Corbyn, Elections and the Case for Rebellion

Progressives have had a hopeful number of years, in both the US and UK. In the US, the huge grassroots movement of Bernie Sanders, which effectively began in 2016, inspired hope in many. Specifically hope that meaningful structural change could occur within electoral politics. Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party, beginning in 2015, did the same in the UK. In different ways, both movements ended in electoral defeat, and are now eclipsed by a global pandemic. In each of these movements, and their eventual defeat, there are extremely vital lessons that progressives need to learn and understand. I sincerely hope they do.

The membership of the Labour Party grew under Corbyn to about half a million, the biggest political group in Europe. In 2015 he won 2 leadership elections with a landslide each time. Clearly, many people wanted beneficial change and rightly saw Corbyn as representing that change. Unfortunately Corbyn, from the inception of his leadership, was relentlessly attacked and derided by mainstream media and the political class. I have never known of a politician to be treated in quite the way Corbyn was. It was astonishing and seemed to be an instinctive, convulsive reaction from most politicians and commentators. Was he deemed a threat to their interests maybe?

The attempts to delegitimise, trivialise and demonise Corbyn were, I believe, unparalleled in British history. Early on as Labour leader, Corbyn was treated as a joke by virtually all media commentators and politicians. People scoffed and said "why don't you just resign?", without ever citing any policy critiques or any critique of substance whatsoever. Politicians would rather make fun of the clothes he wore. As his popularity grew, the viciousness, vitriol and venom really came into play, especially from senior figures of his own party.

There was the infamous chicken coup that 172 Labour MPs were involved in. This coup involved members of the Parliamentary Labour Party and was designed to oust Corbyn as leader, in spite of the fact he won 2 landslide leadership elections and grew their party to half a million members. Every Labour politician involved in this coup disrespected the leadership, disrespected the membership and disregarded any notion of party unity. The amount of infighting and disharmony they created massively hindered Labour's performance in the 2017 General Election. Labour's peformance was actually remarkable considering the relentless campaign of denigration directed at Corbyn and his allies. The Labour politicians involved in the coup cared more about their careers and the status quo than the success of their own party. They should be ashamed of themselves. This reaction to Corbyn, both from within his party and without, was incredibly indicative of how toxic our society is and, importantly, how this toxicity infected the main political party meant to be representing working people. Of course, now we have the leaked Labour Report, verifiable proof that many senior Labour politicians actively sabotaged the 2017 General Election just to oust Corbyn as leader. The political implications of this report are staggering and it should not be doubted that these senior figures are responsible for the degradation, failure and ultimate destruction of the Labour Party.

In 2015, as a kind of outsider to the political landscape, I was utterly fascinated at how Corbyn was treated. Initially, this wasn't a political fascination for me. It was a fascination concerned with the very notion of truth. Lies and unfounded attacks poured like torrents from news outlets. The mainstream media was so clearly involved in a systematic campaign of vilification.

Following the Corbyn phenomenon closely, what I learned is that the mainstream media is an integral aspect of the British Establishment and the neoliberal hegemony of our society. In other terms, the mainstream media is vital in propping up the corrupt, powerful corporatists who control this country through lies, manipulation and propaganda. Neoliberalism, by the way, is unregulated capitalism. Neoliberalism is just as much an ideology as it is the dominant economic system of our society. But interestingly, by attacking Corbyn in such a vitriolic fashion, the Neoliberal Beast revealed itself. Normally, this beast conceals itself very effectively from public view. But in this instance, many people managed to catch a glimpse. This partly explains how Corbyn managed to politicise hundreds of thousands of people, including me. The injustice and immorality of this whole phenomenon was visceral and palpable, and incredibly motivating.

The rapper Lowkey called Corbyn a glitch in the matrix. This is accurate. The Establishment would never ordinarily permit a figure like Corbyn, who unwaveringly holds decent, humanitarian values, to attain leadership. His inclusion on the leadership ballot was not a serious choice and his election as leader was highly unexpected. New Labour holds the same fundamental values as the Conservative Party. Unless you change the fundamental conditions of oppression that each of these parties embodies, no substantial or meaningful change is ever going to occur in society. This is an indisputable argument to me that, if you are a true progressive, you will leave the Labour Party and devote your energy to civil disobedience. To stand up to the Neoliberal Beast that threatens all of us, we need to construct a viable opposition from outside the Establishment. You cannot do this within Labour. If you haven't learned this yet, I'm not sure when you will.

Some people might put forward the argument: "But if no progressive politicians were within Labour, if there was no internal pressure for good, then society would be even more oppressive". But maybe the fact that there are more progressives within Labour, making society a little more tolerable, just prolongs the fundamental conditions of oppression that you simply can't alter from within. Then we are in a situation where a handful of progressives are making minor reforms within the party, but the fundamental conditions of oppression just keep going on and on and on and no substantial change ever occurs.

We have reached a significant crossroads in 2020. This is, literally, the most significant period in human history. We face a climate and ecological catastrophe, as even the most conservative scientists are telling us. It really is all hands on deck. I'm not sure how many people get this? For those who believed in the Corbyn project (or Sanders project in US), for those who care about oppressed people, for those who are interested in evidence-based arguments, for those who understand the way unregulated capitalism is at the source of most of the world's problems, I urge you to properly look into the climate and ecological emergency. We need to unite behind this common problem and understand that it is the greatest threat we all face. Many people in poorer parts of the world are already suffering from climate and ecological breakdown, even though they are least responsible for this crisis. It should also be remembered that we have already entered what scientists call "The Sixth Mass Extinction". In other words we, as a species, are quite literally destroying life on Earth.

If all the progressives within Labour used their positions to form an alternative movement from outside the system, or joined a resistance movement like Extinction Rebellion, this will help create a viable opposition to the Neoliberal Beast. This really is the only option left. It is now or never. In this sense, Chris Hedges gets it, who argues that we need to "pit power against power". Neoliberal corporatists, in knowingly destroying life on Earth, have got us and our children by the throats. We can't dither and support minor, gradual reforms anymore. Chris Hedges writes:

"Refusal to participate in the further destruction of the planet means a rupture with traditional politics. It means noncooperation with authority. It means defying in every nonviolent way possible consumer capitalism, militarism and imperialism. It means adjusting our lifestyle, including becoming vegans, to thwart the forces bent upon our annihilation. And it means waves of sustained civil disobedience until the machine is broken"

Considering the gravity of the situation we are in and the severe threat posed to us by the corporate class, I would say it is radical not to rebel. It is extreme behaviour not to partake in civil disobedience. I am genuinely surprised that more people, especially progressives, aren't interested in rebellion and are continuing to spend energy on electoral politics.

Are you a Labour member who believed in the Corbyn project? Are you a Labour MP who believed in the Corbyn project? If so, stop clinging to this party. Stop hoping. We don't need hope. We need courage. Take action. Devote your energy to civil disobedience. Join Extinction Rebellion. Form a new movement. Connect with other movements. Support independent, evidence-based journalism. Get with the times. Write. Create. Share ideas. Support others. Don't give into hate.