Jeremy Corbyn and the Revolution of the Youth Vote.
Why Corbyn’s candidness and wholeheartedness fuelled the spirits of British youth living in a Post-Brexit Britain.
The General Election in 2015 wasn’t a huge election for me; even someone who voted for the very first time described it as “emotionless.” I was 16 and couldn’t vote like a majority of teenagers who veered across the unexplored territory of young adulthood. I didn’t care that much and remained entrapped in an small, stubborn, hot and incisive bubble that cut off many. I just remember my English teacher after the election who moved erratically across the room, hitting his legs and hips on the tables, orchestrating a soliloquy about the results (David Cameron won with a majority of 300 seats). He spoke with the zealous vitality of a priest but his speech was accentuated by his eyes that flirted with sleep deprivation, hopelessness and black coffee. Furthermore what worried me the most was his dynamic change in character: a usually unpredictable and zangy man but now clearly defeated, before saying his hollowing last line as the school bell rang: “Expect another five years of hell.”
However, his warning went over my head. As I said, I was 16 and didn’t care. I only saw politicians as distrusting and their saccharine promises of a better Britain to monetise me — for the youth vote and the BME vote. Their constant cradling of young teenagers only provided more substance as to why I made that bubble thicker, hotter and less forbidding of any outside penetration, especially to any old white men in suits. I instantly thought of what he said: “Expect another five years of hell.” We lived through a year of it following a steadying decay in the NHS, the introduction of ‘bedroom tax’, heavy cuts to the arts and in public services. Did I need any more reasons not to trust politicians?
“Expect another five years of hell.”
Then Brexit came.
The Brexit results showed that 51.9% of Britain voted to leave , resulting in the resignation of then-current PM David Cameron. One of the main reasons for Britain’s resignation from the EU was the lack of parliamentary sovereignty which made Britain weaker and voiceless. Now, of course with European law having more cognition than British law itself, this valid point only became sensationalised by reactionaries and opportunists with their parade of blatant lies, AKA the leave campaigners, namely: Nigel Farage, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson. They disguised patriotism with their personal agendas, manipulating the helplessness of immigrants and refugees into posing as inhuman burdens and statistics.
They echoed Britain’s image of an imperial superpower and its decay and then blamed it on the EU, despite having tried so desperately to join the EU in 1973 after two rejections from the Economic European Community (now known as the European Union). The idea of Britain effortlessly succeeding was what bought us into this narrow-minded want of Britain reverting into this superpower that Britain was once before, resulting in millions of hopeful Britons expecting to wake up to a re-invented Britain after the referendum.
But instead we woke up to the pound Sterling dropping 10% against the US Dollar, the quickest decline in our currency within a two-hour period. Even with Opinium suggesting that 64% of 18–24 year olds voted in Brexit, it was countered by the 74% of 55–64 year olds and 90% of 65+ who also voted.
Enter: Jeremy Corbyn. Elected as Labour leader, to the displeasure of many on his own party, in 2015. The 66-year old super-socialist took the helm of the leaders of left-wing politics in Britain.
Some may compare Jeremy Corbyn, the current leader of the opposition to Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister from 1964–1970 and 1974–1976 who is mostly known for the arrival of the Open University and his avalanche of liberal policies. Wilson did invent a fresh and causal form of politics, recognisable by his Yorkshirean accent and his tendency to crack a joke or two in his speeches. Wilson was a far-cry from the indifferent and establishment (Conservative) politics that reigned in the 1950’s.
However, Wilson’s attachment to the youth only stayed in front of the camera when seen with the Beatles. His liberal policies lacked enforcement in tandem with the permissiveness of the 1960's and Labour’s refusal to appeal the Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962 (where UK still openly welcomed white, Irish immigrants) still permeated the fear of immigrants.
“Corbyn’s politics is so candid that most of the time, his politics doesn’t even appear as politics. We see a scruffy, modest man who generally gives a shit about us”
Nobody believed in Corbyn and there were many decries about his ‘penetrable’ character or Corbyn trying to break out of the “backbench” of the Labour Party. If I’m being honest, Corbyn just looks like that old guy in the flat cap who waits for his bus home just to chill with his dog. He didn’t have the youthful fervour that Tony Blair and his New Labour had nor did he have the experience at front-line politics that Gordon Brown possessed; Corbyn looked like easy prey to Theresa May, our current Prime Minister.
It was May’s ego that made her announce the snap election, despite insisting she had no intention to do so. She already had a majority and British media was tarnishing Corbyn’s name repeatedly. Adding salt to the wound, Labour MP’s would also back-stab Corbyn and his credibility. So why did she throw the election when she didn’t have to? She had a comfy majority and with Brexit negotiations being on the way, surely it would make sense to prioritise on that than waste £1.3 million on an unnecessary election? The election was May’s effort to throw away all the “lame-duck” slurs aimed at her, gain an upper hand in Brexit negotiations (which she kept neutral during the campaign) and demoralise Corbyn.
Unfortunately for her, her handling of the election was poor; her forced disposition melts in the sheer light of the cameras and head-lights. Her rehearsed soundbites (think: “strong and stable” x1,000) turns into abrupt stammers when clashing with fellow leaders of the opposition. Some finally got the message when Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, stood in for May in the leaders’ debate.
So how can we trust May to give us a “strong and stable” government and a fair Brexit deal when she can’t even debate her policies against her opponents? Corbyn strived against the media and expectations of the election; Corbyn gained 262 seats, gaining 30 more whereas May accumulated 317 seats, losing 12 seats and thus her precious majority she had before. What’s interesting to mention here is the youth turnout: 68.7% of us actually voted, the highest turnout since 1997 and 60% of us voted Corbyn, even with attempts of disenfranchising university students from voting.
With Britain steering clear from the arts due to many cuts, Corbyn promises £1 billion to be invested in the arts industry. His working-class background enables Corbyn to lean towards who have been silenced or infected with the perpetual paranoia that politicians don’t care about them; scepticism is so deeply broiled within ethnic minorities, the youth, the disabled or the working class. His connection with the aforementioned is maintained on a healthy and trustworthy synergy between the two, his presence at Glastonbury and if you need further proof: look. at. the. amount. of. celebrities. supporting. Corbyn. When. will. your. fav. ever?
His track record is even further proof of his consistency; observe his early days of protesting against apartheid and nuclear deterrence and then look at his conduct during the Grenfell Tower and the Finsbury Park attack. Corbyn’s backbench politics shames the flamboyant style of politics that often hold no weight behind their words and leads to incessant back-tracking or unfulfilled promises.
Regardless, May clings onto power by extorting one billion of taxpayers’ money for the DUP (extremely traditional right-wing homophobic nationalist party). This cowardly move is honestly why many young adults who are eligible to vote don’t vote because politicians cower in lies and deceit. They present heavenly illusions in their hands only to clasp it shut when they get what they want, even if it means causing tensions that Britain spent years trying to mediate.
Corbyn’s politics is so candid that most of the time, his politics doesn’t even appear as politics. We see a scruffy, modest man who generally gives a shit about us, the ones whose been left voiceless by the Tories. It gives a shit about the ones whose only chance in assimilating into a society is by a few liberal bills and a pat on the back. It would be myopic to box Corbyn as an idealist like they did with Lyndon Baines Johnson who dreamt of a great ‘American Society.’ He’s a pragmatist, someone who understands what Britain is in the 21st Century; Britain is no longer that bulbous John Bull ordering white men to go to war. We are Britain, a boiling pot of ethnicities, nationalities, sexualities, genders and classes and I think all we have to do is give him a chance and erase the remaining years of hell that my English teacher said we had left.
