'Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth'
Attributed to Joseph Goebbels
'Corbyn is unelectable'
Numerous
A little later than planned, here's my blog analysing exactly what caused Labour's major defeat on Thursday. Such analysis is very much necessary in order to learn from the problems, and I've spent the last several days reading thoughts from all sides of the political debate to further my own understanding.
The most common explanations that come up in the media over this are 'Because the public don't like Corbyn' or 'Because the public don't want another EU referendum'. Whilst I think there's an element of truth to both of these theories, they are incredibly simplistic and don't take into account the multitude of circumstances that caused this collossal defeat. Another thing that we frequently hear is that 'Labour has moved too far to the left', which would be laughable if it wasn't so horrifying. Labour's manifesto is highly popular when presented blindly without the party attached to it; it cost the Tories their majority in 2017 and has actually caused the Tories to be slightly less bad than they otherwise would have been - there are some things in the Conservative manifesto that are weak imitations of Labour's, which is quite significant given that in 2015 Ed Miliband's manifesto tried to bring a few things from David Cameron's. Things have shifted in politics, a long way, and I want to try to make sense of exactly what that is.
There are so many reasons it's difficult to know where to start, but given that everyone is expecting me to pull out excuses, I'll be fair and start with the things I'll admit Labour is at fault for. Given that Brexit is so frequently considered to be the big political topic of our time, let's start with that.
Brexit
Labour's Brexit pledge, despite what many in the media will have you believe, was fairly straighforward: negotiate the best deal possible within six months, then put it back to the electorate in a confirmatory referendum (and remaining as the other option), with the Prime Minister staying neutral as to which option should be chosen. This was the one major change from the 2017 election, which occurred shortly after Corbyn whipped his MPs into backing Article 50 (I was very angry about this at the time, and even wrote this open letter to Corbyn to object to it, but I want it on record that I no longer believe what I wrote, and I now feel that in the circumstances triggering Article 50 was the only choice to make). I think Labour probably messed up the Brexit pledge. I used to be a People's Vote campaigner, but I've changed my mind on this. This isn't because I think a second referendum would be anti-democratic (it wouldn't) but just because I think it would be harmful. David Cameron was incredibly keen on calling referendums on things that he didn't agree with personally (the EU referendum was his third in six years) and it's not a good way to answer complex political questions that the majority of people don't have in-depth knowledge of. The first referendum was utterly toxic; why would another one be any better?
I am still a Remainer, but I honestly can't envisage any outcome of that which would make things less divisive. My way of sorting out Brexit would be to bring the country back together and find some kind of compromise that everyone can live with, and that doesn't come from us all going back to the polls in another roll of the dice. (That said, I still think Labour's position was more mature than the other parties', because Labour did at least try to see both sides of it, but it didn't work, and wasn't going to work. Whichever we voted for, we're sick of talking about bloody Brexit, and want to get it over with.)
Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to interpret 'getting it over with' as 'leaving as quickly as possible'. That's not how it's going to work. The faster we leave, the more difficult it's going to be to make the proper arrangements to get by outside the EU. Even that is assuming the Government is actually going to try to make those arrangements in a way that will benefit ordinary people the most, which given that this is Boris Johnson I have no confidence in them doing. This won't be over for a long time.
Seemingly unfeasible policies
Note the word 'seemingly'. The policies in Labour's manifesto were not unfeasible or irresponsible; the Financial Times reported that 163 prominent ecomomists backed them. Labour's 2017 plans were fully costed, as were their 2019 ones.
However, in 2017, Labour's policies were concise, clear and most importantly had been seeded. Things like free broadband and cheaper rail fares are totally feasible, and are always going to be popular with the public - or at least, a public that believes you'll actually deliver it. Prior to the announcement of an election, when did you ever hear Labour talking about many of these issues? The way they were announced came across like a bunch of pie-in-the-sky promises, and the electorate were a bit too sceptical for their own good. The election may have been in December, but a manifesto is not a Christmas list. Tom Clark of Another Angry Voice notes that the majority of people don't really understand economics in detail; a country's budget is still commonly perceived as working like a household budget, without acknowledgement of the fact that in a country's budget, public spending doesn't just lose the money; it puts it back into the economy, creating a win-win situation. You cannot make a bunch of election promises that people don't expect you to keep, even if you are entirely capable and willing to keep them.
Electoral pacts
This is something I think other parties hold more fault for than Labour, which I'll discuss in more detail further down the blog, but I have to express my concerns with Labour's rigidity, and unwillingness to agree to electoral pacts with other parties, thus splitting the left-wing vote. I recall in 2017, they were quite heavily criticised for not standing down in Jeremy Hunt's constituency of South West Surrey, even though Louise Irvine of National Health Action was standing against Hunt for the benefit of the NHS. Labour tends to be quite archaic about things relating to electoral reform generally (something I disagree with them quite strongly on) and I'd really like to see them do a bit more progressive with ideologically similar parties such as the Green Party.
However, I also think there was a lot outside of Labour's control that seriously sabotaged the campaign, as follows:
A huge part of the issue for Labour, for me, lies with the behaviour of the Liberal Democrats. There was once a time when their forerunners, the Liberal Party, were the official opposition to the Conservatives, and around the time of New Labour had quite a strong opposition vibe. In 2003 under the late Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrats opposed Tony Blair over the Iraq War, whilst the Conservatives largely voted in favour. However, since Nick Clegg I feel the party has become very opportunistic and quite careerist, and Jo Swinson, who in Government was more loyal to the Conservative whip than Jeremy Hunt was, is the epitome of this. During this campaign and before it, Swinson was seen to be far more critical of Labour than she was of the Conservative Party, continuously saying that she'd refuse to work with Jeremy Corbyn under any circumstances - and avoiding the question about working with Boris Johnson. The Liberal Democrats' insistence on standing on the single issue of ignoring the 2016 referendum result (despite the fact that such a thing is neither liberal nor democratic) helped Boris Johnson immeasurably in keeping the election firmly about Brexit, and disregarding all of the very important austerity reversals that Labour was promoting. Ideologically, the Liberal Democrats are (supposedly) closer to traditional Labour than they are to the Conservatives - not on this evidence they aren't. When the Conservatives were dying and unable to get anything through Parliament, Jo Swinson enthusiastically and arrogantly backed an election, ignoring the fact that her brand of politics is nearly as unpalatable.
But it's worse than that. Ben Gelblum in the London Economic writes that through tactical strategies, the Liberal Democrats had a tendency to position themselves, not Labour, as the tactical voting choice in constituencies where Labour didn't stand a chance. This strategy caused some fantastic Labour MPs in marginal seats, such as Westminster's Emma Dent Coad, lost their seats to the Conservatives - because the Liberal Democrats had falsely led voters to believe that they'd be better off voting for them, which split the anti-Tory vote. This tactical approach extended to supporting other alternative parties, such as the Green Party and Plaid Cymru, but not Labour or the SNP. Before anyone comes back with this argument, I know Labour is a bit too rigid on election pacts - I've acknowledged that earlier in this very blog. But in the circumstances, that shouldn't matter. Last week, I canvassed in the Totnes constituency for Labour candidate Louise Webberley, standing against Tory-turned-Liberal Democrat Sarah Wollaston. I was appalled to hear the amount of pressure Louise had been under to stand down for the benefit of Wollaston, from everyone to the Green Party and even from Extinction Rebellion. Wollaston was a Tory in all but name! Being opposed to Brexit doesn't change the fact that you voted through all the ghastly, horrific things the party has done in the last nine years. I was particularly disappointed by the Green Party, who I have voted for in the past and who I generally support. This was the main reason that in my own constituency I chose to re-elect Labour's Thangam Debbonaire over the Green Party's Carla Denyer, despite knowing Carla personally and having far more faith in her than in Thangam. I felt that in the circumstances, I could not support a party that was making alliances like this, even if I liked the specific candidate.
I really hope that in the wake of this, with Jo Swinson having lost her seat along with all of the Labour and Conservative MPs who defected to the Liberal Democrats, this causes the Liberal Democrats to change their ways a bit and become more opposition material. I can't say who I would like to see lead them, but in my mind it must be someone who wasn't there from 2010-2015. I think the Liberal Democrats are still reparable (after all, Labour was hardly better than them under Miliband, but I think they have at least learned their lesson) but they have to acknowledge their past errors and move on if they have any realistic future.
However, I feel that the real culprit in this is the constant, disgusting smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn. This was a problem in 2017 as well (if it hadn't been I think Labour would have won a thumping victory in that one) but in the last two years this has been ramped up significantly, including by the supposedly impartial BBC, which this time went as far as editing an interview with Boris Johnson to make it sound as if one of his statements was greeted by applause, rather than laughter. We hear so much - 'Jeremy Corbyn is friends with terrorists!' 'Jeremy Corbyn is anti-Zionist!' 'Jeremy Corbyn shared a platform with a Holocaust survivor who believes this!' 'Jeremy Corbyn will turn us into socialists!' (People who shout the last one tend not to be quite sure what socialism is.) And I'm afraid that this is something that has been caused on purpose, including by people who are supposedly left-wing. We have Polly Toynbee and Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian talking about his supposed 'lack of charisma' (a claim anyone who has ever heard him speak can refute). We have people claiming everything from misogyny to terrorism, from being too weak to being too heavy-handed; the general aim has been to throw as much mud as possible in the hope that something sticks, even if it completely contradicts itself. When it doesn't work, they just claim that Corbyn is 'unelectable' - despite his incarnation of Labour completely turning things around in 2017 and losing the Tories their majority.
I think all of the smears have collectively had an impact, but by far the most significant one is the supposed anti-Semitism claim. I think this probably originated from Corbyn's public support of Palestine (which incidentally is NOT anti-Semitic - I've been accused of anti-Semitism myself for this, ignoring the fact that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism and that huge numbers of Jews are also on this campaign). Shaun Lawson writes this wonderful article outlining how anti-Semitic the anti-Corbyn narrative itself is - I've heard non-Jewish people publicly referring to Jewish Corbyn supporters with the slur 'self-hating Jew', without being picked up on this. I have also heard people claim that to be anti-capitalist is to be anti-Semitic, which is incredibly anti-Semitic in itself because it relies on the age-old trope of Jews being associated with banks and financial industry. Let me be clear: I have no doubt that there have most likely been occasions on which anti-Semitism in the Labour Party hasn't been handled as well as it should. Mistakes have surely been made, and they shouldn't be overlooked. But that does not mean that Labour itself is inherently anti-Semitic, especially when its main rival openly brags about its 'hostile environments' and actually congratulates itself when being accused of Islamophobia. The truth is that Labour was accused of this constantly, and the narrative didn't even take into account all of the facts - for example, Andrew Neil's 'Just apologise!' interview neither specified precisely what Corbyn was meant to be accepting responsibility for, nor took into account Corbyn's continued campaigns against anti-Semitism. His Parliamentary history includes numerous condemnations of anti-Semitism, resistence to the National Front, demands to accept Jewish refugees from Yemen... how often do you hear this reported in the media? The worst thing about this cynicism is that it undermines genuine claims of anti-Semitism. It's The Boy Who Cried Wolf in action, because not every allegation is untrue.
I hope that Labour doesn't come away from this feeling that it has to radically change its positions on things, because there's nothing wrong with Labour's actual policies - as I said above, they are realistic, costed and it's not even as if the public don't agree with them. I don't believe that the people of Scotland actually hold markedly different values than the people of England and Wales, as pundits tend to claim - apart from possibly wanting independence, but can you blame them? I don't want Scotland to leave the union at all, but if it does I will shake its hand and wish it luck - if I were a Scot, I'd hate England and Westminster as well. But in the meantime, Labour must prove an effective opposition, as it didn't under Ed Miliband. I think in some ways Labour under Corbyn did win the arguments about some of its policies, because in 2017 the electorate took some hope and positivity from the campaign, and I sincerely wish this to continue under the next leader. We cannot return to the days of abstaining on workfare. If anything does change with Labour, I hope it will be in the form of supporting an alternative to First Past The Post. The Tories actually received only around 270,000 more votes than in 2017, but our archaic system meant that this time it equated to +48 seats.
Before I conclude (and I realise this has been a very long blog) I'd like to say something about social media. I was really sad to see Lily Allen delete her Twitter account the other day, because she's a great campaigner and it was always a pleasure to see what she had to say. Her argument was that social media is toxic, caused the election result and other things such as the election of Donald Trump in the US. Although I think she has a point, I would say that social media is neither good nor bad. I liken it to a hammer; something that can cause someone to be severely hurt or a beautiful structure to be built, but neither is done directly by the hammer, but by the person wielding it. More importantly, we've created a world in which social media is necessary. It has some very serious flaws, but it's the one part of the media where independent voices have a chance to be heard, where Rupert Murdoch's power is curtailed. We can, and must, use it.
The establishment said that Corbyn was unelectable; I don't believe he was at the time, but sadly they've made him so, and he will go down in history as the best Prime Minister we ever nearly had.
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Tuesday, 17 December 2019
Friday, 13 December 2019
Mourn, then organise
I was born on Tuesday, 19th October, 1993. As of the day of me writing this (13th December 2019) I have been alive 9,551 days. I can truthfully say, without being dramatic, that yesterday was the worst day of my life.
Before anyone asks, this wasn't just because of the election results - it was just one of those days where everything that can go wrong does, from a minor annoyance (my boyfriend lost his hat) to a pretty frustrating irritation (I had lunch in town, and it wasn't very nice) to something that worries me professionally (I had a phone conversation with a professional contact, and it didn't go the way I hoped it would). But of course, if Labour had won the election it would have made all of those things better. They spectacularly lost, making a pretty shit day into an utterly catastrophic one.
As I write this the evening after, I am pretty tired, having only really spent three of the last 36 hours asleep. I had prepared myself for it to be bad, but nothing had ever prepared me for it to be that bad. Before the results, I was really anxious but kind of feeling that a Labour win might happen (perhaps backed up by the SNP, but I could live with that). I had resigned myself to thinking that the Tories could cling to power again, or even increase their vote share and get a majority. But it was far, far worse than that. Labour did so badly that the Tories got what on air was referred to as 'a thumping majority'.
There are all sorts of reasons for this which I'll go into in more detail in tomorrow's blog when I'm less tired and can formulate a sentence better. This one is more about how to avoid despair.
I was absolutely gobsmacked at the result. My poor boyfriend had to cuddle me for hours, and even then I wouldn't settle. Normally I sit up all night, but this time I was convinced to go to bed at around 3am (a bit pointlessly, because of course I couldn't sleep). But thankfully, I have spent the day thinking to myself about how I'm going to deal with this.
When David Cameron's Tories were re-elected in 2015, I was in the second year of my Creative Performance degree in Colchester. My University experience was not a happy time and my memories of it are a bit blurry, but I did write these two quite positive blogs on the election. They've been interesting to re-read (they're a lot less cringe than I was expecting!) It has been fascinating to see how much has changed, but I think most of what I wrote then is still relevant to today.
I can honestly say that I'm far more frightened now than I was in 2015. In my previous blog, I said that I believed this to be the last chance to get change - and in truth, I still believe that. I know this isn't a nice thing to hear, but realistically I think we've lost the battle now. I believe that so much damage will be caused by Boris Johnson's administration over the next five years that it will be irreversible - things like dodgy trade deals, environmental destruction and boundary changes in constituencies aren't things that even the best future Government can undo. Not that I think there will BE a good future Government - with the departure of Jeremy Corbyn comes what to me feels like the departure of the Labour Party's belief that an alternative and positive politics is possible or desirable. I have been wrong in the past, many times, and I'll be wrong again in the future. I sincerely hope that this is one of those occasions on which I'm spectacularly wrong, and that one day on a subsequent blog I'll link back to this one and laugh at how doom-mongery I was at 26. I hope that will happen, more than anything else.
However, I will not be all doom and gloom. I've had this blog since I first got involved in political activism, when I was a fresh-faced sixth-former determined to do some good in the world. My earliest blogs are so cringe-worthy I can't bear to read them - but at least I updated it more regularly then. This last couple of years, I really haven't been good with it. I haven't really done any activism since my very highly-publicised work on transgender rights in mid-2018. I don't know quite why this is - I have often thought about it and planned to do things, but I never seem to quite get around to it. Honestly, I feel I have lost my nerve. I'm much more frightened by the police and the establishment than I once was - probably because now approaching my late twenties, I'm settling down and maturing. A good thing by all accounts, but I think I've lost a bit of my old spirit.
BUT... I'm getting it back. I have to, and so should you if you're reading this. The reason is that this Government is going to be the most horrific we've ever had. I'm sorry to be that frank, but I cannot sugar-coat it. The Conservative Party is the most spiteful and divisive it has been in living memory, and this is the most successful election it has had since the time of Margaret Thatcher. I don't know how much of what it does can be overcome, in all honesty. But we must try. If we don't, it will be even worse than it inevitably will be. Every time we make it so that someone doesn't suffer as much as they otherwise would have, we've won a battle. We can only resist this divisiveness with kindness, caring and compassion.
Thankfully I have some great contacts that I've been talking to about creating a kinder politics, and I'm going to start by throwing my hat into the ring and making a pledge to update this blog every evening. I won't promise that for certain, because we all know that in the past I've had good intentions like that and I haven't always managed to keep up to them. But I'll do my best. Mentally, I'm more focussed on what is going on and how I can help when I'm writing on here. I will keep you updated about all the work I'm doing, and other people are doing, to counter the suffering that this horrible Government is inflicting. I will send you links and keep you motivated. I'll advertise protests, and discuss how they went afterwards.
This is our life calling. I'd rather not be living in an era where our livelihoods depend on how daring we are, but that's hard luck. The Government is counting on us not being organised - let's make sure we are.
Before anyone asks, this wasn't just because of the election results - it was just one of those days where everything that can go wrong does, from a minor annoyance (my boyfriend lost his hat) to a pretty frustrating irritation (I had lunch in town, and it wasn't very nice) to something that worries me professionally (I had a phone conversation with a professional contact, and it didn't go the way I hoped it would). But of course, if Labour had won the election it would have made all of those things better. They spectacularly lost, making a pretty shit day into an utterly catastrophic one.
As I write this the evening after, I am pretty tired, having only really spent three of the last 36 hours asleep. I had prepared myself for it to be bad, but nothing had ever prepared me for it to be that bad. Before the results, I was really anxious but kind of feeling that a Labour win might happen (perhaps backed up by the SNP, but I could live with that). I had resigned myself to thinking that the Tories could cling to power again, or even increase their vote share and get a majority. But it was far, far worse than that. Labour did so badly that the Tories got what on air was referred to as 'a thumping majority'.
There are all sorts of reasons for this which I'll go into in more detail in tomorrow's blog when I'm less tired and can formulate a sentence better. This one is more about how to avoid despair.
I was absolutely gobsmacked at the result. My poor boyfriend had to cuddle me for hours, and even then I wouldn't settle. Normally I sit up all night, but this time I was convinced to go to bed at around 3am (a bit pointlessly, because of course I couldn't sleep). But thankfully, I have spent the day thinking to myself about how I'm going to deal with this.
When David Cameron's Tories were re-elected in 2015, I was in the second year of my Creative Performance degree in Colchester. My University experience was not a happy time and my memories of it are a bit blurry, but I did write these two quite positive blogs on the election. They've been interesting to re-read (they're a lot less cringe than I was expecting!) It has been fascinating to see how much has changed, but I think most of what I wrote then is still relevant to today.
I can honestly say that I'm far more frightened now than I was in 2015. In my previous blog, I said that I believed this to be the last chance to get change - and in truth, I still believe that. I know this isn't a nice thing to hear, but realistically I think we've lost the battle now. I believe that so much damage will be caused by Boris Johnson's administration over the next five years that it will be irreversible - things like dodgy trade deals, environmental destruction and boundary changes in constituencies aren't things that even the best future Government can undo. Not that I think there will BE a good future Government - with the departure of Jeremy Corbyn comes what to me feels like the departure of the Labour Party's belief that an alternative and positive politics is possible or desirable. I have been wrong in the past, many times, and I'll be wrong again in the future. I sincerely hope that this is one of those occasions on which I'm spectacularly wrong, and that one day on a subsequent blog I'll link back to this one and laugh at how doom-mongery I was at 26. I hope that will happen, more than anything else.
However, I will not be all doom and gloom. I've had this blog since I first got involved in political activism, when I was a fresh-faced sixth-former determined to do some good in the world. My earliest blogs are so cringe-worthy I can't bear to read them - but at least I updated it more regularly then. This last couple of years, I really haven't been good with it. I haven't really done any activism since my very highly-publicised work on transgender rights in mid-2018. I don't know quite why this is - I have often thought about it and planned to do things, but I never seem to quite get around to it. Honestly, I feel I have lost my nerve. I'm much more frightened by the police and the establishment than I once was - probably because now approaching my late twenties, I'm settling down and maturing. A good thing by all accounts, but I think I've lost a bit of my old spirit.
BUT... I'm getting it back. I have to, and so should you if you're reading this. The reason is that this Government is going to be the most horrific we've ever had. I'm sorry to be that frank, but I cannot sugar-coat it. The Conservative Party is the most spiteful and divisive it has been in living memory, and this is the most successful election it has had since the time of Margaret Thatcher. I don't know how much of what it does can be overcome, in all honesty. But we must try. If we don't, it will be even worse than it inevitably will be. Every time we make it so that someone doesn't suffer as much as they otherwise would have, we've won a battle. We can only resist this divisiveness with kindness, caring and compassion.
Thankfully I have some great contacts that I've been talking to about creating a kinder politics, and I'm going to start by throwing my hat into the ring and making a pledge to update this blog every evening. I won't promise that for certain, because we all know that in the past I've had good intentions like that and I haven't always managed to keep up to them. But I'll do my best. Mentally, I'm more focussed on what is going on and how I can help when I'm writing on here. I will keep you updated about all the work I'm doing, and other people are doing, to counter the suffering that this horrible Government is inflicting. I will send you links and keep you motivated. I'll advertise protests, and discuss how they went afterwards.
This is our life calling. I'd rather not be living in an era where our livelihoods depend on how daring we are, but that's hard luck. The Government is counting on us not being organised - let's make sure we are.
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
2019 election
Before we start, have a watch of my song. I wrote it myself (with a little help from my boyfriend and one of our friends), with vocals by my wonderful friend and activist China Blue Fish:
Hope you enjoyed it! Was fun to write.
It's been over a year since I've updated this blog, and the main reason is that this year I've done very little in the way of activism. I've been a little involved with Extinction Rebellion, but that is as far as I've gone. I feel quite ashamed of this, and if anything if I'd kept up with this blog it probably would have focussed and inspired me a bit more. Here's to better work in 2020!
But... I have to talk about this election.
In 2017, I was terrified. I was certain that Theresa May would get her supermajority, that climate change would destroy the world, that all our services would be destroyed... and so on. I was so terrified I honestly considered suicide during that campaign.
And then... it didn't quite happen, did it? May lost her majority, I went for a big breakfast at my favourite vegan cafe, met a lovely mental health worker and her parents and thought about all the good things in the world.
But somehow, the Tories managed to cling to power, as they do. The fact that they've been unable to fully bring in any controversial legislation over the last two years has been the only consolation... something that by rights I shouldn't be celebrating as it means we've lost two years, but given this particular party's history I'd rather have lost two years than have the world subjected to the horror of the alternative.
And now we're at it again. We have Boris Johnson in power, and a similar situation to last time around really. And again, I'm terrified. I'm slightly more hopeful than I was last time, but that hope makes me terrified again. And the thing that terrifies me most is that I honestly think that this is our last chance. If the Tories win this one, it will be boundary changes, ID at polling stations, trade deals that future Governments cannot undo, more corporatism, more austerity, more deaths... If you want to read more about this there is SO MUCH OUT THERE. Go on They Work For You, see what our cabinet has voted in favour of. Check out news articles. Hell, read Wikipedia. This stuff isn't difficult to find. It's frankly frightening.
If you're lucky enough to be one of the people who owns their own property and has a lot of money in the bank, fantastic. Think of the most vulnerable people you know. Think of the homeless person you pass on the street. Think of the child from a working family who relies on charitable donations to food banks. Think of your own children and grandchildren, because climate change will affect us all, no matter how much capital you own.
And then, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, vote Labour.
I'm voting Labour in this election. I have never done so before - I've always gone for the Green Party. As the son of a prominent Green campaigner, I feel quite bad not doing so this time, particularly in Bristol West where the Green Party has a good chance of winning, and candidate Carla Denyer (who I know personally) is far superior to incumbent Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire. But unfortunately, on this occasion, I feel that the Green Party as a whole has let Carla down too much for me to vote for her. There are many reasons for this, but the central one is that in many seats the Green Party has stood down for the Liberal Democrats, and vice versa. I don't feel that the Liberal Democrats are at all trustworthy, especially under Jo Swinson - they weren't a valid alternative in 2010, and they aren't a valid alternative now. At this election, my opinion is that there is only one valid alternative, and that is Labour under Jeremy Corbyn.
We can do this. It's not too late. Tomorrow's election has not happened yet, and there is still time to make your voice heard. Don't just vote. Ring friends, text, message them on Facebook, or go the old-fashioned way and talk in person. If polls are telling you Labour are a lost cause - ask yourself, are the polls always right? Forty years since Thatcher came to power, we MUST stand together and fight the system, because if Boris Johnson is still Prime Minister on Friday, we are in for some very, very dark nights. Read the Tories' history. Ask yourself, why would they promise to do better if they haven't done for the past nine years? Then read Labour's manifesto, or listen to my song again. Even if they only achieve half of what they promise, that's still better than the Tories achieving half again of the cruelty they've inflicted on the most vulnerable.
Below is a post from one of my favourite singers, Grace Petrie, addressing the most frequent criticisms of Labour and its leader. May God have mercy on our souls.
'Here we are, days from the election of a lifetime and folks still have questions for me about Corbyn. In the interest of not boring them in person, I have decided to bore them in writing. This is not an exhaustive list of the criticisms I hear, but I hope my perspective might offer some clarity if you are someone who is struggling to reconcile wanting to vote for Labour with support for Corbyn. I offer this in genuine good faith, not the belief that I am right about everything or anything, but that if you want my opinion, and some have asked for it, here it is.
Q. Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite?
A. Before anything else, let me say that nothing has ever shaken my faith in the Corbyn project as strongly as this accusation. I have never dismissed it. I have never (and I would never) call it a smear. My personal politics, I deeply hope, would instruct anyone who knows me to accept that there is no political movement I would support if there was a racist or any type of bigot at its helm and I have interrogated this as rigorously as I can and read from a spectrum of different perspectives to reach an opinion. That opinion that I believe in my heart is: no, he is not an anti-Semite. If he was, he has been so deeply undercover for so many decades that he’s done the cause of anti-semitism much more harm than good, from signing motions condemning it as far back 1990 to organising the clean up of Finsbury Park synagogue after an anti-semitic attack in 2002, long before the notion of leadership was a glint in his eye. Do I believe that he has always been as vigilant at recognising anti-semitism as he could and should have been? No. But I can hardly criticise that knowing that five years ago, I would not have been as good at spotting the codes and tropes and dog whistles that anti-semites use as I am now. I was uneducated. I have looked to educate myself further and I will continue to. I believe Corbyn has and is doing the same because I believe he wants to understand and fight racism. I do not believe that, in his numerous condemnations of anti-semitism, he is secretly courting those who pursue it. I do not believe that he means harm to Jewish people in Britain BUT - and this bit IS SO IMPORTANT - if anything happens under a Labour or Corbyn government that would pose any risk to Jewish people in anyway, they have my total solidarity and my unconditional, unmitigated promise that I will be the first person to oppose it whoever and wherever it comes from. I would and will be your comrade in this fight whoever your oppressor is. In my heart, I don’t believe Corbyn poses a threat to you. That is my sincere and well examined view.
Q. Corbyn’s spending will tank the economy?
A. No it won’t! The manifesto is fully costed. You would be amazed how much more money we would have if insanely rich people were paying taxes properly, but in any case - how many people have you walked past sleeping on the streets this winter? Do you honestly regard that as a “working economy”? Do you think that the thousands of children living in poverty is a moral, justifiable price to pay for what you might think of as balancing the books? Even though we invented the books, we invented money, and we did so as a way to organise our resources? Do you think that we are organising our resources successfully if there are people dying in our streets for lack of food? Real human people? While there are people at the top of society who have more money than they will ever need, and aren’t contributing fairly to the collective pot? The economy is ALREADY broken.
Q. Britain wants a centrist option! Labour under Corbyn are too left-wing!
A. I mean - Ed Miliband was hardly a communist, and he only managed 232 seats in 2015, opposing a deeply hard-right Conservative in David Cameron. Corbyn’s most media-ready challenger was viewed by many as bright young Blairite Chuka Umunna, who you may remember split off to form Change UK as a credible centrist option in February. (Yes, February this year. I know. 10 months is a long time in politics.) Change UK instantly evaporated in the polls and Umunna jumped ship again to join what we are contractually obliged to call Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats, whose brand of nuke-happy centrism doesn’t seem to be winning the hearts and minds that many commentators might have predicted. Meanwhile Labour under Corbyn has gained 150,000 members. For context, at the height of Blairism in 1997 the party had 400,000 members. We are now on 485,000. The numbers of people inspired to canvass for Labour in this campaign are unprecedented. So you must forgive me for not believing that there lies within the heart of the British electorate a thirst for centrism that never turned out for Miliband and doesn’t seem to be turning out for Jo Swinson (or Tim Farron).
But even if that were true - this Labour Party isn’t even that leftwing! Ask yourself where you got ideas of “hard leftism” from. We are talking about funding the NHS, ensuring that social care meets need, giving schools the funds they need to run properly, and taking ownership of public services so that they are not run incompetently for the grotesque profit of private billionaires, but efficiently with public service as their aim. Tell me what is too hardline about that for you?
Q. Look, I like the policies but he’s just unelectable. How can he win?
A. An honest question in return. Who is more electable? Jeremy Corbyn has spent over 35 years in parliament, and with every single element of the British establishment digging for dirt for four long years, nothing so much as a dubious expense claim has been discovered in his closet that they can find to attack him with. He doesn’t drink. He’s vegetarian. He makes jam. He speaks Spanish to his cat. He has been on the right side of every political issue that he has faced. The worst they can find on him is he doesn’t watch the Queen’s speech at Christmas (spending it instead by volunteering at a homeless shelter), and they have fought tooth and nail to make a news story of it. Meanwhile Boris Johnson, the most racist, homophobic, obnoxious, philandering, dishonest, untrustworthy mess to ever embarrass Britain on the global stage is more publicly liked. Do you see nothing wrong with this picture?
Please make no mistake that anyone who only wants power in order to radically change who it belongs to will be subjected to every bit of misinformation, vilification and distortion Corbyn has been. Yes, even Jess Phillips! “Electability” is a made up concept and is decided by the media. The game is rigged to protect the interests of the rich and anyone who poses a threat to that will be discredited in a co-ordinated and deliberate manner. This is something that we all basically accept as true AND YET! I see so many people saying they see through all that “but, but, but a different leader....” THE GAME IS RIGGED. The only type of leader they would give an easy ride to would be one on their side; in short, one not worth electing.
Q. So how can we possibly win with all that against us?
A. Because we are bigger than the establishment. Because we can be louder than the media. Because we all have a voice and we can use it to be heard above the system that is relying on us not working that out. Because 4 million people signed up to vote. Because we can control the narrative if we decide to take it away from the papers and the BBC. Because people power is what the Labour movement was built on and you still have 6 days to bring the idea to every doorstep in this country not just that things could be better - but that they SHOULD be better. That we live with absolutely incredible levels of corruption and we have thought it’s normal for so long that we have forgotten to imagine a better life.
I don’t know what is going to happen on Thursday but I know it is the choice of a century, the choice between kindness and compassion and giving a fuck about each other, versus fear and division and turning our backs on the people in the street, trying to forget that they could be us. That they ARE us. Whatever happens, whatever the result, I need to know, for the sake of every one who needs this change much more than I do, that I did everything that I could.
Vote Labour pls.'
It's been over a year since I've updated this blog, and the main reason is that this year I've done very little in the way of activism. I've been a little involved with Extinction Rebellion, but that is as far as I've gone. I feel quite ashamed of this, and if anything if I'd kept up with this blog it probably would have focussed and inspired me a bit more. Here's to better work in 2020!
But... I have to talk about this election.
In 2017, I was terrified. I was certain that Theresa May would get her supermajority, that climate change would destroy the world, that all our services would be destroyed... and so on. I was so terrified I honestly considered suicide during that campaign.
And then... it didn't quite happen, did it? May lost her majority, I went for a big breakfast at my favourite vegan cafe, met a lovely mental health worker and her parents and thought about all the good things in the world.
But somehow, the Tories managed to cling to power, as they do. The fact that they've been unable to fully bring in any controversial legislation over the last two years has been the only consolation... something that by rights I shouldn't be celebrating as it means we've lost two years, but given this particular party's history I'd rather have lost two years than have the world subjected to the horror of the alternative.
And now we're at it again. We have Boris Johnson in power, and a similar situation to last time around really. And again, I'm terrified. I'm slightly more hopeful than I was last time, but that hope makes me terrified again. And the thing that terrifies me most is that I honestly think that this is our last chance. If the Tories win this one, it will be boundary changes, ID at polling stations, trade deals that future Governments cannot undo, more corporatism, more austerity, more deaths... If you want to read more about this there is SO MUCH OUT THERE. Go on They Work For You, see what our cabinet has voted in favour of. Check out news articles. Hell, read Wikipedia. This stuff isn't difficult to find. It's frankly frightening.
If you're lucky enough to be one of the people who owns their own property and has a lot of money in the bank, fantastic. Think of the most vulnerable people you know. Think of the homeless person you pass on the street. Think of the child from a working family who relies on charitable donations to food banks. Think of your own children and grandchildren, because climate change will affect us all, no matter how much capital you own.
And then, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, vote Labour.
I'm voting Labour in this election. I have never done so before - I've always gone for the Green Party. As the son of a prominent Green campaigner, I feel quite bad not doing so this time, particularly in Bristol West where the Green Party has a good chance of winning, and candidate Carla Denyer (who I know personally) is far superior to incumbent Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire. But unfortunately, on this occasion, I feel that the Green Party as a whole has let Carla down too much for me to vote for her. There are many reasons for this, but the central one is that in many seats the Green Party has stood down for the Liberal Democrats, and vice versa. I don't feel that the Liberal Democrats are at all trustworthy, especially under Jo Swinson - they weren't a valid alternative in 2010, and they aren't a valid alternative now. At this election, my opinion is that there is only one valid alternative, and that is Labour under Jeremy Corbyn.
We can do this. It's not too late. Tomorrow's election has not happened yet, and there is still time to make your voice heard. Don't just vote. Ring friends, text, message them on Facebook, or go the old-fashioned way and talk in person. If polls are telling you Labour are a lost cause - ask yourself, are the polls always right? Forty years since Thatcher came to power, we MUST stand together and fight the system, because if Boris Johnson is still Prime Minister on Friday, we are in for some very, very dark nights. Read the Tories' history. Ask yourself, why would they promise to do better if they haven't done for the past nine years? Then read Labour's manifesto, or listen to my song again. Even if they only achieve half of what they promise, that's still better than the Tories achieving half again of the cruelty they've inflicted on the most vulnerable.
Below is a post from one of my favourite singers, Grace Petrie, addressing the most frequent criticisms of Labour and its leader. May God have mercy on our souls.
'Here we are, days from the election of a lifetime and folks still have questions for me about Corbyn. In the interest of not boring them in person, I have decided to bore them in writing. This is not an exhaustive list of the criticisms I hear, but I hope my perspective might offer some clarity if you are someone who is struggling to reconcile wanting to vote for Labour with support for Corbyn. I offer this in genuine good faith, not the belief that I am right about everything or anything, but that if you want my opinion, and some have asked for it, here it is.
Q. Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite?
A. Before anything else, let me say that nothing has ever shaken my faith in the Corbyn project as strongly as this accusation. I have never dismissed it. I have never (and I would never) call it a smear. My personal politics, I deeply hope, would instruct anyone who knows me to accept that there is no political movement I would support if there was a racist or any type of bigot at its helm and I have interrogated this as rigorously as I can and read from a spectrum of different perspectives to reach an opinion. That opinion that I believe in my heart is: no, he is not an anti-Semite. If he was, he has been so deeply undercover for so many decades that he’s done the cause of anti-semitism much more harm than good, from signing motions condemning it as far back 1990 to organising the clean up of Finsbury Park synagogue after an anti-semitic attack in 2002, long before the notion of leadership was a glint in his eye. Do I believe that he has always been as vigilant at recognising anti-semitism as he could and should have been? No. But I can hardly criticise that knowing that five years ago, I would not have been as good at spotting the codes and tropes and dog whistles that anti-semites use as I am now. I was uneducated. I have looked to educate myself further and I will continue to. I believe Corbyn has and is doing the same because I believe he wants to understand and fight racism. I do not believe that, in his numerous condemnations of anti-semitism, he is secretly courting those who pursue it. I do not believe that he means harm to Jewish people in Britain BUT - and this bit IS SO IMPORTANT - if anything happens under a Labour or Corbyn government that would pose any risk to Jewish people in anyway, they have my total solidarity and my unconditional, unmitigated promise that I will be the first person to oppose it whoever and wherever it comes from. I would and will be your comrade in this fight whoever your oppressor is. In my heart, I don’t believe Corbyn poses a threat to you. That is my sincere and well examined view.
Q. Corbyn’s spending will tank the economy?
A. No it won’t! The manifesto is fully costed. You would be amazed how much more money we would have if insanely rich people were paying taxes properly, but in any case - how many people have you walked past sleeping on the streets this winter? Do you honestly regard that as a “working economy”? Do you think that the thousands of children living in poverty is a moral, justifiable price to pay for what you might think of as balancing the books? Even though we invented the books, we invented money, and we did so as a way to organise our resources? Do you think that we are organising our resources successfully if there are people dying in our streets for lack of food? Real human people? While there are people at the top of society who have more money than they will ever need, and aren’t contributing fairly to the collective pot? The economy is ALREADY broken.
Q. Britain wants a centrist option! Labour under Corbyn are too left-wing!
A. I mean - Ed Miliband was hardly a communist, and he only managed 232 seats in 2015, opposing a deeply hard-right Conservative in David Cameron. Corbyn’s most media-ready challenger was viewed by many as bright young Blairite Chuka Umunna, who you may remember split off to form Change UK as a credible centrist option in February. (Yes, February this year. I know. 10 months is a long time in politics.) Change UK instantly evaporated in the polls and Umunna jumped ship again to join what we are contractually obliged to call Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats, whose brand of nuke-happy centrism doesn’t seem to be winning the hearts and minds that many commentators might have predicted. Meanwhile Labour under Corbyn has gained 150,000 members. For context, at the height of Blairism in 1997 the party had 400,000 members. We are now on 485,000. The numbers of people inspired to canvass for Labour in this campaign are unprecedented. So you must forgive me for not believing that there lies within the heart of the British electorate a thirst for centrism that never turned out for Miliband and doesn’t seem to be turning out for Jo Swinson (or Tim Farron).
But even if that were true - this Labour Party isn’t even that leftwing! Ask yourself where you got ideas of “hard leftism” from. We are talking about funding the NHS, ensuring that social care meets need, giving schools the funds they need to run properly, and taking ownership of public services so that they are not run incompetently for the grotesque profit of private billionaires, but efficiently with public service as their aim. Tell me what is too hardline about that for you?
Q. Look, I like the policies but he’s just unelectable. How can he win?
A. An honest question in return. Who is more electable? Jeremy Corbyn has spent over 35 years in parliament, and with every single element of the British establishment digging for dirt for four long years, nothing so much as a dubious expense claim has been discovered in his closet that they can find to attack him with. He doesn’t drink. He’s vegetarian. He makes jam. He speaks Spanish to his cat. He has been on the right side of every political issue that he has faced. The worst they can find on him is he doesn’t watch the Queen’s speech at Christmas (spending it instead by volunteering at a homeless shelter), and they have fought tooth and nail to make a news story of it. Meanwhile Boris Johnson, the most racist, homophobic, obnoxious, philandering, dishonest, untrustworthy mess to ever embarrass Britain on the global stage is more publicly liked. Do you see nothing wrong with this picture?
Please make no mistake that anyone who only wants power in order to radically change who it belongs to will be subjected to every bit of misinformation, vilification and distortion Corbyn has been. Yes, even Jess Phillips! “Electability” is a made up concept and is decided by the media. The game is rigged to protect the interests of the rich and anyone who poses a threat to that will be discredited in a co-ordinated and deliberate manner. This is something that we all basically accept as true AND YET! I see so many people saying they see through all that “but, but, but a different leader....” THE GAME IS RIGGED. The only type of leader they would give an easy ride to would be one on their side; in short, one not worth electing.
Q. So how can we possibly win with all that against us?
A. Because we are bigger than the establishment. Because we can be louder than the media. Because we all have a voice and we can use it to be heard above the system that is relying on us not working that out. Because 4 million people signed up to vote. Because we can control the narrative if we decide to take it away from the papers and the BBC. Because people power is what the Labour movement was built on and you still have 6 days to bring the idea to every doorstep in this country not just that things could be better - but that they SHOULD be better. That we live with absolutely incredible levels of corruption and we have thought it’s normal for so long that we have forgotten to imagine a better life.
I don’t know what is going to happen on Thursday but I know it is the choice of a century, the choice between kindness and compassion and giving a fuck about each other, versus fear and division and turning our backs on the people in the street, trying to forget that they could be us. That they ARE us. Whatever happens, whatever the result, I need to know, for the sake of every one who needs this change much more than I do, that I did everything that I could.
Vote Labour pls.'
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