Festival of the Oppressed 2025
Venue: Resource For London, 356 Holloway Rd, London N7 6PA
Date: 21-22 June, from 10am until 5pm each day
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What to expect
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 our 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, we 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 walk and more.
Click here for the full programme
Policies and inclusion
Accessibility
Venue: Resource For London, 356 Holloway Rd, London N7 6PA.
If you have specific accessibility needs please let us know when booking and book or email us as soon as possible. We will do our best to make changes to make the festival accessible to everyone as far as our capacity (and the constraints of the venue) allow.
The building has accessibility adaptations:
- Lift (110cm clear door width)
- Accessible toilets on each floor
- Car park
There is a bus stop within 150m (164yds) of the venue. The nearest National Rail station is Upper Holloway. The nearest underground station is Holloway Road.
Accessibility document coming soon – in the meantime, the venue has a page on accessible that can be found here.
Safe space policy
rs21 is committed to the liberation of all and building a world free from oppression, domination and exploitation. Throughout the Festival of the Oppressed, we hope to foster and facilitate an environment where we can develop revolutionary politics, build solidarity across movements and strategise how to free ourselves from all forms of oppression. We are committed to providing an inclusive and supportive space for all attendees; as a result, we will not tolerate any form of harassment or any form of discrimination such as racism, transphobia, Islamophobia, Zionism, sexism etc. Failure to comply with the above safe space policy risks serious harm to fellow attendees and as such, you may be asked to leave.
Covid policy
If you are presenting with symptoms of Covid, we ask that you stay at home. We will be providing face masks on the day; they will be available at the registration table. There will be HEPA filters present in the venue. We advise attendees to take a lateral flow test the day before the Festival of the Oppressed and if the test is positive, please don’t attend and stay at home. We keep each other safe!
Childcare and kid-friendly sessions
Kids are welcome at the festival! We are putting on childcare with comrades from Nanny Solidarity Network and kid-friendly workshops!
Please let us know as soon as you can if you are planning to bring children by emailing rs21organiser@gmail.com as soon as possible. Kids accompanied by an adult don’t need a ticket but we do need to know they are coming please!
Childcare: We will have childcare through both days provided by comrades from Nanny Solidarity Network. NSN is a grassroots worker and migrant-led organisation based in London which provides support, resources, community and space for collective action to nannies and au pairs.
Kid-friendly sessions: We believe kids shouldn’t just be siloed off into childcare, and that making inter-generational spaces for kids and adults to learn and talk together is important. For our first festival, we are building in a stream of kid-friendly sessions, from learning about when kids fight back to radical singing and kite-making workshops. All welcome, kids encouraged!
Book now
Email rs21organiser@gmail.com if cost is a barrier to attending and if you need childcare support.
SUMMER SOLSTICE X FESTIVAL AFTERPARTY
We are holding an afterparty at Pelican House in Bethnal Green! Come through for DJs and dancing, sun 🌞 and moon 🌝 vibes in the courtyard, and cheap drinks.
- Food from 7pm for extra donation
- Cheap bar
- Dancing from 8.30pm
Money raised from the afterparty will be split 50/50 – half will go towards rs21’s revolutionary organising (Palestine, trans liberation, workers organising and more) and half towards the fundraiser for the Filton 18 to support our comrades!
Festival attendees go free! If you are only coming for the afterparty then you can book tickets on Outsavvy for £5. It will be £7 on the door.