Corbyn’s anti-imperialism has made him a target of the British military
4 April 2019
The video that emerged this week of British soldiers in Afghanistan using a picture of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for target practice cannot be divorced from our toxic political moment. The instance goes far beyond Brexit, and speaks to the anxieties of an inflamed nationalism in which both Corbyn and the military play important symbolic and political roles. It also encompasses a fact well-documented in political history: that language has consequences.
Accusations of treason are now virtually commonplace in our political discourse, from the Daily Mail’s “Crush the Saboteurs” and “Enemies of the People” to Brexiteers crying “betrayal” at any attempt to contemplate a future relationship with Europe that fails to conform precisely to their own demands.But no politician attracts such incendiary bile to a higher degree than the Leader of the Opposition. The Conservative Party, broad swathes of the media and fringes of the Labour right consistently portray Corbyn as a threat to national security.
Read more at https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2019/04/corbyn-s-anti-imperialism-has-made-him-target-british-military
‘Could the army overthrow a Corbyn government?’ Telegraph op-ed piece gets slammed
11 May, 2018
Militaristic fantasies were unleashed on The Telegraph’s op-ed pages this week, when a piece asked: ‘What would a 21st century British coup look like? And what would a Corbyn government have to do to survive it?’
Throwing partisanship out the window, The Telegraph published an opinion piece written by Paul Carter, a political commentator who is writing a book about Harold Wilson and Louis Mountbatten. He wondered if the near-coup led by Earl Mountbatten of Burma could happen in modern times. “Only one week after Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader, a serving general of the army warned of a direct and public challenge if a future Prime Minister Corbyn jeopardised the country’s security: ‘The army wouldn’t stand for it… people would use whatever means possible, fair or foul to prevent that,'” Carter wrote.
Read more at https://www.rt.com/uk/426464-corbyn-coup-army-social/
