The traditional 1 May Festival taking place on International Workers’ Day, also known as Labour Day, in Zurich, Switzerland has invited imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan to be the keynote speaker at this year’s opening demonstration held under the theme “United Against War and Fascism”.
The organisational committee of the festival, consisting of 60 organisations, has sent a letter to Imrali island in Turkey, where Öcalan has been held since 1999. In the letter, the committee directly addressed Öcalan:
“Your longstanding dedication and tireless efforts for peace and democracy — particularly in connection with the complex developments in the Middle East, Turkey, and Kurdistan — are widely recognised. At the same time, your ideas are read, discussed, and adopted as practical, future-oriented perspectives for building new democratic societies — not only in the Middle East but also in Europe and many other parts of the world.”
The committee also said that Öcalan himself has always sought for solidarity with people looking for alternative social models, including “socialists, democrats, ecologists, feminists, anarchists, women, youth, internationalists, and diverse communities.”
Furthermore, the organisational committee stated that they regarded Abdullah Öcalan as the “most significant political representative of the Kurdish people” and stressed that the festival has always been held in solidarity with the “Kurdish people’s struggle for freedom, democracy, and self-determination” and that they are closely following the recent developments in Turkey and Kurdistan.
The 1 May festival has been held in Zurich since 1980, with the goal of cultural exchange and “improving the situation of domestic and foreign workers as well as the liberation and self-determination of peoples internationally”. This year’s festival will be held from 1 to 3 May.
Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of the Foreign Relations Department of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), will be holding the main speech at this year’s event. Other speeches will be held by political representatives and activists from countries including Mexico and Sudan.
