While the United Kingdom recently avoided the danger of giving the now extreme left wing Labor Party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn in the June 8 general election, the spectre of the far-left, as represented by Corbyn, still rears its ugly head. Corbyn’s Labor Party had a depressingly good election, picking up 261 seats of the 650 seat Parliament, a gain of 29 seats on the last election. This result signifies a growing acceptance of radically left wing views once considered beyond the pale of political acceptability, a dangerous trend as threatening to the liberal Western consensus as the right-wing populism of Marine Le Pen.
Corbyn, a self-proclaimed socialist whose views border on communism, must be considered beyond any acceptability. Among his many repugnant views, none stand out more than his continued support of terrorists and sponsors of terrorism. In the 1980s and 90s, Corbyn supported the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), a terror organization dedicated to the forced unification of Ireland. Corbyn’s support of the IRA came as it carried out a deadly series of bombings on British soil, murdering hundreds of innocent civilians as well as over 1000 British servicemen.
Corbyn’s record of supporting terrorism does not stop with his support of the IRA. Rather, he has also shown support for Hamas and Hezbollah, two deeply anti-Semitic terror organizations committed to the destruction of Israel and the murder of its citizens. Corbyn also hosted a television show for Iranian state television, as well as calling for the end of sanctions on Iran, one of the world leading supporters of terror.
This record of supporting terrorism and anti-semitism should be enough to condemn Jeremy Corbyn from political relevance, but his economic ideas are certainly as bad, and would be disastrous if implemented. Corbyn promises to nationalize railways and industries, as well as to raise tax rates on business to an economy-crushing level. Taken together, Corbyn’s political beliefs mark a sordid mix of hatred and disproven 50s-era economic policy.
And yet, despite Corbyn’s miserable record, the western mainstream, both in its media, intellectual and political forms, has failed to condemn the threat posed by Corbyn. This unsettling lack of condemnation accounts for his better than expected performance. While the western mainstream closed rank to condemn the threat of far-right populist Le Pen in France’s recent presidential elections, Corbyn has not been condemned, and, in some circles of the United States’ Democratic Party, has been praised. Corbyn poses as much, if not more, of a threat than Le Pen and represents a comparable level of hatred and animosity towards minorities and the western order.
The western mainstream must make up for its prior negligence in failing to condemn the rise of Corbyn. It must call Corbyn and his allies out for what they are: supporters of terror, apologists for, or worse, proponents of, anti-semitism, and purveyors of outdated and debunked socialist economic theories. A full-hearted condemnation of Corbyn is also necessary to prevent the spread of his poisonous agenda into the Democratic Party in the United States. With the Republican Party drifting towards the extreme right, the last thing the United States’ already polarized political climate needs is a wander to the loony far-left of Corbyn by the Democratic Party.
Fortunately for the time being, the moderate center-right Conservative Party of current Prime Minister Theresa May seems on course to form a minority government with the Democratic Unionist Party, a right of center unionist outfit that took ten of Northern Ireland’s seats in Westminster on June 8.While this situation is far from ideal, as it will weaken the government ahead of upcoming Brexit talks and may well lead to another snap election, it is successful in staving off the threat of Corbyn’s Labor.
Nonetheless, the danger posed to the Western economic, social and political order posed by Corbyn and his extreme left wing comrades, be they in the United Kingdom, the United States or continental Europe, will continue to lurk below the surface, a threat the West must be ever vigilant against.
