Liberation
Liberation is one of the oldest human rights organisations, was founded in 1954 as the Movement for Colonial Freedom. For more than half a century it has campaigned, along side other anti-imperialist forces, to rid the world of colonialism. In 1958 its name was changed to Liberation, an organisation that today opposes neo-colonialism, economic exploitation and racism.
At Liberation we undertake research and action centred on the prevention and curtailment of human rights violations, across a broad spectrum of countries.
As an international and inter-connecting organisation, Liberation engages in advocacy work, supporting and standing in solidarity with other like-minded organisations. Liberation provides a space and framework to highlight and discuss issues of concern with the United Nations, the British Parliament, the International Labour Organisation and Trade Unions.[1]
Leadership
- General Secretary Roger McKenzie
- Joint presidents Jeremy Corbyn, Maggie Bowden
- Treasurer Peter Talbot
- Robin Talbot is a member of the Central Council of Liberation.
In 2012 Liberation officers were President Stan Newens Chairperson Jeremy Corbyn, MP General Secretary Maggie Bowden, Editor George Anthony Treasurer John McDonnell MP .[2]
History
From Unity July/August 2022 page 4.
After the war, Kay Beauchamp was elected a local Councillor in Finsbury during her time as international secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain. In this role she made several visits to Africa.
She was involved in the Movement for Colonial Freedom (MCF), founded in 1954, and worked with Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta and other future leaders of emergent Africa.
In 1970 the MCF was renamed as Liberation.[3]
From Robin Talbot writing in Challenge.
"Today,Liberation is a small campaign that runs from an office in the ASLEF trade union building not far from the Marx Memorial Library in London. But Liberation, which was known as the Movement for Colonial Freedom until the seventies, has been the bedrock of anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggles in Britain since its founding conference in 1954. Even before then, its predecessor COPAI organised ruthlessly against British meddling abroad, including its bribery and intimidation of the founder of modern-day Botswana noted in the 2016 film “A United Kingdom”.
The Movement for Colonial Freedom brought together Labour Party members, Communists, trade unionists, students, diasporas and exiles of the current and former colonies and other progressives to create the most unified and successful anti-imperialist pressure group in Britain. Alongside these supporters, the MCF was instrumental in setting up dedicated campaign organisations and reporting on the oppression and violations of human rights ongoing throughout the world, as well as mobilising support in parliament.
After World War II and during the Cold War, Labour as well as Conservative Governments were willing participants in dirty wars and repressive activities abroad from Africa to the Middle East to Asia, where former subjects of the British Empire were organising to fight for equal rights and an end to exploitation and white domination. American, British, French, Portuguese and Belgian imperialists were always on the lookout for new opportunities to grab land and bring down resistance, including progressive governments.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to find a point on the map of the Global South to which the Movement’s tireless support for liberty and social justice did not extend. The MCF and then Liberation were active on issues relating to Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, British Guiana, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Zanzibar, Uganda, South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, the Congo, the Sudan and Guinea Bissau.
The Movement came down in support of Palestine when many people were unsure, in addition to providing a voice for the peoples of South Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Oman and the other Emirate states, whose voices were often drowned in blood for the enrichment of Western oil companies and medieval ruling elites. The campaign also fought for independence, reunification and peace for Cyrus and, with the Connolly Association, for democracy and an end to discrimination in Ireland, long before the Troubles began in the 1970s.
The Movement campaigned for independence, democracy and human rights in the Indian subcontinent. The list goes on to include the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and finally Latin America. The MCF established the British Council for Peace in Vietnam, with its sponsors in the British parliament rock-solid in their opposition to British involvement, and condemned the murder of at least a million Communists and their sympathisers in Indonesia. The MCF protested the bloodthirsty coups in Guatemala, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and followed the conflicts in Nicaragua and El Salvador. The Chile Solidarity Committee in Britain saw huge trade union and student solidarity with the country lasting until 1989, when the first free elections since the murderous Western-backed coup of 1973 were celebrated. Members of Liberation and other British delegates were there to rejoice with the Chilean people.
The MCF and Liberation did not ignore domestic racism either. Fenner Brockway MP, who was chair of the organisation, led the charge to outlaw racist discrimination. Throughout the sixties and seventies, the Movement published pamphlets and articles, and organised meetings and demonstrations, to win over the entire labour movement and British public to reject racism and prejudice.
The campaign was especially proactive in winning trade unions to the side of freedom and solidarity with oppressed peoples throughout the world, often in defiance of the labour movement status quo. National affiliates and sponsors included the NUM, AEU, USDAW, NUR and TGWU in addition to the National Union of Students. The MCF and Liberation also reckoned with their own international concerts at the Royal Festival Hall and publishing house, known as Young World Books.
In recent years, with the position of chair filled by the notorious Jeremy Corbyn MP, and now Kelvin Hopkins MP, Liberation has continued to campaign on issues old and new. These range from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the murder of student teachers in Mexico, from the floods in Kerala to the exploitation and crisis in the Congo, working with friends in community groups and the progressive and labour movements". [4]
Fenner Brockway Lecture
In March 18, 2025 Peter Mertens delivered the Fenner Brockway Lecture to Liberation in London.
Afghanistan: the People's Fight
Assadullah Keshtmand, Abdullah Naibi, Roger McKenzie, Jeremy Corbyn, Baroness Christine Blower.
MEETING ON MYANMAR
Communist Party of Britain July 4 2021·
Liberation MEETING ON MYANMAR -Find out more about the campaign of support and solidarity for the people of Myanmar/Burma, and how you can get involved.
SPEAKERS INCLUDE
- Khaing Zar Aung (Ms), President – Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar (IWFM), Treasurer – Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar (CTUM)
- Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington North, former Labour Party leader and current Liberation council member
- Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South (invited)
- Murad Qureishi, former Labour MLA and former Chair of the Stop the War Coalition
- Pallab Sengupta, General Secretary of the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO)
- Christine Blower, former general secretary, NUT (chair)
Communist helper
Graham Stevenson served as treasurer for the Marx Memorial Library from 2013 to 2019, and during his final year was helping to redevelop the trade-union base of Liberation as deputy to Maggie Bowden.