Jeremy Corbyn has been at the forefront of abuse from the media since his announcement that he was running for Labour leadership. With Rupert Murdoch digging his dirty claws in deeper and deeper into the right-wing British press, the Corbyn allegations have gone from laughable to upsetting. But of course that would be the case. Jeremy Corbyn is the embodiment of hope and a progression towards a new kind of politics; a new politics that is finally threatening the 1% of the population that has been comfortable for far too long under a Tory government – and the right-wing media are doing all they can to stop that from happening.
Some of my favourites have been the Daily Mail’s claim that Jeremy Corbyn welcomes “the prospect of an asteroid ‘wiping out’ humanity” – with these stupid headlines, who can blame him? And the so-called ‘National Anthem Outrage’ created by The Sun, in which they claim Corbyn “snubbed” the Queen for not involving himself in our national sycophanthem; all while conveniently forgetting that they once hacked into her grandson’s phone. Honestly, I would prefer to read an article about Jeremy’s love for photographing manhole covers and writing poetry than another piece about his shorts.
But while this picture is being painted of Corbyn’s policies, surely the same should be done for our apparently ‘pig-loving’ Prime Minister, David Cameron’s and the rest of his Tory chums’. As everyone attacks Jeremy Corbyn for his grandad jumpers, the Tories are getting away with their cuts from the welfare state, destroying our NHS, schools and our basic human rights. It pains me to see more and more stories about people committing suicide due to their benefits being removed, all while huge companies like Amazon, Google and people like Gary Barlow can get away with tax avoidance. But of course, all this is pushed aside to attack Jeremy Corbyn’s fairer and kinder politics.
You are not the only person on this planet. While you may not be affected by, for example, the £9000 university fees, someone else may be turning down the human right for higher education because they simply can’t afford it. I am incredibly fortunate to be here at Bristol, but the worry about money is a constant stress while I should be enjoying my only chance to be at University and I know so many others who feel the same. Change may seem far away or impossible but the Labour party’s having a truly socialist leader with growing support is a firm start.
The excitement of Jeremy’s success is building. We can see it through his 59.5% majority in the Labour leadership result. We can see it in the increase of strikes and demonstrations. We can even see it in the panic from the right-wing media. People have had enough of unfair politics that only benefit the richest of our society. As John McDonnell said in his Labour conference speech: “We remain inspired by the belief and hope that another world is possible. This is our opportunity to prove it. Let’s seize it. Solidarity.” We are not accepting injustice anymore, together, with Jeremy, we can seize a new world built on competence and compassion.