Operation ‘Destroy Corbyn’: A political ‘hit’ on the Labour leader.

It’s simple, the ruling elite cannot allow Jeremy Corbyn into number 10, ever. The Labour leader plans to change life indefinitely for the rich and the powerful. Those sorts, who use their money to secure power, to alter the government machinery to obtain further riches and yet more power are exceptionally frightened. As a result, every mechanism at their disposal is being utilised to prevent any chance of discernible change. Jeremy Corbyn is not fighting the Conservative Party as such, he is taking on the entire neoliberal system and this battle extends way beyond the shores of the UK. Do you really think Donald Trump would be in the least bit enamoured with a Corbyn government?

Labour’s 2019 manifesto has made it abundantly clear that they aim to shift power away from the rich, ensuring more people benefit from government policy. This manifesto has been described as ‘radical’, but to me it just makes total sense. It’s blatantly obvious that these proposals would work well for the vast majority of people, not everyone obviously, but most. Here is a summary of the themes within this document.

• Renationalising public services.
• An end to zero hour contracts, universal credit and an increase to 10 quid an hour living wage.
• Integrating a ‘Green Revolution’ with the economy.
• Increased workers rights.
• Control of the education system, with a new National Education Service.
• The end of NHS privatisation and substantial funding .
• A clamp down on bankers, tax dodging billionaires, unscrupulous landlords, media tycoons and corporations who pay next to nothing in tax.
• Only people earning above 80,000 will pay more tax to fund this.

This is just big picture stuff, of course there is much more detail underpinning these proposals. Labour’s main ideas are simple; to improve public services, increase NHS funding, make education work for all, an end to penalising the poor, a commitment to workers rights and effective taxation of the rich. Despite this attempt to roll back unbridled capitalism, some citizens, and not just the wealthy, will vote conservative on December the 12th. If we are looking purely at which party is offering the most beneficial policies for the good of the country, then the choice is relatively simple. However, if we consider this through the lens of our political and social times, such as the easy dissemination of fake news via the internet, things begin to appear murkier and this is completely by design.

Most recently the UK’s political landscape has been shaped dramatically by Brexit. It has dominated political discourse over the past few years and has served to fragment society. Further to this, the UK has suffered 40 years of neoliberalism, a destruction of society replaced by individualism, a value system based almost entirely on money, a mainstream media totally devoted to the ruling elite, capitalism or both, plus a establishment along with a government who gain enormously from the status quo. Within this context, we shouldn’t be remotely surprised that the establishment are using everything within their power to destroy Corbyn. Jeremy threatens all of this, as he plans to bring democracy back to the people and this scares the crap out of the powers that be. Never has a man been more persecuted for trying to make the UK a better place for the majority of people.

Corbyn has been subjected to baseless anti-Semitic slurs, not just from his political enemies, but from his own party. In the press, he’s been accused of being an IRA supporter, claimed to be a Russian stooge, a terrorist sympathiser, as well as labelled a traitor. Any dispassionate research leads to the same conclusion, there is no evidence to support any of these assertions. In July this year, the BBC even went so far as to broadcast a ‘documentary’ entitled, Is Labour Anti-Semitic. Anyone who saw this would have quickly recognised that the makers of Panorama started with the premise that Labour is anti-Semitic and worked back to justify their position. This provided no other purpose than to damage Jeremy Corbyn’s reputation.

Bogus anti Semitic slurs are levelled at Corbyn daily. They are grounded in zero evidence, devoid of fact, but are nethertheless deeply damaging. This campaign against him and the Labour Party doesn’t have to produce people who will vote for Boris Johnson, all that is required is to plant enough doubt in the minds of people to provoke apathy. This collective siege has been unleashed from all corners; party members and former party members such as Margaret Hodge and Luciana Berger. While other offensives have been conducted from so called celebrities such as Rachel Riley and certain figures among the Jewish community, with particular political interests, who proclaim to speak for the entire Jewish community (recently Rabbi Ephrain Mervis).

Lets not forget of course that Israel in the form of ‘hasbara’ has been waging political war against Jeremy Corbyn for several years. This has been punctuated by false allegations, by among others an active anti-Palestinian Jewish Labour Movement. Led by characters such as Ella Rose and Adam Langelben, this campaign has been designed unquestionably to force Corbyn and his supporters out of prominent positions within the party. Unfortunately, Corbyn on occasions has made tactical errors, by conceding at times to the demands of these groups. Although, it’s hardly surprising considering the pressure he must be under. This assault has frequently been supported by a media outlet once considered a left leaning source, that of the Guardian, with journalists such as Jonathan Freedland sticking his boot in at varying opportunistic moments.

Contrary to these empty lies, recently departed Speaker of the House, Conservative MP and Jewish man John Bercow, clearly stated that Jeremy Corbyn is not Anti-Semitic, having known him for over 20 years. The political right unsurprisingly have taken a different method in which to sully Jeremy Corbyn. Jeremy Hunt, accused the Labour leader of being the new Hitler. In contrast, the Times suggested Corbyn was too frail, both physically and mentally to lead the nation. The same publication also printed an article from a British Army General who ensured that ‘direct action‘ would be taken if Corbyn was ever elected, declaring he was a threat to national security.

What we need to be aware of regarding the war against Corbyn is, the truth is inconsequential for his opponents and it is all just seen as another strategy to be utilised. What is vital, is the defence of the ruling elite and their way of life, at all costs. Truth, logic and the Enlightenment is slowly but surely ebbing away.  Replacing this is a newly manufactured era of subjectivity, emotion, distraction, lies and hyperbole. This onslaught against objectivity has the effect of keeping the populace confused, apathetic, off-balance, mistrustful and with no comprehension regarding what is a fact or indeed fiction.

Without any doubt this is intentional and a pre-requisite in order for power to remain in the hands of a relatively small, psychopathic, narcissistic, privileged group of people. I suggest that everyone who cares about the UK gets off their collective arses and vote Labour on December the 12th. The Conservatives are offering nothing that may improve the lives of people in any way, shape or form. In fact, their entire plan is solely centred around keeping their grubby hands on the reins of power. Voters just so happen to be the tools with which to achieve this, however, nothing of any good will be returned to them for their misguided loyalty.

 

 

Brexit: The saviour of capitalism.

An election is looming in the UK, on the 12th of December the nation will vote for a new leader of this beleaguered country. If you follow the polls, you may be thinking things are looking bleak for Labour, as many polls have the Conservatives in a sizeable lead. Of course, they could be way off, as they were in 2017, when Labour made significant headway. What amazes me is not that the Conservatives are reportedly doing better than Labour, but the question must be; how are they even close? Massive inequality, an NHS that’s steadily being sold off, poor public services, inconsistent education, increase usage of food banks, a growing homeless population and inertia when it comes to climate change, just to name a few issues. This should be a perfect time for a change Prime Minister of which Corbyn is well suited. So what’s happened? The answer is Brexit.

I’m not sure at the time if David Cameron, the Conservative Party or the right wing in general realised how much political capital would be gained by the charade that has become of leaving the EU. Before we go any further, I will just reaffirm my position on Brexit and it’s a simple one. It will be neoliberalism if the UK stay in Europe and it will be neoliberalism if you’re eating Corn Flakes having voted for the Conservative Party on the morning of the 13th of December. Nothing will change, well not for the better anyway. Everything will continue to get worse, only at a quicker pace because a majority of people will have voted for entitled, public school educated, upper class psychopaths, with a mandate to do as they wish.

This election has rather predictably been labelled a Brexit election, but this is merely a sideshow. There is much more going on in the UK that requires urgent action. Sadly Brexit has divided people like no other issue, blinding many to much more pressing matters that Brexit simply cannot and will not resolve. The UK is split on geographical lines, education, class, race, political party, climate change and of course the ‘B’ word. The political right know that when people are divided, apathetic, politically demoralised and voter turnout is low, they win and usually handsomely.

When people are united by the need for change, with a trust that this can be achieved through the democratic process and a general agreement of what it should look like, the population tends to move to the left. Much of the populist left does not possess much money or power, but when it works it is driven by the people, in vast numbers. Hence the beauty of Brexit. It adds yet another fissure to society, keeping people divided, bitter, angry, emotional and desperate. These factors lead to some working class people who have gained nothing from the system to vote for the very party who will maintain the status quo.

The ruling elite are feeding off the anxiety and desolation of the working class, who have seen whole areas decimated and relieved of any trace of industry or prosperity. Huge swathes of this group show all the signs of ‘Stockholm Syndrome‘. This is a condition that is often displayed by abused people, prisoners of war and cult members. This occurs when people feel intense fear of physical harm and believe their captor is in total control. It is chiefly thought to be a survival response, which includes sympathy and support for their captor’s plight and can even display manifestations of negative feelings towards people who are trying to help (in this case Labour and Jeremy Corbyn).

A large proportion of this magic trick is performed by the ruling elite, providing disgruntled citizens a common enemy, while proposing a solution to end their pain. Primarily, but not exclusively regarding Brexit this particular ‘patsy’ is immigration. The powers that be, along with a complicit mainstream media have created immigration as a major issue. It has been suggested that immigrants are stealing jobs or reducing wages within the UK.

All this despite academic research suggesting that this is a false narrative, but the myth persists, as any dissenting voice is simply discarded as propaganda, both from the left and the right dependent on which side of the Brexit fence you sit on. Many people will vehemently declare they are not racist and I’m sure they are generally sincere with these admissions. However, the process of immigration involves of course people from varying countries and cultures and without any compelling evidence to support the immigration theory, lets just say, it doesn’t look good.

Many people who move to the UK are there because the nation requires their skills, particularly in the NHS. Regarding EU immigrants, a paper by the London School of Economics suggests that they are generally more educated, younger and less likely to claim benefits than people born in the UK. Approximately 44% of this population have some form of higher education as opposed to 23% of those born in the UK. With regards to taking jobs, immigrants also consume goods and services, therefore, potentially creating more employment opportunities. Evidence has shown that in areas with the most amount EU immigration the situation has not resulted in major job losses or a reduction in pay for UK born workers. Most major economic repercussions resulted from the rich playing roulette with other peoples’ money, pre and post 2008.

So on the face of it, the immigration scapegoat holds little water, but we shouldn’t let a good yarn obscure the facts, because after all the ruling elite have a solution for all this. This of course is Brexit, on waking up post election, plus Brexit shortly after, the UK will be free to make their own decisions and to screw up the country as they see fit. They will be free to continue with the privatisation of the NHS, free to penalise the poor and free to allow corporate CEO’s, ex Prime Minsters, celebrities and other undesirables to hide their money in British Overseas Territories via trusts. All this freedom must be intoxicating for some people, but not necessarily for anyone you or I know. The idea that Brexit will cure all our ills is a fantasy, but it continues to fragment the people and for that the Conservatives must be eternally grateful.

Won’t get fooled again? The Brexit sideshow that could distract the UK from real change.

The people of the UK go to the polls on December the 12th bitterly divided by class, geographical differences, education, economics, race, culture and of course Brexit. Forty years of unbridled capitalism and now we have working class people supporting an Etonian, upper class Conservative Party and a metropolitan, middle class, Eurocentric group who may vote Labour (or Liberal Democrat), but hate their leader. Among this, there is still a very sizeable group who see Jeremy Corbyn’s politics of anti-austerity, pro people and fervently against the ruling self-serving elite as a way out of this neoliberal hell.

You would like to think it would be intuitive for people who have very little and have witnessed their town or city obliterated, while being turned into a giant Amazon warehouse to vote for someone who opposes this. Alas not. It is also difficult to imagine people voting against someone whose aim is to directly fund the NHS, thus providing better and cheaper services. In contrast to the Conservative’s who plan to expand the external market for exploitation by massive corporations. Sadly, this is exactly what is occurring in many impoverished regions.

The health of a society, the education of kids, utilities for the elderly in the winter and public transport should not be a business opportunity for the rich to gain off peoples’ daily predicaments. After decades of this, it has become a way of life, with a number of people not knowing of a time when things were different and now many individuals are unable to look outside of the corporatist matrix. We have been told we are “worth it”, that we are inherently competitive, while social cohesion has been destroyed and the population reduced to consumers.

Neoliberal ideology has stripped us of our compassion. The idea of a strong functioning community and the notion of not leaving people behind who are struggling seems a distant memory. This has been replaced with a ultra punitive society, that locks more people in prison than any nation outside of the US and regularly celebrates the very people who make sacks full of money from our labour. This is a system that encourages us to buy shit that we really don’t need or simply can’t afford, in order to feel better than the family living next door. We buy newer or bigger, all to prove we that we are superior to the other lot, whoever they may be.

The upper class who control the media, who lobby the government, while hiding their dosh in British Overseas Territories through trusts, convince the aspiring middle classes to look down on the primary culprits. Who are invariably defined as uneducated, working class types sat on their collective backsides all day. The middle class Conservatives hate them because they apparently drain the government coffers while adding nothing to the pot, meanwhile the middle class ‘moderates’ despise them, because they are considered racist, stupid and probably a supporter of Brexit.

People from impoverished areas are cajoled by the likes of Nigel Farage. The story is told that immigrants are stealing their jobs and that the nation needs to be in control of its borders. This is despite the fact that most immigrants arrive in the UK qualified to do the jobs that the country requires and provide skills the nation lacks. Are these people stupid? No, they are desperate and have gained nothing from 40 years of ultra-capitalism. Additionally, being a part of this ‘magical’ organisation called the EU doesn’t appear to have helped most people in the former industrial heartlands. When mainstream politics fail, often individuals look to the margins for change. Leaders who will say anything and offer the world to gain favour. Enter Mr Trump and Mr Johnson.

Brexit is yet another fissure for which to divide the population of the UK. Whether this was intentional by David Cameron and his staff is hard to know, but since then it has been manipulated skilfully to shatter any cohesion the UK once had. As it stands right now with a Conservative government, whether the UK leave or stay in Europe the world will still cater for the rich and powerful at the expense of everyone else. The EU is by design a capitalist, pro corporatist entity. It promotes “free trade”, “free movement” of capital, business austerity, low pay, flexible labour markets, privatisation of public services and the destruction of the welfare state.

To see the EU’s true colours we only have to look at Greece and other nations hit hardest by the economic crisis. The vast majority of bailout funds went straight to French and German banks, while very little actually made its way into the economies of these beleaguered countries. As part of the conditions for these bailout packages collective bargaining rights have been drastically eroded, estimated to have been reduced by an average of 21% across the 10 hardest hit nations. In Greece, workers rights have been reduced by an estimated 45%. The EU has continued to make an example of Greece, with privatisation and austerity, forced upon them at every turn.

Does this mean I support Brexit? No, in all honesty I’m pretty ambivalent towards Brexit. But what the EU isn’t, is some benevolent social democratic club that protects the UK from the vile Tories. Of course, the Tories can do all of those things previously mentioned and much worse without the help of a bureaucratic behemoth in Brussels. The Tories have devastated public services, workers rights and given half a chance they would rip up any remaining human rights that exist. So what’s the answer? Quite clearly, none of the above. I’m sure a portion of the metropolitan, superbly educated, suitably housed, well paid professional classes may benefit from the EU, but many people elsewhere have experienced little in the way of joy.

Falinge Estate, Rochdale.

The north of England where I am originally from have 10 of the 12 most economically declining cities in the UK, two of which I worked in for the NHS, performing clinics in some of the most run down areas. As money has been syphoned into the South East (primarily London), real wages in these former industrial areas have consistently fallen or at best stagnated. The EU isn’t going to save the working class, but a bold plan from Labour led by Jeremy Corbyn might just start to turn things around. Sadly many people would rather cry into their G & T’s about Brexit than get behind a set of policies that would benefit the most amount of people.

Jeremy Corbyn is the only candidate who will go after the real perpetrators, these are ruling elites who use their money and influence to lobby government, while stashing trillions away in overseas trust accounts. It’s not the poor, the disaffected, the unemployed, the working class, immigrants or anyone else who are destroying societies in the UK or anywhere else. Already this week Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to take on “tax dodgers, bad bosses, big polluters and the billionaire media owners”, while pledging support for public services in particular the NHS.

Further to this, Labour is the only party totally committed to protecting the NHS from further privatisation. NHS officials have reportedly been in talks with US pharmaceutical firms preparing for a post Brexit trade deal. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour is the only party who clearly have the people in mind. If we look at the last manifesto of 2017 the main features were; to scrap student tuition fees, renationalise water, mail and rail, increase spending on public service including the police force and fire brigade, end zero hour contracts and crucially increase taxes on the rich and corporations.

This assault on the rich and powerful by attempting to close tax loopholes is in my opinion the primary reason Jeremy Corbyn has been savaged on all on sides and even within his own party. He stands to make the ruling elite accountable, something that hasn’t been attempted for decades. If you are opposed to what Labour proposes, you seriously need to ask yourself why. Have you been propagandised by the elite, convinced that politics is only performed by the rich and powerful for the sole benefit of them. If so that isn’t democracy. Democracy isn’t a spectator sport that rolls around every 4 years (or less). Democracy is a 24 hour a day activity, you may not partake, but I guarantee the people with the power will. I can assure you, apathy and petty squabbles on this occasion will not win the day.