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Making Meaning
Not All Who Obey Are Faithful
Who gets to lose faith, and who doesn't? Can refusal be an act of faith? In this conversation, Isabella speaks with poet, organiser and essayist lisa minerva luxx about sacrifice not as loss but as a practice of choosing what deserves our loyalty. Through poetry, political organizing and cultural resistance, they explore how revolutionary disobedience, refusal and moral clarity become acts of faith in themselves. Drawing on their experience in the Lebanese uprising, mutual aid work across Syria and Lebanon, and their current role coordinating the Filton 25 Defense Committee, luxx articulates a framework for understanding faith as embodied, grounded and inseparable from direct action.
About the Guest
lisa minerva luxx is a British Syrian writer, poet, organiser, and essayist. They are the author of Fetch Your Mother's Heart (Outspoken Press, 2021) and a PhD researcher on militant poetics at the University of Manchester. luxx is a long-time transnational community organiser with deep experience in the Lebanese uprising, mutual aid networks across Syria and Lebanon following the Beirut blast, and currently coordinates the Filton 25 Defense Committee, which supports 25 Palestine Action activists arrested for breaking into Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems in Filton, Bristol, in August 2024.
Resources & References
- David Graeber (Anarchist Anthropologist), "Protest is begging the powers that be to dig a well. Direct action is digging the well and daring them to stop you." The Make Believe The Make-Believe World of David Graeber
- Fetch Your Mother's Heart by lisa minerva luxx (Outspoken Press, 2021)
- Poets Liberation Front: an 8-part literary salon that took place in London across April 2025, bringing together poets, organisers and political prisoners into a conversation about cultural resistance and militant poetics
- Filton 25 Defense Committee: Supporting 25 Palestine Action activists arrested after breaking into Elbit Systems (Israeli weapons manufacturer) in Filton, Bristol, August 2024
- Umer Khalid @freeumerkhalid:Palestine Action-linked activist held as a political prisoner in relation to the RAF Brize Norton action
- Jordan Devlin @beforeisneeze: former Filton 25 political prisoner who spent 18 months in jail for targeting an Israeli weapons factory
- Heba Muraisi: Palestine Action-affiliated activist. Whilst in prison Heba went on hunger strike for 73 days, the longest in UK history, which ended in victory for the hunger strikers
- CAGE International @cageinternational: London-based independent advocacy organisation challenging war on terror-driven state oppression around the world
- Muslim Social Justice Initiative (MSJI) @msji.uk: is a Muslim-led site of political education, cultural work, publishing, and community infrastructure based in Manchester.
- Grace Lee Boggs: Chinese American revolutionary philosopher and Detroit-based activist
Credits:
Host & Editorial Lead - Isabella Kajiwara
Producer - Ornella Mutoni
Executive Producer - Sylvia Hong
Guest - lisa minerva luxx
Editor and Video Engineer - Andrew Shaktah
Development & Research Support - Micha Frazer Carrol
Final Edit Review - Hannah Azuonye
Studio - Podcast House
Link to episode transcript here.
About Making Meaning
Making Meaning is a Skin Deep podcast series emerging from our editorial season on faith. It's a space for people of all faiths and none to think creatively and critically about how faith shows up in how we produce culture, make meaning of our times, and build our movements.
About Skin Deep
Skin Deep is a grassroots organisation that makes culture in service of racial justice and liberation. Working across editorial and events, we produce and facilitate creative work that informs, motivates, and nourishes people in the fight against racial capitalism.
For more information, visit skindeepmag.com.
More episodes
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2. A Revolution Needs A Tomorrow
45:36||Season 1, Ep. 2In an age saturated with discourse about apocalypse and the beginning of the end, how do we prepare ourselves for the world we're trying to bring into being? This conversation explores liberation theology, the politics of hope, forgiveness as revolutionary practice and why imagining the day after we win may be one of the most important things we can do right now.Guest BioJordan Jones is an Associate Pastor at Metro Hope Church in New York City, whose ministry is shaped by abolition, liberation and revolutionary love. He is a writer and faith-based community organiser whose work centres healing, resistance and hope. An Atlanta native, Jordan is a student of the Black Freedom Movement and Latin American liberation theology, learned from organic movement leaders in rural Colombia. He is a proud brother, friend, son and long-time contributor to Skin Deep.Resources & References Fred Moten, Philosopher: "When the way of things gets in the way of things." A Lecture at Cornell University Gustavo Gutiérrez, Peruvian philosopher & theologian, considered one of the founders of Latin American liberation theologyJames Cone: Author of 'Black Theology and Black Power’Tim LaHaye: Author of ‘'Left Behind' series Franny Choi: Poet, 'The World Keeps Ending. The World Goes On.'CreditsHost & Editorial Lead - Isabella KajiwaraProducer - Ornella MutoniExecutive Producer - Sylvia HongGuest - Jordan JonesEditor and Video Engineer - Andrew ShaktahDevelopment & Research Support - Micha Frazer CarrolFinal Edit Review - Hannah AzuonyeStudio - Podcast House Link to episode transcript here.
3. Faith Begins Where Certainty Ends
32:23||Season 1, Ep. 3What if faith is what we practice when certainty is impossible? In this episode, Isabella sits down with Jules and Alex from The People's Letters, a worker-led cooperative bookshop and event space in Bethnal Green, London. They explore what happens when doubt becomes something we carry collectively rather than alone, how alternative institutions of care can be built together, and why doubt doesn't have to stop us from taking action. Recorded on their one-year anniversary, this conversation is an intimate look at cooperative values, collective responsibility, conflict resolution, and the quiet revolutionary power of community spaces.About The GuestsJules and Alex are co-founders and workers at The People's Letters, a worker-led cooperative bookshop and community event space located at 395 Cambridge Heath Road in Bethnal Green, East London. Opened in October 2025, The People's Letters operates as a bright, welcoming third space that combines radical politics with accessibility, hosting events, secondhand books on a 'pay what you can' basis, and sharing space with Release, a harm reduction organisation. Both Jules and Alex bring lived experience of marginalisation and community organising to their work building alternatives to capitalist models of retail and community care.Resources & References The People's Letters: worker-led cooperative bookshop and event space, 395 Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London Release Harm Reduction Hub: a community drop-in centre located at The People’s Letters, which provides low threshold harm reduction advice and signposting for any visitor, with the goal of benefitting people who are traditionally underserved due to stigma - such as people who rough sleep, use drugs, or sell sex. Terrible Therapy: monthly event at The People's Letters replicating a judgment-free zone for attendees to rant about relationship/situationship dramas, work issues, and all kinds of life spats. Puppy Girl Social Club: regular social event at The People’s Letters by & for dykes, dolls & transbians with at least a passing interest in petplay. Dalston Solidarity Cafe: community space where Jules and Alex have hosted talks about their cooperative modelCreditsHost & Editorial Lead - Isabella KajiwaraProducer - Ornella MutoniExecutive Producer - Sylvia HongGuest - Jules and Alex, The People's LettersEditor and Video Engineer - Andrew ShaktahDevelopment & Research Support - Micha Frazer CarrolFinal Edit Review - Hannah AzuonyeStudio - Podcast House Link to episode transcript here.