Read here
And another here.
Also really good.
And.
Sunday, 22 December 2019
Friday, 20 December 2019
If the UK were Venezuela, it would be called a dictatorship
The press would most definitely be calling this a dictatorship if it were Venezuela or any other target state of the west.
So far/on its way under Johnson:
- installing of unelected ministers (Zac Goldsmith)
- voter suppression
- boundary changes
- banning protest (strikes & BDS)
- threats to dissenting media (The Canary)
- threats to the supreme court
- court rules British MI5 agents can murder, kidnap and torture
- support from far-right Tommy R, Britain First, KT Hopkins etc
Added to the usual:
- unelected/partially hereditary House of Lords
- FPTP system
- pliant, monopolised media
- journalists imprisoned (Assange)
- unelected head of state
What else?
So far/on its way under Johnson:
- installing of unelected ministers (Zac Goldsmith)
- voter suppression
- boundary changes
- banning protest (strikes & BDS)
- threats to dissenting media (The Canary)
- threats to the supreme court
- court rules British MI5 agents can murder, kidnap and torture
- support from far-right Tommy R, Britain First, KT Hopkins etc
Added to the usual:
- unelected/partially hereditary House of Lords
- FPTP system
- pliant, monopolised media
- journalists imprisoned (Assange)
- unelected head of state
What else?
Sunday, 15 December 2019
BBC - Fascist Enablers
If the BBC was on the side of the people, doing journalism in the public interest, it would have spent this election screaming:
‘Labour have a plan backed by climate scientists to address the climate crisis (and create loads of jobs)!’.
‘Labour won’t suck up to Saudi Arabia and help them kill thousands in Yemen!’
‘Jeremy Corbyn has spent his life fighting for your rights!’.
‘Boris Johnson is a deceitful, inhuman racist, who is effectively in an alliance with Nigel Farage!!’
Instead we got:
‘Lifelong anti-racist Jeremy Corbyn is a racist!’.
‘Man of peace is a terrorist-loving traitor!’.
‘Here’s Boris Johnson eating a scone!’.
The only time they really held Johnson to account was with Andrew Neil’s monologue, after he refused an interview. But that was far too little, too late.
Mostly, the BBC simply parroted far-right talking points from the billionaire-owned press. Fascist enablers.
Recommend this book.
‘Labour have a plan backed by climate scientists to address the climate crisis (and create loads of jobs)!’.
‘Labour won’t suck up to Saudi Arabia and help them kill thousands in Yemen!’
‘Jeremy Corbyn has spent his life fighting for your rights!’.
‘Boris Johnson is a deceitful, inhuman racist, who is effectively in an alliance with Nigel Farage!!’
Instead we got:
‘Lifelong anti-racist Jeremy Corbyn is a racist!’.
‘Man of peace is a terrorist-loving traitor!’.
‘Here’s Boris Johnson eating a scone!’.
The only time they really held Johnson to account was with Andrew Neil’s monologue, after he refused an interview. But that was far too little, too late.
Mostly, the BBC simply parroted far-right talking points from the billionaire-owned press. Fascist enablers.
Recommend this book.
What Could Have Been
I am so depressed. The prospect of the Jeremy Corbyn-led movement coming to power in the UK was the only thing giving me some hope for the future; to begin addressing the obscene injustices in this world. To have had a man who has fought for peace, fairness and justice his whole life, as leader on the fifth largest economy in the world, could have been revolutionary. It would have given hope to social movements all around the world that are currently fighting against the grave corporate tyranny of this imposed, global capitalist system.
What I find hardest is that many people just don't seem bothered. But I know I must remember, that most people don't have time to think; too overworked and underpaid, and subject to an unavoidable stream of corporate propaganda wherever they look. And I know, that thanks to these decades of neoliberalism, since Thatcher, hope has been lost. Thatcher's destruction of the very concept of society; her replacement of community with free market extremism; giving away all our power to transnational corporations, destroyed us. We should be one, but we've been separated, pitted against each other and forced to forget that one person's happiness rests on the happiness of all; unable to collectively resist the oppressive policies imposed by this corporate tyranny, as it privatises and exploits, and siphons away all our wealth to the top. It is this system, and the sense of hopelessness that it creates, which is at the root of all our problems today; the rise of the far-right, war, refugee crises, environmental destruction, mental health crisis, etc.
Following 40 years of this, there is little hope of change; most people seem either fully suckered by the false promise of individualistic happiness, or just unable to believe that government can be uncorrupt and actually do good; that it can actually be on our side, rather that on the side of the super rich and the corporations; that it can end and reverse all the horrors of the needless and deathly policy of 'austerity'; the homelessness and child poverty; that it can put people and planet before weapons sales and oil wars; that it can fight for climate justice, etc - we must instead leave everything to the billionaires.
Such an informed, dedicated and principled human rights champion as Jeremy Corbyn, who would have sought an end to the deviant exploitation and plunder that is unsurprisingly so prevalent in a world now run by profit-seeking corporations and billionaires, threatened the corporate powers that be like no other. And so he suffered the most evil character assassination, across all of the 'mainstream' media, from the Murdoch gutter press, to the Guardian and the BBC. Quite how he put up with it and stayed so calm and collected, is beyond me. Even when all of this goebelian propaganda led to a far-right thug punching him in the head earlier this year, he made no fuss.
In 2017, we came so close. Against all the odds, a truly leftist party promising a radical reversal of neoliberalism, and an agenda for peace on the world stage, came within 2,200 votes of winning an election, and achieved its highest increase in the vote 1945. By the end of that year, Labour were polling at 45%, to the Tories 37%. Where did it all go wrong? How did we come so close, and then lose so badly? Along with the vitriolic media, that only got worse since 2017, it was of course the increasing polarization around Brexit, and Labour's shift towards backing a second referendum, that caused it. In 2017, the party promised to respect the referendum result and seek a new deal. By this election, the party had reneged on that pledge.
Sadly, it seems the party was doomed from that moment; the moment it switched from seeking a soft Brexit, to backing the idea of a confirmatory vote. It seems many Brexit-supporting Labour voters in parts of the midlands, and the north - 'Labour's heartlands' - who have been ignored and exploited ever since Thatcher destroyed their communities, once again felt as though they were being deceived by a self-serving Westminster elite, and fled the party. The tragedy of it of course, is that Corbyn's radical Labour Party - with its pledges of mass investment in public services and communities, and its green industrial revolution - would have revitalized these areas and given them hope once again, whilst also converting our energy systems to renewables by 2030-35.
Of course, what is ultimately to blame for all of this is our media. I am no fan of the EU, but the right-wing press's incessant anti-EU propaganda over the years - because the billionaire/corporate owners of the media despise the modicum of social justice/environmental rights that the EU enforces - has been extreme. The EU, and the migration it enables, became the 'other', convincing many that it was that which is to blame for their struggles, not neoliberalism and those who impose it.
I can't claim to understand exactly how and why it was that Labour's Brexit position changed in-between 2017 and this election. The 'People's Vote' campaign, chaired by Roland Rudd, a staunch critic of Corbyn and his leftist ideology, was certainly a huge factor. Much of the PLP - the Blairites/centrists - who as is well known, have hated having Corbyn as their leader, signed up to the campaign. As did much of the Labour membership. In the end, the pressure was so great, that I'm not convinced the leadership could have resisted. But maybe they could have done, I don't know.
Although, if they hadn't shifted, perhaps they would have lost other seats to to the Liberal Democrats? It is impossible to know for sure, whether Remainers would have mostly stuck with Labour, as they did in the 2017 election.
Now that the loss has happened, and Corbyn has announced his departure, it so frustrating that so many of these MPs, who pressured the leadership for a people's vote, are now blaming everything on the leader. But I guess, I should not be at all surprised. Their resentment for what Corbyn and the movement has done to the party, once again making it a party of peace and justice, rather than Blair's party of war and NHS privatization - 'Thatcher's greatest legacy' - was only deepening as time went by, and they are now jumping at the chance to condemn.
Of course, Corbyn should take some of the blame, but it needs to recognized that he was right in his desire to respect the referendum; his failing was that he backed down too easily, to the cries of the Blairites and the 'centrists'. That's my opinion, anyway. These people should have been kicked out of the party long ago. What is even more frustrating is that many of these foes of Corbyn are now blaming Labour's policies and the movement as a whole, for the loss, despite the incredible success in 2017. They are truly contemptible.
I don't know what to do now. My hope is gone. I hate this world. I wish I could go back to being ignorant; to not understanding the horrors of capitalism and imperialism. I try and forget about it all, but it can't be escaped. Life is politics. Everywhere you go, you see injustice; you see exploitation; you see the destructive irrationality of a system left to market forces. And it will only get worse now. An emboldened far-right. Increasing authoritarianism, suppression of dissent, etc. The media as rancid and more in service of the elite, than ever - their coverage of the election campaign was truly disturbed, even for them. An anti-racist attacked for being a racist. An actual racist, and bigot, homophobe, liar, thug, elitist, warmonger, mostly let off the hook.
Right now, I feel like we had our chance. But hopefully I am wrong. Hopefully the craven Labour centrists fail to retake the party, and the social movement that came so close in 2017, despite all the propaganda that it was up against, survives and grows, and a replacement leader with similar principles as Corbyn can be found. But, such informed, thoughtful, decent, dedidcated individuals are rare, especially in politics. And with a country so dominated by the rich, and their media, will it ever really be possible for us to elect someone like this? Given what is being done to the world by our government and ruling classes, to line their pockets - the oil wars, the installation and propping up of fascists from Saudi Arabia to Bolivia, the destruction of nature, etc - and given that this will only get worse under a hard-right Tory regime, we have a responsibility to keep trying.
What I find hardest is that many people just don't seem bothered. But I know I must remember, that most people don't have time to think; too overworked and underpaid, and subject to an unavoidable stream of corporate propaganda wherever they look. And I know, that thanks to these decades of neoliberalism, since Thatcher, hope has been lost. Thatcher's destruction of the very concept of society; her replacement of community with free market extremism; giving away all our power to transnational corporations, destroyed us. We should be one, but we've been separated, pitted against each other and forced to forget that one person's happiness rests on the happiness of all; unable to collectively resist the oppressive policies imposed by this corporate tyranny, as it privatises and exploits, and siphons away all our wealth to the top. It is this system, and the sense of hopelessness that it creates, which is at the root of all our problems today; the rise of the far-right, war, refugee crises, environmental destruction, mental health crisis, etc.
Following 40 years of this, there is little hope of change; most people seem either fully suckered by the false promise of individualistic happiness, or just unable to believe that government can be uncorrupt and actually do good; that it can actually be on our side, rather that on the side of the super rich and the corporations; that it can end and reverse all the horrors of the needless and deathly policy of 'austerity'; the homelessness and child poverty; that it can put people and planet before weapons sales and oil wars; that it can fight for climate justice, etc - we must instead leave everything to the billionaires.
Such an informed, dedicated and principled human rights champion as Jeremy Corbyn, who would have sought an end to the deviant exploitation and plunder that is unsurprisingly so prevalent in a world now run by profit-seeking corporations and billionaires, threatened the corporate powers that be like no other. And so he suffered the most evil character assassination, across all of the 'mainstream' media, from the Murdoch gutter press, to the Guardian and the BBC. Quite how he put up with it and stayed so calm and collected, is beyond me. Even when all of this goebelian propaganda led to a far-right thug punching him in the head earlier this year, he made no fuss.
In 2017, we came so close. Against all the odds, a truly leftist party promising a radical reversal of neoliberalism, and an agenda for peace on the world stage, came within 2,200 votes of winning an election, and achieved its highest increase in the vote 1945. By the end of that year, Labour were polling at 45%, to the Tories 37%. Where did it all go wrong? How did we come so close, and then lose so badly? Along with the vitriolic media, that only got worse since 2017, it was of course the increasing polarization around Brexit, and Labour's shift towards backing a second referendum, that caused it. In 2017, the party promised to respect the referendum result and seek a new deal. By this election, the party had reneged on that pledge.
Sadly, it seems the party was doomed from that moment; the moment it switched from seeking a soft Brexit, to backing the idea of a confirmatory vote. It seems many Brexit-supporting Labour voters in parts of the midlands, and the north - 'Labour's heartlands' - who have been ignored and exploited ever since Thatcher destroyed their communities, once again felt as though they were being deceived by a self-serving Westminster elite, and fled the party. The tragedy of it of course, is that Corbyn's radical Labour Party - with its pledges of mass investment in public services and communities, and its green industrial revolution - would have revitalized these areas and given them hope once again, whilst also converting our energy systems to renewables by 2030-35.
Of course, what is ultimately to blame for all of this is our media. I am no fan of the EU, but the right-wing press's incessant anti-EU propaganda over the years - because the billionaire/corporate owners of the media despise the modicum of social justice/environmental rights that the EU enforces - has been extreme. The EU, and the migration it enables, became the 'other', convincing many that it was that which is to blame for their struggles, not neoliberalism and those who impose it.
I can't claim to understand exactly how and why it was that Labour's Brexit position changed in-between 2017 and this election. The 'People's Vote' campaign, chaired by Roland Rudd, a staunch critic of Corbyn and his leftist ideology, was certainly a huge factor. Much of the PLP - the Blairites/centrists - who as is well known, have hated having Corbyn as their leader, signed up to the campaign. As did much of the Labour membership. In the end, the pressure was so great, that I'm not convinced the leadership could have resisted. But maybe they could have done, I don't know.
Although, if they hadn't shifted, perhaps they would have lost other seats to to the Liberal Democrats? It is impossible to know for sure, whether Remainers would have mostly stuck with Labour, as they did in the 2017 election.
Now that the loss has happened, and Corbyn has announced his departure, it so frustrating that so many of these MPs, who pressured the leadership for a people's vote, are now blaming everything on the leader. But I guess, I should not be at all surprised. Their resentment for what Corbyn and the movement has done to the party, once again making it a party of peace and justice, rather than Blair's party of war and NHS privatization - 'Thatcher's greatest legacy' - was only deepening as time went by, and they are now jumping at the chance to condemn.
Of course, Corbyn should take some of the blame, but it needs to recognized that he was right in his desire to respect the referendum; his failing was that he backed down too easily, to the cries of the Blairites and the 'centrists'. That's my opinion, anyway. These people should have been kicked out of the party long ago. What is even more frustrating is that many of these foes of Corbyn are now blaming Labour's policies and the movement as a whole, for the loss, despite the incredible success in 2017. They are truly contemptible.
I don't know what to do now. My hope is gone. I hate this world. I wish I could go back to being ignorant; to not understanding the horrors of capitalism and imperialism. I try and forget about it all, but it can't be escaped. Life is politics. Everywhere you go, you see injustice; you see exploitation; you see the destructive irrationality of a system left to market forces. And it will only get worse now. An emboldened far-right. Increasing authoritarianism, suppression of dissent, etc. The media as rancid and more in service of the elite, than ever - their coverage of the election campaign was truly disturbed, even for them. An anti-racist attacked for being a racist. An actual racist, and bigot, homophobe, liar, thug, elitist, warmonger, mostly let off the hook.
Right now, I feel like we had our chance. But hopefully I am wrong. Hopefully the craven Labour centrists fail to retake the party, and the social movement that came so close in 2017, despite all the propaganda that it was up against, survives and grows, and a replacement leader with similar principles as Corbyn can be found. But, such informed, thoughtful, decent, dedidcated individuals are rare, especially in politics. And with a country so dominated by the rich, and their media, will it ever really be possible for us to elect someone like this? Given what is being done to the world by our government and ruling classes, to line their pockets - the oil wars, the installation and propping up of fascists from Saudi Arabia to Bolivia, the destruction of nature, etc - and given that this will only get worse under a hard-right Tory regime, we have a responsibility to keep trying.
Tory Crackdown on Dissent, at Behest of Isreal?
Tory crackdown on dissent gets underway.
First, they announce they're targeting progressive media outlet, The Canary - because they dared to call out the disgusting weaponisation of antisemitism against Jeremy Corbyn/Labour.
Now, they announce they're planning on criminalizing BDS.
We must not support oppressed peoples in their fight for freedom! To do so is racist!
Corbyn’s Labour would’ve got us out of this Orwellian hell and actually supported the Palestinians in their struggle, rather than continued to back Israel’s barbarism.
And I guess this means the UK will have to cut ties with Ireland? The government there passed a law making goods from Israeli settlements illegal.
BDS is not antisemitic. The racists are those who oppose it.
First, they announce they're targeting progressive media outlet, The Canary - because they dared to call out the disgusting weaponisation of antisemitism against Jeremy Corbyn/Labour.
Now, they announce they're planning on criminalizing BDS.
We must not support oppressed peoples in their fight for freedom! To do so is racist!
Corbyn’s Labour would’ve got us out of this Orwellian hell and actually supported the Palestinians in their struggle, rather than continued to back Israel’s barbarism.
And I guess this means the UK will have to cut ties with Ireland? The government there passed a law making goods from Israeli settlements illegal.
BDS is not antisemitic. The racists are those who oppose it.
Media consistently dishonest - Labour did not lose because of their policies!
The extreme bias/dishonesty of much of the media is on display yet again.
‘Labour lost the election because nobody wants a leftist agenda’, they say.
Under Corbyn’s leadership, Labour came within 2,200 votes of winning in 2017, with the biggest vote share they’d had since 1945.
And by the end of 2017, Labour were polling 45%, Tories were on 37%.
Anyone trying to say Labour’s policies were’t popular and electable, is a liar. THEY are the extremists - they think Scandinavian-style social democracy is 'far left'. Absurd.
Why DID they lose the election? Brexit, and the polarisation that it created! Backing the second referendum that much of this same media insisted be backed!
‘Labour lost the election because nobody wants a leftist agenda’, they say.
Under Corbyn’s leadership, Labour came within 2,200 votes of winning in 2017, with the biggest vote share they’d had since 1945.
And by the end of 2017, Labour were polling 45%, Tories were on 37%.
Anyone trying to say Labour’s policies were’t popular and electable, is a liar. THEY are the extremists - they think Scandinavian-style social democracy is 'far left'. Absurd.
Why DID they lose the election? Brexit, and the polarisation that it created! Backing the second referendum that much of this same media insisted be backed!
Friday, 13 December 2019
Should we blame Corbyn for the loss?
The press will have put many, many people off voting Labour. It always does. It’s basically why it exists, to get the masses voting against their interests. And it’s even worse now, given that big change is needed - to address the climate crisis, reduce inequality, undo NHS privatisation, etc - which requires taking on the powerful interests whom these newspapers serve, like never before.
They’ve spent years attacking a lifelong anti-racist, man of peace, as a terrorist-loving, anti-Semite. The BBC fanned it all too, particularly during this election, whilst under-reporting the actual racism, bigotry, classism, deceit and authoritarianism of Boris Johnson and the rest of the Tories.
Despite all the usual propaganda, in the 2017 election, enough people saw through it and Labour managed to do surprisingly well. With a radical manifesto to take on those powerful interests, and with Corbyn as leader, they got the highest vote share they’ve had since 1945.
You cannot blame Labour’s ‘far left’ policies for their massive loss in this week’s election. They are popular, as demonstrated in 2017, (and as shown by polling).
You CAN put some blame on Corbyn, a. for not running as good a campaign as 2017, and b. for not resisting the media/PLP/Labour membership demands for a second referendum. This, clearly, was the main reason for their loss. Labour leavers, disillusioned following decades of neoliberal destruction of community/society, felt cheated and ignored once again, by a self-serving political elite in London.
But it would‘ve been an extremely big ask for Corbyn to have done this, and who knows, might even have resulted in him being removed as leader by the party.
And ultimately it might’ve resulted in an equally as poor result in an election, as many Labour Remainers would’ve abandoned the party.
There were no good options. Increasing polarisation around Brexit made things impossible for Labour. Personally, I’d put a lot of blame for this on the remainiac centrists. Their refusal to back any option other than a second referendum (which they’d probably have lost), was key to that polarisation.
Unlike them, Corbyn recognised the referendum result and thought the most responsible, realistic path forward was to respect it and seek a soft/customs union deal. He was attacked constantly by centrists for this.
If not for Lib Dem/Change UK opposition, the customs union proposal would’ve passed in Parliament back in April’s ‘indicative votes’. Had centrists backed Labour and their agenda for a soft Brexit, five more years of Tory rule, and a hard Brexit, might’ve been avoided.
That’s my general thoughts anyway. Happy to hear anyone out who wants to try and convince me I’ve got it all wrong. I don’t actually want to fight centrists - we need to unite. And that requires you come left; that you start acknowledging what decades of neoliberalism has done to the country, (and the world); that you realise what is at the root of this rise of the hard right.
They’ve spent years attacking a lifelong anti-racist, man of peace, as a terrorist-loving, anti-Semite. The BBC fanned it all too, particularly during this election, whilst under-reporting the actual racism, bigotry, classism, deceit and authoritarianism of Boris Johnson and the rest of the Tories.
Despite all the usual propaganda, in the 2017 election, enough people saw through it and Labour managed to do surprisingly well. With a radical manifesto to take on those powerful interests, and with Corbyn as leader, they got the highest vote share they’ve had since 1945.
You cannot blame Labour’s ‘far left’ policies for their massive loss in this week’s election. They are popular, as demonstrated in 2017, (and as shown by polling).
You CAN put some blame on Corbyn, a. for not running as good a campaign as 2017, and b. for not resisting the media/PLP/Labour membership demands for a second referendum. This, clearly, was the main reason for their loss. Labour leavers, disillusioned following decades of neoliberal destruction of community/society, felt cheated and ignored once again, by a self-serving political elite in London.
But it would‘ve been an extremely big ask for Corbyn to have done this, and who knows, might even have resulted in him being removed as leader by the party.
And ultimately it might’ve resulted in an equally as poor result in an election, as many Labour Remainers would’ve abandoned the party.
There were no good options. Increasing polarisation around Brexit made things impossible for Labour. Personally, I’d put a lot of blame for this on the remainiac centrists. Their refusal to back any option other than a second referendum (which they’d probably have lost), was key to that polarisation.
Unlike them, Corbyn recognised the referendum result and thought the most responsible, realistic path forward was to respect it and seek a soft/customs union deal. He was attacked constantly by centrists for this.
If not for Lib Dem/Change UK opposition, the customs union proposal would’ve passed in Parliament back in April’s ‘indicative votes’. Had centrists backed Labour and their agenda for a soft Brexit, five more years of Tory rule, and a hard Brexit, might’ve been avoided.
That’s my general thoughts anyway. Happy to hear anyone out who wants to try and convince me I’ve got it all wrong. I don’t actually want to fight centrists - we need to unite. And that requires you come left; that you start acknowledging what decades of neoliberalism has done to the country, (and the world); that you realise what is at the root of this rise of the hard right.
We forgot about the working class who'd been decimated by Thatcherism/Neoliberalism
On the face of it, holding a second referendum was a totally reasonable policy in my view, because the first was so ambiguous, and clearly led by the hard-right/racists. But it should have been recognised that voters, mainly in the midlands/north, who’ve had their communities destroyed and pretty much been ignored since Thatcher, would see this as yet another betrayal by the political elite in London.
This was not recognized by liberal centrists, either out of ignorance, or just an inability to recognize that it is their entire neoliberal ideology that is to blame.
Corbyn did recognise it. But he was backed into a corner, following a media campaign for a ‘people’s vote’, by those centrists, and backed by much of the PLP and Labour membership, (which was in part, just as much about removing him from power, as it was about stopping Brexit).
Could he have been a stronger leader and resisted it? I’m honestly not convinced that was possible, but perhaps. Either way, a big failure was to not put every effort into targeting those areas once the decision was made, to back the referendum. (Though I very much doubt any effort would’ve been enough).
Corbyn’s plan for some kind of soft Brexit was always the most responsible path forward. But that was denied by centrist/establishment campaign to not accept anything other than a 'people’s vote'.
This was not recognized by liberal centrists, either out of ignorance, or just an inability to recognize that it is their entire neoliberal ideology that is to blame.
Corbyn did recognise it. But he was backed into a corner, following a media campaign for a ‘people’s vote’, by those centrists, and backed by much of the PLP and Labour membership, (which was in part, just as much about removing him from power, as it was about stopping Brexit).
Could he have been a stronger leader and resisted it? I’m honestly not convinced that was possible, but perhaps. Either way, a big failure was to not put every effort into targeting those areas once the decision was made, to back the referendum. (Though I very much doubt any effort would’ve been enough).
Corbyn’s plan for some kind of soft Brexit was always the most responsible path forward. But that was denied by centrist/establishment campaign to not accept anything other than a 'people’s vote'.
I really care about democracy.
I really care about democracy.
That’s why I voted for a party that wants US corporations to control my country.
That’s why I voted for a party that arms and supports fascists all around the world.
That’s why I voted for a party that threatens dissenting media and imprisons journalists.
That’s why I voted for a party that supports an unelected, partially-hereditary House of Lords.
That’s why I voted for a party that detests unions.
That’s why I voted for party that will allow billionaires to continue stealing our wealth.
That’s why I voted for a party that will prevent 16 year olds getting the vote.
That’s why I voted for a party that despises human rights and equality.
That’s why I voted for a party that threatens the Supreme Court.
NB I have sympathy for working classes who felt done over yet again, by the political elite, denying their Brexit vote, but to then vote for a hard-right Tory government, that will screw them even more, when there was an opportunity for a Labour government and a green industrial revolution, is just so fucking sad.
That’s why I voted for a party that wants US corporations to control my country.
That’s why I voted for a party that arms and supports fascists all around the world.
That’s why I voted for a party that threatens dissenting media and imprisons journalists.
That’s why I voted for a party that supports an unelected, partially-hereditary House of Lords.
That’s why I voted for a party that detests unions.
That’s why I voted for party that will allow billionaires to continue stealing our wealth.
That’s why I voted for a party that will prevent 16 year olds getting the vote.
That’s why I voted for a party that despises human rights and equality.
That’s why I voted for a party that threatens the Supreme Court.
NB I have sympathy for working classes who felt done over yet again, by the political elite, denying their Brexit vote, but to then vote for a hard-right Tory government, that will screw them even more, when there was an opportunity for a Labour government and a green industrial revolution, is just so fucking sad.
Thursday, 12 December 2019
Thoughts re general election result
NEVER FORGET that in their extreme pro-Boris Johnson bias in this election (and before that), the BBC and the rest of the media, have played a massive role in fucking our future; empowering a racist, deceitful, warmongering, ecocidal thug as PM, and stopping us from having as PM a person with a fantastic record of peace and justice, who would've ushered in a green revolution.
Generally speaking, the current media system is, imo, the greatest enemy of humanity and the planet.
The BBC particularly, needs to be completely boycotted from today. Their pro-Tory/anti-Labour bias has been disgusting. Fascist enablers.
.....................
Unsurprisingly, the BBC and corporate media aren't mentioning the elephant in the room: the role of the media in this election.
When you have 99% of stories, 99% of the time, 99% negative about Labour and Corbyn, it has a negative impact.
We don't have a free press, we have billionaire-owned corporate press who poison the minds of millions.
- Sequoyah De Souza Vigneswaren
......................
To all middle class Tory voters - your annoyance at Labour for backing a second referendum, does not justify your support for a racist, ecocidal, deceitful, warmongering thug as PM.
You are all monstrously selfist, racist assholes.
Please go to hell.
......................
Some initial thoughts.
They will try to blame Corbyn as being "too left wing" but the data does not support that conclusion, on the contrary. In 2010 Brown got 29%, in 2015 Miliband got 30%, then in 2017 Corbyn got 40%. His policies are very popular.
If Labour's policies and leadership were largely the same between 2017 and 2019, what was the key difference that caused the defeat? Labour's Brexit policy.
The Tories knew this was a weakness, hence the "get Brexit done" mantra PR strategy.
In many leave seats it looks like enough Labour voters swung to the Brexit Party/Tories to cut through.
The trend in the data appears to show that the remainiacs insistence on Labour backing a second referendum has been a disaster.
- Sequoyah De Souza Vigneswaren
.....................
Labour leavers haven't voted Tory. They've stayed home. Because they're pissed that their democratic vote was ignored. Backing a second referendum was a huge mistake, but even if they hadn’t done that, we'd still have lost - because of the rancid pro-Tory MSM/BBC.
.....................
We allowed the right set the narrative re Brexit. Labour remainers should've accepted the ref result and immediately begun creating a left vision for exiting the EU. But this was difficult, given much of PLP had no intention of recognising the result, and given immense pressure from establishment for 2nd ref.
......................
It’s important we direct our anger at the manipulators, not the manipulated. Focus your ire at the media, not the working class.
.......................
Saying ‘if a centrist candidate had led Labour, they’d have won’, is not just moronically wrong, it’s also a giant ‘fuck you’ to the poor, to Yemen, to the climate.
.......................
Corbyn’s failing is that he’s too much of a pro-democracy, anti-racist, anti-war, informed, intelligent, man of the people. Such a person will never be allowed into Downing Street.
........................
If you‘d like to address climate change, end oil wars, end poverty, and reverse NHS privatisation, then the ‘extreme left’ is the only option. The Labour manifesto was our chance to focus on all these things, and like him or not, this would not have been the case if not for Corbyn’s leadership.
The ‘centre’ led us to where we are today. Decades of neoliberalism/austerity, led to increasing inequality and the destruction of community, making many people angry and easy targets of the far-right.
.........................
Corbyn is way too good for this deeply racist, rotten country. We’ve a helluva lot of waking up to do before someone as informed and decent as him stands a chance. And it’ll most likely be too late by then.
Generally speaking, the current media system is, imo, the greatest enemy of humanity and the planet.
The BBC particularly, needs to be completely boycotted from today. Their pro-Tory/anti-Labour bias has been disgusting. Fascist enablers.
.....................
Unsurprisingly, the BBC and corporate media aren't mentioning the elephant in the room: the role of the media in this election.
When you have 99% of stories, 99% of the time, 99% negative about Labour and Corbyn, it has a negative impact.
We don't have a free press, we have billionaire-owned corporate press who poison the minds of millions.
- Sequoyah De Souza Vigneswaren
......................
To all middle class Tory voters - your annoyance at Labour for backing a second referendum, does not justify your support for a racist, ecocidal, deceitful, warmongering thug as PM.
You are all monstrously selfist, racist assholes.
Please go to hell.
......................
Some initial thoughts.
They will try to blame Corbyn as being "too left wing" but the data does not support that conclusion, on the contrary. In 2010 Brown got 29%, in 2015 Miliband got 30%, then in 2017 Corbyn got 40%. His policies are very popular.
If Labour's policies and leadership were largely the same between 2017 and 2019, what was the key difference that caused the defeat? Labour's Brexit policy.
The Tories knew this was a weakness, hence the "get Brexit done" mantra PR strategy.
In many leave seats it looks like enough Labour voters swung to the Brexit Party/Tories to cut through.
The trend in the data appears to show that the remainiacs insistence on Labour backing a second referendum has been a disaster.
- Sequoyah De Souza Vigneswaren
.....................
Labour leavers haven't voted Tory. They've stayed home. Because they're pissed that their democratic vote was ignored. Backing a second referendum was a huge mistake, but even if they hadn’t done that, we'd still have lost - because of the rancid pro-Tory MSM/BBC.
.....................
We allowed the right set the narrative re Brexit. Labour remainers should've accepted the ref result and immediately begun creating a left vision for exiting the EU. But this was difficult, given much of PLP had no intention of recognising the result, and given immense pressure from establishment for 2nd ref.
......................
It’s important we direct our anger at the manipulators, not the manipulated. Focus your ire at the media, not the working class.
.......................
Saying ‘if a centrist candidate had led Labour, they’d have won’, is not just moronically wrong, it’s also a giant ‘fuck you’ to the poor, to Yemen, to the climate.
.......................
Corbyn’s failing is that he’s too much of a pro-democracy, anti-racist, anti-war, informed, intelligent, man of the people. Such a person will never be allowed into Downing Street.
........................
If you‘d like to address climate change, end oil wars, end poverty, and reverse NHS privatisation, then the ‘extreme left’ is the only option. The Labour manifesto was our chance to focus on all these things, and like him or not, this would not have been the case if not for Corbyn’s leadership.
The ‘centre’ led us to where we are today. Decades of neoliberalism/austerity, led to increasing inequality and the destruction of community, making many people angry and easy targets of the far-right.
.........................
Corbyn is way too good for this deeply racist, rotten country. We’ve a helluva lot of waking up to do before someone as informed and decent as him stands a chance. And it’ll most likely be too late by then.
.........................
Having someone as PM who actually understands how the world works and wants change, was the only thing giving me some hope for the future; for peace, justice, the environment. Have been in a state of shock all day. Crying now. Devastated. Our country is dominated by cunts, in the media etc. I imagine the Tories will be in power for the foreseeable. They’ll give enough people just enough to keep them happy, and the media will continue manufacturing consent for their increasing authoritarianism, their privatisation of the NHS, their subservience to the US, etc.
............................
The centrist, liberal establishment will always side with fascism when threatened by a bit of socialism. Liberal media’s vilification of Corbyn and general bias against Labour during this election campaign, again makes this clear.
............................
I’m sad for Yemen, for Palestine, for Venezuela, for Bolivia, etc. Ever since learning about how the world works, I’ve realised how important it is for a country like the UK, at the heart of the capitalist empire, to elect an anti-imperialist government. Corbyn was our chance.
.............................
It was centrists who backed austerity, which fuelled the anger that led to Brexit.
It was centrists who who prevented a customs union Brexit.
It was centralists who pushed for a people’s vote, the thing most responsible for Labour’s loss.
Now these centrists seem to think they have a right to take back the party.
Completely bananas.
.........................
Thatcher/Reagan, and the elite class they served, are ultimately responsible for all the shit happening today.
You can’t destroy the whole notion of society/community, then expect anything other than division and hell.
.........................
That centrists have decided Scandinavia-style economics are ‘extremist’ exposes them once again as the true extremists!
.........................
Under Corbyn’s leadership, Labour came within 2,200 votes of winning in 2017, with the biggest vote share they’d had since 1945.
Anyone trying to say Labour’s economic (and foreign) policies were’t popular and electable, is a liar. THEY are the extremists.
What changed since then? Brexit polarisation (largely caused by Remainer refusal to recognise the ref), an even more intense and horrid propaganda campaign, and yeah - failings by the leadership/movement. Unfortunately, it seems Labour was done for the moment they started blocking Brexit.
........................
End of 2017, Labour were polling 45%, Tories were on 37%.
Don't let anyone try and say that Labour's policy agenda under Corbyn wasn't popular!!
.......................
Chair of the ‘People’s Vote’ campaign, and brother of Amber, Roland Rudd, got his wish. Corbyn toppled. The PV campaign was an establishment hit job against Corbyn/the left, from the off.
.......................
Crackdown on dissent begins.
......................
Corbyn’s main problem was that he’s not a dick. Too fair. Too kind. Too truthful. Too ‘unpatriotic’. Too anti-racist.
He dared to condemn the Empire, and all the heinous criminality of the British state since. Not allowed!
Despite this, Labour did well under him in 2017. Perhaps many voters just weren’t fully aware of his anti-war record by then?
.......................
Many of us tried to explain to pro-second referendum Remainers that ignoring the ref result would piss off Labour leavers and cock up any hope of Labour winning an election.
We warned that if we didn’t back a soft Brexit, we would end up with a hard Brexit.
It fell on deaf ears.
We were right, but I bloody wish we weren’t. 😔
Lesson? Never listen to liberals/'centrists'.
.........................
Were many Leave voters not actually voting to Leave - they were really just voting to make their government actually do what they’re asked, for a change?
........................
On the face of it, holding a second referendum was a totally reasonable policy in my view, because the first was so ambiguous, but it should have been recognised that voters, mainly in the midlands/north, who’ve had their communities destroyed and pretty been ignored since Thatcher, would see this as yet another betrayal by the political elite in London.
This was not recognised by the centre, either out of ignorance, or just an inability to recognise that it is their entire centrist neoliberal ideology that was to blame.
Corbyn did recognise it. But he was backed into a corner, following a media campaign for ‘people’s vote’, by those centrists, and backed by much of the PLP and Labour membership, (which was in part, just as much about removing him from power, as it was about stopping Brexit).
Could he have been a stronger leader and resisted it? I’m honestly not convinced that was possible, but perhaps. Either way, the failure was to not put every effort into targeting those areas once the decision was made, to back the referendum. (Though I doubt any effort would’ve been enough).
Corbyn’s plan for some kind of soft Brexit was always the most responsible path forward. But that was denied by centrist/establishment campaign to not accept anything other than a people’s vote.
This would all be very different imo, if we had a media that was focussed on informing people, that made clear to all voters in those areas Corbyn’s record of sticking up for the rights of ordinary people, and Labour’s plans for Green revolution which would revitalised these areas and created loads of jobs. But alas.
........................
We need to separate the previously Labour-voting working classes who’ve been done over by politicians for decades, felt done over again by calls for a second referendum, and so voted, however misguidedly, to ‘get Brexit done’, from middle class southerners who would have voted for Boris Johnson either way, and now do so on pretense of democracy/‘getting Brexit done’, even though Boris Johnson is an anti-democratic disgrace who wants to sell what’s left of our country to US corporations, who supports fascism around the world, who wants to suppress votes, who threatens media, who imprisons journalists, who supports hereditary House of Lords, etc.
........................
Witnessing the horrific, Orwellian media vilification of Jeremy Corbyn sure makes you wonder what/who else we’ve been lied to about over the years. Especially pre-internet, when there was no way for us to debunk the lies.
.......................
.........................
Thatcher/Reagan, and the elite class they served, are ultimately responsible for all the shit happening today.
You can’t destroy the whole notion of society/community, then expect anything other than division and hell.
.........................
That centrists have decided Scandinavia-style economics are ‘extremist’ exposes them once again as the true extremists!
.........................
Under Corbyn’s leadership, Labour came within 2,200 votes of winning in 2017, with the biggest vote share they’d had since 1945.
Anyone trying to say Labour’s economic (and foreign) policies were’t popular and electable, is a liar. THEY are the extremists.
What changed since then? Brexit polarisation (largely caused by Remainer refusal to recognise the ref), an even more intense and horrid propaganda campaign, and yeah - failings by the leadership/movement. Unfortunately, it seems Labour was done for the moment they started blocking Brexit.
........................
End of 2017, Labour were polling 45%, Tories were on 37%.
Don't let anyone try and say that Labour's policy agenda under Corbyn wasn't popular!!
.......................
Chair of the ‘People’s Vote’ campaign, and brother of Amber, Roland Rudd, got his wish. Corbyn toppled. The PV campaign was an establishment hit job against Corbyn/the left, from the off.
.......................
Crackdown on dissent begins.
......................
Corbyn’s main problem was that he’s not a dick. Too fair. Too kind. Too truthful. Too ‘unpatriotic’. Too anti-racist.
He dared to condemn the Empire, and all the heinous criminality of the British state since. Not allowed!
Despite this, Labour did well under him in 2017. Perhaps many voters just weren’t fully aware of his anti-war record by then?
.......................
Many of us tried to explain to pro-second referendum Remainers that ignoring the ref result would piss off Labour leavers and cock up any hope of Labour winning an election.
We warned that if we didn’t back a soft Brexit, we would end up with a hard Brexit.
It fell on deaf ears.
We were right, but I bloody wish we weren’t. 😔
Lesson? Never listen to liberals/'centrists'.
.........................
Were many Leave voters not actually voting to Leave - they were really just voting to make their government actually do what they’re asked, for a change?
........................
This was not recognised by the centre, either out of ignorance, or just an inability to recognise that it is their entire centrist neoliberal ideology that was to blame.
Corbyn did recognise it. But he was backed into a corner, following a media campaign for ‘people’s vote’, by those centrists, and backed by much of the PLP and Labour membership, (which was in part, just as much about removing him from power, as it was about stopping Brexit).
Could he have been a stronger leader and resisted it? I’m honestly not convinced that was possible, but perhaps. Either way, the failure was to not put every effort into targeting those areas once the decision was made, to back the referendum. (Though I doubt any effort would’ve been enough).
Corbyn’s plan for some kind of soft Brexit was always the most responsible path forward. But that was denied by centrist/establishment campaign to not accept anything other than a people’s vote.
This would all be very different imo, if we had a media that was focussed on informing people, that made clear to all voters in those areas Corbyn’s record of sticking up for the rights of ordinary people, and Labour’s plans for Green revolution which would revitalised these areas and created loads of jobs. But alas.
........................
We need to separate the previously Labour-voting working classes who’ve been done over by politicians for decades, felt done over again by calls for a second referendum, and so voted, however misguidedly, to ‘get Brexit done’, from middle class southerners who would have voted for Boris Johnson either way, and now do so on pretense of democracy/‘getting Brexit done’, even though Boris Johnson is an anti-democratic disgrace who wants to sell what’s left of our country to US corporations, who supports fascism around the world, who wants to suppress votes, who threatens media, who imprisons journalists, who supports hereditary House of Lords, etc.
........................
Witnessing the horrific, Orwellian media vilification of Jeremy Corbyn sure makes you wonder what/who else we’ve been lied to about over the years. Especially pre-internet, when there was no way for us to debunk the lies.
.......................
Labour Failure - who's to blame?
It's important to note that, as leftists have been saying for years now - centrism has definitely collapsed. These election results again make this clear - along with Labour, the Liberal Democrats have done very badly. Sadly, the centre has been replaced by a far-right that offers easy, and false/racist, answers to our problems. The left has been unable to counter that.
Labour's poor result is largely down to Labour leavers punishing them (in the midlands/north) - for backing a second referendum. It's going to be extremely frustrating, and just downright ridiculous, if centrists start blaming that on Corbyn. Will they ever wake up?
It is these centrists who helped alienate those voters, via decades of neoliberalism, and by refusing to acknowledge this collapse of centrism. By immediately rejecting the EU vote and insisting it was illegitimate, and by insinuating that all leavers, including the millions of Labour leavers, were all racists, rather than recognizing that firstly, that is not true (for many Labour leavers at least), and that secondly, those who are racist/xenophobic, are largely that way, because of centrist, neoliberal policy, which screwed over their lives and made them easy targets of the far-right, these centrists have been an incredibly negative influence over the party.
I was on the fence about backing the second referendum, precisely because of the risk of losing these voters, but I think really, Brexit just made things impossible for Labour. Corbyn clearly didn't want to support it, but he's a democrat, and that's what the party wanted. And obviously, the pressure from outside the party - from liberal media/pundits, Lib Dems, etc - was insane. And if they hadn't backed it, that also would have have had negative consequences, as some remainers would have fled. I always felt that Labour's position of not backing either side, but of trying to bring the country together, seemed the best of a bad bunch of options. In backing a second referendum, they pretty much abandoned that position, even with Jeremy's insistence on, personally, staying neutral.
The fear of Brexit, and the desire to prevent it, was and is obviously entirely reasonable, but it looks as though there should have been much more of a recognition of the EU result, from Remainers.
Brexit - the greatest gift to the ruling classes ever!
Saying all this, if we actually had a media that hadn't spent years attacking the anti-racist, man of peace, Jeremy Corbyn, and had instead attacked Boris Johnson - the actual racist; if it had made clear that the Tories are already privatizing the NHS, and have no interest in addressing climate change; and made clear that Labour would've ended that privatization, and that their plans for the environment were backed by climate scientists, and necessary to create a sustainable future; if it had made clear the dire consequences of a Tory Brexit - then, despite all the divisions caused by Brexit, the result would have been very different, I'd hope.
The fight must continue, or else the future is incredibly bleak for all of us. Neoliberalism has destroyed us, in so many ways. Centrists need to come left and join the socialist movement, if there is to be any hope.
Labour's poor result is largely down to Labour leavers punishing them (in the midlands/north) - for backing a second referendum. It's going to be extremely frustrating, and just downright ridiculous, if centrists start blaming that on Corbyn. Will they ever wake up?
It is these centrists who helped alienate those voters, via decades of neoliberalism, and by refusing to acknowledge this collapse of centrism. By immediately rejecting the EU vote and insisting it was illegitimate, and by insinuating that all leavers, including the millions of Labour leavers, were all racists, rather than recognizing that firstly, that is not true (for many Labour leavers at least), and that secondly, those who are racist/xenophobic, are largely that way, because of centrist, neoliberal policy, which screwed over their lives and made them easy targets of the far-right, these centrists have been an incredibly negative influence over the party.
I was on the fence about backing the second referendum, precisely because of the risk of losing these voters, but I think really, Brexit just made things impossible for Labour. Corbyn clearly didn't want to support it, but he's a democrat, and that's what the party wanted. And obviously, the pressure from outside the party - from liberal media/pundits, Lib Dems, etc - was insane. And if they hadn't backed it, that also would have have had negative consequences, as some remainers would have fled. I always felt that Labour's position of not backing either side, but of trying to bring the country together, seemed the best of a bad bunch of options. In backing a second referendum, they pretty much abandoned that position, even with Jeremy's insistence on, personally, staying neutral.
The fear of Brexit, and the desire to prevent it, was and is obviously entirely reasonable, but it looks as though there should have been much more of a recognition of the EU result, from Remainers.
Brexit - the greatest gift to the ruling classes ever!
Saying all this, if we actually had a media that hadn't spent years attacking the anti-racist, man of peace, Jeremy Corbyn, and had instead attacked Boris Johnson - the actual racist; if it had made clear that the Tories are already privatizing the NHS, and have no interest in addressing climate change; and made clear that Labour would've ended that privatization, and that their plans for the environment were backed by climate scientists, and necessary to create a sustainable future; if it had made clear the dire consequences of a Tory Brexit - then, despite all the divisions caused by Brexit, the result would have been very different, I'd hope.
The fight must continue, or else the future is incredibly bleak for all of us. Neoliberalism has destroyed us, in so many ways. Centrists need to come left and join the socialist movement, if there is to be any hope.
If Labour lose, don't let blame Jeremy Corbyn
If there’s a disappointing result for Labour today, there will be lots of people (centrists) blaming Jeremy Corbyn, but I fail to see how this will be justifiable. Of course, he is not perfect (who is?), but for sure, he‘s the most down-to-earth, decent, principled politician to have come this close to becoming PM, maybe ever? The man has dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of ordinary people, and spends his spare time volunteering at homeless shelters. He's pretty awesome. And he has really been quite amazing in putting up with an onslaught of attacks for 4 years, from the media, and also physical - he was punched in the head by a far-right thug earlier this year.
The problem for Labour is not Jeremy, without whose determined, democratic leadership, there would be no radical manifesto to address poverty, war, climate change, NHS privatisation, etc - the main problem is that our country is dominated by an oligarchy who profit off all that, and who have the power to keep making it work in their interests, using media to get the underpaid and overworked to vote against their interests.
Whatever happens, unless you believe in making compromises when it comes to the climate crisis, war, ending homelessness/poverty, etc, there’s no choice but to continue building the movement for change. Thanks to decades of neoliberalism, there’s extreme cynicism at the possibility of change; of creating a society for the many. We’ll have to keep fighting to make people see that another world is possible.
There can be no return to centrism, which fuelled the far-right, and enabled all the capitalist destruction; the war, the ecocide. With a potential hard right Brexit on the way, a radical movement in opposition will be needed more than ever.
If Labour do badly in today's election thanks to Labour leavers punishing them (for backing a second referendum), then the only possible criticism of Corbyn, in my opinion, is that he should have resisted backing that second referendum. But given the IMMENSE pressure on him to do so, and given that he is a total democrat, it would have been impossible for him to get the party to oppose it. And if this is the case, it is going to be extremely frustrating if Labour centrists start blaming it on Corbyn. It is those centrists who alienated those voters via decades of neoliberalism, and then by immediately rejecting their EU vote, and insinuating that they're all a bunch of racist morons.
(Hopefully I’m being pessimistic, and we get a good result later!).
The problem for Labour is not Jeremy, without whose determined, democratic leadership, there would be no radical manifesto to address poverty, war, climate change, NHS privatisation, etc - the main problem is that our country is dominated by an oligarchy who profit off all that, and who have the power to keep making it work in their interests, using media to get the underpaid and overworked to vote against their interests.
Whatever happens, unless you believe in making compromises when it comes to the climate crisis, war, ending homelessness/poverty, etc, there’s no choice but to continue building the movement for change. Thanks to decades of neoliberalism, there’s extreme cynicism at the possibility of change; of creating a society for the many. We’ll have to keep fighting to make people see that another world is possible.
There can be no return to centrism, which fuelled the far-right, and enabled all the capitalist destruction; the war, the ecocide. With a potential hard right Brexit on the way, a radical movement in opposition will be needed more than ever.
If Labour do badly in today's election thanks to Labour leavers punishing them (for backing a second referendum), then the only possible criticism of Corbyn, in my opinion, is that he should have resisted backing that second referendum. But given the IMMENSE pressure on him to do so, and given that he is a total democrat, it would have been impossible for him to get the party to oppose it. And if this is the case, it is going to be extremely frustrating if Labour centrists start blaming it on Corbyn. It is those centrists who alienated those voters via decades of neoliberalism, and then by immediately rejecting their EU vote, and insinuating that they're all a bunch of racist morons.
(Hopefully I’m being pessimistic, and we get a good result later!).
Tuesday, 10 December 2019
Good vs Evil. Media sides with Evil
This election is a very clear case of good vs evil. An anti-racist vs a racist. A man of the people vs an elitist. Environmentalism vs environmental vandalism. Peace vs war. Healthcare for all vs healthcare for some. Hope and love vs fear and hate. Anti-fascism vs neo-fascism.
Has this been the general depiction of things in the media? Hell no.
This is no time for ‘balanced reporting’, but even worse, the media has - mostly by their omissions/framing - been overwhelmingly on the side of evil.
We are likely to be fucked until enough people see MSM for the elite propaganda machine that it is.
Has this been the general depiction of things in the media? Hell no.
This is no time for ‘balanced reporting’, but even worse, the media has - mostly by their omissions/framing - been overwhelmingly on the side of evil.
We are likely to be fucked until enough people see MSM for the elite propaganda machine that it is.
Sunday, 8 December 2019
We need a Labour government to undo decades of centrist choas
'Centrists' who say that the left is just as 'extreme' as the right, and thus in some way comparable with fascism, are in denial about what 'centrism' has done to the world, and about the fact that it is 'centrist' neoliberalism that has and is fueling that fascism. Left 'extremism' (i.e. common sense socialism), is the only way it will be defeated.
So-called 'centrism', with its oil wars, its NHS privatization, its mass exploitation of workers, its ecocide for profit, it’s extreme inequality, it's mass redistribution of wealth and power from the many to the few, and it's literal direct support for fascism around the world, is, along with the Farages and Trumps, extremely extreme! The overt far-right that is now on the rise in the west, is just us reaping what has been sown.
The only reason we have an ounce of decency in society is because of collective socialist resistance to capitalism. But this decency has gradually been eroded. Neoliberalism, beginning under Thatcher/Reagan, with its insistance that we focus on the individual rather than on the collective and the communal, destroyed our ability to resist capital; we increasingly became disconnected, mindless money makers/consumers; too distracted and overworked to resist the system being imposed from above.
This enabled capital to run riot; resulting in the wars, the ecocide, the exploitation, the inequality...
We desperately need to undo decades of neoliberalism and regain democratic, collective control over society, away from the unaccountable corporations and billionaires; from the exploiters. It is our only hope for addressing all the above - and for addressing the capitalism-fuelled environmental crisis.
We need a sensible mixed economy, with key industries nationalized, a focus on redistributing power in corporations, the encouragement of cooperatives, and a truly representative, uncorrupt government putting people and planet before profit; a progressive social democracy really. This is what the Labour manifesto calls for.
And of most imminent importance in my opinion - we need to stop the imperialist, for-profit foreign policy (100,000 dead in Yemen so far), and begin making amends for the historical and present day crimes of the British state.
So-called 'centrism', with its oil wars, its NHS privatization, its mass exploitation of workers, its ecocide for profit, it’s extreme inequality, it's mass redistribution of wealth and power from the many to the few, and it's literal direct support for fascism around the world, is, along with the Farages and Trumps, extremely extreme! The overt far-right that is now on the rise in the west, is just us reaping what has been sown.
The only reason we have an ounce of decency in society is because of collective socialist resistance to capitalism. But this decency has gradually been eroded. Neoliberalism, beginning under Thatcher/Reagan, with its insistance that we focus on the individual rather than on the collective and the communal, destroyed our ability to resist capital; we increasingly became disconnected, mindless money makers/consumers; too distracted and overworked to resist the system being imposed from above.
This enabled capital to run riot; resulting in the wars, the ecocide, the exploitation, the inequality...
We desperately need to undo decades of neoliberalism and regain democratic, collective control over society, away from the unaccountable corporations and billionaires; from the exploiters. It is our only hope for addressing all the above - and for addressing the capitalism-fuelled environmental crisis.
We need a sensible mixed economy, with key industries nationalized, a focus on redistributing power in corporations, the encouragement of cooperatives, and a truly representative, uncorrupt government putting people and planet before profit; a progressive social democracy really. This is what the Labour manifesto calls for.
And of most imminent importance in my opinion - we need to stop the imperialist, for-profit foreign policy (100,000 dead in Yemen so far), and begin making amends for the historical and present day crimes of the British state.
Wednesday, 4 December 2019
Corbyn a bad leader? And who will be responsible if Labour lose the election?
They say Corbyn is a rubbish leader, but the man has overseen the reinvigoration of the Labour party back to its roots, away from the Blairite warmongers and corporatists, resulting in a fantastic manifesto focussed on the interests of ordinary people, and the environment.
And he has achieved all this whilst under constant attack from the media, security services, and much of the PLP. That he has managed to remain relatively calm and composed through it all, is quite amazing, if you ask me. (Imagine having millions of people thinking you’re a terrorist-loving, antisemite!).
As for criticising Labour’s approach to Brexit - they have had an impossible dilemma.
There are millions of Leave voters who voted Labour in the 2017 general election. Rejecting the referendum result and campaigning for a ‘people’s vote’, was always going to mean potentially losing these voters, and thus likely would mean losing many seats (in the north of England) to the Tories/Brexit Party.
And on the other side, refusing to support a second referendum, would’ve pushed many Labour Remainers to the Lib Dems. (Or so we are told - this didn’t actually happen in the 2017 election, when Labour were promising to respect the referendum).
The compromise approach they’ve taken - to seek a new exit deal with the EU, then put that forward in a second referendum vs Remain, with Corbyn staying neutral, is seen by many as the best of several bad options, as they try desperately to keep both sides happy. But if the polls are accurate, it looks as though those Labour leavers are, as expected, planning on punishing them.
If Labour lose the election next week partly thanks to losing those pro-Leave seats, the 'centrist' establishment, and their media, will obviously blame it all on Corbyn, but really it is they who should take much of the blame - for refusing to recognize that it is ‘centrist’ neoliberalism that created the conditions that led to support for Brexit, and then for simplistically blaming that support on far-right xenophobia/racism - rather than looking at the root cause of that xenophobia. Their calling for the referendum to be scrapped; for Leave voters to be ignored, rather than calling for a reckoning as to how we got here, has always been very short-sighted.
Labour Leavers might be misguided in blaming most of their problems on the EU, but screaming ‘you’re a bunch of idiots and racists’ at them, and seeking to overturn their vote, isn’t exactly going to help change their minds.
One can argue that Corbyn will be to blame, but not for the reasons centrists will say - they will say it is because he is a useless leader who should have made clear that he would back Remain in a second referendum, and that this somehow would’ve miraculously persuaded a bunch of Tory Remainers to vote for socialism - ridiculous. (And of course, they will also say that it is because he isn't personally likable - despite him, by any objective measure, being the most decent, honest, human, uncorrupt potential PM we have had in a very long time, maybe ever).
No, instead, it could be argued on the grounds that it was his backing of a second referendum that did it. But it is hard to blame Corbyn for this, given the immense pressure for a second referendum, and given that it was voted for at Labour conference. The blame should surely be directed mostly at pro-EU fanatics, and the neoliberal establishment/media, who refused to recognize the situation we found ourselves in after the referendum, and seek compromise, and many of whom still refuse to recognize the root cause of all this chaos - decades of neoliberalism - and refuse to recognize the need for a socialistic government to address that root cause.
It is Brexit, and the reactions to it - not really Jeremy Corbyn - that may well have scuppered our chance at having a radical government that would undo decades of neoliberal inequality/poverty/disempowerment etc, and usher in a period of mass investment in public services and poverty alleviation, and a green revolution.
(But hopefully the polls are wrong/can be changed - vote Labour!).
And he has achieved all this whilst under constant attack from the media, security services, and much of the PLP. That he has managed to remain relatively calm and composed through it all, is quite amazing, if you ask me. (Imagine having millions of people thinking you’re a terrorist-loving, antisemite!).
As for criticising Labour’s approach to Brexit - they have had an impossible dilemma.
There are millions of Leave voters who voted Labour in the 2017 general election. Rejecting the referendum result and campaigning for a ‘people’s vote’, was always going to mean potentially losing these voters, and thus likely would mean losing many seats (in the north of England) to the Tories/Brexit Party.
And on the other side, refusing to support a second referendum, would’ve pushed many Labour Remainers to the Lib Dems. (Or so we are told - this didn’t actually happen in the 2017 election, when Labour were promising to respect the referendum).
The compromise approach they’ve taken - to seek a new exit deal with the EU, then put that forward in a second referendum vs Remain, with Corbyn staying neutral, is seen by many as the best of several bad options, as they try desperately to keep both sides happy. But if the polls are accurate, it looks as though those Labour leavers are, as expected, planning on punishing them.
If Labour lose the election next week partly thanks to losing those pro-Leave seats, the 'centrist' establishment, and their media, will obviously blame it all on Corbyn, but really it is they who should take much of the blame - for refusing to recognize that it is ‘centrist’ neoliberalism that created the conditions that led to support for Brexit, and then for simplistically blaming that support on far-right xenophobia/racism - rather than looking at the root cause of that xenophobia. Their calling for the referendum to be scrapped; for Leave voters to be ignored, rather than calling for a reckoning as to how we got here, has always been very short-sighted.
Labour Leavers might be misguided in blaming most of their problems on the EU, but screaming ‘you’re a bunch of idiots and racists’ at them, and seeking to overturn their vote, isn’t exactly going to help change their minds.
One can argue that Corbyn will be to blame, but not for the reasons centrists will say - they will say it is because he is a useless leader who should have made clear that he would back Remain in a second referendum, and that this somehow would’ve miraculously persuaded a bunch of Tory Remainers to vote for socialism - ridiculous. (And of course, they will also say that it is because he isn't personally likable - despite him, by any objective measure, being the most decent, honest, human, uncorrupt potential PM we have had in a very long time, maybe ever).
No, instead, it could be argued on the grounds that it was his backing of a second referendum that did it. But it is hard to blame Corbyn for this, given the immense pressure for a second referendum, and given that it was voted for at Labour conference. The blame should surely be directed mostly at pro-EU fanatics, and the neoliberal establishment/media, who refused to recognize the situation we found ourselves in after the referendum, and seek compromise, and many of whom still refuse to recognize the root cause of all this chaos - decades of neoliberalism - and refuse to recognize the need for a socialistic government to address that root cause.
It is Brexit, and the reactions to it - not really Jeremy Corbyn - that may well have scuppered our chance at having a radical government that would undo decades of neoliberal inequality/poverty/disempowerment etc, and usher in a period of mass investment in public services and poverty alleviation, and a green revolution.
(But hopefully the polls are wrong/can be changed - vote Labour!).
