Merthyr Rising Festival May 25-27th 2018.
Merthyr Rising festival sponsored by RMT is a music, arts and ideas event that celebrates working-class culture and resistance at the birthplace of the red flag.
This year’s fifth annual event, set for May 25-27 at Penderyn Square, Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, takes place during the anniversary of one of the very first organised uprisings by workers in 1831 known as the Merthyr Rising.
It was the violent climax to many years of simmering unrest among the large working class population of Merthyr Tydfil where it is believed that for the first time the red flag of revolution was flown as a symbol of workers’ revolt. Today Merthyr Rising celebrates this symbolic event annually through a cultural festival of music, arts, political discussion and ideas.
This year there will be two sound stages, one on Penderyn Square and the second a short walk away at the Castle car park. A campsite is available in the picturesque grounds of the iconic Cyfartha Castle. Full weekend camping is available from Thursday May 24 to Monday May 28 and is available to campers, caravans and campervans with costs from £35.
Artists performing at this year’s festival include Mike Peters and The Alarm, Dreadzone, The Blockheads, The Ruts DC, Roland Gift, Captain Ska amongst others. US political scientist, professor and author Norman Finkelstein, an expert on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust, will be holding a question-and-answer session in the Merthyr Red House.
Ticket prices for the whole weekend are £40 and day tickets are £15 per day.
Details can be found http://www.merthyrrising.uk/ Members and branches are urged to circulate details and encourage members to attend.
Yours sincerely,
Mick Cash
General Secretary