An Early Christmas.

Written By: - Date published: 12:33 pm, December 5th, 2019 - 23 comments
Categories: Bernie Sanders, elections, International, Jeremy Corbyn, Left, Media, political alternatives, politicans, Politics, Propaganda, social democracy, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, uk politics, us politics - Tags: , , , , ,

In about a week from now, Jeremy Corbyn will be beginning the process that will install him as the Prime Minister of the UK government. That will be in spite of the ongoing uniform antagonism unleashed on the UK Labour Party from across the entire spectrum of UK mainstream media – smears, omissions and downright lies that have persisted since Jeremy Corbyn was first democratically elected as the leader of the party by party members.

With the election of Corbyn, liberalism in the UK might finally be back in the six foot hole that the likes of Thatcher and Reagan should never have exhumed it from in the late 1970s.

Julian Assange will likely receive a deserved message of goodwill before the year’s out. I simply can’t see a Corbyn led UK government having any truck with US requests for his extradition.

Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden will (I suspect) also have occasion to be a bit perky since Corbyn can quite reasonably be viewed as confirmation of the seismic shift taking place across ‘the Anglosphere’. In case you’ve missed it (perhaps by being glued to mainstream media?) Bernie Sanders is on track to be the next President of the USA. And he’s already indicated he’ll call the dogs off Snowden and Manning.

Of course, what we might refer to as the ‘permanent state’ – the likes of the intelligence community , military complexes and “big tech”  with their vast networks of media patronage – they will be less than happy with the ascendancy of both Corbyn and Sanders given that both head up a drive towards social democratic governance of capitalism.

That shift to social democracy is a much darker prospect for aforementioned actors than anything Donald Trump might have been. Donald Trump was/is merely a bad face for their ideology – not a threat to it.

So expect things to take a sharp down turn in terms of negative messaging and propaganda from the misnamed ‘free’ press when it comes to “news” about Jeremy Corbyn and the UK government. And expect the current “ghosting” of Sanders by ‘pop’ media (ie, ‘free media/corporate media/mainstream media) to transform and come at him with bared fang and claw.

I’ll be viewing with interest the reaction of the many, many people who like to claim progressive and/or leftist credentials, but who have displayed a penchant to see only what they are told.

Is their take on Julian Assange going to flip flop yet again in light of Corbyn’s government bringing his persecution at the hands of the state to an end? Or will they use that as evidence to suggest that Corbyn’s unfit to be Prime Minister?

And what about when/if pop media tries to breath life into nonsense around Sanders being a Russian asset? Will those who only see what they are told go along with that as they did the whole Russian hoax post last US election? Or will it be a bridge too far even for their gullibility? We’ll see.

I don’t know about you, but I’m seriously looking forward to seeing and hearing intelligent people leading powerful and influential countries. I’m looking forward to the emergence of domestic and foreign policies that are not safely contained within dotted lines laid out and marked down by unelected people from within largely unaccountable institutions that elected representatives have been in thrall to for far too long.

Will you join me in raising an anticipatory glass of cheer to the death of liberalism and the end of its war culture? It’s been a long time coming.

Merry Christmas.

23 comments on “An Early Christmas. ”

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  1. Robert Guyton 1
    5 December 2019 at 1:29 pm

    Yes.

  2. Tiger Mountain 2
    5 December 2019 at 1:42 pm

    yay, that welcome event-a bill post I can identify with!

    If one or both of Bernie or Jeremy succeed it would make my decade, and millions of working class people’s too likely.

    The US Dems are doing all things possible to spoil Bernie’s run, but he is relentlessly covering the territory. His Insta tells the story. The spanner in the works is 60 odd (very) million evangelical voters, but hey, we shall see.

    Some UK Generals have previously threatened a coup if Mr Corbyn is elected-Oh Jeremy Corbyn…

  3. Robert Guyton 3
    5 December 2019 at 2:00 pm

    "The spanner in the works is 60 odd (very) million evangelical voters, but hey, we shall see."

    God needs to make his move now!

  4. Brigid 4
    5 December 2019 at 2:01 pm

    I surely will.

    If Jeremy Corbyn wins the UK election..

    I couldn't wish for anything better.

  5. pat 5
    5 December 2019 at 2:06 pm

    I'll raise one with you, but more in hope than anticipation

  6. observer 6
    5 December 2019 at 2:19 pm

    Politics lesson one is being able to distinguish between assessing the evidence, and wishful thinking.

    Corbyn's Labour might do better than expected, as before. But the Tories still didn't leave Downing Street in 2017, and Johnson won't this time.

    Being "leftist" doesn't mean we have to stick our heads in the sand.

    • Bill 6.1
      5 December 2019 at 3:46 pm

      Anticipating something isn't the same as knowing something. So there's that.

      And as I commented on Nick Kelly's post, Momentum's shift from being a broad based political movement to being a simple adjunct of UK Labour, doesn't exactly thrill me. In fact, it makes me a tad nervous.

      On the other hand, the Tories were only in a position to form a government because of their extraordinary gains in Scotland. And those gains came about (I'd argue) because Kezia Dugdale, as leader of Scottish Labour and believing Corbyn's Labour had zero electoral traction/chance, struck a devils alliance with the Tories in order to reign in the SNP which, she hoped, would boost her own party's fortunes into the bargain. That ended well, didn't it? (I commented on all this at the time)

      So…if UK Labour merely holds steady in England and Wales (retains its share of the vote from last time around) then the retreat of the Tories in Scotland (there is no way they will retain those 12 Scottish seats), alongside the fact they've lost the support of the DUP, will result in Corbyn being in the position to form a government.

      Granted, my analysis might be off and my optimism therefor misplaced. But sticking my head in the sand? Hardly 😉

  7. Tony Veitch (not etc.) 7
    5 December 2019 at 3:32 pm

    Corbyn in 2019, Sanders in 2020 – and the world slowly regaining its equilibrium after some dreadful decades wallowing in neoliberal shit.

    Bring it on.

    PS I know Bill doesn’t like the term ‘neoliberal’ but it is universally associated with the unsavoury practices of the last 40 years.

    • Bill 7.1
      5 December 2019 at 4:01 pm

      I just think too many people misunderstood the 'neo' prefix as denoting the arrival of something new when in fact it was just liberalism as Dickens would have known it being revived (regurgitated might be a better or more accurate description 🙂 )

      I mean, look at all the people who painted themselves surprised as social indicators started to mirror those of Dickensian times? That kind of betrays a blind spot about liberal economics and suggests some people believed that neo-liberalism was somehow fundamentally different to liberalism.

      Anyway. I don't care if other people want to use the term 'neo liberal', but I prefer to call my apples "apples".

      • Brigid 7.1.1
        5 December 2019 at 5:12 pm

        Regurgitatus cum liberalismo.

        Erbrochen liberalismus

        Libéralisme régurgité

        regurgitirovannyy liberalizm

        újbóli liberalizmus

        liberalismo regurgitado

        I've not really got nothing to do. Spose to be moving house tomorrow

      • pat 7.1.2
        5 December 2019 at 6:07 pm

        Suspect the problem with liberalism (neo or not) is its the fact it has been applied to both the economic and the sociological…and they work in conflict but are promoted as indivisible

  8. Exkiwiforces 8
    5 December 2019 at 3:42 pm

    Would like to see this current NZ Government pull a Big Norm Kirk Xmas present for those on some form of benefit as his government did back in the early 70's before his untimely death.

    As for old poor Jerry in the UK atm, I think I've got more chance of seeing RNZAF ACF get reformed or me seeing the Black Caps win the Boxing Day Test at the MCG than old Jerry winning the UK election.

  9. AB 9
    5 December 2019 at 3:59 pm

    And even if neither of them wins – they are survived by the popular movements they have stitched together. "A leader is the wave pushed ahead by the ship" (Leo Tolstoy). Someone else will come along.

  10. Gosman 10
    5 December 2019 at 4:12 pm

    Have you been getting in to the Eggnog a little early Bill?

  11. Ad 11
    5 December 2019 at 4:54 pm

    Can't fault your optimism Bill.