Race, Class and Identity / Marxism 2019

Race, Class and Identity - A one-day conference hosted by International Socialism

Saturday 18 May, 11am – 5pm, Friends Meeting House, London 

Questions of identity and their relation to racism and oppression are centre stage in these divided and dangerous times.

This conference will look at the impact of renewed ‘identity politics’ on those who want to fight for genuine liberation and get rid of capitalism

For more details and how to register - see here

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 Marxism 2019 - A festival of socialist ideas - 4-7 July, London 

 Capitalism is in crisis. Society is rapidly polarising between Left and Right. Marxism Festival 2019 is the place to debate how we can beat back the rise of racism, fascism & the far right. But thousands of people from around the world will also be discussing the alternative to the system that means chaos.

 Speakers include: Omar Barghouti • Extinction Rebellion • Ilan Pappé • Louise Raw • Ian Angus & more!

For more information and how to book see here

National demonstration against fascism and racism - Saturday 17 November

National unity demonstration against fascism and racism, 
Saturday 17 November, central London


We are experiencing the biggest rise in support for fascism, the far right, racism, Islamophobia and Antisemitism since the 1930s. In Britain fascists and racists are mobilising on a scale not seen for decades. We must unite against this threat.

The national demonstration is initiated by Stand Up To Racism, co-sponsored by Unite Against Fascism and Love Music Hate Racism, and is supported by the TUC, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell amongst others.

The recent rise in attacks by the far right has created a real thirst for a mass anti-racist mobilisation in the spirit of the Anti Nazi League. Now is the time to take to the streets.

There is an urgent need to build a movement against racism and fascism. Help us mobilise for 17 November by joining Stand Up to Racism - for more details see here

International Socialism 157 online

Sorry for the shocking neglect of this blog - and in the bicentenary of Marx's birth as well - its only with the current UCU strike over pensions that I am having time to get back around to updating this - just to say the latest issue of International Socialism journal is online, with pieces on Zimbabwe after Mugabe, Marxism, feminism and transgender politics, globalisation, the legacy of the 1917 Russian Revolution in colonial Africa, Eric Hobsbawm, and so on.  In terms of events coming up this year of interest, there are marches against racism taking place internationally on UN Anti-Racism Day on Saturday 17 March - which in the UK will be the first opportunity to tell Theresa May we don't want Trump visiting later this year - for details of the UK marches see here, while Marxism 2018 takes place in London from 5-8 July 2018.

Stand Up to Racism national conference - 8 October London

Book your ticket here

Refugees welcome here - Stand Up to Racism national demonstration

Refugees welcome here now! UN Anti-Racism Day national demonstration - Saturday 19 March - London, Glasgow, Cardiff

Marxism 2015 - Ideas for Revolution

Marxism 2015: Ideas for revolution

A five day political festival: 9-13 July 2015, Central London

www.marxismfestival.org.uk

Book up - Just over one week to go!

New meeting: Tackling the Racist Offensive

Sat 11^th July, 7pm

Marxism Festival is very pleased to announce that Diane Abbott MP will speak alongside Sabby Dhalu and Weyman Bennett (Joint Secretaries of Unite Against Fascism, pc) at this new meeting at Marxism.

Meetings on Greece at Marxism 2015

The crisis in Greece poses sharp questions for the left.

Don’t miss our special debate:

Syriza in power: Whither Greece?

With Stathis Kouvelakis (Syriza Central Committee) and Alex Callinicos (SWP)

Sat 11^th July, 2pm 

Plus

• Greece: keeping the hope for change alive

With Panos Garganas (SEK)

Sunday 12 July, 2pm

• The fight against Golden Dawn in Greece

With Petros Constantinou (Athens Councillor and co-ordinator of the Movement Against Racism and the Fascist Threat) and Kostas Papadakis (part of the legal team representing the victims of Nazi attacks at the trial of Golden Dawn)

Saturday 11^th July, 11.45am

• Fighting the Troika and austerity across Europe

Maria Styllou from Greece will peak alongside Richard Boyd Barrett from Ireland and Christine Buccholz from Germany

Sunday 12^th July, 3.45pm

Plus Panos Garganas will join the Marxism opening rally on Thurs 9^th July at 7pm

Other meetings at Marxism 2015

• After Kobane and the general election: where now for Turkey and the Kurds

 Ron Marguilies will be joined by HDP MP Sebahat Tuncel

Sat 11^th July, 7pm (the time of this meeting may change – please check our website)

• Orgreave: the search for the truth

Gareth Peirce and Mike McColgan from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign

Sun 12^th July, 3.45pm

• The story behind Pride

With Nicola Field and Gethin Roberts, original members of LGSM

Sun 12^th July, 7pm.

And if you missed Pride at the cinemas there is chance to watch the film afterwards.

• Darcus Howe, broadcaster and civil liberties campaigner discusses his political life with his biographers Robin Bunce and Paul Field

The final timetable for Marxism 2015 will be on line from tomorrow . . . to book tickets and for more information go to www.marxismfestival.org.uk or call us on 020 7819 1190

Stand Up to UKIP national day of action 11 April

Don't believe Farage's racist healthcare lies - Support the Stand Up to UKIP day of action on 11 April!

Edinburgh: 250 - Pegida: 0

One particularly great moment on the #M21  Anti-Racism Day Demonstrations

Newcastle: 1 - Pegida: 0

What a result - congratulations to those who stood up to fascism and fascism in Newcastle over the weekend - what a great way to build up to the demonstrations on 21 March!

UAF national conference 21 February

Unite against  fascism and racism NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Saturday 21 February Congress Centre, TUC, Great Russell Street, London

REGISTER NOW: Book online at the UAF website

AGENDA: 9am onwards: Registration 10.20–11.30am: Choice of the following four sessions a) Mobilising against the far right and fascist street movements across Europe Chair: Weyman Bennett Joint National Secretary UAF; Christine Bucholz MP Die Linke (Germany); Martin Lynch Black Country UAF; Petros Constantinou KEERFA; Sabby Dhalu UAF b) War, Torture and Islamophobia – Defend Civil Liberties Chair: Judith Orr Officer, Stop the War; Speakers: Lindsey GermanConvenor Stop the War; Mohammed Kozbar VP Muslim Association of Britain; Victoria Brittain Writer and journalist; Hamja Ahsan Free Talha Ahsan Campaign; Louise Christian Human Rights Lawyer c) Opposing Austerity, racism and scapegoating immigrants Chair: Aaron Kiely NUS NEC; Speakers: Sam Fairbairn People’s Assembly Against Austerity; Mick Burke Economist; Eileen ShortDefend Council Housing d) Never again – 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Chair: Weyman Bennett UAF; Speakers: Gerry Gable EditorSearchlight; Collette Levi Hidden child refugee from Vichy France 11.30–11.45am: Break

11.45am–1pm: Plenary After Paris attacks: Uniting Against Islamophobia,  anti-Semitism & Fascism in Europe Chair: Sabby Dhalu UAF Speakers: Nasos Iliopoulos Syriza Central Committee (Greece);Marwan Muhammed OSCE; Christine Bucholz Parliamentary Member Die Linke (Germany); Owen Jones award winning journalist;Claude Moraes MEP; Dr. Shuja Shafi MCB General Secretary;Billy Hayes CWU General Secretary; Mark Serwotka PCS General Secretary; Weyman Bennett UAF

1–2pm: Lunch 2–3.30pm: Choice of the following four sessions e) Black lives matter: campaigning against institutional racism Chair: Brian Richardson UAF; Janet Alder Justice for Christopher Alder; Marcia Rigg Sean Rigg Justice and Change Campaign; Maz Saleem Justice for Mohammed Saleem f) Keep racism out of the general election – no scapegoating immigrants Chair: Wilf Sullivan TUC; Zita Holbourne PCS NEC & BARAC; Saira Grant Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Don Flynn Migrant Rights Network; Sabby Dhalu Stand up to Racism g) Stand up to UKIP Chair: Denis Fernando Rainbow Coalition Against Racism; Steve HartUnite the Union; Representative of Alliance Against Romanian and Bulgarian Discrimination; Jo Cardwell Stand up to UKIP h) Je ne suis pas Charlie: incitement of hatred is not freedom of speech Chair: Alan Gibson NUJ; N’Della Paye (France); Azad Ali MEND;Jude Woodward UAF

3.30-4.45pm: Plenary Celebrate diversity: stand up to racism Chair: Jude Woodward Assistant Secretary UAF Diane Abbott MP; Emily Thornberry MP; Ken Livingstone;Sharar Ali Deputy Leader Green Party; Lutfur Rahman Mayor of Tower Hamlets; Petros Constintinou KEERFA (Greece); Simon Woolley OBV; Lee Jasper BARAC

REGISTER NOW: Book online at the UAF website

No to Fascist Le Pen in Oxford

The Oxford Union have chosen to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in a particularly insulting fashion - inviting Marine Le Pen, leader of the fascist Front National - whose father Jean-Marie Le Pen once described the Holocaust as 'a point of detail' in the history of the Second World War, to speak on 5 February - Oxford Unite Against Fascism are organising against Le Pen's visit - see here for more.

See also this Unite Against Fascism Public meeting:
After France: Unity - No to fascism, anti-semitism, Islamophobia - Defend civil liberties. 7-9pm Thursday 29 January, Committee Room 11, House of Commons (via main entrance for Parliament on Cromwell Green). Nearest tube: Westminster Speakers include Diane Abbott MP, Talha Ahmad Muslim Council of Britain, Rabbi Sylvia Rothschild, Maz Saleem Daughter of the late Mohammed Saleem, David Rosenburg, Sabby Dhalu & Weyman Bennett UAF.

France: The Republic of Islamophobia

The persistent targeting of Muslims is preventing the effective management of diversity in French society. It is exacerbating tensions and obscuring the fundamental social and economic problems besetting France. It is encouraging the growth of the Front National. The only way to escape this vicious circle is to target and isolate the very real threat posed by the FN. The principal obstacle to this remains Islamophobia, in all its guises.
Jim Wolfreys, 'The Republic of Islamophobia', Critical Muslim, 13.

Edited to add: Tariq Ali on Charlie Hebdo, see also this and this - two good responses to an unconvincing attempt to defend the publication from the charge of racism.

Resist the racist offensive against Muslims

As well as Hassan Mahamdallie on levels of Islamophobia before the horrific Paris attacks (in this month's Socialist Review), see this week's  Socialist Worker for the anti-racist arguments more necessary now than ever to challenge the rising racist backlash underway - while there is also some useful commentary on Charlie Hebdo itself here, here and for some essential historical background see Robert Fisk - while on a related point Jim House and Neil MacMaster's work, Paris 1961: Algerians, State Terror and Memory recovers some of hidden history of another Paris massacre - one which saw 200 Algerian protesters killed by the police in Paris.

Conference - Unite against racism and fascism

Unite against racism and fascism - UAF national conference

9.30 – 4pm Saturday 21 Feb 2014, TUC Congress House, Great Russell St, London
Nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road

Speakers announced:
Diane Abbott MP,
Emily Thornberry MP,
Ken Livingstone,
Shahrar Ali Deputy Leader Green Party,
Lutfur Rahman, Mayor of Tower Hamlets
Dr. Shuja Shafi Secretary General MCB,
Billy Hayes General Secretary CWU,
Mark Serwotka General Secretary PCS
Sabby Dhalu and Weyman Bennett, Joint National Secretaries, Unite Against Fascism (UAF)

This year far right and fascist groups advanced across Europe. The whipping up of racism against immigrants, black communities, increased Islamophobia and Antisemitism has been its cutting edge. The racism of UKIP has been mainstreamed and looks set to worsen with major parties launching a war to outbid each other on attacking immigrant rights. The recent cuts to search and rescue operations for refugees in the Mediteranean epitomise how chilling this agenda has become. The revelations of spying on families of those murdered in racist attacks correlates with the injustice felt around the world following the deaths at the hands of the police of Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and other black people in the US.

UAF played a leading role in electorally defeating Nick Griffin in his MEP seat this year but we cannot be complacent. The far right violent EDL continue to target the Muslim community and are mobilising around the country. This conference is a timely opportunity to discuss the way forward for challenging racism and fascism, bringing together the trade unions, faith and black communities, anti-racist and anti-fascist activists, LGBT representatives, students and young people for this major anti racist and anti fascist annual conference.

There will also be a workshop organised by Stand Up to UKIP at this conference, while see also the national Stand Up to Racism and Fascism demonstrations on UN Anti-Racism Day, Saturday 21 March  - in London, Cardiff and Glasgow.

Euro-fascism - what it is and how to fight it

The latest issue of Socialist Review has among other things a good analysis of the Euro-elections, one very worrying feature of which was the rise of Euro-fascist parties such as the Front National in France, but also others such as the German neo-Nazi NPD, Golden Dawn in Greece and Jobbik in Hungary amidst the continuing economic crisis.   After the last European elections in 2009, I raised the question of whether it was time to dust off the old slogan about whether it was the 1930s in slow motion.  Given classical fascism turned Europe into a dark continent within the living memory of many people, the fact that a fascist party got the majority of votes in the European elections in France while in Germany, a member of the neo-Nazi NPD was elected to the European parliament means the left cannot afford to be complacent about the danger posed here.  Given this, it is perhaps timely that Chris Bambery's 1993 article from International Socialism on Euro-fascism: the lessons of the past and current tasks is now available online at the Marxists Internet Archive. Though obviously twenty years old and written at a time when Euro-fascism was just emerging as a political current - and though the author's own politics have shifted - some would say degenerated - somewhat since writing this article in 1993, the piece still repays reading and provides a useful introductory historical overview of how the left and trade union movement tragically failed to stop classical fascist formations coming to power in the inter-war period through a combination of sectarianism, ultra-leftism, and liberalism - and why the method of the united front and mass activity against the Nazis as articulated by Leon Trotsky (and put into practice in formations such as the Anti-Nazi League in the 1970s in Britain and its successor Unite Against Fascism today) - remains a critical weapon if the left across Europe are going to block their rise today.
 

Stand up to racism, UKIP and fascism

Congratulations to anti-fascists in the North West - thanks to groups like Unite Against Fascism, Nazi Nick Griffin has lost his seat, which means that contrary to most of Europe, Britain is now fascist free again in terms of European parliamentary representation! 

In the aftermath of the local and European elections, this conference is timely...

 Stand up to racism and fascism – No to Scapegoating Immigrants – No to Islamophobia

 Unite Against Fascism national conference  

Saturday 14 June, London - registration open now.

This conference is a timely opportunity to understand and discuss how to campaign against UKIP, a movement similar to the Tea Party in the US, after it polled the highest share of the vote topping the poll in the Euro elections; learn the lessons of how we defeated fascist British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin; and the importance of challenging and not conceding to racism.

Across Europe far right and fascist parties made significant gains. In France Front National topped the polls with 24.95% of the vote (24 seats). In Greece Golden Dawn polled 9.4% gaining 3 MEPs and in Austria FPO won 20.5% of the vote. We also believe that it is vital we campaign to stop the rise of racist and fascist parties across Europe and along with other campaigning groups we will be combating the rise of UKIP

Themes include: Challenging racist scapegoating of immigrants ● No to Islamophobia and Islamophobic attacks ● Celebrating diversity ● Busting the myths on immigration ● Responding to racism and fascism in Europe ● Stand up to UKIP

Initial speakers include:
Diane Abbott MP
Claude Moraes MEP
Mohammad Taj (TUC President)
Maz Saleem, Daughter of Mohammed Saleem
Tony Kearns, Senior Deputy General Secretary, CWU
Dr Tommy Tomescu (Alliance against Romanian and Bulgarian Discrimination)
Aaron Kiely NUS Black Students Officer
Gerry Gable Editor Searchlight
Sabby Dhalu and Weyman Bennett (Joint National Secretaries Unite Against Fascism)

9.30 – 5pm
Saturday 14 June
Trade Union Congress
 Congress House
Great Russell Street
London
WC1B 3LS
 £12 / £6 (students and concs)

Edited to add: check out the Stand Up to UKIP campaign

Stand up to Racism and Fascism Day #M22

On Saturday 22 March it is UN anti-racism day and there are a number of mass rallies organised in
London, Glasgow and Cardiff to say 'no to scapegoating immigrants, no to Islamophobia and yes to diversity' organised by the TUC and Unite Against Fascism.
Please go to
http://www.standuptoracism.org.uk/ for leaflets and posters etc - given the current climate of
racist scapegoating and mainstream parties tailing of UKIP's racism (with Nigel Farage praising, and
trying to sound more like Enoch Powell every day) in the run up to the Euro elections - this is an important
mobilisation.

National demonstration in London:
Assemble 11 am,
Join us on procession from Nelson Mandela statue, Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square rally.
Speakers include: Diane Abbott MP, Natalie Bennett, Leader, The Green Party, Jerry Dammers, "Free Nelson Mandela" song writer, Farooq Murad, Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain, Mohammed Taj, TUC President, Ava Vidal, Comedian

The Glasgow demo will assemble at George Square at 10.30am.

The Cardiff protest will assemble at Riverside, Clare Gardens at 11am and parade through the centre of town to a rally by City Hall

For the list of supporters and for the Founding Statement  - see here
http://www.standuptoracism.org.uk/founding_statement_and_supporters

Stand up to UKIP

A timely new website - remember also the national demonstration against racism and fascism on 22 March

Leon Kuhn - revolutionary socialist cartoonist

Today is the day of Leon Kuhn's funeral - and while I was not able to be there there is a wonderful obituary of this fine political cartoonist in this week's Socialist Worker, giving a good sense of his all too short life and tremendous work.  Many of his campaigning posters, such as the famous one of (the now financially as well as intellectually and morally bankrupt) British Nazi Party fuhrer Nick Griffin became classics, and by way of paying tribute to his memory and pointing people towards the fight to kick the British Nazis out of the European parliament this May I will republish his portrayal of Griffin below on Histomat.  RIP Leon.

 

Gary Younge on anti-Roma racism

Slandering Britain's Roma isn't courageous. It's racist.

Edited to add: Socialist Worker: Roma are welcome here

Stand up to racism and fascism demo 22 March 2014

■ No to scapegoating of immigrants

■ No to Islamophobia

■ Yes to diversity

11am, Central London