“The left needs to rise to the challenge and come together through struggle – both here and internationally – against the failed neoliberal order and for socialist solutions.”
By the Arise Festival Volunteer Team
On Saturday 30th April at 2pm, thousands will start the May Day weekend by gathering for the “Socialism – Unity – Internationalism” online rally, co-hosted by Tribune and Arise Festival.
The rally will hear from MPs including Ian Lavery, Diane Abbott and Richard Burgon; trade union leaders such as the BFAWU’s Sarah Woolley; activists including CND’s Kate Hudson and Young Labour’s Jess Barnard; and campaigns and organisations such as NHS Workers Say No.
There is also an amazing line up of international guests – Txema Guijarro, Spanish Congress Member & General Secretary of Podemos’ Parliamentary Group, Varsha Gandikota, Progressive International, Guillaume Long, former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister and Bhaskar Sunkara, Founding Editor of Jacobin Magazine.
We celebrate this May Day at a vital political moment.
Globally, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has created hundreds of thousands of refugees, and raised the serious prospect of a conflict between two nuclear powers.
The heightened global tension has created an international fossil fuel crisis, which is driving high energy prices and soaring inflation.
In the words of BFAWU General Secretary Sarah Woolley, “The way our world is run – in the interests of the few rather than the many – isn’t working, with war, the climate catastrophe, the ongoing pandemic and a ghastly unequal economic order, devastating countries, communities and the lives of millions.”
While the global pandemic has already killed hundreds of thousands in the UK, brought the economy to a shuddering stop and thrown hundreds of thousands out of a job, we now face one of the largest attacks on living standards in recent history. In the tumult, bosses and bankers clamour to put their business interests above the basic needs of everyone else – whatever the cost to people and planet.
As Ian Lavery MP said in promoting the event this week, “The Tories have no solutions to the crises we face, yet Johnson and co hang on to power, continually attacking the rights and living standards of working-class people. The scale of these attacks means we need a massive fightback across our communities to stop the Tories in their tracks and win a better future.”
This means the left needs to rise to the challenge and come together through struggle – both here and internationally – against the failed neoliberal order and for socialist solutions.
Indeed, the multiple crises engulfing the globe are no better demonstration of the need for socialist solutions. In fact, in Latin America, Lula leads the polls and a renewed pink tide in Chile, Bolivia, and Honduras has thrown back this US-backed neoliberal offensive with a politics committed to putting people and planet before profit.
As Young Labour Chair Jess Barnard said in promoting the event, “We need to continue to stand for socialist solutions here and be part of a global movement for a new world.”
Join Tribune and Arise Festival this May Day weekend to hear about the alternative to the chaos and crises – and how we organise to build a united, international – and internationalist – movement for peace and socialism.
- The “Socialism – Unity – Internationalism: Tribune & Arise eve of May Day Rally” takes place Saturday, 30th April at 2PM. Register your place and find out more here.
- This article was originally published on Labour Hub on April 28th, 2022 here.
- You can follow Arise: A Festival of Labour’s Left Ideas on Facebook and twitter.
