#SwindonsSundaySermon: Reeves’ crocodile tears are another reason we need a new left-wing party

Call me cynical, but I think Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, and their gaggle of featherweight co-defendants would’ve been absolutely delighted if the OTT furore surrounding Glastonbury punk act Bob Vylan managed to stretch out beyond his government’s diabolical assault on the sick, disabled, poor, and vulnerable people of the UK.

But what of Vylan? Ditched by their agents, banned from entering the US, and their career lying in tatters – quite a heavy price to pay for denouncing a state-sponsored terrorist entity, don’t you think?

Bob Vylan: a fuss over nothing

Vylan’s choice of words were unsavoury, I think most people would agree. But there’s something seriously wrong when a controversial punk act faces considerably heavier criticism from the political and media class than the perpetrators of genocide.

Has Vylan’s outburst done anything to aid the victims of Israeli atrocities? Some, but very few pro-Palestinian voices claim the move was counterproductive, but it certainly isn’t going to make the ongoing humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinian people any worse, is it?

Perhaps the whole point of the “death, death to the IDF” chant was to cause enough controversy for the see-no-evil world to sit up and pay attention? If that was the point, it was a resounding success. I would also argue that Vylan’s form of protest was entirely in keeping with the punk ethos.

But what must be said is Vylan’s anti-military chant wasn’t an antisemitic attack on the Jewish faith, and anyone claiming otherwise is being grotesquely deceitful.

This was a huge cry of outrage, directly aimed at a murderous, barbaric military superpower. This was a legitimate use of free speech to highlight the greatest injustice of our times.

You might not approve of the method, or the brutality of the message, but there is no argument that the actions of a genocidal child-killing military cannot be compared to the slightly-controversial words of an artist on stage amidst a colourful sea of Palestinian flags.

Frontman Bobby Vylan said:

We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people. We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine.

If you think that simple statement is controversial in any way, I don’t think we would get on particularly well.

A Middle East that is free from death and destruction may seem like an impossible dream, but I believe that peace will only have the opportunity to bloom when justice takes root and vengeance and division is replaced by compassion and tolerance.

Hark at me, going all Mandela.

Rachel from Accounts: save me the crocodile tears

I’m afraid I also won’t be joining in with the liberal media’s mass outpouring of sympathy for a tearful Rachel from accounts.

One hack went as far as to suggest our hearts should go out to Reeves because she is a woman. Unless I’m mistaken, so was Margaret Thatcher and so is Suella Braverman. Save that “girl power” nonsense for someone else.

If the last line of defence for these metropolitan clowns is to plead with us to feel sorry for Rachel Reeves because of her gender, this Labour government is well and truly dead and buried within a year of it fluking its way into power.

Perhaps they are hoping a focus on Reeves’ tearful episode is exactly what is needed to distract from substantive critique of her actions?

Reeves hasn’t ever shown any compassion towards the victims of her political choices, has she? Policy decisions come with impact.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has supported policies that disproportionately harm vulnerable groups. These “difficult decisions” have exasperated poverty and inequality, particularly for disabled people and low-income households.

You want me to feel sorry for a woman that didn’t have an issue with freezing thousands of pensioners to death?

Really?

Ruthless

Starmer and Reeves have ruthlessly dragged the Labour Party away from its traditional left-wing roots. It’s been a genuinely painful ordeal to witness. We changed so much in such a short time, but that Labour Party has undoubtedly gone forever.

Political choices such as not reintroducing a cap on bankers’ bonuses and halving Labour’s £28 billion climate investment plan, are the sort of concessions to corporate interests that became synonymous with fourteen years of Tory failure.

Labour’s tragic departure from socialist principles and alignment with establishment interests has never been so apparent as it is today, and that is why I would wholeheartedly support a new unashamedly left-wing political party at the drop of a hat.

And it doesn’t look like we will have to wait very long for one to come along.

Featured image via Rachael Swindon