Corbyn’s Labour,
Ukip, and Brexit
Since last summer something quite magnificent has happened
in the British Labour party. Jeremy Corbyn has started a movement that has seen
him to victory in two labour leadership elections and saw the
party base increase to be the largest party in Europe. Corbyn not only had to battle against
the mind numbing press, but also against the entire political establishment,
including regular attempts from his MPs to undermine his leadership and
sabotage the people’s movement.
This post is about addressing the values of the movement,
and what we as a collective should be striving towards. Also there appears to
be a lot of separation surrounding Brexit, so this post will also aim to offer
an alternative approach to the situation, one of which unites us all around the
underlying antagonisms responsible for the conditions of which people like
Donald Trump and Nigel Farage thrive.
First of all, I think it’s imperative that we all understand
that not ALL people who support Brexit and Trump are the enemy. If we hope to
unite against the threat of fascism and the extreme right we need to identify
the commonalities in the Brexit / Trump movement with the Sanders / Corbyn
movement.
Since the US dropped the gold standard and we adopted
neoliberal economics as the new norm, there has been a violent
contradiction between government and people. Every single party that has been
in power since Thatcher has adopted a neoliberal economic stance, and although there
is often lively debate within the tiny parameters of Neoliberalism, as a whole
the government has become a mediator for the business classes. The same thing is happening all throughout
Europe and the Americas.
Since the beginning of Capitalism people have suffered, and as David Harvey often says, Capital doesn’t solve its own contradictions, it just moves them around. And that is what it has done for the past 40 years. The problem we face is that we now have nowhere to go. We have tried the Keynesian strategy of wage driven growth, and we have tried the neoliberal strategy of debt driven growth, and they both throw up their own contradictions that leads to recession and social unrest. The neoliberal economic order has never done what it was supposed to, even in times of vast growth all the profits were extremely centralized. What we are currently seeing is the public losing trust in the current political establishment, and like what happened in America, we saw just how quickly the false media narrative can come crashing down.
The current political establishment is in direct contradiction with the well-being of the people, you can represent capital or you can represent the people, but you can’t do both. This is what Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders stand for. This is why there are movements going on in most countries in Europe like Podemos in Spain, or Syriza in Greece. These are all responses to the disillusionment with the current political paradigm, and these movements offer real hope for the future.
That being said, as the economic system is decaying, nations are falling into nationalism and fascism. And as it stands, like in America, the neoliberals are successfully sabotaging and stifling the progressive social movements. The DNC screwed Bernie Sanders out of the nomination in the same way the neoliberals in Labour are trying to screw over Jeremy Corbyn.
Now this is where we need to get serious. Trump / Brexit fed off popular unrest and disillusionment with the current political elites, and they ran a campaign of fear and hate against the current neoliberal establishment, and they are leading our countries down an extremely dark path (one of which will solve very little unless you really dislike people who aren't the same as you). Jeremy Corbyn represents the people in this equation, unlike Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson who are a different version of the same oppressive force responsible for the social unrest in society. The leave campaign were all part of the same political class trying to screw over average people, but they were perusing change within the current parameters of the failing system. I mean sure we can leave the EU, but we are still going to be governed by the same business forces that controlled us in the EU, just like Trump is filling his cabinet with big business after running a campaign opposing them. If you voted Brexit or if you voted remain it really doesn’t matter. What matters is what we do next.
I don’t think we should oppose Brexit, or try to overturn it. The reasons for leaving don’t matter, because at the end of the day it represented the cry of an oppressed nation. What matters is 16 million people voted to leave, and we have to respect that. If we overturn it all that will happen is the people who voted Brexit will never vote again, and they are the people we need in our movement. The Brexit argument is pretty irrelevant to be honest. People are going to be worse off, that is a fact. The Eu is by far our largest trading partner, and after all this is said and done it still will be. All that is going to happen is that we are going to get worse deals than we did prior to leaving, and we lose our position of influence. But this is our fault, this is our fault for not reaching those people. We need to make them understand why immigrants and refugees aren’t the problem, and unite them against the Tories of whom are fucking us all. If UKIP and Farage are getting the message to the working class better than we are, it is our fault. We need to come to terms with the current political landscape and realise that complaining about the biased media and corrupt politicians isn’t going to do anything. On that same note, simply telling people they are brainwashed or racist doesn’t really help either.
Since the beginning of Capitalism people have suffered, and as David Harvey often says, Capital doesn’t solve its own contradictions, it just moves them around. And that is what it has done for the past 40 years. The problem we face is that we now have nowhere to go. We have tried the Keynesian strategy of wage driven growth, and we have tried the neoliberal strategy of debt driven growth, and they both throw up their own contradictions that leads to recession and social unrest. The neoliberal economic order has never done what it was supposed to, even in times of vast growth all the profits were extremely centralized. What we are currently seeing is the public losing trust in the current political establishment, and like what happened in America, we saw just how quickly the false media narrative can come crashing down.
The current political establishment is in direct contradiction with the well-being of the people, you can represent capital or you can represent the people, but you can’t do both. This is what Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders stand for. This is why there are movements going on in most countries in Europe like Podemos in Spain, or Syriza in Greece. These are all responses to the disillusionment with the current political paradigm, and these movements offer real hope for the future.
That being said, as the economic system is decaying, nations are falling into nationalism and fascism. And as it stands, like in America, the neoliberals are successfully sabotaging and stifling the progressive social movements. The DNC screwed Bernie Sanders out of the nomination in the same way the neoliberals in Labour are trying to screw over Jeremy Corbyn.
Now this is where we need to get serious. Trump / Brexit fed off popular unrest and disillusionment with the current political elites, and they ran a campaign of fear and hate against the current neoliberal establishment, and they are leading our countries down an extremely dark path (one of which will solve very little unless you really dislike people who aren't the same as you). Jeremy Corbyn represents the people in this equation, unlike Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson who are a different version of the same oppressive force responsible for the social unrest in society. The leave campaign were all part of the same political class trying to screw over average people, but they were perusing change within the current parameters of the failing system. I mean sure we can leave the EU, but we are still going to be governed by the same business forces that controlled us in the EU, just like Trump is filling his cabinet with big business after running a campaign opposing them. If you voted Brexit or if you voted remain it really doesn’t matter. What matters is what we do next.
I don’t think we should oppose Brexit, or try to overturn it. The reasons for leaving don’t matter, because at the end of the day it represented the cry of an oppressed nation. What matters is 16 million people voted to leave, and we have to respect that. If we overturn it all that will happen is the people who voted Brexit will never vote again, and they are the people we need in our movement. The Brexit argument is pretty irrelevant to be honest. People are going to be worse off, that is a fact. The Eu is by far our largest trading partner, and after all this is said and done it still will be. All that is going to happen is that we are going to get worse deals than we did prior to leaving, and we lose our position of influence. But this is our fault, this is our fault for not reaching those people. We need to make them understand why immigrants and refugees aren’t the problem, and unite them against the Tories of whom are fucking us all. If UKIP and Farage are getting the message to the working class better than we are, it is our fault. We need to come to terms with the current political landscape and realise that complaining about the biased media and corrupt politicians isn’t going to do anything. On that same note, simply telling people they are brainwashed or racist doesn’t really help either.
The left NEED to bring the underlying social antagonisms to
the forefront of the debate, because at the end of the day, people are soon
going to see that fascism doesn’t have the answer. This political / economic
model cannot provide for the people who are currently struggling in society and
things will only get worse. It is either Socialism or fascism going forwards, I’ve
said it before, the neoliberals and “centrists” need to make a choice,
Classical / Neoliberalism = Tories / Ukip, Social liberalism = Corbyn. There is
no time left, if the right is allowed to continue being a cancer within the
labour party, we are going to see a UKIP / Tory coalition in 2020.
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