Actively engaging with and supporting marginalized and excluded communities and individuals, particularly those subject to intersecting oppressions. If these communities wish, we will enable them to attend or hold events related to death and facilitate the maintenance of safe spaces for them however that may look

-          Recognising the often violent or fatal experiences of discrimination against transgender communities, especially transgender women of colour, and holding a strong commitment to Death Café London being a friendly, inclusive, and safe space for transgender individuals

-          Respecting cultural ownership and avoiding cultural appropriation

-          Actively enabling people with mental or physical disabilities to attend Death Café London and support individuals with all natures of disabilities however they may need it, namely in making the space as accessible as possible

-          Actively enabling people of different ages to attend and facilitating opportunities for intergenerational connections

-          Recognizing various financial barriers to facility access and trying to address these, whilst still being aware of financial realities

-          Actively supporting the creation of open and safe spaces for discussion about issues related to inclusion, especially when they intersect with death.

Though ideas about inclusion may change depending on the practical needs of individuals utilizing the space, our commitment to inclusion will remain at the core of this work. Death Café London will be transparent and accountable regarding our policies and practices and welcomes assistance and advice from others around these issues.