More on the British election

How Jeremy Corbyn’s activist army is taking lessons from the US

British leftists are sharing ideas and strategies with former members of the Bernie Sanders campaign.
By Eleni Courea
Two white-haired lefties on opposite sides of the Atlantic hope an enthusiastic youth movement can propel them to power — and their activists have teamed up in pursuit of victory.
Momentum, the campaign group that propelled Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership of the U.K. Labour Party in 2015, has sought advice from supporters of U.S. presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on how best organize grassroots volunteers as they push for victory in Britain’s upcoming election.
Deploying a strategy known as “distributed organizing,” which fueled Sanders’ expectation-defying challenge for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Momentum’s leadership hopes to use volunteers to extend their reach and to get around the spending limits mandated by U.K law.
Read more at https://www.politico.eu/article/how-jeremy-corbyn-activist-army-is-taking-lessons-from-the-us-labour-party-bernie-sanders-momentum/

Jeremy Corbyn Is Caught in Labour’s Immigration Wars

By James Bloodworth
November 27th, 2019
The free movement of people within the European Union is arguably one of the most progressive pieces of legislation of recent decades. In a continent that was ravaged by war and locked down by totalitarianism for much of the 20th century, people of all social classes are now—in theory at least—free to travel, live, and work where they please.That’s the theory at least. In many working-class parts of Britain, free movement is viewed—rightly or wrongly—as a one-way street. Visit towns like Stoke, Rugeley, or Boston and the experience of free movement for working-class residents is perceived as one of intense competition for poorly paying jobs with workers from poorer countries such as Romania and Bulgaria.
Read more at https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/27/uk-migration-refugees-brexit-jeremy-corbyn-is-caught-labour-immigration-wars/

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Hard v soft: mirepresenting Brexit

Britain’s health service is for sale, leaked trade docs suggest

27 Nov 2019
The United Kingdom‘s National Health Service is up for grabs in a post-Brexit trade deal with the United States, the opposition Labour Party revealed on Wednesday, despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson‘s unequivocal denials.
Johnson has repeatedly stated in clear and absolute terms that the NHS – which offers British citizens free healthcare at the point of access, regardless of illness – was not up for sale, but a 451-page internal government document, revealed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, details a series of secret US-UK trade negotiations covering a whole range of British public services – from food regulation to healthcare – to which Washington wants “full market access”.
Read more at https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/

John McDonnell confident Labour’s Brexit policy will appeal to Leave voters

Brexit will not be the only factor determining the outcome of the UK election, says shadow chancellor.
By Cristina Gallardo
Labour’s Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell believes his party will succeed in keeping Leave voters onside in the upcoming general election.
At a campaign event in Birmingham Wednesday, McDonnell was challenged by journalists on whether the Labour Party is managing to prevent Brexit-backing voters from deserting to the Conservatives.
He replied that Jeremy Corbyn’s party is focused on its Brexit policy, which consists of negotiating a new “credible and sensible” Withdrawal Agreement with the EU within three months of forming a new British government, and putting that deal to a referendum with Remain as the alternative option within six months.
Read more at https://www.politico.eu/article/shadow-chancellor-john-mcdonnell-confident-labours-brexit-policy-will-appeal-to-leave-voters/

The first Brexit documentary shows a Britain at war with itself

Ethan Race reviews Timothy Kelly’s hard-hitting documentary ‘Brexitannia’
November 3, 2017
So proudly proclaims a taxi-driver, who looks like an eccentric character from a Mike Leigh movie. Much more than simply the first feature documentary made about Brexit, Brexitannia both criticises nostalgia for the yesteryear of imperial Britannia, whilst ironically commenting on its own being as a historical artifact. It is shot in a 4:3 square aspect ratio and in gorgeous black and white, alluding to many dualisms that permeate the film: ruralism vs cosmopolitanism, light vs dark skin colour, Britain vs Brussels, and of course, the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ballot of the Brexit vote. The film rages against the reductionism of binary choices, as well as the overly simplistic analysis that much of the British media provided for Brexit. The result is a complex film that somehow manages to operate as a rigorous, qualitative sociological documentary as well as a stunning piece of artistic cinema.
Read more at https://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-first-brexit-documentary-shows-a-britain-at-war-with-itself/

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The impact of economic sanctions

Ken Livingstone quits Labour after antisemitism claims

May 21, 2018
Ken Livingstone has announced that he is resigning from the Labour party, saying the issues around his suspension for alleged antisemitism had become a distraction.
The former mayor of London and Labour MP said he was leaving the party he joined 50 years ago with “great sadness” but would continue to campaign for a government led by Jeremy Corbyn.
In a statement, he said: “After much consideration, I have decided to resign from the Labour party. We desperately need a Corbyn-led government to transform Britain and I’ll continue to work to this end.”
Read more at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/may/21/ken-livingstone-quits-labour-after-antisemitism-claims