Corbynmania has struck the country
and it has certainly pierced hard in to the conscious of all groups on the
political left. The prospect of having a leader of the Labour Party with apparently
true socialist ideals is very interesting and exciting.
Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign to become
Labour leader makes a striding and refreshing change to mainstream politics. With
his anti-austerity focus, calls for nuclear disarmament and commentary on
peace, among other things, Corbyn seems almost so good he could be Green Party!
From what I can see, the excitement
around Corbyn has sown confusion in to the ranks of the Green Party and other
non-right wing parties. After years of it being abundantly clear that Labour
are no longer left wing, socialist or a party for working people there appears
to be a chance to restore the Labour Party to what it once was.
In a previous piece I wrote about ‘progressives
must work together’ and this is something I still believe to be true. I
think all parties and political groups that want to see real change in the very
limited democratic system that we have need to find common ground and make a
true opposition to the awful Tory government. I would much rather see Corbyn as
leader of the Labour Party than any of the other candidates and would be far
happier with Corbyn as Prime Minister than Cameron.
But I for one will not be rushing
out joining Labour and paying £3 in the hope that I can help Corbyn to victory.
As good as Corbyn may seem now, he
is not green; Corbyn is not a member of the Green Party. Instead Corbyn has
remained glued to party that has been increasingly centre-right and playing
catch-up with the Tories. Labour, like the Tories, have a very poor record when
it comes to the environment. This I believe is precisely because the Labour
Party are not green; they are not informed from an ecological perspective.
I don’t want to discourage anyone
who feels galvanised by the Corbyn sensation and it is a great thing that the prevalent
discourse that the ‘country is apathetic towards politics’ is being challenged.
Of course it has been challenged for a long time by a lot of quarters but in
our very limited democracy the media is only really interested in a couple of
players.
So if you feel inspired by Corbyn to
take any kind of political action get out there and do it! And damn well good
for you.
Left
wing, right wing and anti-capitalism
There have been other debates floating
around within in green circles that I would like to take a quit look at. The first
of those is the debate about whether or not the Green Party is ‘left wing’.
To be ‘green’ is to put the environment
first. As well as being a practical political option, the concept of being ‘green’
also means to share in a philosophy.
While the Labour Party have been
drifting up the political stream, so that they are sailing very comfortably
just behind the Conservative Party, there are questions among greens about
whether we can take up Labour’s space in the race. Unfortunately, everyone
participating in that particular race is heading in the same direction. It is an
end goal where the environment will never be the first consideration; a destination
in which the environment will only be considered if it does not distract from
the endless march of business and industry.
This is simply not an option that can
coincide with a green philosophy.
The domination of the ‘left wing vs
right wing’ in political commentary has created a false dichotomy. That there
is only left or right to choose from. It would be silly to say that greens do
not share common ground with the left and that they would not often be allies
with the left over the right.
For a long time I believed that I was left wing and anti-capitalist.
Nothing on the right has ever attracted me. I searched for an answer from the
examples of left wing societies that we have seen come in to being but found
for me that there was no answer there. Communist and socialist regimes that we have
seen have been tyrannical, oppressive, dictatorial, grey and unrelentingly
industrial.
Both left and right as we know them
have been contained within ‘industrialism’; it’s devouring of resources and it’s
constant expansion and growth. As
Jonathon Poritt explained in his book ‘Seeing Green’ “industrialism and
sustainability are mutually exclusive”. Simply you cannot be involved in the
constant expansion of industry and be sustainable at the same time. Porritt
explained;
“Socialisation of the means of production
makes little difference; what are vices under capitalism do not become virtues
under communism. A filthy smokestack is still a filthy smoke stack whether or
not it is owned by the state or by a private corporation”
This would lead many greens to say
that ‘capitalism’ is the problem. That capitalism and the consumer culture are
driving this swallowing up of finite resources. That capitalist societies will
never put the needs o the environment first. Capitalism is the problem and so
we should be anti-capitalist.
But I think this is too simplistic.
What does ‘capitalism’ mean?
“an economic, political, and social system in which property,business, and industry are privately owned, directed towards making the greatest possible profits for successful organisations and people”
Cambridge Dictionary
The above definition does not
include what most anti-capitalists despise about the capitalism that we have. I
think for most anti-capitalists our capitalism would actually be defined like
this;
Capitalism
(as we know it) ; an economic, political,
and social system in
which property,business, and industry are privately owned, directed towards making the greatest possible profits for successful
organisations and people, where profits are put first at the expense of society, it’s people
and without recognition of the undeniable truth that all wealth is ultimately
drawn from the finite resources of the planet.
Perhaps the elite that are
responsible for the Cambridge Dictionary have their own reason for not carrying
my extended definition of capitalism, but either way it is not in there.
But if you think about it we all
know that capitalism can fit the Cambridge definition and does not have to fall
in to my extended definition; we can think about our own local situation and
consider the Stroud famer’s market. Here is capitalism in full swing as local organisations
and people benefit from directing the greatest possible profits for their wares
from our pockets. We love our Stroud farmer’s market; the smells, the
interesting items, the warm characters. What a pleasure.
The important thing here is that, to
my knowledge, the local businesses that operate from the Stroud farmer’s market
are not generating their profits at anyone else’s, or the environment’s, expense.
We
can be green
We need to put to one side the
discussions of being anti-capitalist, left wing or right wing; we can be
altogether different. We can be green. To be green is to put the environment
first because there is no other option; all other things that might be
important to you depend on this planet we call home.
There is another incredibly important reason to put down the argument of
left vs right and anti-capitalism; because most people don’t care. Greens have
had a difficult time reaching out to the type of people who live on the council
estate where I grew up. All of this academic debate about ideology ultimately
gets nowhere when you are facing the practicalities of everyday living on the
breadline. This is where the ideology of the right dangerously dominates with
ease because the lies are well spread if not actually made material; the wealth
of the richest will trickle down, we need a strong economy, watch out for those
migrants they are taking your job, that sick person isn’t working as hard as
you are, we need to free up trade (and step on your rights)…
We greens need talk of the real things that greens strive for in power
and how our policies make a real difference to people’s lives.
- · Creating a fair economy; ending austerity, restoring the public sector, paying a real living wage, a Robin Hood tax on banks and increasing the minimum wage to £10ph by 2020
- · A public NHS; Fighting for a publicly funded, publicly provided health service free at the point of use. Ending the creeping privatisation of the NHS and repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Making mental health a much higher priority with resources to match this
- · Affordable energy and a safe climate; Taking urgent action on climate change and working with other countries to hold the increase in global temperature to below 2 degrees. Banning fracking, phase out coal power stations and say no to new nuclear. Investing in a public programme of renewable generation, flood defences and building insulation.
- · Free education; Scrapping university tuition fees, reversing cuts and investing in further education. Promote a comprehensive system of local schools offering mixed ability teaching staffed by qualified teachers. Bring Academies and Free Schools into the Local Authority system.
- · Decent homes; Abolishing the cruel and unfair bedroom tax. Provide 500,000 social rented homes by 2020 and bring empty homes back into use to ensure everyone has access to an affordable place to live. Cap rent, introduce longer tenancies and licence landlords to provide greater protection for renters.
·
Better
transport; Returning the railways to public hands, saving money and
improving services. Introduce an immediate cut in fares of 10% to give
passengers a much-needed financial break. Promote walking and cycling to help
reduce pollution and improve people’s health.
Taken from the
Green Party England and Wales 2015
mini manifesto
Not left. Not right. Just busy being
green and ignoring these great distractions.
