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Why It Feels Like Labour Won, Even Though They Lost.

Date : 18/09/2017

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Samuel

Uploaded by : Samuel
Uploaded on : 18/09/2017
Subject : Politics

Until the election results came in on Thursday night through to Friday morning, the politics of the left had been framed by the press, politicians and pro-centrists as anachronistic, na ve and out-of-touch. Comparisons were made with Foot and Kinnock and the debacles of the 1980s, forgetting the social, political and economic context within which those events were rooted: neoliberalisation and globalisation. Prior to this period, the cultural virus of consumerism had spread deep into the socio-economic structure of society and the infrastructural layout of the country. Across the UK, urban development began to centralise around shopping centres, industrial-shopping parks were emplaced on the outskirts of towns, villages and cities and high streets transformed into a collage of ubiquitous brands and slogans. Consumer culture brought with it a consumptive extremism that drove demand to unsustainable levels, which, due to the adapted preferences of the newly christened Consumer , have never subsided. Fresh supply channels had to be opened up. Thus, the project of globalisation began. Simultaneously, domestic industries were gutted and neoliberalisation took hold. Theoretically, neoliberalisation is a process that sees the burdensome bulk of the government recede from the public sphere (services, utilities etc.), so that the market (an efficient, decentralised and amorphous entity) may take over. In time, the duel process of globalisation and neoliberalisation became mainstream and, consequentially, the normative implications of these projects became ideologically rooted in the collective consciousness.

The greatest achievement of neoliberal, globalist ideologues, such as Thatcher, was not to radically transform the shape of policy (which they did), it was to induce an ideological reconfiguration of what rational politics and politicians should both behave and look like. As was famously credited to Thatcher, this reconfiguration brought about the creation of New Labour (a.k.a. Tory-lite). New Labour was presented as a sexy centrist rebranding of the clunky, left wing politics of Labours past. Though the rhetoric remained fairly inclusive, the party was deeply influenced by neoliberal and globalist agendas that were developed by their ultra-Libertarian predecessors. Deregulation of the financial and housing sectors continued, PFIs proliferated and imperialism in the Middle East persisted. The new ideological leanings of the party were concretised by its election successes, which were secured by the egomaniacal, war criminal, and figurehead of New Labour, Tony Blair. Unfortunately, the brand stuck for 20 years.

The power of the centrist brand was reflected in the behaviour of the political commentariat, who, since the ascension of the uber-Marxist, Jeremy redder than Castro Corbyn, have been existing in a prolonged and uncomfortable state of indignation . Up with centrism, down with the left! became the rallying cry of the rational Labour voter, much of the PLP and the MSM. The humanist, left wing politics of Jeremy Corbyn were marked as unelectable , as they did not resonate with the well-established, rationalism of the Centrists. For two brutal years in-fighting tore the Labour party apart. Polls plummeted, and the cascade of criticism, now pouring from almost every mouth in the media, flowed freer than ever. Hope dwindled. Hearts broke. Austerity persisted, unabated. And then, as if from nowhere, Theresa May called a general election and, unwittingly, saved the Labour party. Over 6 weeks Jeremy Corbyn performed some remarkable alchemy, turning the bleak prospect of a dramatically diminished, forever-centrist Labour party into a golden beacon of hope with around 40% of the vote share. Poetically, just as Thatcher had made New Labour, Theresa May, by both calling and spectacularly fudging the election, gave Labour the opportunity to re-rebrand itself as the party of compassion, hope and justice.

And this is why Labour s loss feels like a win. It is a symbolic victory for the left. More importantly, it is a sign that the collective consciousness is shifting and that people no longer want corporatism, austerity, neoliberalism or exploitative globalisation. People are beginning to wake up to a realisation that life doesn t have to be this way. The Conservatives, PLP and MSM should take note: the times, they are a-changin .

This resource was uploaded by: Samuel