Corbyn, Sanders, Ukip, and the Future of the Left.

We are currently in an age of post-truth politics. Our current mainstream political narrative is completely fabricated by an ultra-right wing elite, hiding behind an illusion of rhetoric, dogma, double-speak and flat out lies. Make no mistake, we are currently in a class war of which most people don’t even know they’re fighting. The economy isn’t getting better, we are out of options, and only one person represents the interest of the people. 

Jeremy Corbyn is the British lefts only hope. Almost all of Jeremy Corbyn’s policies are fantastic, the next part of the battle is making more and more people realise that. We have already seen that people support Corbyn’s policies before they find out they are his. Making people realise that this whole anti-Corbyn propaganda campaign is simply the political establishment trying to discredit him is vital. I mean it shouldn’t be hard to make UKIP supporters realise that Corbyn is the only one that represents their economic interests, and that immigrants aren’t the problem. Almost all differences in society are culturally constructed, and enforced through propaganda. We need to do our best to circulate our own message, as nobody is going to do it for us. Social media is perfect for this, and a reason I love all the Jeremy Corbyn Facebook groups, it is a great place to exchange opinions and advance the movement. 

But What just happened in America is truly amazing, if not only for the reason that we saw in real time what happens when a media narrative comes crashing down. They were all shocked, the pollsters, the celebrities, the media, the “academics”, but do you know who wasn’t shocked? Sanders and Trump supporters. The political establishment’s whole world came crashing down around them in the form of Donald Trump and they still have the audacity to tell us Jeremy Corbyn is unelectable? Let’s go and ask the DNC what happened when they screwed Bernie Sanders because “it was Hillary’s turn”. This class of people are so far detached from reality that they thought Hillary Clinton appeared as progressive (the person who on some policies is more right wing than Theresa May). Bernie Sanders would of trashed Trump in the election, and now all the “progressive media” like the guardian and the New York times are shocked, and have started talking about Sanders. What the hell happened to this during the democrat nomination? I’ll tell you what happened, It was a complete media blackout. When you have tens of thousands of people gathering multiple times a week rallying behind a progressive socialist candidate and it gets barely ANY coverage in the mainstream media, you have to understand that this is nothing but a political choice. They are all self-serving extensions of the corporate public relations industry and should not be allowed to just carry on like business as usual. 

As for the future of the left in Britain, we have a simple choice to make, we either rally behind Corbyn, or we lose to the Tories and UKIP. There is only one path to victory for Corbyn’s movement, and that is to rid the party of the neoliberals and bring in the other smaller progressive party such as the Greens. I mean, I know it sucks, I like the green party, but at this point there is no reason for them not to join Labour and try get Corbyn to adopt as many of their policies as possible, I don’t see why this should be an issue. 

At some point the Neoliberals are going to have to leave, it already looks like they are going to go for leadership challenge #3, and to be honest, it’s a waste of time. They aren’t going to win, and at this point, if they do, the labour party is dead because it will only happen as a result of fraud / suppression. I’m not worried about the right and left of the Labour / Conservative creating a breakoff party. They may hide behind a progressive label, and I’m sure they will appear to be extremely culturally “progressive”, but at the end of the day, the economic problems in society aren’t getting any better, and this new party is almost guaranteed to represent the interests of the people causing the problems. If this is the case, it will be a new Tory party they are creating, and we don’t really need to worry about that. The reason Corbyn’s message is so appealing is because it is addressing the true contradiction in today’s society, which takes the form of capital vs people. Corbyn is the only person who represents the people within the current political paradigm. Ukip hide behind a fake anti-establishment sentiment, and promote xenophobia to exploit the economic uncertainties on many of their voters, and play them off against other groups of people who are also getting screwed, but that’s all it is, an illusion.

It is extremely important for the left to identify the similarities between the UKIP voter base and Jeremy Corbyn’s movement, because ultimately this is where the winner of 2020 will be decided. The none racist UKIP supporters are almost guaranteed to benefit from a Corbyn government, we just need to make them realise that. At the end of the day, the truth should be able to win out over lies, we just have to find a way to frame the message.  

As for America, I’m not that worried. It sucks for minorities, don’t get me wrong, it REALLY sucks for minorities under a trump presidency, but the landscape it creates for change is invaluable. Trump won’t keep promoting hate, or at least not in the same way he did before, he knows he is a few bad moves away from indictment and will do his best to keep the business elite as happy as his fan base will let him. His ego will drive him to be the best president he can be, whilst profiting as much as possible personally. I honestly only see Sanders movement triumphing in the foreseeable future, it’s already being suggested he will run in 2020, and if not he still has a fierce energized movement behind him or whomever else they may find to lead the movement. Unless the political elite can systemically pick it apart and supress it, there is only one way forward, and I think enough people have enough progressive values for love to trump hate. 

We just need to be careful around candidates dressing themselves up as progressive, and still representing the interests of big business. This is literally in direct contradiction, it is profit or people, it can’t be both. The past forty years has apparently been both, when in reality it has just been the political class destroying labour movements and auctioning off all public services at the expense of the most vulnerable in society. The economic policies are the only ones that currently matter, and people need to unite around them, and not get distracted by the mass amount of unimportant stuff in the mainstream political spheres.