Festival of the Oppressed Programme 2026
📲 If you’re on your phone, rotate for a better view!
Full info and tickets here.
SATURDAY
10:00 – 11:15
| Session | Speakers | Room & Format |
| What would it actually take? Revolutionary Strategy for Our Times Opening Plenary | Barnaby Raine – historian and activist Lily S – rs21 Gargi Bhattacharya – author and teacher Harry Holmes – rs21 and Prometheus | Amilcar Cabral Theatre Panel discussion |
11:30 – 13:00
| Session | Speakers | Room & Format |
| Ballot Box or Barricade? This panel will discuss the role of electoral work in revolutionary strategy. It will focus on experiences and lessons drawn from international and domestic contexts. | Shanice McBean – author of Abolition Revolution and Life of the Party podcast Taisie Tsikas – rs21 and Haringey Socialist Alliance Gwen Jones – rs21 and Hackney Votes Palestine | Amilcar Cabral Theatre Panel & collective discussion |
| ‘Not Enough People Are Talking About…’ Can the Left Win the Attention war? Online platforms controlled by capitalists have still allowed the creation of genuinely popular left-wing subcultures that blend into offline life, shaping how we talk and relate as comrades. What are the potentials of digital media for the left? | Adam C. Jones – philosopher and activist, Acid Horizon and rs21 Clara Hill – comms worker and rs21 Anindya Bhattacharyya – Blogger @Bat020, rs21 | Maha Abu Khalil Hall Panel & collective discussion |
| From Troublemaking to Rebellion: How to speak about politics at work | Workshop with Troublemakers At Work | Colin Barker Room Interactive workshop |
| Our Bodies are worth more than our pay packets | Join activists and writers on housing, health and disability to talk about how we fight for towns, cities and homes we can make good lives in, instead of ones that contribute to disablement and sickness. | Neil Davidson Hall Panel & collective discussion |
14:00 – 15:30
| Session | Speakers | Room |
| Imperialism and its breakdown: Building an anti-imperialist movement that means it | Kimia Talebi – Energy Embargo for Palestine Salar Mohandesi – author of Red Internationalism Marral Shamshiri – rs21 and author of “She who Struggles” Mau Baiocco – writer and activist rs21 Leeds Chair: Hamza Rehman – rs21 | Amilcar Cabral Theatre Roundtable & collective discussion |
| When Workers Stop the World: The General Strike past & present From the 1926 British general strike to recent mass strike action in Italy and Minneapolis, this panel explores the explosive power and strategic lessons of the general strike past and present. | Callum Cant – Notes from Below Beatrice Adler-Bolton – writer and Death Panel podcast host Chair: Sam Kelly – rs21 and Red Medicine | Maha Abu Khalil hall Panel & collective discussion |
| Eco-Socialism Against Fossil Empire: a new stage of climate struggle? | Chris Saltmarsh – researcher and author of Burnt: Fighting for Climate Justice Georgia M – Energy Embargo for Palestine and rs21 Gareth Fearn – Ecosocialist Horizon | Colin Barker Room Interactive Workshop |
Noise Uprising: The Role of Music in Revolutionary Politics Neoliberalism has transformed social life, pushing us towards individualist modes of relating to each other, commercialising our social spaces and eroding creativity. What role can music play in undoing this? | Sam O – rs21 Malcolm James – Post-colonial academic and author Millie K – rs21 | Neil Davidson Hall Panel & collective discussion |
16:00 – 17:00
| Session | Speakers | Room |
| The Cost of War – Presenting the Socialist Alternative Our Saturday closing session will discuss how we reignite popular power, align our movements, and imagine an alternative, collective future for socialism. | Paul Murphy – People Before Profit TD Tomi A – rs21 Ira Hybris – feminist writer and Anticapitalistas militant Jonny Jones – rs21 | Amilcar Cabral Theatre Panel discussion |
17:30
| TAKE TO THE STREETS – A RADICAL LONDON WALK London has a rich history of people fighting back against capital and oppression. Chartists, Suffragettes, antiracists, trade unions and communists. The outcome of these struggles are everywhere; but so is the outcome of our defeats and tragedies. Capital constantly renews its oppression and works to increase money power over freedom and the real liberation of humanity. All these gains are constantly under attack. This walk will provide glimpses of radical histories, and how they can inspire us to change the world. Duration: 90mins, with rest stops and comfort breaks included. The walk will avoid busy streets and is wheelchair accessible. |
18:30 – 00:00
| AFTERPARTY Good food / Dancing / Live performance -> DJs Pelican House E1 5QJ Free for festival ticket holders! More info coming soon 👀 |
SUNDAY
11:00 – 12:15
| Session | Speakers | Room |
| Is it Fascism Yet? This discussion will address questions regarding the global far-right, developments in state repression, and how these inform organising under the threat of a Reform-led government. | Richard Seymour – author of Disaster Nationalism Adam Elliott Cooper – author of Black Resistance to British Policing Rachel Eborall – rs21 Timor Landherr – researcher and organiser rs21 Abeera Khan – writer and researcher | Amilcar Cabral Theatre Panel discussion |
12:30 – 14:00
| Session | Speakers | Room |
| Race and class – overcoming their contradictions in Britain This discussion will unpack the specific dynamics of racialisation today, explore how developments in global imperialism and the state inform dynamics of race and racism in Britain and internationally; and what our obstacles are to building an antiracist mass movement. | Abena B – rs21 Sara Bafo – organiser and community educator Hamza Rehman – rs21 Chair: Shirley M – rs21 | Amilcar Cabral Theatre Panel & collective discussion |
| Against the University What is the the relationship between militarisation and universities? This session will radically re-imagine the role of universities and work towards solidarities between staff and students. | Led by rs21 student and higher education fractions | Maha Abu Khalil hall Interactive workshop |
| Anti-self-help line Being on the left is hard. That’s why we need spaces where we can reflect, vent, and talk without surrendering to anti-political individualism or useless self-help speak. Come and talk through the emotional dimensions of political struggle. | Led by Red Medicine and Prometheus | Colin Barker Room Collective discussion |
15:00 – 16:30
| Session | Speakers | Room |
| Private property, public patriarchy: Socialist Feminism Against the Right This panel will explore the terrain of struggles that relate to sexuality and gender. It will build on earlier discussions about fascism and offer a counter-politics of feminist solidarity and explore questions relating to misogyny and transphobia. | Joy James – philosopher and author of New Bones Abolition Ira Hybris – transfeminist thinker and militant Sarah Lamble – co-founder of the Bent Bars Project and queer theorist Lola Olufemi – writer and researcher Sylvia – rs21 | Amilcar Cabral Theatre Panel & collective discussion |
| Live Art: Poetry/Drama/Performance A session that will bring together performance/live artists who engage actively with political and social movements, presenting their work with a discussion about how art and revolutionary politics find common ground today. | Nathaniel McBride (Documentary Drama Writer, ‘Block The Block’) More TBC | Maha Abu Khalil hall Live performance |
| Fighting Back and Winning: Antifascism That Works | Workshop led by rs21 Greater Manchester branch | Colin Barker Room Interactive workshop |
17:00 – 18:00
| Session | Speakers | Room |
| Revolutionary Visions of a Life Worth Living To close the weekend, this panel will explore what visions of liberation and a ‘good life’ the left can offer today. | Jonas Marvin – Life of the Party podcast and author of The Breaking of the English Working Class Jaice Titus – researcher and activist Josh Virasami – anti-racist organiser and author of How to Change It Alex Stoffel – Editor at Historical Materialism and author of Eros and Empire | Amilcar Cabral Theatre Panel discussion |