"I wanted ordinary citizens to feel like they owned the chamber". A mindful review of ex-Mayor of Sheffield Magic Magid's The Art of Disruption

From Magic Magid’s “Love Letter to Sheffield”

Delighted to receive this review of The Art of Disruption, a book by the joyfully disruptive ex-Mayor of Sheffield and ex-Green MEP Magid “Magic” Magid - and especially from those advocates of engaged mindfulness, Jamie Bristow and Rosie Bell of the Mindfulness Initiative (see previous work on A/UK here).

Review of The Art of Disruption by Magid Magid, by Jamie Bristow and Rosie BEll

Not only is Donald Trump a wasteman, but also henceforth he is banned from the great city of Sheffield.

Or so declared Magid Magid through a viral tweet back in 2018, while he was the city’s youngest Lord Mayor and certainly the first to squat on a marble bannister, sporting Doc Martens for his official portrait photograph.

Magid has never cared to fit in, and has an intuitive gift for disrupting the conventions that persist only through inertia - an attitude now immortalised in the oak-panelled corridors of the town hall among his stiff-backed predecessors.

He may no longer hold this ceremonial role, going on to become a Green Party MEP for the Yorkshire & Humber region and more recently helping to found Union of Justice, a European organisation dedicated to racial and climate justice.

But he has left an indelible mark on the city’s sense of itself and its reputation around the world.

Whilst in office Magid not only disrupted the optics of traditional politics, but also its ambition, tenor and transparency.

His effort to make himself accessible to citizens and bring real life closer to the council, for instance by inviting artists and artisans to present their work in the chamber, are peppered through his recent book, The Art of Disruption: A Manifesto For Real Change.

"I wanted ordinary citizens to feel like they owned the chamber", he reflects. However, his efforts were not universally appreciated and his account is all the more impressive for the small-minded resistance and explicit racism that he encounters.

The book is equal parts touching and playful backstory, political memoir, polemic and programme for change. There is richness in each thread, and distinct alignment with the main preoccupations of The Alternative UK.

From Positive North

Magid’s ‘ten commandments’ - dating back to a controversial Sheffield billboard that he created when Lord Mayor - form the groundwork for chapters including ‘Don't Be A Prick’, ‘Do Epic Shit’ and ‘Always Buy Your Round’.

The climate crisis, democractic reform, more diverse civic engagement, personal growth and the importance of inner capacities like courage and compassion, are key themes in the Art of Disruption.

Magid’s more concrete proposals may not represent anything particularly surprising to regular readers of The Alternative UK, but what’s really remarkable about this book is its thoroughgoing accessibility and amiable, cut-the-bullshit tone.

This is an engaging read for anyone interested in how Magid Magid went from Somali refugee to First Citizen of Sheffield and global hero in just a couple of decades.

But crucially it offers an inspiring on-ramp for the millions of people who, until Magid came along, may have grown up “being told that people like me weren’t made for political office and that I couldn’t make a real difference.”

It’s a book that should be handed out at the door of every youth centre in the UK

Note: Jamie and Rosie at the Mindfulness Initiative are embarking on a major project to explore how mindfulness practices and research might help society effectively respond to climate change, titled “ActivateChange: meeting the climate crisis inside-out”. For more information, visit this page.