Gary Younge

Gary Younge is a Guardian columnist and one of a minority of journalists who dares to write challengingly on issues like imperialism, racism and abortion.

He is author of many books including No Place Like Home: A Black Briton’s Journey Through the Deep South.

Gary will be speaking about racism in American society and the challenges of Black leadership since the civil rights era.
 

Mark Serwotka

Mark Serwotka is the general secretary of the PCS civil servants’ union who has been at the forefront of resisting New Labour’s neoliberal attacks on the British trade union movement.

He will join leading trade unionists Jane Loftus and Matt Wrack, and MP John McDonnell to discuss the challenge of building fighting unions in Britain today.

Hamdeen Sabahi

Hamdeen Sabahi is an independent MP in the Egyptian parliament and a leading figure in the anti-imperialist democracy movement which has faced massive repression and torture at the hands of Mubarak’s regime.

He will be joined by other activists from the Middle East including veteran Egyptian campaigner Kamal Khalil and Bassem Chit, a leading Lebanese Socialist who helped organise solidarity and resistance to the Israeli assault on Lebanon last summer.
 

Moazzam Begg

British Muslim Moazzam Begg was abducted in Pakistan and detained for three years without trial at Guantanamo Bay.

Since his release he has written a book about his experiences entitled Enemy Combatant: A British Muslim’s journey to Guantanamo and Back.

He will be talking about the erosion of civil liberties under the “war on terror” and signing copies of his book which is now out in paperback.
 

Paul Gilroy

Paul Gilroy has written a number of influential books on the politics of race, nation and racism in the UK including There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack.

He will be discussing why multiculturalism is under attack with Weyman Bennett. This will be part of a course of meetings on racism, slavery and the struggle for liberation.

Other speakers include David Okoro, the cousin of murdered Black teenager Anthony Walker, and Claudia Webbe, the vice-chair of the Operation Trident independent advisory group.
 

Dr Jill Liddington

Jill Liddington is the author of several books on the suffragette movement and is well known for her work on women’s history.

She will be talking about her latest book, Rebel Girls: Their Fight for the Vote which tells of the struggle that women from the Yorkshire region faced in their fight for suffrage at the beginning of the 20th century.

Slavoj Zizek

Slavoj Zizek is a political philosopher and cultural critic who Terry Eagleton has called the “most formidably brilliant” contemporary theorist to come out of continental Europe.

His work is subversive and rich in humour and deals with subjects like globalisation, political correctness and human rights.

His meeting will be part of a series on theory and philosophy. Other speakers include Istvan Meszaros, author of the classic Marx’s Theory of Alienation.
 

Lindsey German

Lindsey German is convenor of the Stop the War Coalition and helped organise the 2 million strong anti-war demonstration in 2003.

She will be launching her book Material Girls: Women, Men and Work.

Lindsey is also the Respect mayoral candidate for the GLA and in her meeting “The Other London” will put forward a radical agenda for the city that puts Londoners rather than big business at its centre.

Giuliana Sgrena

Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena was taken hostage in 2005 while working in Iraq. On the day of her relase, as she was being taken to Baghdad airport by Italian security, US forces attacked their vehicle.

Sgrena was shot, and the second-in-command of the Italian secret service was killed. The killing provoked outrage in Italy, and led to renewed debate about the war in Iraq.

Sgrena has since written about her personal experience as a hostage and described the extraordinary difficulties faced by journalists attempting to report the war, as well as exposing US war crimes during the occupation.