Corbyn mania – what does it mean for the NOTA campaign?

August 13, 2015 Comments: 4

Put simply, it means that people need to get real and stay focused on the actual problem that we face.

Because even if Jeremy Corbyn becomes leader of the Labour party, somehow manages to survive the inevitable Blairite and corporate media backlash and in doing so is able to move the Labour party away from its Tory-lite, neoliberal agenda into the middle ground, or even the so-called ‘left wing’, it won’t make the slightest bit of difference to how the UK, and indeed the world at large, is currently being run.

The newly elected corporatist UK government will still be in power until the next election in 2020. And you can bet your life that by then, they and their sponsors will have found a way to further monopolise the electoral process and ensure that anyone with a vaguely progressive, socially responsible and not fervently establishment and corporatist agenda has no chance of getting into power. Either that, or Corbyn will have been ousted by the next establishment plant, or otherwise co-opted, rendering the election the usual Hobson’s choice and two horse race in reality.

Even with the best intentions – and I don’t doubt Corbyn’s integrity – the Labour leadership contest is, in my view, just a massive distraction from the very real problem that we face: that we are now ruled – not governed, ruled – by a completely unaccountable, corporately sponsored elite that there is no meaningful way of opposing within the narrow limitations of our faux-democracy.

Until it is possible to actively, formally reject all that is on offer at an election in a way that would trigger massive reform across the entire political landscape if enough people were to do so, nothing is going to change. Only this mechanism, in conjunction with continued and expanding grass roots activism, could ever deliver a much needed evolution into actual bona fide democracy before it’s too late.

So, my message to NOTA supporters is this: by all means get involved with the Corbyn bandwagon in the hope that a small victory for alternative viewpoints might slightly broaden the horizons of the political landscape in the UK. It may well do. But please don’t fool yourselves into believing that putting all our eggs in that one basket will lead to the meaningful systemic change that needs to occur.

The problem of our sham democracy will remain, as things stand, no matter what occurs within the mainstream parties. And campaigning for a formal, binding  ‘None Of The Above’ option on ballot papers remains the pivotal, systemic logical starting point for making the UK electoral system fit for purpose.

Anything else is just wishful thinking.

Jamie Stanley
NOTA UK
13/08/15

Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

4 thoughts on “Corbyn mania – what does it mean for the NOTA campaign?”

  1. Will White August 13, 2015 at 12:57 Reply

    What about Proportional Representation?

    Like

  2. dai777 August 25, 2015 at 11:00 Reply

    We need both PR and NOTA

    Like

  3. theapathymyth August 25, 2015 at 12:25 Reply

    Arguably. The point of the piece linked to is that a move from FPTP to PR is impossible in the current paradigm, whereas NOTA is achievable, for reasons explored at length throughout this website, and is therefore the logical first step towards full democratisation.

    Once in place, the playing field will have been levelled considerably paving the way for further reforms like PR. Without it, all other reforms are perpetually out of reach due to the nature of the current system.

    Massive systemic change can only be achieved through gradually introducing the small, achievable changes first. Trying to jump to the end is waste of time and energy. NOTA is the only achievable reform available to us at this time because of what it represents. Ergo, it should be everyone’s priority.

    Like

Leave a comment