The Commuters' Rebellion (detail). Full picture here
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| Berkeley Situationist poster by WM Weege, circa 1967 |
'Whatever the niceness and the current warm glow, Corbyn will be a leader of the hard left, for the hard left, and espousing both general politics and specific positions that the public just are not going to accept in many of the seats that Labour is going to have to win to get back in power'. - Alastair Campbell
Well, that's enough to win my vote - but I applaud Jeremy Corbyn from outside the auditorium, or more appropriately, the town halls where he has been whipping up support here in North London; and only metaphorically-speaking, since I've no intention of attending one of his meetings. I applaud from afar, as an observer of the political circus.
Anyone actively supporting Corbyn has also given up on mainstream politics, although perhaps they don't realise it. He has as much chance of winning a general election as Tony Benn did. He has attracted thousands of young folk to the Labour party, apparently. No wonder. Youth should be optimistic and idealistic even if the third characteristic is naivety. Before I slowly turned into the cynical middle-aged wretch writing this (ha-ha!) I voted Labour enthusiastically in the early 80s, when Michael Foot was leader - that's how naive-but-enthusiastic I was. He got Labour its lowest share of the vote at a general election since 1918 and the fewest parliamentary seats it had had at any time since before 1945. The difference being that his election to leadership wasn't (presumably) the big shock that a Corbyn rule would be today.
Labour was different then. It lost whilst standing on solid (electorally shaky) moral ground, which gradually shifted until it a decade later Tony Blair convinced that party that everyone wanted to be...what? Nice, middle-class-minded conservative citizens? You know what happened; the rise of middle Labour and the careerist politicians. Look, we're all middle now, aren't we? All we want is to own a home, elbow our way to the trough of individualist capitalism and sod notions of the 'collective good' and other Lefty ideals. Oh, we're concerned about the NHS, education and bills but...
Sorry, but mainstream politics is fucked (except in Scotland, perhaps). There, I said it. I'm not alone in saying it. All the new Labour Corbynites say it and want to change it. I wish them luck. I'd love to see what affect he has on the party. The Tory press and politicians are probably willing him to win. So am I and if he does, I shall continue applauding from the outside.
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Dystopia: A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia, kakotopia, or simply anti-utopia) is an imaginary community or society that is undesirable or frightening.
Such as one envisioned by Tories, Liberals and middle-England should Corbyn win an election...ha-ha. But this is just an excuse to post a track from Monolake's new EP, DEC. As I've written before about Robert Henke productions, by resolutely refusing to change much about his sound, he only reaffirms that it ain't broke and is better than a great deal of Techno around today...
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