From the moment the BBC announced the results of its exit poll, it was clear that the establishment in Britain would seek to destroy ‘Corbynism’ on the back of it and take Labour back to the ‘centre ground’. But a Jewish academic and media activist just nailed the major problem with that position.
You lost
Justin Schlosberg is a senior lecturer in Journalism and Media at Birkbeck College, University of London. He’s also on the Co-ordinating Committee of the Media Reform Coalition. In response to the push for a return to centrism, he posted the following on Twitter:
The centrist group think bubble is more detached from reality than ever. Calling on Corbyn supporters to 'own' their defeat as if their particular brand of vacuous, mendacious and outdated politics wasnt decimated 1/
— Justin Schlosberg (@jrschlosberg) December 13, 2019
As Schlosberg says, the case for centrism is smashed by the election result. The Liberal Democrats, for example, totally failed to attract enough people to a centrist cause to make any meaningful headway. Also, the MPs who defected from Labour and the Conservatives to stand on a more centrist position lost their seats. Furthermore, in Scotland, the SNP gained a number of seats. The SNP’s policies are more aligned with those offered by Jeremy Corbyn in this election than with centrist ideas.
So these election results make the case against centrism, not for it.
You backed the other side
Schlosberg also pointed out:
As if they didnt pave Johnson's road to victory through their relentless baseless personality attacks on Corbyn offered as lion feed to their client journalists at the Guardian and BBC. At least Corbyn kept his seat. And his integrity 2/
— Justin Schlosberg (@jrschlosberg) December 13, 2019
Those who want to yank Labour back to the centrist days of Tony Blair have been a source of many of the attacks on Corbyn’s Labour. And, of course, Britain’s mainstream media outlets have been more than willing to spread those smears around. So the academic argues they paved Johnson’s “road to victory”.
And as he says:
At least Corbyn kept his seat. And his integrity
Corbyn certainly does still have his integrity. He’s held onto it through four years of vicious attacks and smears from the British establishment. That’s something he will never lose. Destructive centrists, meanwhile, wouldn’t know integrity if it smacked them in the face.
Featured image via Only Zoom/YouTube
