O, Jeremy Corbyn

We don’t have to bow our heads in fear at the state’s acts of cultural tyranny. If Tunisian Muslims can protest for the right to eat in public during Ramazan, we can, too

In all of my adult life, I have occasionally felt relief at the outcome of an election, but never hope. Last Thursday’s British general elections were the first time that I actually felt hope. It is a curious statement to make, by an unreformed left of Marx, Socialist like me. After all the right wing, conservative party still emerged as the largest party, and they will form a government. Why should one be hopeful at the simple fact that the left wing Labour party overcame considerable deficit in the poles to deny a majority to the conservatives? I always recall feeling relief at the left’s victory in Pakistan or UK, or elsewhere. The left in my life time has basically come to mean conservative light, and has often had governance records that one could only lament. But still I felt relieved that at least they won’t make matters worse by more socially and economically regressive legislation. I felt relief that at least, the poor and the weak’s slide towards a neo-liberal economic abyss will be, at least slower.

I feel hope, for the first time in my life, from the election performance of Jeremy Corbyn, the uncompromisingly socialist leader of the Labour Party, not for its implications for the medium term. I feel hope from the long term implications of it. To me the unexpectedly vibrant performance of the Labour party, the overwhelming participation of young people in the vote, and then the overwhelming support of the young people for Jeremy Corbyn’s vision have washed away more than three decades of accumulated cynicism. Last Thursday’s election results may be read as British electorate’s support for the following propositions: (1) Neo-liberal capitalism is not necessarily common sense; (2) The idea of socialism is a not an anachronistic joke; and (3) glamour and money is not everything, principles and sincerity have a place in modern politics.
These three propositions are also precisely the ones that the political discourse in Pakistan has soundly rejected. Privatization, capitalism and mega-projects are indeed common sense. In fact they are sacrosanct. Remember Raheel Sharif’s ghoulish assertion that mass murder of lawyers in Balochistan was an effort to undermine CPEC? While that was a new low in public policy to equate murder with opposition to a road project, it was symptomatic of a mind set. Destruction of Jain Mander and the communities in central Lahore and the complete perplexed response to any opposition to destruction of heritage, is another.
Socialism is a bad joke in Pakistan. Don’t you know Soviet Union collapsed? It’s all about the market. Even the People’s Party with its modest accomplishment in social protections programs like Benazir Income Support won’t dare question the orthodoxy of privatization or market driven economy. If anything the left has been as culpable if not worse for perpetuating market based solutions upon the economy.
Principles and sincerity? It is considered a mark of worldly wisdom and analytical prowess in the Pakistani drawing rooms and media to declare, corruption king and principles beyond self enrichment, abstract and irrelevant.
The Pakistani left, however must take heart. In the UK they reverted to extremely toxic, xenophobic anti-immigrant political discourse in the face of economic uncertainty. In Pakistan blasphemy laws and anti-minority programs are almost the currency of the state and society’s cultural counter attack. It doesn’t have to be so. Last, Thursday’s election was the first time in more than 30 years that after Venezuela and Bolivia a major democracy unequivocally said no the Reagan/Thatcher era economic and cultural orthodoxy. A singularly unglamorous man, who had never compromised an inch on his principles all through his political life stood victorious. He was the butt of jokes on the right and the left. A subject of internal rebellion and external ridicule. But he stood firm — and he has won.
In Pakistan a good battle has to be fought and it can be won. The Mian Sahiban’s mega-road and energy project juggernaut is not unstoppable. We don’t have to bow our heads in fear at the state’s acts of cultural tyranny. If Tunisian Muslims can protest for the right to eat in public during Ramazan, so can we. The choice is not just between the merchantalist right and the fascistic right. Or between the right and right-light. It is not even between the national political right and the different, but equally regressive identity politics based left. It can be between truly emancipatory politics that span local to national scales, and traverse the class, ethnicity and religious divides. Principles, matter and people do respond. The situation for the poor and the weak is not just bad, it is unspeakably desperate. We have a duty to dream different realities for them, and to help realize those realities. Corbyn may have shown one way of doing it.
 
The writer is a Reader in Politics and Environment at the Department of Geography, King’s College, London

O, Jeremy Corbyn

We dont have to bow our heads in fear at the states acts of cultural tyranny. If Tunisian Muslims can protest for the right to eat in public during Ramazan, we can, too

In all of my adult life, I have occasionally felt relief at the outcome of an election, but never hope. Last Thursdays British general elections were the first time that I actually felt hope. It is a curious statement to make, by an unreformed left of Marx, Socialist like me. After all the right wing, conservative party still emerged as the largest party, and they will form a government. Why should one be hopeful at the simple fact that the left wing Labour party overcame considerable deficit in the poles to deny a majority to the conservatives? I always recall feeling relief at the lefts victory in Pakistan or UK, or elsewhere. The left in my life time has basically come to mean conservative light, and has often had governance records that one could only lament. But still I felt relieved that at least they wont make matters worse by more socially and economically regressive legislation. I felt relief that at least, the poor and the weaks slide towards a neo-liberal economic abyss will be, at least slower. I feel hope, for the first time in my life, from the election performance of Jeremy Corbyn, the uncompromisingly socialist leader of the Labour Party, not for its implications for the medium term. I feel hope from the long term implications of it. To me the unexpectedly vibrant performance of the Labour party, the overwhelming participation of young people in the vote, and then the overwhelming support of the young people for Jeremy Corbyns vision have washed away more than three decades of accumulated cynicism. Last Thursdays election results may be read as British electorates support for the following propositions: (1) Neo-liberal capitalism is not necessarily common sense; (2) The idea of socialism is a not an anachronistic joke; and (3) glamour and money is not everything, principles and sincerity have a place in modern politics. These three propositions are also precisely the ones that the political discourse in Pakistan has soundly rejected. Privatization, capitalism and mega-projects are indeed common sense. In fact they are sacrosanct. Remember Raheel Sharifs ghoulish assertion that mass murder of lawyers in Balochistan was an effort to undermine CPEC? While that was a new low in public policy to equate murder with opposition to a road project, it was symptomatic of a mind set. Destruction of Jain Mander and the communities in central Lahore and the complete perplexed response to any opposition to destruction of heritage, is another. Socialism is a bad joke in Pakistan. Dont you know Soviet Union collapsed? Its all about the market. Even the Peoples Party with its modest accomplishment in social protections programs like Benazir Income Support wont dare question the orthodoxy of privatization or market driven economy. If anything the left has been as culpable if not worse for perpetuating market based solutions upon the economy. Principles and sincerity? It is considered a mark of worldly wisdom and analytical prowess in the Pakistani drawing rooms and media to declare, corruption king and principles beyond self enrichment, abstract and irrelevant. The Pakistani left, however must take heart. In the UK they reverted to extremely toxic, xenophobic anti-immigrant political discourse in the face of economic uncertainty. In Pakistan blasphemy laws and anti-minority programs are almost the currency of the state and societys cultural counter attack. It doesnt have to be so. Last, Thursdays election was the first time in more than 30 years that after Venezuela and Bolivia a major democracy unequivocally said no the Reagan/Thatcher era economic and cultural orthodoxy. A singularly unglamorous man, who had never compromised an inch on his principles all through his political life stood victorious. He was the butt of jokes on the right and the left. A subject of internal rebellion and external ridicule. But he stood firm and he has won. In Pakistan a good battle has to be fought and it can be won. The Mian Sahibans mega-road and energy project juggernaut is not unstoppable. We dont have to bow our heads in fear at the states acts of cultural tyranny. If Tunisian Muslims can protest for the right to eat in public during Ramazan, so can we. The choice is not just between the merchantalist right and the fascistic right. Or between the right and right-light. It is not even between the national political right and the different, but equally regressive identity politics based left. It can be between truly emancipatory politics that span local to national scales, and traverse the class, ethnicity and religious divides. Principles, matter and people do respond. The situation for the poor and the weak is not just bad, it is unspeakably desperate. We have a duty to dream different realities for them, and to help realize those realities. Corbyn may have shown one way of doing it. The writer is a Reader in Politics and Environment at the Department of Geography, Kings College, London