Voices crying
Jeremy Corbyn isn’t the problem. Nor is he the solution. He is the voice speaking for those who know what the real problem is.
He is in a long line of voices crying in the wilderness. Their inevitable fate does not detract from the truth of their message.
The Parliamentary Labour Party says Labour will lose badly at the next election if Jeremy is still the leader. Only politicians think losing their jobs in an election is the problem.
Jeremy Corbyn was voted in as leader by a majority of the Labour party because he spoke for them. An increasing majority think he still speaks for them without hesitation or deviation in spite of vilification. More importantly, Jeremy thinks he is a voice crying out for them and refuses to be silenced. That is the only option when you are crying out about injustice.
They don’t need him to be Prime Minister. That job would require him to go back on the principles he has spent his life refining and that define who he is.
They need him to be a voice that speaks clearly for justice for all, unlimited by party politics or ideological perspectives. They want a voice that says the lopsided society we have created is over, that the time of self-serving, vested interests is up.
He is the voice for those of all classes who see the downside of globalisation when governments sell their control to multinationals, when the voting publics’ voice is silenced by vested interests, when narrow ideologies block any attempt to give equal opportunity to all. He speaks for all those who oppose a media that is in the strangling hands of a few self-serving dynasties that put themselves outside the law of the land and above the tax of the land. He voices the demands of the many who want to waylay the pension fund despoilers. He echoes the words of those who wonder if they will be able to afford food on a pension. They will never have to worry about damage to the painting on a yacht if a careless deckhand ties it up too robustly.
The ballot box doesn’t work for real people. Fortunately, the world has moved on and power lies in new places. Labour MPs worried about their jobs should concentrate on being active constituency MPs. Go home and work locally to set up and lead a groundswell of righteous discontent. Find new ways to express opinions that cannot be ignored. Get out of Westminster and give power back to real people.
Pie in the sky? No. What happens when the force of social media concentrates on big business and their tax avoidance ways? The voices of individuals count and they are listened to.
The Referendum vote showed the waning power of career politicians. They gave real people a say on a critical issue where each vote counted. Their invitation to vote had little to do with democracy, or with the needs of real people.
For once, there was no call on party loyalty, no deals, no smoothing over the cracks, no face saving compromises, no backroom fixes, no favours being called in and no scope for wealthy backers to influence and get back more than they paid for.
The real people watched, listened and voted and at last their votes counted. They said ‘stuff you’ to the politicians and voted Brexit.
The people led, the politicians fled. Those left behind were commanded, ‘get on with it and do what we want’.
The silenced people of every class and rank are rediscovering their power. They can take to the streets and demonstrate, form mass movements, wield the uncontrollable power of social media, exercise free expression of opinion in arenas that cannot be dictated by media godfathers and their families. The real people are forcing multinationals to listen. They are uncovering the wealth manipulators, driving the tax avoiders into the light and forcing the oligarchs and bankers from their well-protected lairs. MPs will have a real job if they work locally to spread that power.
Pope Francis, another voice, though not as much in the wilderness as some would like, said on his way to Poland last week, “Let’s not be afraid to state this reality. The world is at war because it has lost the peace. This is war for money. This is war for natural resources. This is war for the domination of peoples. Some might think I am speaking of religious war. No. All religions want peace; it is other people who want war.”
Jeremy is a voice telling us we are at war. Now, the real people need to identify the enemy and work out how to win back the peace.
