Peace And Justice Project: We Are The Change That We Seek

I don’t usually write stuff on a Monday, but yesterday’s launch of Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project deserves a few words. 

Hope has been in short supply for a while now. 

The government has lurched from one crisis to another. Sir Keir Starmer’s official opposition has supported them along the way. If they fall, he will catch them, he will be waiting, time after time.

The government insisted there wasn’t a magic money tree. Nearly half a trillion quid later, that insistence is looking somewhat dubious. The official opposition gave the Prime Minister a blank cheque without telling him where the money needed to go. 

The government has dished out billions of Pounds worth of contracts to their friends and donors, without a normal tendering process. The official opposition made a few noises of discontent, but the government knows how the opposition will soon move on to something to do with flags, so they’ll keep on keeping on. 

The government delivered a Brexit deal that still hasn’t produced £350 million a week for the NHS, a deal that leaves your own rights weakened, a deal that hampers your ability to move freely across the continent which you are a part of -  but at least it’s a deal that makes our fish better and happier, according to Medieval Mogg. 

Starmer ordered his appeasers to vote for this tragedy, as you well know. It was only two years ago he was walking through the streets of London demanding a ridiculously-named People’s Vote. 

Starmer didn’t really want a second EU referendum. He didn’t want Remain on the ballot. It was the same opportunistic dishonesty we saw from Tom Watson and his band of shitehawkes. 

I wonder how many of you that voted for Starmer also voted for Tom Watson in 2015? I wonder how many of you promised yourselves you wouldn’t ever get conned again, after 4 years of Watson’s backstabbing and sabotage - yet you *still* gave Starmer the benefit of the doubt? 

Don’t worry, you don’t need to confess to me, or anyone else. We all make mistakes. 

Jeremy Corbyn installed hope into so many people. You felt the same outrage as him at the sight of injustice and inequality. He inspired young people to get involved in politics like no other political leader in my lifetime. Corbyn spoke your language. He got it. 

The 2019 defeat was heartbreaking. More than a year later, I look back to that miserable day in December with the same heavy heart, because I know deep down how it never had to be this way. 

Poverty isn’t inevitable. Foodbanks aren’t the solution to the problem - they *are* the problem. Homelessness and rough sleeping can be eradicated - nobody should be without a roof over their head in a country that boasts 151 billionaires. Full-time workers shouldn’t need social security to prop up their wages. Zero hour contracts do not feed a family. 

Can you tell me Boris Johnson has the answers? Of course not. He spent a majority of the last decade causing the problem. 

On the other hand, can you tell me Sir Keir Starmer is going to stand by the person sleeping rough? What about the full-time nurse queuing up at the Foodbank for three days worth of emergency food supplies? What will he do for them? What will Starmer do for the humans living from day-to-day, scraping to get by on disability benefits? 

You get my drift? 

There is not a single shred of hope on offer between the two dominant political parties in Britain. 

Put yourself in the Speakers chair for a moment. Look right and you will see Priti Patel, Raab, Johnson, Hancock, Jenrick, and a whole bunch of jingoistic finger-prodders with the charm of chlamydia. 

Then look left. Reeves, Streeting, Phillips, Nandy, Starmer - would any of them look out of place on the benches opposite? Do any of them inspire you? Do they give you hope? 

I cannot remember such a morally-vacant Shadow Cabinet. Packed with warmongers, anti-socialists, narcissists, and lobbyist vehicles. The Labour Party is well and truly back in the pockets of the British establishment. 

Cheers, Keith. 

I asked former Labour member/activist, my good friend Wren - @Wrenasaurus on the Twittersphere - how she felt about the state of where we find ourselves at this moment in time, and how she felt about the Peace and Justice Project. If you click on her Twitter name a few lines up it will take you to her Twitter page, and you can follow her for some common sense socialist opinion, cutting critique of the political establishment, and some glorious photos of her cat, the feline sensation that is Bee. 

Anyway, this is what she had to say… 

I think the launch of the Peace and Justice project yesterday is the lost piece of the puzzle that the left have been looking for since we lost Corbyn's leadership. 

For a year we have been almost moping, a lot of us absolutely devastated and crushed by the election result, and by the loss of a man who gave us hope of a better future for all, as well as direction and a voice amongst the elite. 

It's had a frustrating effect on us, emotionally and politically, knowing that the battle we fought so hard was lost, and that in Corbyn's place, we have a "leader" (and I use that word very loosely) who has done nothing but relentlessly ostracise the left and make it very clear that our vision of a fairer society for all is not the vision of the Labour Party under his hand - despite the first impressions he may have given with his bullshit leadership pledges. 

Unify the party? My backside. 

So yes, I think we have become somewhat apathetic and a little defeated since the fall of Corbyn, I know I have felt like we have no direction, nothing to work towards in a party which clearly despises us.

But by hell did that all change yesterday. 

Within the tiny space of an hour and a half, a few absolutely amazing orators, a brilliant mix of politicians, international public officials, an astoundingly passionate young woman (@ScarlettOWest who absolutely deserves a follow) and the wonderful Noam Chomsky  

came together and blew the fire and passion back into me and so many others.

And they made it clear the gloves have finally come off.

From Scarlett's wonderful plea about the state of the planet, truly brought to life through the words of a teenager, to Chomsky's long established voice laying down what we have all known for so long, I was absolutely captivated. I don't know about you, but this last year our shared beliefs have taken a battering, and to hear such amazing people reaffirm it all was absolutely brilliant.

Corbyn, Sultana and McClusky's scathing attack on Starmer, the Tory government and the entire elitist system went hand in hand with Yanis Varoufakis' message, reaffirming that this wasn't just a domestic issue and that everywhere people are fighting these kinds of oppressive regimes, thinly disguised as democracy. It was orchestrated so absolutely beautifully, harmonised towards one thing that Corbyn has always had at the forefront of his politics: Solidarity.

Every subject we hold dear, environmental devastation, inequality, media and elitist corruption, was all there, and underlying it all I felt the message coming through that we aren't alone in feeling like this. We are told we are being over the top, that we are worrying about nothing, that we are offensive for speaking out about genocide, that we are not the majority. 

Yesterday, with the launch of the Peace and Justice project, they smashed that out of my mind, swept out any doubt I had about myself and eradicated the fear that's been creeping into my head since the end of 2019. And best of all, it gave us something to work towards. A name to put to the ideas what we want to bring to life, a figurehead to give us direction and it showed that, even after years of abuse and constant attacks, Corbyn wasn't defeated yet. 

So, if he isn't down and out, how can we let ourselves be?

Honestly, I could write about this for hours, but I'm pretty sure I've overshot my limit as is.

Please, if you haven't watched the launch, get onto YouTube and watch it as soon as you can. Then, get involved just by signing up with Jeremy’s Peace and Justice Project here - because we aren't out of this fight yet. 

Together, we can force the change that we want to see, but it's only together that we can do it.

Solidarity guys, and I look forward to making this a success with all of you.

I don’t know about you my friends, but just reading Wren’s excellent assessment of events has put even more fire in my lockdown belly. 

Wren is exactly the type of person we need more of. She’s real. We need real people to be community leaders, educators, not the job-for-life brigade, the careerists, the grey suits, but real people, the Laura Smith’s, the Jen Forbe’s, the Laura Pidcock’s, and the Wren’s of this world. 

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. 

We all know someone who has got so much to give, but find themselves held back, and I hope this is something Jeremy’s project will address, because change will begin to happen when you empower the people.

I’ve genuinely enjoyed the reaction of the right-wing media. It reminds me of the sneering and mockery aimed at Jeremy in 2015 when he first announced his candidacy for the Labour leadership - when a £10 bet on him winning the top job would’ve made you £2,000 better off. 

We’ve done this before, with less experience, less resources, and just a small army of committed socialists that all shared basic socialist principles. 

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. 

We’ve forced change before, and believe me, we will do it again. We are the builders of our destiny.

Hope is free. 

Let the battle commence. 

Take care guys x 

Rachael and Wren.

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