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Park Life

Park Life 71

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Spain hails Corbyn as left-wing 'ally'

The leader of Spanish protest party Podemos Monday hailed the British Labour Party's newly elected leader Jeremy Corbyn as a left-wing "ally" in the fight against economic liberalism.

Pablo Iglesias said the victory of the hard-left candidate Corbyn was a sign the anti-austerity movement was getting stronger in Europe.

"At last we will have an ally in the United Kingdom with whom we share conclusions and a plan to defend social rights through policies that fight inequality," Iglesias wrote in an opinion piece in centre-left newspaper El Pais.

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Happy Face

Happy Face 29

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I was very pleased to have found out that our MP, Mary Glindon, had voted with the Liberal Democrats in Parliament against the Labour/Conservative benefits cuts recently.

 

However, while Alan Campbell mentioned how pleased he was with his part in getting the benefits cuts through, Mary made no mention of her move.

 

When she previously defied Labour Party orders and voted against gay marriage, she explained her reasoning in her column, but she doesn’t say anything now, which is odd.

 

Perhaps our MPs would like to inform us if they are supporting one of the more traditional right-wing candidates or the more centrist Jeremy Corbyn?

 

David Ord

 

 

http://www.newsguardian.co.uk/news/politics-where-does-our-mps-support-lie-1-7406540

 

Letter in the North Tyneside free paper

 

:D

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RedfernMag

RedfernMag 0

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Even with Corbyn’s overwhelming victory across all sections of the Labour Party, there is something incredibly fragile about the situation. Certainly, the strong result, and the dreadful vote for Kendall, means that there can be no immediate move to depose Corbyn. The party machinery will want stability and legitimacy in the process, not a chaotic post-election brawl. And it seems unlikely that with such a pitiful vote the Blairites will actually walk out — they would merely be jumping off the gangplank if they did.
The Blairites and their allies will wait. They will nurse their wounds and get their people in position and dig in for a time when they can act. So there is now a period of time, not very long, when Corbyn and his supporters can put themselves in position for the coming trench warfare, get their supporters nominated and voted onto party bodies, start drafting proposal for democratic change in the party, start preparing for the selection of parliamentary and local candidates.
Because there will be war in the Labour Party. Project Fear was just the panicked, clearly ineffectual start. And in that war, the right wing will have the backing of the media, the spooks, the civil service, and a good chunk of the membership.

 

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PaddockLad

PaddockLad 17269

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Dennis Skinner having a geet pop :D

That's class :lol:

 

Caught another Jeremy at lunchtime,Mr Vine of wireless fame describing Ed Milliband as "left wing"....the bbc is chock full of biased tory fuckwits who have no idea what the fuck has been going on in Parliament during the last decade. Milliband was so left wing Gideon stole half his policies after the election ffs :huh:

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Happy Face

Happy Face 29

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It must surely rank as the greatest against-all-odds victory in British political history. Jeremy Corbyn began this contest as beyond rank outsider. He was 200-1, and that was one of the most favourable odds offered. Outside the campaigns he most passionately champions, barely anyone knew who this mild-mannered backbencher with the award-winning beard was.

 

After the most open and democratic contest in Labour’s history – an election run by rules introduced to appease the party’s Blairite right, who wanted to dilute the unions’ influence – this man now has the biggest mandate of any Labour leader in history.

 

A disclaimer: I’m someone who has actively backed his campaign, and spoken at some of his rallies. At the outset, the campaign had one clear purpose - to help set the terms of debate and put policies on the political agenda.

 

So how did he win? The Corbyn phenomenon has to be put in the broader context of surging disillusionment with political elites across the western world which finds its expression in support for Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, Podemos and the Front National, the SNP and Ukip.

 

Social democracy is in crisis because it accepted the underlying principles of austerity, and therefore has little to say. A vacuum was left, and the Corbyn phenomenon filled it. He offered an optimistic hopeful vision that resonated, and his rivals failed to do so. The heirs of New Labour have a lot of soul-searching to do, and it will mean rejecting the negativity and nihilism represented by their champions in the media.

 

But have no doubt. If this was an incredible political achievement, it was the easy bit. The challenges now faced by a Corbyn-led Labour party are absolutely huge. Those who have been inspired by his message must do more than just vote for him.

 

A vast and vibrant grassroots movement has to be built in communities across the country. It must love-bomb its opponents, and try to reach out to people who do not vote, to Ukip voters, SNP voters, Green voters and yes, Tory voters too. The media campaign against Corbyn’s leadership will surely be the most intense in British history, and only a big grassroots movement can counteract it.

 

What drives Corbyn, like anybody on the left, more than anything else is the plight of the poorest in society, low-paid workers, those with no affordable housing, and so on. But a political coalition cannot be built purely out of the poorest and the sympathy of others.

 

Now his leadership must also reach out to middle-income and middle-class people. His campaign has come up with detailed policies on self-employed people, who lack security and rights. This must be front and centre. As well as pledges on council housing and regulating private rents, he must build on his policies to get people on the housing ladder if that’s what they aspire to, particularly young people. Older people turn out more, and backed the Tories decisively in May. Policies on social care and pensioner poverty, for example, must be offered.

 

On immigration, he must rebut the scapegoating of migrants and refugees for the problems caused by the powerful, and offer solutions to issues such as low pay, unaffordable housing and job insecurity that fuel hostility. But he can, for example, offer extra funds for communities with higher levels of immigration so that the economic benefits of people moving here are felt.

 

The economic strategy must not simply be anti-austerity, but pro-something else, a forward-looking economic plan to modernise infrastructure and promote the renewable energy and hi-tech industries of the future. Democratising the economy, too, with strategic democratic public ownership, rather than the top-down nationalisation of the past. Social security spending can be reduced with a living wage and by dealing with the housing crisis.

 

Labour was nearly wiped out in Scotland in May, and the SNP is currently polling up to 55%, while Labour languishes at 20%. Turning that around in time for the Holyrood elections next year is impossible. Labour must be patient as it tries to win over those who abandoned it, grovel for letting them down so badly and show that it has indeed changed.

 

Corbyn has few supporters in the parliamentary Labour party, so he will have to be conciliatory with his appointments and involve MPs more in policymaking. Broad-based conferences should help determine policies, so MPs who vote against the whip will be rebelling against the party rather than simply the leader. The Tories will be baying at prime minister’s questions. Corbyn will have to reboot the format so it is no longer gladiatorial.

 

Then there are other challenges. The Tories are aiming to bankrupt the Labour party with their new trade union legislation. That in itself is an existential threat to the party. It is a grassroots movement that catapulted Corbyn to the top. If you backed him, you now have a responsibility. Get active, build a movement in your own community and start organising to win over those who are unconvinced. Without those efforts, this will fail. So, no pressure.

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/12/jeremy-corbyn-victory-easy-bit-grassroots

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Meenzer

Meenzer 15531

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:lol: My Russian pretty much starts and finishes with this, but I can only approve of the sentiment. :D

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