Join me and many others at Festival of the Oppressed, this weekend!
"Revolutions are festivals of the oppressed and exploited" – Lenin
The world is in a bad place and the future doesn’t look bright. Across much of the world, from the centres of imperialism to occupied Palestine, we are witnessing advances for a far-right that seeks to remake people in their own, oppressive image. Against this dark vision of the future, rs21 is organising its inaugural Festival of the Oppressed. Lenin described revolutions as, ‘festivals of the oppressed and exploited’, and to transform this unequal, undemocratic world, in the face of climate catastrophe, we need nothing short of a revolution. We want to reignite popular agency, build new solidarities, and imagine alternative futures.
But we need to work out how we get there. On 21-22 June, from 10am until 5pm, activists, campaigners and thinkers will come together to explore how oppression, in its racialised, gendered, sexual, colonial and classed forms, is structured and reproduced today. How are forms of oppression defined and remade by capitalism? And how might we be best placed to resist and transcend this oppressive social world?
Featuring collab sessions with:
Black Lives Matter (BLMUK)
Troublemakers at Work
Red Medicine podcast
Haymarket Books & Books Against Borders
The festival will feature activists from many movements against oppression: from disability justice and trans liberation to Palestine solidarity and racial justice.
We must take our struggles seriously, but ‘nothing of this is incompatible with the joy of living, or with love for life and its amusements.’ – Amilcar Cabral
We are weaving art, culture and collective fun throughout the weekend with intergenerational activities: zine-making, chant-leading workshops, protest puppet-making, radical walks and more.
I’ll be speaking at the morning session on abolition and how we get free alongside Shanice McBean. Other exciting panels include conversations on “stretching Marxism” with Joshua Virasami, Jess Spear and Jaice T; Gargi Bhattacharya, Barnaby Raine and Gabriel Winant on the future of capitalism and its gravediggers; Richard Seymour, Sivamohan Valluvan and Sara Farris on undermining the nation; and a Red Medicine panel on ‘How to run a hospital?’. You can see the full timetable below:
Saturday 21st June:
Sunday 22nd June
It’s going to be a blast and I hope to see as many of you there as possible. Register here!