Coffee House Challenge is an initiative run by the RSA (“working to remove the barriers to social progress” being their slogan) and Starbucks, the coffee retailer. The radical notion is that a bunch of people meet in coffee shop “to talk about community issues they care about and to take action for local change” which, as you’ll know, has never happened in this country before.
Okay, sarcasm to one side, there’s one happening in Birmingham on August 29th at the 114/115 New St Starbucks at 7.30pm. The title is Resource full. Creatively challenged or what?. Details (which I confess I’m struggling to make complete sense of) at that link. All are welcome and it’s free.
I’ve never seen such a tightly structured yet vague agenda. Best of all, who are all these reps and do they know the organisers are suggesting people clear off when they’re speaking?
Maybe the first item up for discussion could be the merits of going round the corner to Coffee Lounge – free wi-fi access and an alcohol licence vs copies of Paul McC’s new album? No contest.
This is so crazy. Why wouldn’t they at least support a local coffe shop. The world is whacked om Starbucks. For Gods sake. choose a company in your community, not a cookie cutter corporate coffee company with less than honorable ideas about community and nation. Just my opinion.
When I saw “to talk about community issues they care about and to take action for local change†it did occur to me to organise one about how chain coffee shops are affecting communities by commercializing public spaces and that maybe we should campaign against them, perhaps with bricks.