Labour must believe in our country to stop it being torn apart

Jeremy Corbyn’s world view separates him from millions of Labour voters. Patriotism is a test his successor must pass

Patriotism. It is a test Jeremy Corbyn failed to meet. It is a test his successor must pass. Corbyn’s anti-western worldview, shared by his most senior advisers and cheerleaders, goes to the core of his political identity. It separates him from every postwar Labour leader and, as we saw in the election, from millions of Labour voters.

This view holds that most of the world’s ills are down to western imperialism and that if others commit a reprehensible act, we probably left them with little choice. It sees Nato as an aggressor, is instinctively anti-American – long before President Trump – and holds Israel up as being a unique evil. It loudly condemns any western use of force and is usually silent on Russian or non-western backed military action. And it infantilises terrorism, denying it the power of human agency or any dynamic of its own and seeing it only as a reaction to what we do.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2MDVS86