festival of marxism 2011-(i)...and disability

credit where credit is due.this really does seem to have been a festival of ideas to change the world.it is seen as the best as well as the biggest event for many years-i would suggest well beyond the membership and periphery of the swp.

the weather,rarely reliable here was warm and sunny most days which encouraged the atmosphere of festival especially in the main quad outside the main venue-ucl/university college of london,which has other open spaces and wide corridors and cloisters.

as someone who now has a disability-mobility difficulties and chronic clinical depression i had some anxieties but most of them wedre allayed.ucl itself is a number of labyrinthine buildings spread over several streets,mostly build in i guess the 18th century and some adapted in recent decades.they are not perfect and stairs and lecture room spaces were definitely not deigned with disability in mind.

whilst the swp also has some distance to travel in relation to disability,it is clear that it is making strenous efforts at a number oif not all levels.

a recent journal article provoked debate and seems to be a focus and spring board for a lot else.one of the lectures took up that article,led by its author.it was oversubscribed.i could not get in but i did attend what seeems to be the formation of the disability fraction of the swp.whilst i made clear i was not a member,i was welcomed as a member of this fraction,which clearly includes other activists beyond the party.again there is lots to be done.

as an individual who is finding the experience of their own disabilities very difficult and the politics of disability unfamiliar territory i have alot to learn.

rather than shoot my pen off here and now,i will post more on this suject both as i am able and as i learn.

for now i simply want to thank comrades at that meeting who were directly sympathetic and supportive to me including amy,clair,clarence,pete and others.

whilst it is clear that both them and i are likely to be particularly deeply and hardest hits by coalition slash and burn policies it wa sheartening to see working class people,talented and vibrant all,actievly in struggle against everythinbg the state,capitalism and life throws at them.as someone who has worked so long in what is now the remnants of the welfare state,this makes achange to the atmised misery i experience in the professional context.

these people of whom i am now one will be campaigning for what we need,not just for the crumbs from the bosses leavings.a society that meets the nedds of those with disability can meet the needs of all.equality and diversity is to the benefit fo all and is a step towards"from each according to their ability,to each according to their need.

i was inspired by the outlook of the organisation on this and by the outlook and combativity of those at the meeting

- i intend to write other posts reporting and celebrating more of the festival in additional posts.-