Jeremy Corbyn on why we must never lose hope

With the cal­en­dar year draw­ing to a close, the ​‘Sea­son Of Hope’ edi­to­r­i­al col­lab­o­ra­tion between Peace & Jus­tice Project and Huck is also com­ing to an end.

This year, for so many, has been full of chal­lenges on a dev­as­tat­ing­ly unprece­dent­ed scale. But amongst the war, destruc­tion and mis­ery there is always one thing we must pro­tect at all costs and ensure we, and those around us, nev­er lose: hope.

From every chal­lenge, unex­pect­ed com­pli­ca­tion and what may feel like crush­ing defeat, we must do every­thing in our pow­er to build sources of hope, for both our­selves and those around us. 

We must nev­er give up try­ing to make the world a fair­er, more equi­table and safer place for all.

We must organ­ise and be pre­pared to fight back and win.

The ​‘Sea­son Of Hope’ col­lab­o­ra­tion start­ed with cov­er­age of the mas­sive and peace­ful demon­stra­tions in Lon­don against the bom­bard­ment of Gaza and col­lec­tive pun­ish­ment of the Pales­tin­ian peo­ple. These vast demon­stra­tions, some of the biggest ever seen in the UK, includ­ing close to one mil­lion tak­ing to the streets one Sat­ur­day in Novem­ber, are tes­ta­ment to the unbreak­able strength of feel­ing held by the vast major­i­ty of peo­ple in the UK, the US and around the world.

In fact, it’s hard to find a clear­er exam­ple of a time when the polit­i­cal estab­lish­ment was so far out of step with the gen­er­al pop­u­lace. The recent fee­ble calls for a cease­fire in Gaza by some in the polit­i­cal estab­lish­ment are no doubt the result of sus­tained pub­lic pressure.

It is tru­ly one of the biggest cat­a­stro­phes of the mod­ern polit­i­cal era that over 20,000 inno­cent Pales­tin­ian men, women and chil­dren have had to die before Israel’s abhor­rent actions have even been recog­nised by some in the polit­i­cal class, let alone con­demned by them.

War divides us, peace unites us. The ter­ror of Hamas on 7 Octo­ber was wrong on every lev­el but this can­not excuse the bla­tant dis­re­gard for inter­na­tion­al law exhib­it­ed by Israeli forces as they demol­ish hos­pi­tals, mosques, uni­ver­si­ties and homes in the enclosed Gaza Strip.

Work­ers have also played a vital role in organ­is­ing against the bom­bard­ment of Gaza, shut­ting down arms fac­to­ries around the world. The recent Glob­al Day of Action against Elbit Sys­tems, Israel’s largest arms man­u­fac­tur­er, was organ­ised by Pro­gres­sive Inter­na­tion­al and shut down oper­a­tions at arms com­po­nent fac­to­ries in the UK, Bel­gium, Brazil, Swe­den, Japan and Aus­tralia to name a few.

It is actions like this that, even in the dark­est of moments, should bring us hope. Work­ers fight­ing back against the com­plic­i­ty of their boss­es in war crimes in Gaza or any oth­er part of the world is some­thing we should all be great­ly inspired by and seek to repli­cate until the war machine is total­ly switched off.

Every pen­ny spent on war is one not spent on schools, hos­pi­tals, tack­ling the cli­mate cri­sis or bring­ing us any clos­er to a just and last­ing peace in any of the world’s conflicts.

Every day of pro­duc­tion at an arms fac­to­ry ceased may just spare the pre­cious lives of chil­dren caught up in war.

This year, we’ve also seen work­ers stand­ing up for fair pay and con­di­tions across the British econ­o­my. From rail­way work­ers and teach­ers, to coun­cil staff and posties, vast swathes of the UK work­force have tak­en action against the cost of liv­ing cri­sis that has dri­ven mil­lions into pover­ty — and won key bat­tles against their boss­es, many of whom are tak­ing home record pay and obscene bonuses.

But with the cost of liv­ing cri­sis still impact­ing mil­lions of peo­ple, we must push hard­er than ever for eco­nom­ic jus­tice for all, espe­cial­ly those liv­ing clos­est to the breadline.

Ear­li­er this year, the Peace & Jus­tice Project launched its 5 Demands for an alter­na­tive to the mis­ery faced by mil­lions. These basic prin­ci­ples are just a few ideas that we can unite around to change our soci­ety for the better.

These demands are for a fair pay rise for all, demo­c­ra­t­ic pub­lic own­er­ship to reduce ener­gy bills and kick­start a Green New Deal to bring about a sus­tain­able future for all, a safe place for all to live and invest­ment in our NHS paid for by a wealth tax on the top 5% of earn­ers and glob­al corporations.

The final demand is for a humane migra­tion sys­tem based on dig­ni­ty, com­pas­sion and care that gives asy­lum seek­ers the right to work, health­care and housing.

Many of us have stood up and spo­ken out against the government’s dis­grace­ful Rwan­da pol­i­cy and Bib­by Stock­holm prison ship — and we will not stop, no mat­ter how many times Rishi Sunak tries to move the goal­posts of legal­i­ty or appease­ment for the hard-right of the Con­ser­v­a­tive Party.

Whilst the Tories tear them­selves apart over their cal­lous cru­el­ty and demon­i­sa­tion of refugees, we must stand up for safe routes across the Eng­lish Chan­nel and do all we can to sup­port those flee­ing war, pover­ty and persecution.

To trans­form this coun­try, we need voic­es of hope, not despair — and we must nev­er allow our­selves to fall for the hate and divi­sion that so many in our pol­i­tics and media seek to sow.

That is why we will car­ry on cam­paign­ing for a more equal, car­ing and peace­ful world.

Let us resolve to bring hope into the new year as we stand in sol­i­dar­i­ty with all who des­per­ate­ly need it.

We will keep march­ing, singing, organ­is­ing and stand­ing togeth­er for peace and social jus­tice for the many, not just the few.

Explore the Sea­son of Hope here.

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