The Durham Miners Festival, the largest labor festival in the world, is underway in Durham, participated by 200 thousand people.

This year’s edition has been dedicated to Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan by the twelve British trade unions organising the festival.

Simon Dubbins, responsible for the international relations department of UNITE union, reminded that "The mines have shut down in Britain but the spirit of miners is alive and kicking. In recent years, the festival has turned into a place where socialists, leftist movements and democrats are gathered under one roof".

Which is why, this year the festival has been dedicated to Abdullah Öcalan. "It was very important for us, British unions, to dedicate this big and important event to Öcalan. We have been running a campaign for his release for years and we wanted his message to be spread and reach hundreds of thousands of people. People who have never known Öcalan perhaps and now have heard of him thanks to this festival".