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Labour festival

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Durham Miners' Gala 2008

A labour festival (in the US, 'labor festival') is a festival related to the labour movement usually occurring annually. Labour festivals are some of the biggest political gatherings in Europe. Often they are outdoors in the summer and (more akin to a Fête) they incorporate music (particularly brass band), parades, film, historical commemoration and food and drink. One of the well-known ones is Durham Miners' Gala attended by some 100,000 attendees. Some are run by communist or socialist parties such as Fête de l'Humanité,[1] Fête de Lutte Ouvrière, Avante! Festival, Odigitis festival and Festa Democratica. Some were formerly so, such as Edinburgh Labour People's Festival. Some commemorate trade unionism or history such as Burston Strike School and Tolpuddle Martyrs festival.[2] Glastonbury Festival has a The Left Field and has been addressed by Labour leaders.

Events

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Festival Country Continent Year established Month Attendance
Avante! Festival Portugal Europe 1976 September
Durham Miners' Gala United Kingdom Europe 1871 July 100,000
Fête de l'Humanité France Europe 1930 September 100,000
Festa Democratica/Festa de l'Unità Italy Europe 2007
Fête de Lutte Ouvrière France Europe 1981 May 25,000[3]
LaborFest, San Francisco United States North America 1993 July
ManiFiesta Belgium Europe 2010 September 19,000 (2016)
Odigitis Festival Greece Europe September
Tolpuddle Martyrs festival United Kingdom Europe 1922 July 10,000
UZ-Pressefest Germany Europe 1993 June 60,000

References

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  1. ^ "France's 24-hour parti people | Tony Shallcross". TheGuardian.com. 17 September 2010.
  2. ^ "Tolpuddle Martyrs festival expects record-breaking crowd". TheGuardian.com. 15 July 2011.
  3. ^ "Good culture, bad politics - Communist Party of Great Britain". Archived from the original on 2013-05-05. Retrieved 2013-04-22.