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.