Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn received an ecstatic welcome in a packed Islington Town Hall committee room in London last week, as he was appointed honorary president of Islington Trades Council. Local trade unionists and labour movement activists spoke about Corbyn's unparalleled commitment to the working class, peace and anti-imperialist struggles, on picket lines, election canvassing, and countless campaign meetings.
Ken Muller from the NUE said "our ruling class can live with reactionary nationalists around the world, but it can't live with Jeremy's support for the Palestinians and the Chagos Islanders against imperialism".
Lord John Hendy KC, a Labour peer, said Corbyn was the “greatest leader Labour ever had", and that "Jewish people in Islington have always felt fully supported by Jeremy".
Una Doyle from Islington Trades Council referred to the current Labour leader as "Sir Kid Starmer", and said the problems faced by local food banks were getting worse and worse, many local people were struggling to make ends meet and had lost all hope. She recalled that when the first four black MPs were elected, they used to call Corbyn "the fifth black MP" because he gave them so much support.
Labour councillor and veteran trade unionist Mick Gilgunn pointed out that "Jeremy was one of the few Labour MPs who spoke out against the 2003 Iraq war, and helped organise the Stop the War Coalition" while Councillor Saiqa Pandore expressed her gratitude for Corbyn's support for the Muslim community in Islington, saying that Corbyn "stood by us and gave us the confidence to come into politics". And Andrew Murray from the Morning Star said that "those who take the Guardian view of politics do everything for the poor, but do nothing when the poor start helping themselves".
Several speakers, including Phil Graham from ASLEF, urged Corbyn to stand again as an MP for the constituency, as he grapples with the dilemma of being blocked as a candidate by Starmer's Labour Party.
In his acceptance speech, Corbyn spoke of the long history of working class struggle in Islington, recalling that the largest peace demonstration in August 1914 took place in the borough. Turning to current issues, he pointed out that "the pay increases won by teachers are being taken out of school budgets".
Corbyn spoke of the many in the labour movement who feel is empowered, saying that "most people in Britain support public ownership of services”. But he said this was not possible "in a grotesquely unequal society where the billionaires’ wealth is growing by the minute, while the food bank queues are growing by the metre every week”. He said the political alternative must be more than an offer to manage the economy as it is at the moment, “it requires fundamental transformation”.
The event showed Corbyn in fine fighting spirit, a man enjoying mass support across all the communities in Islington, and who has lost none of his ability to lead and inspire all those fighting for a better and more just future for the working class in Britain.
Ken Muller from the NUE said "our ruling class can live with reactionary nationalists around the world, but it can't live with Jeremy's support for the Palestinians and the Chagos Islanders against imperialism".
Lord John Hendy KC, a Labour peer, said Corbyn was the “greatest leader Labour ever had", and that "Jewish people in Islington have always felt fully supported by Jeremy".
Una Doyle from Islington Trades Council referred to the current Labour leader as "Sir Kid Starmer", and said the problems faced by local food banks were getting worse and worse, many local people were struggling to make ends meet and had lost all hope. She recalled that when the first four black MPs were elected, they used to call Corbyn "the fifth black MP" because he gave them so much support.
Labour councillor and veteran trade unionist Mick Gilgunn pointed out that "Jeremy was one of the few Labour MPs who spoke out against the 2003 Iraq war, and helped organise the Stop the War Coalition" while Councillor Saiqa Pandore expressed her gratitude for Corbyn's support for the Muslim community in Islington, saying that Corbyn "stood by us and gave us the confidence to come into politics". And Andrew Murray from the Morning Star said that "those who take the Guardian view of politics do everything for the poor, but do nothing when the poor start helping themselves".
Several speakers, including Phil Graham from ASLEF, urged Corbyn to stand again as an MP for the constituency, as he grapples with the dilemma of being blocked as a candidate by Starmer's Labour Party.
In his acceptance speech, Corbyn spoke of the long history of working class struggle in Islington, recalling that the largest peace demonstration in August 1914 took place in the borough. Turning to current issues, he pointed out that "the pay increases won by teachers are being taken out of school budgets".
Corbyn spoke of the many in the labour movement who feel is empowered, saying that "most people in Britain support public ownership of services”. But he said this was not possible "in a grotesquely unequal society where the billionaires’ wealth is growing by the minute, while the food bank queues are growing by the metre every week”. He said the political alternative must be more than an offer to manage the economy as it is at the moment, “it requires fundamental transformation”.
The event showed Corbyn in fine fighting spirit, a man enjoying mass support across all the communities in Islington, and who has lost none of his ability to lead and inspire all those fighting for a better and more just future for the working class in Britain.
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