Opening Rally: Mark Campbell, Kamal Abu Aita, Judith Orr, Jess Edwards - Marxism 2011
Channel: SWP TV
Date: 2011-09-01

Kemal is a leader of the Egyptian tax collectors' union - the first independent union to be founded in Egypt for decades. Kemal has been a lifelong opponent of Mubarak and supporter of the Palestinian struggle.

The independent unions were at the forefront of the struggle to oust Mubarak. Since then workers in Egypt have rushed to form unions free from state control. These social struggles have been key to the deepening of the revolution. Kemal Abu Aita is a key figure in the new trade union movement.



Marxism 2011
The global revolt against our rulers infused the Marxism 2011 festival in central London last weekend. It lifted the atmosphere, debates and the size—with over 4,500 people attending.

It was the largest Marxism—the annual festival hosted by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP)—in over a decade.

The event brought together striking workers in Britain with activists from Egypt, Greece and other countries, who are at the forefront of fighting for change.  Last year's student revolt in Britain and the revolutions in the Middle East also inspired the mood.  The presence of strikers and their supporters, fresh from picket lines and protests, meant a fighting spirit filled the hall.



Many rooms were filled to capacity. Huge queues formed for Terry Eagleton's meeting on the Communist Manifesto on Saturday with hundreds unable to get in.
Meetings on Frantz Fanon, chaos and science, Greece and the Eurozone crisis, and Tony Cliff, the founder of the SWP, were jam packed.

Leading trade unionists—including Billy Hayes of the CWU, Steve Hart of Unite and Kevin Courtney of the NUT—came to debate the next stage of the fight against the Tories.

Left wing theorists—like Tariq Ali, Peter Thomas, Ben Fine, Esther Leslie, Paul Gilroy and John Bellamy Foster—discussed imperialism, economics, art and other subjects.
Writers Nina Power, Laurie Penny and Socialist Worker editor Judith Orr debated how to win women's liberation.

Sameh Naguib from the Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists, writer Haifa Zangana and Sami Ramadani told of the impact of the Arab Spring.

Jim Swire, the father of one of the Lockerbie bombing victims, spoke to a large crowd alongside civil rights lawyer Gareth Peirce on the miscarriage of justice in that case.

There were also courses and meetings that laid out the basis of socialist ideas, such as how Marxist economics works, what makes a revolution and what kind of party we need.

A number of people who hadn't been to Marxism for a few years came again, angered by the attacks working people face and inspired by the fightback.

This year's Marxism was the first to take place at University College London. The fact that it was all taking place on one site added to the festival feeling.

At the closing rally on Monday, Sameh Naguib from Egypt spoke about the ongoing struggle against the regime there. "This is a historical moment of extraordinary significance," he said. "History doesn't keep giving us chances like this. We have to take that chance now.

Charlie Kimber from the SWP wrapped up the rally. "The resistance is coming here too," he said. "But we have to be organised to fight back and defeat the cuts. We have to be ready for it. We have to be pushing for strikes and resistance.

"And we need stronger socialist organisation at the centre of all that, fighting for a revolutionary socialist future."

by Matthew Cookson

full report: http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=25293

Marxism Festival website: http://www.marxismfestival.org.uk/
SWP website: http://www.swp.org.uk/