Jeremy Corbyn – guilty of conviction:

The right-wing press in the UK have character-assassinated, criticised and utterly ridiculed Jeremy Corbyn over the last couple of weeks. His appearance and choice of casual clothing when socialising have been mocked, and his views on a myriad of political issues have been derided. The question which you should be asking is this: what is the right-wing media so scared of?

The answer can be complex, but it also can be very simple: Jeremy Corbyn is a genuine socialist with a genuine anti-austerity agenda.  Nothing could induce more fear into the heart of neo-conservative institutions, and, of course, the press – which plays a critical function in upholding exploitative capitalist values through indoctrinating the masses – is in no way immune from this sense of fear.

The right-wing press is epitomised by The Sun ‘news’ paper, a tabloid which is the best selling in the UK; the tabloid which has a requires its readers to have a literacy age which equates to 8 years old. For sporting a short, trimmed beard, he has been called “pognomaniacal” by Borys Jonson. Evidently, as we live in an age of beard-phobia, all men must conform to an unnatural shaven consensus, otherwise the electorate shall panic!

He’s also been accused of being a “dangerous Marxist throwback” and every photo of him isn’t glamorous – he’s never shown smiling, but in mid-expression. These cheap shot tactics are depressingly simple, and always the same. After all, how you eat a bacon sandwich is vitally important with regard to your ability to govern, just ask Ed Miliband.

Put simply, The Sun dumbs down politics so that the working classes echo its opinions to maintain an unhealthy class divide in society. The tragedy is the fact that British society allows itself to be hoodwinked by such crass tactics, again and again.

What we are witnessing in politics is a much of a muchness. What the right-wing press wants is to dictate the rules of the political game in the UK.  Only slick, soundbite politicians, educated within the narrow confines of Eton, Harrow, Oxford and Cambridge, cleanly shaved, wearing tailor-made suits and with dull, non-descript haircuts can become leaders of the Conservative or Labour Party. These forms of social control are then perpetuated by the tiny area of consensus politics which the Labour Party, to its detriment, shares with the Tories at the present.

Fundamentally, the choices have been full fat austerity with the Tories, and semi-skimmed austerity with Labour. How this makes for a democratic system is beyond me. The public deserves a genuine choice, not this dull ideological stalemate.

The right-wing media believe that they can win and lose elections with their strident propaganda. The sad, sombre truth is that they can, and that they will – unless the political consciousness miraculously ascends a few chakras soon, this seems highly unlikely.

Consequently, this takes as full circle to Jeremy Corbyn. He is anti-austerity. For that alone, he would win my vote. After all, should the IMF dictate economic policy in the UK, or should our freely elected Prime Minister? Democracy has become a farce in the UK, and it shall remain so as long as a few powerful rich men dictate the state of play due to their accumulation of fiat currency.

Other issues which Jeremy Corbyn has been ridiculed for is trying to start a dialogue with ISIS. The comical thing about this is the fact he was similarly criticised for suggesting the exact same thing with the IRA during the troubles in Northern Ireland. Whilst he was criticised for the unoriginal notion of a dialogue with the UK’s enemies, he has been vindicated by the success of the Northern Ireland peace process. With Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness both serving in Stormont, Jeremy Corbyn’s opinions have been greeted with acclaim.

Conversley, when he suggests this with ISIS, he is called a traitor, a weak lefty and a coward.  These disparaging remarks are a mere cover for the truth. I do not doubt, and I would stake my house on this, that the US government has a channel of communication with the leaders of ISIS. The fact is that ISIS, whilst idealogically extreme, must have genuine aims aside from an Islamic caliphate. For instance, as they are locked in a sectarian conflict with the Shia dominated government, I think greater autonomy, and security, for the Sunnis of Iraq would go a long way to satisfying their adherents.

Now, I want to clarify something: negotiating with your enemy does not equate to accepting, or enabling, their heinous acts. I am not an apologist for Islamic extremism, and the resulting violence it causes.  And nor is Jeremy Corbyn. It is a brave move to talk to your enemy. If we don’t understand our enemies, how can we possibly defeat them?

Away from foreign policy, Jeremy Corbyn also proposes renationalising the railways. Again, this is something which would be for the embetterment of society as a whole. A ghastly fact which the mainstream right-wing media has never confessed is the fact that capitalism is hugely inefficient. A private company will always want to charge as much as they possibly can, as well as cut costs to as low as possible. This is why train fares increase in line with inflation every year, but the salaries of TFL do not. This is why trains are hideously packed during rush hour, despite the fact more carriages could be attached for consumer comfort.

These arguments are never presented by the right-wing media, and it is why issues such as immigration dominate the concerns of the electorate. Whilst the immigration system is worthy of criticism, it is one of many factors which impact on the lives of British working people. Please also note that immigration is one of the most important tools of capitalism, and that the reason the UK has such high levels of immigration is due the dominance of big business, and not due to culturally Marxist attitudes, however prevalent they may be.

It is these arguments which Jeremy Corbyn will bring to light. He will bring these to light because he is authentic. He has conviction. His opinions are solid in the face of criticism, and I, for one, endorse his leadership bid. Part of being in a healthy democracy is having a clear electoral choice – not having (for all intents and purposes) a two party system where both parties straddle for the mediocre middle-ground.