The Show Trial by the News Media Must End Against Corbyn. Our Democracy Depends On It

Nobody should have been surprised when Keir Starmer declared Jeremy Corbyn would not be allowed to run as a Labour MP in the next General Election. Since Corbyn was elected Labour Party Leader in 2015, it has been the aim of both the corporate media owned by the 1% and centrists in and out of the party to have his socialist ideas discredited and him expelled from the party. Corbyn wasn’t supposed to win that leadership contest in 2015. The Labour political system saw him in the race as neoliberalism's beard. He was only there to be a sound bite for the news media-their conscience of the left 10-second clip to lead into the meat and potatoes of real leadership contenders who understood business, war and triangulation.

But Corbyn's message of a fair deal for all was too strong after five years of austerity under David Cameron. Corbyn gave them hope that politics based on socialism was the path to a green and pleasant land for the many. In his small way, my father helped sell Corbyn's vision by reminding younger party members that it was socialism in 1945 that created the NHS, alleviated the housing crisis, and nationalised industries that allowed for wage increases to workers.

Corbyn still shouldn't have won that race. But the other leadership contenders in that 2015 leadership race were bereft of not just- compassion for ordinary Britain but solutions to fix the nation’s endemic problems of inequality. The young were energised by Corbyn and joined the party in their thousands. They judged the other contenders as a cabal of self-interest in the leadership race. They rejected them along with their voting record that was aligned with the Tories when it came to financially harming the vulnerable.

Corbyn's leadership victory was miraculous. It made people like me less cynical about mainstream politics. My dad was ecstatic over Jeremy Corbyn's win. However, he was also cautious because after a lifetime of watching the entitled steal the hope of the ordinary with a "pragmaticism" that only benefited the more affluent. He didn't think they would take Corbyn's leadership victory lying down. "Tony Blair and his ilk won’t sit idly by while Corbyn returns the Labour Party to 1945."

Dad, as on so many other things, was correct in his assessment. The demonisation of Jeremy Corbyn by Blairites in the Labour Party in conjunction with a corrupted corporate press has been the longest show trial by news media in political history. I have never witnessed such a protracted hate campaign against one politician by the establishment in a G7 country, outside of civil rights leaders.

The vilification of Jeremy Corbyn was done with a nefariousness that would not have been out of place in an authoritarian state whose leadership feared the rise of a political movement that could dislodge them from power. In 2019 around the time of my father's memorial in London, I encountered so much hate and contempt for Corbyn from people well-respected in the fields of journalism, publishing, and politics that it made me sick to my stomach.

They sat with me for drinks and uttered their disgust for Corbyn. It always began with "oh that man, the terrorists he knows" and ended with "he can't win," which I read more as "he mustn't win."

It amazed me that these people regurgitated contrived talking points of his alleged misdeeds like a catechism for the church of neoliberalism. He was a stooge for antisemitism, an apologist for tyrannical regimes, and an economic simpleton. "He is too weak," they would say. I thought that Corbyn takes each abuse in interviews or attacks on the street with dignity and well-reasoned answers. That is not the character of a weak person.

These people choose to believe these trumped-up accusations. It fitted their worldview. For them, socialism was alright in theory, as a pub discussion. Sure everyone had the right to a decent life, but who is going to pay for it? In short, they feared the loss of status, dough and privilege if British society was dramatically altered when the needs of the many were given more measure than the greed of the few.

Their reactions to Corbyn gave me concrete evidence that systemic change will never come from liberals or even wealthy leftists because they like to appear compassionate while reaping the rewards of a bent system. It's a comfortable factory default setting because you can pretend you are virtuous while enjoying all the creature comforts of consumerism pretty well guilt-free.

If socialists want to win in the 21st century; they must stop clinging to the notion that established liberals, pundits in corporate media, and think tanks will lend them a hand to dismantle inequality.

Socialism must become firmly entrenched in the environmental movement. Socialists must proselytise on the streets, in housing complexes, food banks, refugee centres, factories, call centres, universities and on the avenues of social media. More of us must be willing to commit peaceful but disruptive civil disturbances that land us in jail.

The Labour Party is not going to save ordinary Britain. Their time has passed because Keir Starmer called the time of death for the left-wing and common-sense socialism in the Labour Party on February 15, 2023. Anything they offer the left during the next election will be denied or watered down by the time they come to form the government.

It is now up to us to be like milkweed and ride on the wind planting seeds of change, seeds of dissent and seeds of peaceful insurrection. The light of hope and prosperity won’t return to ordinary people unless we demand it with mass actions- again and again- until we overwhelm them. It is going to take decades to change what neoliberalism wrought, and our journey may not be successful. But it is our only option if we are to retain our humanity.

Thank you for reading my substack. Your support and subscriptions help me maintain my dad Harry Leslie Smith’s legacy alive as well as keep me housed. On February 25, 2023 Harry Leslie Smith would have been a hundred. I think he would have been sickened that his warning to not make his past our future became true. Take care, John