Corbyn: First They Ignore You

By Orwell Danes

There is something to be said for a man who, having seen the Labour Party’s gradual shift from a union backed, community driven, party of the working people, to a corporate funded, individualist, party of the middle classes, Corbyn, in all that time, has remained true to himself and to the party.

It is a shame that the Establishment, which, among others, includes Westminster and the British press, seem hell-bent on leading Britain down the path of corporate control and handing over the peoples’ best interests to a bunch of far-right oppressors whom choose not to report the arguments on both sides, but, rather, to promote their own agenda.

Corbyn’s rise to prominence during those few short summer months was a triumph for the British public. It was a triumph because it showed that, regardless which paper said what about who, the public made up their own mind about Corbyn. And making up one’s own mind, coming to one’s own conclusions, shows that maybe the papers have less power than they thought. It is a true sign of democracy in a world full of tyranny.

June 2015 saw the beginnings of Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign to become the next leader of the Labour Party. It was also the start of a media campaign which saw Corbynmania, as it came to be known, engage sections of society which previously felt a disconnect from politics.

While Cameron is supported in the British press for his desire to go to war, Corbyn is lambasted for his desire for peace. Hardly a coherent argument on the part of the press.

Corbyn was creating that dialogue by standing against the Blairites within the Labour Party. He was offering a real alternative to voters desperately calling for true opposition to government.

And that is what seemed to annoy the press and the PLP. For once, someone was playing by the rules and getting their message out to the people… and the people liked it.

The argument many Blairites put forward is often about winning elections. They would argue that, in order to make a difference, you have to be in power.

For example, in the 2015 General Election, both Labour and the Conservatives were promoting austerity as the way forward; and both were promoting a tougher stance on welfare. Neither party was offering the public an alternative, which is a sign democratic politics in the UK was heading in much the same direction as the United States of America: two parties battling for power instead of two ideologies involved in dialogue for the sake of democracy.

The slow and dangerous emergence of privatisation obsessively sought by the Tories is the real danger to Britons, but because the Tories main interests are to serve the rich, their main concern is wealth creation — something the working classes are often fooled into thinking applies to them also.

Corbyn was certainly not wrong to apologise for the Iraq War on behalf of the party. Everyone knows the war on Iraq was a mistake, but Corbyn and the Stop the War Coalition campaign group knew it then and urged Blair not to go ahead. Blair failed to listen.

The idea that most people are for Capitalism is nonsense — most people do not even understand how things could possibly be any different because, in their lifetime, things have never been any different

Despite all the mudslinging, Jeremy Corbyn won the hearts and minds of the Labour Party membership and stormed to a landslide victory, claiming just over 59% of the votes. With the largest majority ever achieved in a Labour Party leadership contest, Corbyn will go down in history, possibly for causing one of the biggest electoral shocks ever known, but definitely as one of the most inspirational figures.

But for the many right-wing factions, and even many Moderates, Corbyn is someone who must be destroyed.

Jeremy Corbyn seems to be the perfect opposition to the hard-line Tory policies driving Britain ever-closer to privatisation. And though nobody wants to see extremes of any political ideology be in power, Corbyn is a welcomed, and absolutely necessary, force for the modern political climate.

There are many things, such as the freedom to choose, that Capitalism has taken great strides in promoting. But the laissez-faire brand of Capitalism, which ironically does not believe in state intervention unless it is to bail out financial institutions, is not a system that can continue. It does not do any good for any part of society, except for the financial institutions and the richest 10%. Something has to give

There are three rights every individual should be entitled to from birth: free healthcare, affordable housing, and free education. These rights dwindled under the recent Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government, and are in serious danger of disappearing altogether if Cameron and Osborne have their way.

But it makes no sense for the wealthiest people in the country to live like kings whilst the poorest sections of the country starve; for those millions of people at the bottom of the financial ladder are essential to the economy.

One thing is for certain, though: by fuelling the debate, Corbyn has changed politics for the better.