The Equality Movement
By Jennifer Nash
The new rise in the revolution in the colonial world that began in Latin America with Chavez’s Bolivarian revolution and ‘21st century socialism’, and which is now – on a higher level of mass struggle – sweeping through the Middle East, is of a scale to create a radicalisation in the imperialist countries.
The fundamental lesson of the struggle in Egypt is that when millions of people rise even the most well-armed dictatorship can be forced to give way. This lesson is not lost on young people in the imperialist countries.
A first sign of the working through of the consequences of this in Britain can be seen in the response to the launch of the ‘Equality Movement’.
The Equality Movement was brought together in January of this year by musicians Lowkey and MC Logic, together with young journalist and activist Jody McIntyre. Rapper Lowkey is a key figure, whose song ‘Long Live Palestine’ has become an anthem for the Palestine solidarity movement – from national demonstrations on streets of London to the huge public meetings and conferences.
The clear aim of the movement is to create a new anti-imperialist, pro-liberation youth movement. Its founding statement shows its anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist framework:
“1. We believe in the equality of all people.
2. We believe in an equal education for all people, regardless of financial wealth or family background.
3. We oppose the ideology of capitalism, which steals from the poor and gives to the rich, thereby negating any possibility of equality in our society.
4. We oppose the ideology of imperialism in all contexts, and support the right of oppressed peoples to struggle against it.
5. We believe that the current British government does not represent the views of the people and that the achievement of such a government is impossible under the current undemocratic political system in this country.”
Its first two events saw over 500 young people come together at each on Friday evenings to discuss the themes ‘What is imperialism?’ and ‘How can we resist?’
The most refreshing aspect of both meeting was the highly political discussion from people with a whole range of experiences, their upbeat mood, and the attendance of young people from a wide set of backgrounds, school, FE and university students, black and white, Muslim and others, young women and young men. A striking feature of the young audiences was their general support for Palestine.
At the February meeting, chaired by Lowkey, there were moving readings of anti-imperialist poetry from young women and men. A particular strength of this movement is that its whole approach is to support those leading the anti-colonial struggle in Latin America and the Middle East, not to look for its point of differences or dispute with these leaderships.
But above all it is a reflection of the way in which the struggle worldwide is deeply interconnected. An advance for the revolution in Latin America, the heroic resistance of the Palestinians, the development of revolutionary mass struggles in the Middle East, do not happen in isolation. They affect the consciousness of people all over the world, and create new radicalisations based on them in many other parts of the world.
The Equality Movement will be announcing the details of their next meeting soon, keep checking their Facebook group for details – but in the meantime here is a snap shot of what the movement is all about. Check out Jody McIntyre’s speech at the ‘What is imperialism?’ meeting.