Democracy Now! Jeremy Corbyn on Freeing Julian Assange, the Working Class, Brazil, Peru & Ending Ukraine War

Jan 20, 2023 | In Washington, D.C., human rights and free speech advocates gather today for the Belmarsh Tribunal, focused on the imprisonment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Assange has been languishing for close to four years in the harsh Belmarsh prison in London while appealing extradition to the United States on espionage charges. If convicted, Assange could face up to 175 years in jail for publishing documents that exposed war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Five major news organizations that once partnered with WikiLeaks recently called on the Biden administration to drop charges against Assange. We speak to British MP and former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is in Washington, D.C., to participate in the Belmarsh Tribunal, about Assange and freedom of the press. We also cover the state of leftism around the globe, from labor rights in the U.K. and Europe to the war in Ukraine, to political unrest in Brazil and Peru.

Can Boris Johnson Lie His Way Back Into Office?

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Britons face a miserable set of choices.

LONDON — This is the dejection election. Not in my lifetime has Britain faced such a miserable choice. Two vain, incompetent, mediocre charlatans are competing to become prime minister. For the Conservatives, we have the blustering, lying, oafish puffball Boris Johnson. In the Labour corner is the querulous, wooden, sanctimonious Jeremy Corbyn.

The two candidates are so alarming that, in an unprecedented intervention, former prime ministers from each of their parties have pleaded with voters to block them. Tony Blair and John Major have urged tactical votes against Mr. Corbyn and Mr. Johnson. Everywhere, exhausted, disillusioned, skeptical voters debate who is worse. British politics has never known anything like it.

These very different men share remarkable, unflattering similarities. Each is ill briefed, hazy on the facts and implications of his policy proposals, uneasy under scrutiny and belligerent when challenged. » | Jenni Russell, Contributing Opinion Writer | Wednesday, December 11, 2019

UK Election: Halt US Trade Talks until NHS Off Table, Corbyn Tells Johnson

THE GUARDIAN: Labour leader calls for break in talks unless pharmaceuticals excluded from negotiations

Jeremy Corbyn has urged the prime minister to break off trade talks with Donald Trump until any reference to pharmaceuticals is struck out of Washington’s negotiating objectives.

As the US president prepared to fly in on Monday evening to attend the Nato summit alongside other world leaders, Corbyn wrote to Boris Johnson to urge him to give fresh reassurances about NHS privatisation.

The Labour leader has repeatedly accused the prime minister of preparing to sell off the NHS, and Labour activists at recent rallies have taken up a chorus of “Not for sale! Not for sale!” » | Heather Stewart, Political editor | Monday, December 2, 2019

Britain's Health Service Is For Sale, Leaked Trade Docs Suggest

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 United States-UK trade negotiations covering a whole range of British public services - from food regulation to healthcare - to which Washington wants "full market access".

One detail suggests the UK would be open to longer patents on US-produced medicines, which Corbyn says would push up the price paid by the NHS for pharmaceuticals - perhaps by as much as 500,000 pounds ($645,000) a week.

Corbyn had challenged Johnson over the privatisation and sell-off during their first televised leaders' debate, waving a sheaf of heavily redacted papers covered in blacked-out text. On Wednesday, he said he had got hold of the unredacted version, which detailed six rounds of talks between US and UK trade representatives.

Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan reports from central London.

Jeremy Corbyn Reveals 451 Pages of Uncensored Pages 'Proving NHS Up for Sale'

Labour has obtained official documents showing the US is demanding that the NHS will be 'on the table' in talks on a post-Brexit trade deal, Jeremy Corbyn has said. The Labour leader said the uncensored papers gave the lie to Boris Johnson’s claims that the NHS would not be part of any trade talks. 'The uncensored documents leave Boris Johnson’s denials in absolute tatters,' he told a news conference in London

Jeremy Corbyn reveals dossier 'proving NHS up for sale' »

Corbyn and Johnson Clash over No-deal Brexit: 'Anti-democratic and Unconstitutional'

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn clashed over Brexit in their first meeting in parliament since the summer recess. Johnson labelled a rebel bill designed to prevent no deal 'Jeremy Corbyn's surrender bill' and accused opposition MPs of undermining his attempts to negotiate a new deal with the European Union. Corbyn claimed Johnson was attempting to force no deal in a manner that was 'unprecedented, anti-democratic and unconstitutional'.

THE GUARDIAN: Britain is mired in democratic crisis – but it goes much deeper than Brexit » | Aditya Chakrabortty | Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Final Sovereignty on Brexit Must Rest with the People

THE GUARDIAN: In these critical weeks for democracy, we must resist the actions of a phoney populist cabal in Downing Street

We will do everything possible to stop a disastrous no deal for which this Conservative government has no mandate. This is a smash-and-grab raid on our democracy, to force through no deal, which is opposed by a majority of the public.

Most people in Britain reject a Tory no-deal Brexit. Boris Johnson’s government wants to use no deal to create an offshore tax haven for the super-rich and sign a sweetheart deal with Donald Trump.

No deal would destroy jobs, push up food prices and hand our public services and protections over to US corporations. And most of the public want nothing to do with this Trump-deal car-crash Brexit they are being driven towards.

Johnson and fellow Conservatives who campaigned for Leave in 2016 promised people that they would get a deal. In 2017, Boris Johnson, then foreign secretary, proclaimed: “There is no plan for no deal because we are going to get a deal.”

But clearly they haven’t got a deal. And now, running scared of being held to account for his reckless plans for a Trump-deal Brexit, Johnson has decided to shut down parliament to stop them doing so. » | Jeremy Corbyn | Saturday, August 31, 2019

Labour Party Leader, Under Pressure, Backs a New Brexit Referendum

THE NEW YORK TIMES: LONDON — Britain’s opposition Labour Party said on Monday that it was prepared to support a second referendum on withdrawal from the European Union, a shift that could have significant ramifications for the fate of Brexit and for the country’s future.

After the resignations of nine Labour Party members last week, and amid the prospect of more, the party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, dropped his longstanding resistance to a second vote on leaving the bloc.

Mr. Corbyn’s support for a new vote is certainly no guarantee a new vote will happen. Still, it will cheer pro-European Britons, who have been fighting to reverse the outcome of the 2016 referendum decision. » | Stephen Castle | Monday, February 25, 2019

Tony Blair on Corbyn and the Lessons of the 2017 General Election (Full Interview) - BBC Newsnight

Newsnight's editor Ian Katz speaks to former Prime Minister Tony Blair about Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the future of the Labour party and the lessons of the 2017 general election.

Tony Blair: 'Jeremy Corbyn Could Become PM' - BBC Newsnight

Former prime minister Tony Blair tells Newsnight’s Ian Katz he now accepts that Jeremy Corbyn may be elected prime minister on a left-wing platform.

Alastair Campbell vs Tony Blair: Will Corbyn Become Prime Minister? | GQ Politics | British GQ

Tony Blair, the three-term Labour prime minister, is returning to fight for progressive politics in Britain and around the world.

Trump Attacks London's Mayor & Jeremy Corbyn Calls for Theresa May's Ouster After Terror in London

Jeremy Paxman Interviews Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn face questions from Jeremy Paxman on the big issues of the 2017 General Election, hosted by Sky News and Channel 4.

Saudi Ambassador Attacks Corbyn Over ISIS Funding ‘Insult’

Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia

RT: Saudi Araba’s ambassador to the UK has attacked Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for suggesting the kingdom supports Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz al Saud described comments made by Corbyn and former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown as “distortion” and “an insult” to the Saudi Arabian government.

The Labour leader said on Tuesday there were several “very big questions” around the rise of IS which remained unanswered, such as who is providing financial aid to the group.

Corbyn suggested Saudi Arabia may be involved in funding IS, a theory shared by many journalists and Middle East analysts. » | Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Cameron Accuses Corbyn of Being 'Terrorist Sympathiser'

THE GUARDIAN: Prime minister urges Tory MPs not to vote with Labour leader and ‘a bunch of terrorist sympathisers’ against Syria airstrikes

David Cameron has appealed to Conservative MPs to give him an overall parliamentary majority in favour of military action in Syria by warning them against voting alongside “Jeremy Corbyn and a bunch of terrorist sympathisers”.

Amid Downing Street concerns that support among backbench Labour MPs is weakening, the prime minister told a meeting of the 1922 committee that he needed to win the vote solely on the basis of Tory MPs’ support to achieve his goal of securing a clear consensus.

“You should not be walking through the lobbies with Jeremy Corbyn and a bunch of terrorist sympathisers,” the prime minister reportedly told the committee. » | Nicholas Watt, Chief political correspondent |Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Brits Buying Books on Socialism due to Rise of Corbyn

Many British bookstores are now reporting an explosion in sales of Marxist and left-wing literature. It is believed the increase in sales is linked to the rise of Jeremy Corbyn, the left wing Leader of the UK's opposition Labour party.

With Jeremy Corbyn Elected as New Leader, Britain’s Labour Party Takes a Hard Left Turn

Jeremy Corbyn after being elected leader of Britain's
opposition Labour Party on Saturday.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: LONDON - Britain’s opposition Labour Party on Saturday took a remarkable leftward turn, electing as its leader Jeremy Corbyn, a longtime socialist committed to nationalizing key industries, scrapping Britain’s nuclear missile system and reversing the centrist policies of previous leaders such as Tony Blair.

The result of the contest, announced on Saturday morning in London, gave stewardship of the Labour party to the hard left for the first time in more than three decades, a development seen here as one of the most surprising upsets in modern British politics.

As Europe continues to feel the aftershocks of the financial crisis of 2008, voters have been increasingly attracted to the political extremes, with support growing both for socialist parties on the left and nationalist ones on the right. The Labour leadership result could now shift the main opposition party in Britain closer to the types of positions taken by other leftist parties that have become prominent across Europe, including Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain.

Mr. Corbyn, 66, has been a lawmaker for more than three decades but never served in government, preferring to campaign, often for unfashionable causes, and frequently rebelling against the party line. » | Saturday, September 12, 2015

Comrade Corbyn on HAMAS, the Middle East and the Super-rich

Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn spoke to Channel 4 News’ Krishnan Guru-Murthy about Hamas and Hezbollah, the wider situation in the Middle East, tax, the super-rich and immigration.

Russia Welcomes Jeremy Corbyn in Labour Leadership Contest

Jeremy Corbyn moves a step to winning the backing of Vladimir Putin

THE TELEGRAPH: Fyodor Lukyanov, a key associate close to the Russian foreign ministry, says Russia would welcome a leader like Jeremy Corbyn after leftwinger suggests Britain should have closer ties with the country

Russia would welcome Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, a key associate linked to the Russian foreign ministry has said.

It comes after the leftwinger hinted that he would want to form a closer relationship between Britain and Russia.

Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor of the journal "Russia in Global Affairs" and considered very close to the Russian foreign ministry, said of Mr Corbyn: "I think Russia would certainly be pleased to see such a person as the head of either major party. But my intuition tells me it is not very likely."

Mr Corbyn told the Russia Today news channel that he wanted Britain to work closer with its international opponents and treat them with more respect.

He told the Kremlin-funded media outlet: "What is security? Is security the ability to bomb, maim, kill, destroy, or is security the ability to get on with other people and have some kind of respectful existence with them?"

The Russia Today presenter said that the last leader to oppose US policy was Harold Wilson, adding: "We know all about the smear tactics against him". » | Michael Wilkinson, Political Correspondent, and Roland Oliphant, Moscow Correspondent | Tuesday, August 11, 2015