The Rude Awakening of the Newly Politicised

And how the manipulators have failed at their own game

As mentioned in another article, Jeremy Corbyn supporters have been subject to a relentless litany of misrepresentation and abuse since the Corbyn phenomenon began, as has Corbyn himself. Part of this abuse has been the denial that it is happening by the perpetrators, the blaming of the victims for the abuse they have experienced and of course the counter accusations of abuse against the victims. There has also been ganging up and collusion, not just amongst the rebel gang within the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party, i.e. MPs) or those against Corbyn in the party but between them, the ‘mainstream media’, other political parties and big business. These are often collectively termed ‘the establishment’.

The funny thing is, many Corbyn supporters, those who started getting involved after the last dismal Labour Party election failure or some time since, probably didn’t use these kinds of terms until recently. They didn’t have call to. Even if they were vaguely aware of terms like ‘the establishment’, ‘the mainstream media’, ‘anti-democratic’ and ‘gerrymandering’ for example, these were on the whole earnest, academic, confrontational words used by people unnaturally interested in politics, perhaps to create fantastical theories of doom. They were as foreign as terms like ‘the holy trinity’ and ‘the Eucharist’ are to those only passively involved in Christianity.

By taking an interest in politics at this time, Corbyn supporters have exposed themselves to the predicted firestorm’ that was to follow Corbyn’s election as Labour Party leader and the machinations of party politics that were previously an uninviting mystery. They have also exposed themselves to the shadowy unofficial system behind their society and with it a world of cynicism, amorality, corruption, vested interests, unholy alliances and Machiavellian behaviour the likes of which they would never have quite believed existed. With these discoveries come a new common vocabulary of analysis and protest and a dawning horror and jadedness as they dig in for the long haul.

Is it just me, or is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by the vitriol that is now constantly slewn at us day after day?

It’s at the point where I find myself almost afraid to read the news, and also wholly ashamed to be British.

The whole train issue, a non-proven developing accusation, a non-story in comparison to real life or death issues that face so many in this country alone, and it is top page headline news. It’s just incomprehensible. I despair, I truly do.

The Establishment in full effect, and it will get so much worse. I just pray that the British public are intelligent enough, and conscious enough to see straight through it, and react to it with anger. As they well should.

(Jeremy Corbyn supporter)

Yes, they knew on some level that politics and politicians were corrupt and cynical and that dirty tricks abounded, but in the abstract, much as childless people know that giving birth to and looking after children is hard. Just like that childless person who goes on to have kids, Corbyn supporters are still endlessly shocked by the demands of nurturing and protecting their collective political offspring. The birthing and raising of this movement may be less intrinsically satisfying though, bringing with it as it does the need to confront the cold hard reality of the cess pit of depravity surrounding politics thrown into sharp relief by the Corbyn story.

Realising now that this was incredibly naïve and over-optimistic, many of those new to Labour Party membership felt elated when Corbyn was first elected and thought, with a tear in their eye, that was it, done and dusted, for the foreseeable future at least. At long last they had a leader they wanted and could trust and, frankly, they could let him and all others concerned get on with it.

Yes, they had been moved to become more involved than they normally would. They would previously have simply voted every few years and taken a short lived interest akin to a very unenthusiastic football observer around World Cup Time. They had actually joined a party, either because they thought they should do something after the miserable election defeat or because they had heard of Corbyn and felt inspired that their views were at last being represented. Still, they had done their bit and for once prevailed and life was good.

As this whole sorry tale has unfolded it has dawned on Corbyn supporters new to the scene just how dysfunctional the system is in terms of achieving positive outcomes and just how essential their continuing involvement and contributions are. Despite rumours to the contrary, they have not quite been radicalised, but they sure have become politicised.

With each dirty trick and showing of true colours the veil lifts a little further, the heels dig in a little further, the imagination expands a little further. Forces opposing Corbyn are showing their hand so blatantly that Corbyn supporters have no choice but to sit up and take notice, to go through a process of debriefing from the brainwashing and to mobilise from the passive state that they were in, and were expected to be in, by the establishment. Suddenly statements about the mainstream media being biased, Labour MPs being in cahoots with Tories and big business corrupting the media and politics no longer seem like whacky conspiracy theories.

Suddenly, because relatively unversed Corbyn supporters have been following the story of his election and leadership closely, they have seen how it has been warped or ignored by the media. Because they have, much to their surprise and dismay, been the object of fear they have seen how those who are innocent but threaten the status quo can be smeared, discredited and abused. They have seen with an unprecedented clarity how many lies and dirty dealings are involved in politics and how much work is involved in trying to get past that to achieve anything good or to clear it up.

Having had their eyes opened to the truth, new Labour members feel called to arms, metaphorically speaking of course, in a way that they probably didn’t expect and they are rising to the challenge. Something has got to be done. Someone has to do it. It isn’t going to be anyone in the establishment, so it has to be them. They have to get active within their own Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs). They have to get more active within the party. They have to more actively campaign and challenge things. They have to write letters. They have to start and sign petitions. They have to more actively support their chosen leader and his other supporters, who are getting attacked from all sides at all times it seems. They have to make their contribution on a day to day basis if needs be, not once every few years by standing alone in a booth, putting a cross in a box and hoping for the best.

Of course this kind of behaviour is seen as an irritation and a threat by the establishment and its members including those on the previously dominant right wing of the Labour Party. They react accordingly, making accusations of entryism or abuse, discrediting members with names, trying to cow them with disdain, scorn and threats and trying to disenfranchise them with what many believe are gerrymandering techniques, pure and simple. This only ups the extent to which members feel they need to act and persevere, and a loop is set up that means Jeremy Corbyn supporters are not going anywhere.

One mistake that those that would preserve the status quo within the Labour party have made is to show their true colours and be openly hostile and abusive to hundreds of thousands of people. The Labour Party members are not a small ‘faction’ that can easily be demonised, marginalised and decommissioned as may well have been the case in the past, in the eighties for example when some of those to the left were purged. Had those opposing Corbyn and his supporters been cannier and hidden their true motives and behaviours perhaps they could have got away with it and left many new activists in blissfully unaware torpor. They weren’t canny though, because they were simply too arrogant. Had they given more credit to the masses of ‘undesirables’, they might have been able to out-manoeuvre them, but this was their second mistake: they were simply too scathing and dismissive to take their foils seriously. They over-estimated themselves and underestimated their opponents.

Much as Corbyn and his supporters will continue to be put through the mill for some time to come, this genie is well and truly out of the bottle. Increasing numbers of the British public are mobilised and taking notice. They are ready to take part in politics and in democracy. Indeed they expect to do so, and they are going to do so one way or another.