"Jeremy Corbyn has given hope to my generation. Please don’t let the cynics take it away" [View all]

[Ken Burch]

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2015/09/jeremy-corbyn-has-given-hope-my-generation-please-don-t-let-cynics-take-it-away

It's easy to be embarrassed about your idealism – especially when the mainstream media have an amazing ability to make your big dreams seem stupid and poorly informed.

BY
RHIANNON LUCY COSSLETT



Admitting to idealism – and political idealism in particular – can be embarrassing. Especially now. Following the coverage of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign and its aftermath, it is clear to me that cynicism is the language of our times. It doesn’t do to express too much hope, especially when you’re young. Veteran columnists await you, their keyboard-tapping fingers sharpened, ready to undermine any feelings of optimism that you may have about the “new politics”. Corbyn is unelectable, they say. His followers are narcissists, fringe hard leftists, abusive Twitter knobheads, lentil-eating Islingtonites. And that’s just the criticism from the left.

I don’t want to come across as a Corbyn hipster (“I liked him before he was cool”) but I voted for him in the general election. I live in the socialist republic of Islington North, where he has a reputation for principled and hard-working dedication to his constituents. Take the events of 18 September. Boris Johnson claimed that Corbyn had failed to “scrum down for England” by missing the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony. That day, the new Labour leader was with someone with far less power. As his constituent Daisy Barber recounted on Facebook, he was busy meeting her sister-in-law and her children at a surgery to talk about their housing situation.

As that story shows, the cliché of Isling­ton as a champagne socialist enclave is wrong. It is a diverse borough with some of the highest levels of deprivation in the country, especially so in Islington North. If Corbyn engages those who are suffering under austerity in his backyard, why wouldn’t he have the potential to do this elsewhere in the country? Anyone who has attended one of his rallies knows that he appeals not just to the tribal left but also to those who have never expressed an interest in politics before. Something exciting is happening, yet precious few are writing about the policies that have inspired this moment.

It is true that Corbyn’s potential electability is a concern, as is the lack of women in the top shadow cabinet positions. There are other areas where his detractors have made salient criticisms. I’m not a blindly optimistic “Corbynista”, incapable of hearing criticism of the dear leader; nor are any of my peers.