I have shared a platform at anti-war and pro-Palestinian events with Jeremy Corbyn on dozens of occasions over ten years. We have also worked together where Jeremy has been extremely helpful asking parliamentary questions on matters including Britain’s stance on Palestine at the UN, and the Liam Fox/Adam Werritty/Matthew Gould relationship. I would not call him exactly a friend because we have never spent purely social time together. But he is certainly someone for whom I have the highest personal regard.
I am delighted that he is going to run for the Labour leadership and give voters a real alternative, compared to the minute differences between the neo-con puppet candidates. I shall be most pleased if this, like Nicola Sturgeon in the general election, gives a chance for anti-Trident and anti-austerity arguments actually to be heard in the corporate media.
But I fear this won’t happen. The BBC have been deluging the airwaves with the right wing identikit candidates, not only in items relating to the Labour leadership election, but inviting them on to any conceivable programme to blether on any topic. I am willing to bet a large sum the same media access is not granted to Jeremy Corbyn. If you don’t say “aspirational”, you don’t get on.
The media dismiss any argument outwith the bounds of their narrow, manufactured corporate consensus as marginal and irrelevant. For example, never mind the fact that a clear majority in the UK has for years supported renationalisation of the railways. The very fact of its popular support makes it imperative to the BBC and other corporate media that it must not be voiced. Jeremy is very likely to voice it. Watch as he is carefully marginalised, patronised and excluded.
The difficulty which the corporate media and political classes have is that we in the SNP have just driven a coach and horses through the argument that the radical case for social justice is marginal and has no popular support. The Labour membership, outside the London millionaires and focus group organisers, can see this too. The problem is that party is riven between Blairites, who only ever joined for personal career and position and don’t believe in anything except a vague attachment to Thatcherism, and actual believers in social progress, who have spent years in pathetic befuddlement wondering what happened to their party.
The idea that Andy Burnham – who privatised the English NHS at a much faster rate than the Tories – is in any sense at all a left wing candidate is utterly risible. It is typical of non-free “democratic” systems that they give electorates a pretend alternative, just as Ed Balls was no different to George Osborne. Sounding marginally more northern does not make you more left wing, and Burnham isn’t. He has just won the prize for the most obsequious arse-licking of Prince Charles, beating even the egregious Tony Blair. Anybody who signs a letter “I remain, Your Royal Highness, Your most humble and obedient servant” should not just be debarred from politics, but should be sniggered at by everybody they encounter for the rest of their life.
I am afraid I expect that enough Labour Party members are Thatcherites anyway, or open to persuasion by the media that Jeremy stands outside “respectable” opinion, that he will not be able to mount a serious challenge. And I am afraid we won’t see much of his views on wasting public money on weapons of mass destruction given air time. But fair play to him for running, and I sincerely hope I am wrong.
My personal political priority remains to achieve Scottish independence as I believe only the break-up of the UK can change its rotten corporate controlled political system. The kaleidoscope needs a kick, not a shake. To achieve that, I am committed to support of the SNP. But the lack of any credible or worthwhile opposition in Scottish politics is deeply worrying. I would welcome the kind of Labour Party that Corbyn would lead as a healthy democratic development. Sadly I don’t expect it.
I know Jeremy Corbyn primarily in his role as the excellent Chair of the Chagos All-Party Parliamentary Group; but I have also followed him on many other topics. If I were in his constituency I would certainly vote for him; but not for a Labour party that marginalises the influence of someone who articulates in his speeches and activities what used to be core Labour values.
I suggest that those who write to newspapers or phone-in to BBC programmes make sure that his views are sought through interviews and contributed articles as much as those of the other leadership candidates.
You’re probably right, Craig. In all cases like this I’m left thinking that the process of conforming is an interesting one. How do large institutions such as the BBC and MSM in general propagate their agenda? Do they give classes to journalists on Neo-liberalism and Neo-conservatism and how to defend them? Is there a handbook?
No. More likely people naturally find themselves self-censoring and conforming. Anyone left of Thatcher is regarded as a rebel and likely to destabilize the status-quo. Maybe they’ll try to better the lot of the great unwashed? And well, would that mean that those in upper middle class comfort would be a few quid worse off, or end up with someone from a lower caste calling the shots? And not forgetting it would be career suicide to go this route as Craig knows better than anyone; unless you’ve a note from Doctor Establishment like Owen Jones (a Therapeutic Use Exemption).
Just as a flock of birds appear to move as one, but actually each bird moves based on the small movements of those nearest, so do the Establishment and all the hangers-on.
Very well said Craig. But where does all this praise stand in relation to your frequent outpourings of contempt for stupid lefties who admire Putin and China, I wonder.
Nice to read this pro Jeremy Corbyn low down many thanks for posting it. Very worthwhile.
Giyane
I don’t think you will find Jeremy is a fan of Putin.
Giyane
I don’t think you’ll find Jeremy Corbyn an admirer either of macho, gay-bashing Putin or the illiberal Communist Party of the PRC. If Craig were a poor writer and thinker for whom “stupid lefties ” is pleonastic you might have a point. As I read Craig, he celebrates and exemplifies the universe of “intelligent lefties” (even if that’s only about 5% of the political matter in the otherwise black hole of Westminster).
I have good reason to be personally grateful to Corbyn and he is as good as they come. And I am happy to believe Kennedy was a decent man too.
However, it’s all besides the point. The systematic pressures that confine political discourse can easily accommodate these people. Indeed a ‘decent’ minority are essential to the illusion that liberals cling to.
Corbyn will get on the ballot, on tv once, wiped out and again forgotten by the mainstream. Business as usual.
Jeremy Corbyn has been trending on twitter for the last two days (this is a good thing!)
If only people knew that war and poverty are not good. Let’s spend another century sitting at home whining about how bad our government is.
Follow it! Friend it! Fuck it! Or whatever social media types do to amuse themselves.
Former Dundee Man
“..unless you’ve a note from Doctor Establishment like Owen Jones (a Therapeutic Use Exemption).”
_________________
That is a very perceptive comment (in its specific reference to Owen Jones).
Ah, Phil, I wish I could disagree with you.
Whether Jeremy Corbyn is a fan of Putin or not I don’t know. One thing I would stake my reputation on is that he is no fan of NATO aggression. Whenever I go on anti-drone marches, stop the war marches he is there. If he was in my constituency he would certainly get my support.
Just as a matter of interest, as regards Putin and the aggressive fascist coup government in Ukraine, the Poroshenko parliament yesterday announced that it was changing the constitution to allow troops of foreign nations into Ukraine.
Perhaps Russia should wait no longer to take him up on his kind offer. 🙂
FFS there’s no deterring some people from banging on about their fav dictator is there?
This is Jeremy Corbyn’s question to Philip Hammond regarding NATO presence and support for Ukraine. It is hardly anti-Putin. He is one of the few parliamentarians prepared to question our support for a fascist coup government put in power the same way Pinochet was. In fairness the words “fascist coup government” are mine, not Jeremy’s.
http://jeremycorbyn.org.uk/articles/4094/
“Let’s spend another century sitting at home whining about how bad our government is.”
Why a century, humankind can spend another swift millennium (in its Type Zero Global Civilisation) waiting for aliens to come and whip us and tell us to get our act together!
So, let’s not forget the source of human consciousness begins from each persons inner, with movement to the outer. If we can’t sort ourselves out inwardly (each of us, one at a time), do what you will, we cannot organise ourselves for the greater good outwardly. Then compassion, freedom and all those wonderful things remain just ideas. This is where we are. Mischief as a constant, with a smattering of lovely ideas here and there.
PS There are even those Lefty Loonies on full display, as pointed out earlier, who have their favourite dictators and even their favourite pet-conflicts. I fear theseMad Obsessive Lefty Loons (‘MOLLS) use only the left half of their brains.
Amazingly enough, I agree with him on almost everything as judged by his voting record in Parliament. I didn’t think there were any MPs still left like Jeremy Corbyn. I also agree with everything else Craig wrote here. What’s going on? I must be drunk…well I was on Wednesday.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10133/jeremy_corbyn/islington_north/votes
Tony
“FFS there’s no deterring some people from banging on about their fav dictator is there?”
Phil you continue to make good points, thank you for helping to wake people up and smell the coffee.
I am a slow typist, especially when getting the bold formatting in. I was making the same point while you were.
Best,
V
I share Craig’s views on the likely outcome of the Liebour party leadership selection.
Lebedev’s take.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/jeremy-corbyn-leftwing-maverick-plots-labour-leadership-bid-10295835.html
‘In his 32 years as the MP for Islington North, Mr Corbyn has been a vocal campaigner against war and nuclear weapons.’
Villager and Phil’s prescription for human emancipation seems a bit pie in the sky.
Is that its purpose.
Consciousness raising, eh. Freedom always just over the next hill.
Loons, the pair of them.
As exemplified by:
TRIDENT AND THE STRATEGIC DEFENCE AND SECURITY REVIEW
Session: 2015-16
Date tabled: 02.06.2015
Primary sponsor: Corbyn, Jeremy
Sponsors: Lucas, Caroline
Oswald, Kirsten
Paterson, Steven
Williams, Hywel
Durkan, Mark
That this House notes that a decision on the replacement of the Trident nuclear weapon submarines is due in the life of this Parliament; further notes that the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) will precede that decision; recognises that international circumstances have significantly changed from those in which the current Trident missile system was conceived, designed and constructed; further recognises the Government’s decision to require departments to reduce expenditure; and therefore calls on the Government to ensure that the SDSR sets out how it has considered the delivery of UK defence and security capability without nuclear weapons, including threat assessments, estimated costs and all non-nuclear options, as a basis for public debate ahead of the replacement decision.
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2015-16/60
and Palestine, which was not mentioned in the Standard.
EVICTION OF PALESTINIAN BEDOUIN COMMUNITIES FROM ISRAELI-OCCUPIED WEST BANK
Session: 2015-16
Date tabled: 01.06.2015
Primary sponsor: Morris, Grahame M
Sponsors: Cryer, John
Corbyn, Jeremy
etc
That this House notes with deep concern that, despite being a clear and egregious violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel advanced a ‘relocation plan’ that will see 7,000 Palestinian Bedouins and herders, 60 per cent of them children, who currently reside in 46 small residential areas, forcibly transferred and their homes demolished; further notes that, according to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, most families have pending home demolition orders, 85 per cent of which lack connection to electricity and water, and that two-thirds of Palestinian communities have experienced extreme settler violence creating a coercive environment that functions as push factors; affirms Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the International Committee of the Red Cross’s legal interpretation, that mass forcible transfer and forced evictions of protected peoples in occupied territory is prohibited under international humanitarian law and human rights law; reminds the Government of its obligations to ensure that Israel, as an occupying power, abides by its legal obligation to protect the civilian population in the occupied territory and administer it for their benefit; believes that these plans will undermine Palestinian presence in the area, further disconnect Palestinian Jerusalem from the West Bank and disrupt the territorial contiguity of the occupied territory; urges the Government to condemn Israel’s actions and policy as flagrant violations of international law; calls for urgent action to be taken to oppose these policies; and further calls on the Government to pressure the State of Israel to immediately scrap the outrageous relocation plans.
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2015-16/73
Herbie
“Villager and Phil’s prescription for human emancipation seems a bit pie in the sky.
Is that its purpose.
Consciousness raising, eh. Freedom always just over the next hill.
Loons, the pair of them.”
______________________________
Why the immediate ad personams with your first post on this matter?
Should you not be advancing reasoned counter-arguments to their substantive and politely-expressed views, Herbie?
Why, your reaction is identical to what I am always being accused of (including by you)! 🙂
Mr Goss
“One thing I would stake my reputation on is that he is no fan of NATO aggression.”
________________
Just to clarify for the readers, John : which reputation would that be?
Your reputation for what?
“Your reputation for what?”
My good name for providing an accurate alternative to the nonsense spewed out by mainstream media. Are you challenging what I staked my reputation on regarding Jeremy Corbyn? 🙂
Like Herbie I do add comments of note. You might not agree with them and that is your prerogative. But you could learn from them and perhaps provide something substantive yourself, my friend. 🙂
As exemplified by:
TRIDENT AND THE STRATEGIC DEFENCE AND SECURITY REVIEW
Session: 2015-16
Date tabled: 02.06.2015
Primary sponsor: Corbyn, Jeremy
Sponsors: Lucas, Caroline
Oswald, Kirsten
Paterson, Steven
Williams, Hywel
Durkan, Mark
That this House notes that a decision on the replacement of the Trident nuclear weapon submarines is due in the life of this Parliament; further notes that the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) will precede that decision; recognises that international circumstances have significantly changed from those in which the current Trident missile system was conceived, designed and constructed; further recognises the Government’s decision to require departments to reduce expenditure; and therefore calls on the Government to ensure that the SDSR sets out how it has considered the delivery of UK defence and security capability without nuclear weapons, including threat assessments, estimated costs and all non-nuclear options, as a basis for public debate ahead of the replacement decision.
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2015-16/60
and Palestine, which was not mentioned in the Standard.
EVICTION OF PALESTINIAN BEDOUIN COMMUNITIES FROM ISRAELI-OCCUPIED WEST BANK
Session: 2015-16
Date tabled: 01.06.2015
Primary sponsor: Morris, Grahame M
Sponsors: Cryer, John
Corbyn, Jeremy
etc
That this House notes with deep concern that, despite being a clear and egregious violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel advanced a ‘relocation plan’ that will see 7,000 Palestinian Bedouins and herders, 60 per cent of them children, who currently reside in 46 small residential areas, forcibly transferred and their homes demolished; further notes that, according to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, most families have pending home demolition orders, 85 per cent of which lack connection to electricity and water, and that two-thirds of Palestinian communities have experienced extreme settler violence creating a coercive environment that functions as push factors; affirms Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the International Committee of the Red Cross’s legal interpretation, that mass forcible transfer and forced evictions of protected peoples in occupied territory is prohibited under international humanitarian law and human rights law; reminds the Government of its obligations to ensure that Israel, as an occupying power, abides by its legal obligation to protect the civilian population in the occupied territory and administer it for their benefit; believes that these plans will undermine Palestinian presence in the area, further disconnect Palestinian Jerusalem from the West Bank and disrupt the territorial contiguity of the occupied territory; urges the Government to condemn Israel’s actions and policy as flagrant violations of international law; calls for urgent action to be taken to oppose these policies; and further calls on the Government to pressure the State of Israel to immediately scrap the outrageous relocation plans.
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2015-16/73
___________________
Thank you Mary! Good he stand son the right side of these issues.
PS Habby, not forum sliding here and you make a valid point to Herbie. Will need to address him further to see if he’s up to a dialogue. Take good care and keep that energy of clarity flowing like a good claret!
…stands on!
Well. Elites seem to have been very successful over the past six thousand years or so.
Much of that success involves encouraging their subordinates in pursuing all manner of idealisms and extra worldly wild goose chases.
A good part involves the destruction of communities, languages, oral culture, tradition, families etc.
Probably best to begin by resisting that which has been shown to perpetuate subordination.
It will be the same old story,the media will deride Mr Corbyn,condemn his politics,and attack him personally.
A right wing toe-the-line Labour candidate will inevitably win the day.
Herbie drops his ad hominems (thgand slips into Arnold Toynbee mode
Herbie drops his ad hominems (thank you!) and slips into Arnold Toynbee mode :
“Well. Elites seem to have been very successful over the past six thousand years or so.”
I’m not sure which mode is the more comical.