Leading activists, artists and media commentators sign an open letter for grassroots movement to support Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
LEFTWING activists have called for people across the UK, from both within and without the Labour party, to engage a mass movement in support of Jeremy Corbyn.
In a open letter published in the left-wing Red Pepper magazine activists including the poet Michael Rosen, Michael Mansfield QC and feminist writer Selma James call Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party a “great opportunity”.
The letter reads: “Jeremy [Corbyn] has campaigned tirelessly over decades for social justice, and we share his vision for rebuilding democracy, respect and community. This election means we can start building a better country and a better world.”
The letter, which also carries the support of campaigning organisations such as Disabled People Against Cuts and publications including the human rights magazine The Internationalist, also states that a movement is necessary due to the opposition Corbyn will face.
“Parts of the media will attack him because they do not like his agenda of hope and participation. Many MPs will try to limit and constrain the process of giving power back to the people,” the letter states.
It continues: “We call on like-minded people to join us, creating a democratic and diverse network through action across the country – we will support each other’s campaigns at a local level as well as support the development of progressive changes at a parliamentary and legislative level.”
People can join the new network on the Red Pepper website. The signatories are as follows:
Hilary Wainwright, Michael Calderbank and James O’Nions, Red Pepper
George Monbiot, Writer
John Pandit, Asian Dub Foundation Soundsystem
Joseph Blake, People’s Parliament
Jacqui Howard, Compass
Nick Dearden, Global Justice Now
Liz Davies, barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Michael Mansfield QC, Mansfield Chambers
Asad Rehman, Newham Monitoring Project
Lee Jasper, Black Activist Rising Against Cuts (BARAC)
Suresh Grover, The Monitoring Project
Ewa Jasiewicz, Fuel Poverty Action
David Graeber, writer and anthropologist
Emma Hughes, Platform
Selma James, Global Women’s Strike
Amrit Wilson, South Asia Solidarity Group
Michael Rosen, Poet
Guy Taylor, Globalise Resistance
James Elliot, NUS Disabled Students’ Campaign
Rosie Mudinki All African Women’s Group
Deborah Hermanns, National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts
Anna Minton, author Ground Control,
Noel Douglas, Occupy Design
Alison Playford, Occupy London
Luke Cooper, activist
Rita Chadha, Chief Exec, RAMFEL
Andy Greene, Linda Burnip, Debbie Jolly, Bod Ellard & Paula Peters, Disabled People Against Cuts
Shaun Dey, Reel News
David Renton, barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Jan Woolf, chair Left Book Club
Mark Curtis, writer
Bert Schouwenburg, trade unionist
Rajiv Menon QC, Garden Court Chambers
Dr Jo Ram, co-founder Community Reinvest and University College Union member
Aaron Bastani, Co-founder of Novara Media
Marc O’Neil, UK Uncut
Ian Hodson, Fast Food Rights
Sujata Aurora, anti-racist campaigner
Jacqui Howard, Compass
Sirio Canos Donnay, Podemos London
Andrea Pisauro, Sinistra Ecologia Liberta UK
Andrew Simms, The New Weather Institute, Author
Charlotte Bence, Unite London & Eastern Young Members’ Committee
Jo Littler, Soundings
Victoria Chick, Economists Against Austerity
Joel Lazarus, community educator
Jeremy Gilbert, academic
Nina Lopez, Legal Action for Women
Max Harris, All Souls College, Oxford
Mark Burton, Scholar activist, Manchester
Gail Bradbrook, Compassionate Revolution
Angus McNelly, Occupy Tours
Natasha Nkonde, Community Organiser
Sam Mason, PCS rep/Climate activist
Joe Taylor, National Community Activists Network
Symon Hill, Christian author
Aaron Kiely, Student Assembly Against Austerity
Gabriel Bristow, London Play & Youth Work Campaign
Alison Allan, Hilary Saunders, Steve Timmins & Sue Kilroe, The Greater Bristol Alliance
Natasha Maria Brooks, Maia Kelly, Aislinn Lambert, Sakina Sheikh & Khinezar Tint, Students Against TTIP
Zita Holbourne, BARAC UK, poet & artist
Rafeef Ziadah and Michael Deas, Palestinian BDS National Committee
Mostafa Rajaai, NUS International Students’ Officer
Pat Stack, activist
Michael Chessum, activist
Beth Redmond, NUS national executive
Ruth Cashman, Right to Strike Campaign
Jill Mountford, Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign
Daisy Bata, Ritzy Cinema Staff Living Wage Campaign
Niki Adams, English Collective of Prostitutes
Mika Minio, Energy Democracy Project
Sara Callaway, Women of Colour/Global Women’s Strike
Jason Moyer-Lee, Independent Workers of Great Britain
Cathy Nugent, editor of Solidarity
Craig Gent, Novara Wire Editor
Diana Garcia Lopez, Cambridge People’s Assembly
Neil Kirkham, Cambridge People’s Assembly
Neil Swannick, Hannah Mitchell Foundation
Derek Clarke, High Peak Co-operative Party
Adam Ramsay, journalist
Shakira Martin, NUS Vice President Further Education
Didi Rossi, Queer Strike
Estella Schmid, Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
Jess Worth, Hazel Healy, Chris Brazier, Chris Spannos and Jamie Kelsey-Fry, New Internationalist
Picture courtesy of John Perivolaris