Corbyn refuses to follow the herd
IN the general “let’s attack Corbyn” mood that exists in most mainstream media outlets, unhelpful facts have given way to a dominating theme, whereby the ability of Corbyn to be elected as Prime Minister has become obfuscated by a mendacious plot that chooses to deny what has happened in the recent past.
These attacks bear a more than passing resemblance to those previously inflicted upon Michael Foot, who also chose to be not a be a sheep and follow perceived perceptions regarding policy.
Tony Blair was elected to power in 1997 on a vague promise of a change from existing Tory policies. In order to bring about this he elicited the approval and assistance of persons such as Murdoch and other media magnates. In so doing, any concept of change was doomed. While he would implement some policies that would be of benefit to specific groups, overall, nothing would change for working class people. Indeed, his policies so deprived the working classes that the Labour vote in what had hitherto been solid areas, disintegrated; namely Scotland, northern England and the English Midlands. In fact it is only in Wales, for whatever reason, that his vote did not altogether wither.
It is an undeniable fact that throughout the Blair/Brown tenure as leaders of Labour, that conditions for the working classes deteriorated while those of the elite grew considerably. This was evident in the financial sector, whereby restrictions were removed, seemingly ad hoc, in order to facilitate even more huge profits for these organisations.
Margaret Thatcher had set in motion policies that destroyed the manufacturing industry of this country and enabled entrepreneurs to close their businesses here and set up offshore, in whichever country offered them the cheapest labour. Under Blair/Brown these policies of exploitation were continued, so that huge swathes of Britain became an industrial wasteland. Hence the erosion of the Labour vote.
Where previously, young people in Britain had the opportunity when leaving school to either choose further education or join the workforce through a meaningful apprenticeship, throughout the Thatcher/Blair/Brown era, these opportunities were denied our young people. Thus we entered the era of zero-hour contracts whereby employment uncertainty became a norm. We would have regular news broadcasts all telling the same story, as to how unemployment was falling, but never informing us as to the form of employment the majority endured. Poverty both in work and without became a daily fact of life for working-class Britain, but these inconvenient facts would be largely ignored by the media and totally ignored by Westminster.
Eventually the people of Britain had enough of this obfuscation and in 2010 a coalition government replaced Brown, who spent many hours selling his very soul in order to cling to the vestiges of power.
Then came Cameron/Clegg; Cameron/Brexit/May.
Party membership in all main political parties was falling
dramatically as the general population failed to distinguish any distinct policy difference between predominantly Tory/Labour and could not reconcile an alleged Liberal leader siding with the Tories.
Scotland was lost to Labour under the leadership of the ultra-Blairite Jim Murphy and has been reduced to a meaningless sideshow; again only here in Wales do Labour cling to power, although as a result of Brexit, we have the disgusting spectacle of Ukip littering Assembly seats.
Thus Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour Party by an overwhelming majority of the membership and yet the mainstream media have set in place a predetermined policy to undermine any policy changes he has sought to enact that might improve the lot of the working classes.
They seek only the status quo whereby austerity is the norm, the rich get inordinately richer and the poor remain in abject poverty, beholden to their “masters” for allowing them to engage in the lowliest of endeavours for the most scant of returns. Patrick Rafferty Penygraig, Rhondda