Jeremy Corbyn's leadership campaign shows socialism is a dirty word
I like Jeremy Corbyn. I like him because unlike most politicians, he seems to own a moral compass. He's the only one who understands what his role is; to work for our best interests - whether we vote, pay tax, are native, have money or not. And it looks like this is why everyone (apart from the lefties) are gunning for him.
We can't have an old man who was arrested for protesting against South African apartheid in the 80s be the leader of Tony Blair's Labour. The thought is outrageous, almost as outrageous as hiring a woman who is against gay marriage as Equality Minister, but that actually happened. David Cameron's recruitment policy was based entirely on nepotism and lobbying. How else do you explain his Bullingdon bestie Boris' cabinet position? So the people paid to run the country are entirely unsuitable for the job.
And that's why in the Tories first solo budget, George Osborne neglected his duties to the people and decided to punish the working poor, students, public sector workers and disabled people while simultaneously raising productivity. I'm so glad my employer doesn't adopt this sort of strategy - if I was told I wasn't allowed help because I was any of the above, I'd take them straight to a tribunal not work harder to earn it!
The only person who opposed such draconian measures was Jeremy Corbyn. A man who fought against the war in Iraq and encouraged talking to freedom fighters (some call these people terrorists) for a peace agreement. These solutions are no-brainers but seen as radical, incendiary and dangerous by the right wing elite who don't see people, they see Pound signs.
Since Corbyn announced he was applying for Labour leader after the party's dismal performance during this year's election, the knives have been out. They call him incompetent, they call him divisive and they call him too left-wing. Well I never, a left wing candidate in a left wing party started by unions, who'd a thunk it.
Warmonger, mercenary and candidate to be reincarnated as a dung beetle Tony Blair said Labour needs to be more centre, making the Liberal Democrats redundant and parliament with no one representing socialist ideologies, apart from the SNP who won't have a say over English laws. He spoke out against voting for Corbyn because he know members are holding onto the D:Ream days.
What the members aren't looking at is the possibility capitalism may fall, what with Syriza in Greece being the most well known political party in the world and Podemos in Spain gathering pace. And the huge support, although they were shot down, from France, America and several renowned and prize winning economists.
Of course, this is an inherent fear of socialism. Recently, we saw the Queen give the Nazi salute as a child - fascism was massive among the aristocracy and wealthy, as it counteracted Communism. A system designed by Karl Marx to fairly distribute wealth. Naturally, our rulers were against this after an age old system of filling their own coffers with nothing but the blood, sweat and tears of slavery and the poor. After all, how can one make lots of money without exploitation?
Communists were followed by government agencies, demonised and punished, simply for wanting a fairer society. This mentality of self-preservation through conservative, neo-liberalism as dominated the political arena the world over. Even staunchly Communist countries like China and Vietnam have yielded to the allure of money.
We haven't really moved on from then. It's just given a less severe moniker. Tony Benn's leadership campaign was sabotaged by politicians on the right who were afraid his popularity, charisma and gumption would harm their stocks.
Being a socialist doesn't make you a Bolshevik. We're not going to shoot the Royal family, we're not going to strip Lords of their estates, we're not going to enforce a standard wages regardless of position, we're not going to let everyone in and give everyone welfare. We're going to ensure justice, help those in need and protect society from tyranny - whatever form that comes in.
Jeremy Corbyn wants:
All of this looks fair enough. There's nothing that should set alarms bells off for anyone, regardless of political persuasion. Unless you're incredibly rich and earn a lot of money by selling arms to rogue governments and terror cells, avoid tax on your massive earnings and £30K per pupil per year, earn lots of money by exploiting the housing situation, are a corporate who rip people off for profit and indulge in underhand dealings to maximise dividends for their wealthy majority shareholders to earn huge bonuses on top of your enormous salary. Unfortunately for those of us who aren't the aforementioned, these are the people who are in charge and have the ability to make our lives a lot harder. They don't care about your ability to put food on the table, they care about squeezing every drop out of you so they can have game banquets morning, noon and night.
Most importantly, Jeremy Corbyn worked with the last real politician and hero Tony Benn. If Tony Benn thought him good enough to help him campaign for deputy Labour leadership in 1981, then he's good enough for me too.
First published 06/08/2015
We can't have an old man who was arrested for protesting against South African apartheid in the 80s be the leader of Tony Blair's Labour. The thought is outrageous, almost as outrageous as hiring a woman who is against gay marriage as Equality Minister, but that actually happened. David Cameron's recruitment policy was based entirely on nepotism and lobbying. How else do you explain his Bullingdon bestie Boris' cabinet position? So the people paid to run the country are entirely unsuitable for the job.
And that's why in the Tories first solo budget, George Osborne neglected his duties to the people and decided to punish the working poor, students, public sector workers and disabled people while simultaneously raising productivity. I'm so glad my employer doesn't adopt this sort of strategy - if I was told I wasn't allowed help because I was any of the above, I'd take them straight to a tribunal not work harder to earn it!
The only person who opposed such draconian measures was Jeremy Corbyn. A man who fought against the war in Iraq and encouraged talking to freedom fighters (some call these people terrorists) for a peace agreement. These solutions are no-brainers but seen as radical, incendiary and dangerous by the right wing elite who don't see people, they see Pound signs.
Since Corbyn announced he was applying for Labour leader after the party's dismal performance during this year's election, the knives have been out. They call him incompetent, they call him divisive and they call him too left-wing. Well I never, a left wing candidate in a left wing party started by unions, who'd a thunk it.
Warmonger, mercenary and candidate to be reincarnated as a dung beetle Tony Blair said Labour needs to be more centre, making the Liberal Democrats redundant and parliament with no one representing socialist ideologies, apart from the SNP who won't have a say over English laws. He spoke out against voting for Corbyn because he know members are holding onto the D:Ream days.
What the members aren't looking at is the possibility capitalism may fall, what with Syriza in Greece being the most well known political party in the world and Podemos in Spain gathering pace. And the huge support, although they were shot down, from France, America and several renowned and prize winning economists.
Of course, this is an inherent fear of socialism. Recently, we saw the Queen give the Nazi salute as a child - fascism was massive among the aristocracy and wealthy, as it counteracted Communism. A system designed by Karl Marx to fairly distribute wealth. Naturally, our rulers were against this after an age old system of filling their own coffers with nothing but the blood, sweat and tears of slavery and the poor. After all, how can one make lots of money without exploitation?
Communists were followed by government agencies, demonised and punished, simply for wanting a fairer society. This mentality of self-preservation through conservative, neo-liberalism as dominated the political arena the world over. Even staunchly Communist countries like China and Vietnam have yielded to the allure of money.
We haven't really moved on from then. It's just given a less severe moniker. Tony Benn's leadership campaign was sabotaged by politicians on the right who were afraid his popularity, charisma and gumption would harm their stocks.
Being a socialist doesn't make you a Bolshevik. We're not going to shoot the Royal family, we're not going to strip Lords of their estates, we're not going to enforce a standard wages regardless of position, we're not going to let everyone in and give everyone welfare. We're going to ensure justice, help those in need and protect society from tyranny - whatever form that comes in.
Jeremy Corbyn wants:
- Tony Blair to be indicted
- Reform of EU and opposition to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
- Abolition of free schools (they've failed in Norway and are failing in this country) and end public schools' charity status
- Rent controls
- Renationalisation of energy and rail, creating jobs and cheaper fares/fees
- End war
- Recover revenue lost in tax avoidance
All of this looks fair enough. There's nothing that should set alarms bells off for anyone, regardless of political persuasion. Unless you're incredibly rich and earn a lot of money by selling arms to rogue governments and terror cells, avoid tax on your massive earnings and £30K per pupil per year, earn lots of money by exploiting the housing situation, are a corporate who rip people off for profit and indulge in underhand dealings to maximise dividends for their wealthy majority shareholders to earn huge bonuses on top of your enormous salary. Unfortunately for those of us who aren't the aforementioned, these are the people who are in charge and have the ability to make our lives a lot harder. They don't care about your ability to put food on the table, they care about squeezing every drop out of you so they can have game banquets morning, noon and night.
Most importantly, Jeremy Corbyn worked with the last real politician and hero Tony Benn. If Tony Benn thought him good enough to help him campaign for deputy Labour leadership in 1981, then he's good enough for me too.
First published 06/08/2015
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