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This year’s Marxism festival, held in central London from 6-10 July and hosted by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), was by common consent one of the largest and most vibrant for many years. Some 4,100 activists – including 1,700 students and school students – gathered to discuss and debate a huge range of political issues. Many of those there had been active in the wider movements against war and neo-liberalism, but were attending Marxism for the first time. Below we print a selection of their voices

Hackney Members of Keep Our NHS Public in Hackney, east London, lobbied the board of their local primary care trust on Wednesday of last week.

Babar Ahmad, the British IT worker from south London threatened with being sent to the US to face trumped up terrorism charges, started his High Court appeal against his extradition on Tuesday of this week.

Campaigners will march from Marble Arch in London to the US embassy this Saturday to demand the closure of Guantanamo Bay and the return of the remaining British detainees there to this country.

London The Stop the War Coalition has called an emergency demonstration in London for next Saturday, 22 July. It is demanding 'Hands off Lebanon' and 'Freedom for Palestine'.

A conference that brought together leading anti-Zionist Jews and Muslims took place in London last Sunday. Against Zionism: Jewish Perspectives was organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission.

This Thursday will see the beginning of Europe’s biggest left wing conference in central London. Marxism 2006 will continue until Monday of next week.

The performance of Peter Weiss’s play at the Arcola Theatre in Hackney, east London, on Thursday of last week was a remarkable event.

Kandinsky: The Path To AbstractionTate Modern, central London until 1 Octoberwww.tate.org.uk A new exhibition follows the journey of Russian revolutionary artist Wassily Kandinsky from a figurative landscape painter to one of the founders of modern art. Kandinsky’s artistic revolution was heavily influenced by the Russian revolutionary movement and the revolution that occurred in Russia in 1917. This is an inspirational exhibition, with paintings conveying political turmoil and the birth of a new hope.

Health activists in Waltham Forest, east London, won a victory last week when the local primary care trust temporarily withdrew planned budget cuts.

Brent Council in west London has withdrawn its expression of interest for an academy to be built on the Wembley Park sports ground site after a high-profile campaign. The campaign united education unions, parents, the local community and sports ground users.

Babar Ahmad, the south London IT worker threatened with deportation to the US on trumped up terrorism charges, will begin his appeal against extradition next Tuesday.