Between 14 and 18 October, hundreds of participants from progressive social and political movements and groups will meet in Johannesburg, South Africa. The meeting is organised by the International Peoples Assembly (IPA).

Participants will discuss solutions to what are described as the ‘dilemmas of humanity”. These dilemmas relate to the impending climate catastrophe, the deepening poverty, misery and hunger of billions of people, imperialism’s undermining of the national sovereignty of Global South nations and the destruction of a true, non-alienating cultural life. Leaders and activists from all continents will be attending the Johannesburg conference, making it possibly the biggest-ever such gathering of progressive national liberation and socialist groups.

The attendees represent a spectrum of progressive ideological outlooks, not necessarily in agreement on every theoretical or programmatic question. Rather, the basis for coming together is clearly the sense of urgency in finding real solutions, inevitably requiring a socialist framework, to the great dilemmas that have been identified.

Among the keynote speakers are:

• Aleida Guevara, the eldest daughter of Ernesto Che Guevara and Aleida March, a doctor of medicine and director of the Che Guevara Studies Center. She is a militant of the Communist Party of Cuba and has been an advocate for human rights.
• Blanca Eekhout, a Venezuelan Deputy and President of the Commission for the Development of Communes of the National Assembly. She is also a member of the United Socialist Part of Venezuela (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela – PSUV), the largest party in Venezuela.
• Leila Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
• Vijay Prashad, an Indian historian, journalist and the Director of The Tricontinental Institute for Social Research.
• Rashed Kan Menon, President of the Workers Party of Bangladesh.
• Brian Becker, Central Committee member of the Party of Socialism and Liberation (USA)
• Philippe Noudjenome, 1st Secretary of the Communist Party of Benin, President of the Alliance Pour la Patrie and President of the West Africa Peoples’ Organization (WAPO).
• Houcine Rhili, a Tunisian university professor, expert in development and resource management. He is a member of the Nomade Association, which works to promote social, economic, cultural and environmental rights.
• Theodora Pius, a Head of Programs at the Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima Tanzania and an activist of the World March of Women in Tanzania.
• Singh Panwar, Former Deputy Mayor of Shimla, capital of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, and columnist of Urban Policy Matters.
• Islanda Micherline Aduel, young Haitian leader, member of the political organization Tèt Kole ti Peyizan Ayisyen, youth representative for the Caribbean chapter of Via Campesina and member of the Haitian chapter of ALBA Movements.
• Jamal Berajaa, Moroccan Marxist-Leninist activist and intellectual, General Secretary of the party Workers Democratic Way.
• Irvin Jim, General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the largest industrial trade union in Africa.
• Claudia de la Cruz, member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, United States.
• Peter Mertens, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Belgium, one the largest Marxist parties in Europe.
• Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa from the African National Congress (ANC). She is a politician, educator and academic.
• João Pedro Stedile, member of the national leadership of the Landless Workers’ Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra – MST), Brazil.
• Taimur Rahman, General Secretary of the Workers and Peasants Party of Pakistan (Mazdoor Kisan Party, MKP).

During the conference participants from all continents will attend and exchange ideas in a series of workshops dealing with key themes. These include:

• Food sovereignty and agroecology
• Health for the people
• Immigrant rights
• Housing and urban struggle
• Feminism and struggles against patriarchy
• Youth in movement 
• Anti-racism
• Labor struggle
• Communication, education for emancipation
• Art and culture
• Science and technology

A general idea of the philosophy behind this initiative can be obtained from the document, prepared by the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, one of the member organisations of the IPA. This document is entitled Ten Theses on Marxism and Decolonisation.

The full platform of the IPA can be found here: https://ipa-aip.org/wp-content/uploads/IPA_Political_Platform_EN.pdf

The Ten Theses on Marxism and Decolonisation (with an introduction by Abel Prieto, director of Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba) ends with the paragraphs:

We need to recover our tradition of national liberation Marxism but also elaborate the theory of our tradition from the work of our movements. We need to draw more attention to the theories of Ho Chi Minh and Fidel, EMS Namboodiripad and Claudia Jones. They did not only do, but they also produced innovative theories. These theories need to be developed and tested in our own contemporary reality, building our Marxism not out of the classics alone – which are useful – but out of the facts of our present. Lenin’s ‘concrete analysis of the concrete conditions’ requires close attention to the concrete, the real, the historical facts.

We need more factual assessments of our times, a closer rendition of contemporary imperialism that is imposing its military and political might to prevent the necessity of a socialist world. This is precisely the agenda of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, of the almost thirty research institutes with which we work closely through the Network of Research Institute, and of the more than 200 political movements whose mass lines inform the development of Tricontinental’s research agenda through the International Peoples’ Assembly.

Certainly, socialism is not going to appear magically. It must be fought for and built, our struggles deepened, our social connections tightened, our cultures enriched. Now is the time for a united front, to bring together the working class and the peasantry as well as allied classes, to increase the confidence of workers, and to clarify our theory. To unite the working class and the peasantry as well as allied classes requires the unity of all left and progressive forces. Our divides in this time of great danger must not be central; our unity is essential. Humanity demands it.

There will be a report back from this conference by two members of the Red Ant Collective and a member of the Indonesian Socialist Union, currently based in Australia, on Sunday 29 October. Keep an eye out for details of when, where and how to participate.

Perhaps this kind of development is a long-awaited new manifestation of an alliance speculated upon by Karl Marx way back in 1857 between what is now called the Global South and the anti-capitalist movements of the imperialist countries when he wrote: “India is now our best ally.”