Re: <nettime> Corbyn as a medium is the message

[Richard Barbrook <richard@imaginaryfutures.net>]

Hiya,

> great to hear from an insider and know there's life for labour after
> blair and the millibands.

The Labour Left has been stubbornly defending its arsenal waiting until the 
correct moment came for its counter-attack to be launched!

> i have no doubts that jeremy's followers
> are like you describe'em: antiausterity occupy uncut precariat types.

They are only one section of a much wider support base. What is inspiring
about Jeremy's meetings is the great social, ethnic, cultural and generational 
diversity of their audiences.

> my concerns regarding corbyn are three: he's boring; 

Maybe for Italians who like their politicians shouting loudly! However, for the English,
Jeremy's homespun style is very attractive, especially when compared to the clone
politicians of both the Tories and the Blairites.  

> his program is similar to mitterrand's in.. 1981; 

Given that he's one of Jeremy's heroes, Salvador Allende's 1970-3 Popular Unity
government is a much better comparison. Cybersyn will be reborn in England's
green and pleasant land:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ybjOw6UJ8A

> he's no opposition to cameron pulling the uk out of the eu (please 
> don't leave us talking globish to ourselves;) 

Don't believe what you're told by the bourgeois media! 

Jeremy is very clear that he prefers a social Europe to ECB-imposed austerity:
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/07/jeremy-corbyn-wants-britain-stay-eu

> By all means renationalize railways (if only to give
> us continentals a change to travel across your fair island cheaply;)

Jeremy argues for the socialisation not nationalisation of the railways:
http://jeremycorbyn.org.uk/articles/our-railways/

> and defend what's left of attlee, but have the old man address new
> demands, identities, priorities. 

Jeremy's programme for the north of England was crowd-sourced from
1,200 suggestions:
http://www.jeremyforlabour.com/corbyn_harnesses_northern_voices_to_make_the_case_for_investing_in_the_north

This participatory model of policy-making is the Left's replacement for management
consultants and spin doctors deciding the party's manifesto.

> Please reassure me he's gonna breathe
> new life in the british left and the despicable tories will be
> defeated next time.

Jeremy's leadership campaign has already enthused a revival of the English Left. However, his victory is only the opening salvo
in what will be a hard and brutal campaign to rid our country of neoliberalism. As CLR James explained, this radical social change 
will require the conscious involvement of millions of people ... 

Richard

=======================

Dr. Richard Barbrook
Dept of Politics and IR,
University of Westminster
32-38 Wells Street
LONDON W1T 3UW
England

+44 (0)7879 441873

Skype: richard.barbrook
Facebook: Richard Barbrook
Twitter: @richardbarbrook

http://www.classwargames.net
http://www.politicsandmediafreedom.net
http://www.imaginaryfutures.net
http://www.cybersalon.org
http://www.theclassofthenew.net
http://www.imaginaryfutures.net/other-works

âThe proletarian revolution is that critique of
human geography through which individuals 
and communities will begin constructing places
and events suitable for the re-appropriation not
only of their labour, but also of their total 
history. By virtue of the resulting mobile 
spaces of play, and by virtue of freely chosen
variations in the rules of the game, the 
autonomy of place and the authenticity of life 
will be discovered.â

Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle.


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