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.

My Sombre Goodbye to Terry Pratchett

My Sombre Goodbye to Terry Pratchett:

Having been an avid reader since my childhood, and having been born in the United Kingdom, it can be of little surprise that I am a keen fan of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. However, I am not only an ardent admirer of his work (which I feel has been somewhat under-appreciated amongst the highest echelons of the literati), I became highly appreciative of the man behind the books.  With his death much on mind since he sadly passed away in March 2015, I would like to dedicate a humble article to his memory. I do not doubt his memory will live on until the crack of doom, but if I can play a tiny part in that, I would only be too happy to do so.

I can remember being at primary school when I first came across one of his books. I took Only You Can Save Mankind home and read it within a couple of days. My maternal grandmother, also a keen reader, was pleased that I was reading a Pratchett novel. She told me, “There is an entire section dedicated to him at WH Smith’s.” If you are British, you will know that is the epitome of popular success for a writer.

Within a couple of years, I had started reading the Discworld series. Most memorably, I liked the Death sequence, and they remain my favourites (sorry, Rincewind). For those of you who have not read Terry Prathett’s Discworld series, Death is a major character in them. He cameos in many, and is the protagonist in a few. On a personal note, I think that Pratchett’s writing is hugely successful for that reason; he takes concepts and truths which humans fear and turns them into something humorous.

The beauty of the Discworld, at least for me, is how very human it is. It’s hugely satirical, and it’s easy to spot the institutions which Pratchett dissects, not with a stinging critique, but with a wry quip. Although it does help to be British to fully understand his work, he utilises Hindu, Buddhist and ancient Egyptian culture in his fantasy series (not to mention the rich tapestry of European folk tales which are parodied, too).

If you haven’t read his books, I would advise you to give them a try. Although it is advised to read them in chronological order, like any writer, he improves with time. I prefer his later works, but it is ultimately up to you when and if you do.

Away from his books, Pratchett was a man whom actively used his status as a celebrated writer to raise awareness about a variety of issues. Like myself, Pratchett was a member of the British Humanist Association (I do believe that he donated far more to their cause than I ever could, however).  His most famous quote to mind is that he would rather be a rising ape than a falling angel – something which resonated so strongly with me that I bought the poster and put it up in my classroom.

As well as being a famous skeptic and rationalist, Pratchett also raised awareness about early-onset Alzheimer’s as he suffered from a rare form of the disease, posterior cortical atrophy, in which the areas at the back of the brain begin to shrivel up and shrink. Not only did Pratchett suffer from this, he was brave enough to go public and show the world how the disease had significant consequences for his daily life. I truly admired his courage, but I felt genuine pangs of sadness to see such a great man, a man dependent on his rich intellect, perversely brought down by a truly cruel disease.

He donated one million pounds of his personal fortune to Alzheimer’s research , knowing that any cure developed would surely come too late for himself.

Nonetheless, Pratchett didn’t only raise awareness for issues which impacted on his life; he was also instrumental in bringing to light the near extinction of the Orangutang. He was a trustee for the Orangutang Foundation UK.  He even went so far as to create a character in his books to further draw attention to this issue: a wizard at the Unseen University was accidentally turned into a Orangutang, but chooses to remain as one as it suits the nature of his work (as he is a librarian). However, the only word he can say is ook, yet all the wizards can understand what this word means – well, they are magic, after all.

Pratchett released two documentaries on the plight of the Orangutang, one in 1994, and the other in 2013. Having followed one male ape through the humid jungles of Borneo, named Kusasi, Pratchett decided to see if he can find him, but also to witness the legacy Kusasi has created. The intertwining of the fate of the Orangutang and Pratchett himself, just two years before his death, was unmistakable, and added to the sense of tragedy in the excellent documentary.

The first and only time I saw Sir Terry Pratchett was in 2011 at a one man stage show – aptly titled An Evening with Terry Pratchett – which was more a less a plug for his latest book release, Snuff. He was full of his wry humour, self-deprecating to the last, and it just felt great to meet a man I greatly admired.

I am not one for hero worship, or making god out of mere human mammals. Yet, if there ever was a man to admire, it is Sir Terry Pratchett. Humble, intelligent, rational, pro-science, brave, witty, bizarre, fantastical, brave – this man’s death is a loss to humanity.