Bomber’s personal testimony confirms Labour leader’s role in Good Friday peace process
As the SKWAWKBOX showed exclusively in 2017, Jeremy Corbyn’s involvement in Northern Ireland encompassed discussions with both republican and loyalist figures – many at the request of the UK government, specifically then-Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam.
Corbyn played a vital role in negotiating the details of the release of loyalist and republican prisoners, which was one of three essential factors underpinning the eventual ‘Good Friday Agreement’.
This involvement was challenged by the BBC’s Andrew Neil during a 2017 interview with Corbyn when he quoted former IRA member Sean O’Callaghan’s claim that Corbyn had played no role in the peace process.
But the SKWAWKBOX can exclusively reveal that Corbyn played exactly the role portrayed on this site, confirmed by a republican ‘fixer’ of irrefutable credentials.
In 1994, over a period of five days, the IRA conducted a series of no fewer than three attacks on Heathrow airport using home-made mortar bombs:
In 1998, Michael Gallagher was convicted over his involvement in a mortar attack on Heathrow Airport:
The same Mr Gallagher spoke at length to the SKWAWKBOX from the Irish Republic about his time in prison, about the debt he owed to Jeremy Corbyn – and to confirm that Corbyn did indeed tell the IRA to lay down their weapons to seek a political solution.
Mr Gallagher said:
I know from first hand experience how much Jeremy Corbyn was, and is, committed to the peace process in Ireland. I had personal contact with him while I was in HMP Long Lartin [a category A prison for republicans convicted of terror offences] serving a 20 years sentence for Irish politically-related activities. In that period, on either side of the Good Friday Agreement, he urged us Republican prisoners to move on, and to make our struggle exclusively political.
In those days there were a very few decent MPs on the Tory side, but a number of good Labour people. Tony Benn was one outstanding figure, but the pick of all of them was Jeremy Corbyn and his efforts to sort out the details of repatriation. I was released early and able to start a new life. I still run my own small business.
It’s no exaggeration at all to say that without the repatriations there would have been no Good Friday Agreement – and without Corbyn there would have been no repatriations, so his involvement was absolutely crucial to everything that followed.
He would sit across the table from me – his assistant Valerie would be there as well – and tell us the only solution to the situation was political. And he would take a genuine interest in us as human beings. The contrast with how we were treated by many of the others couldn’t have been bigger.
Listen, I was no angel in those days, but I could tell that Corbyn was the real deal and we trusted him – and he never let us down. I’m a living testimony to the fact that if you talk to people and treat them like human beings, the results can be dramatic – and far-reaching.
Mr Gallagher sent the SKWAWKBOX a copy of a letter he sent from prison in October 1998 to a contact in Ireland.
In the letter, which is marked “XK1660 A Wing“, his prisoner number and location , he complains of the slack and aloof attitude of a visitor from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was, he believed, only visiting for appearance’s sake – and then contrasted that with the ‘positive news’ of a Corbyn visit:
This letter refers to Corbyn’s role, which was subsequently confirmed, as an envoy between the British government and other interested parties, although – unsurprisingly – Gallagher did not know at the time that it was in fact then-NI Secretary Mo Mowlam who had asked him to fulfil this function.
This was confirmed by Keith and Valerie Veness, with Keith’s account summarised here:
Mr Gallagher was absolutely adamant that, during these visits, Corbyn repeatedly asked him and other prisoners to abandon violence and to devote themselves to a political solution in Northern Ireland.
In both his testimony and evidence, Michael Gallagher confirms not only that Corbyn did exactly what his politically-motivated accusers claim he did not do, but also that Corbyn was acting as an envoy to allow the British Labour government to achieve its key aim of hammering out the details of the exchange and release of prisoners that eventually underpinned the whole of the historic peace agreement.
In one interview, Michael Gallagher put beyond doubt that, in performing this most challenging of functions, Jeremy Corbyn demonstrated strength of character and negotiating skills entirely absent from his opponents.
Mr Gallagher also had a parting message for Jeremy Corbyn, with whom he has not spoken in many years.
He wanted the SKWAWKBOX to let Corbyn know that he had seen him playing football with children in London – and to tell him that he could learn a thing or two from one Mick Gallagher. He even provided video evidence that made it hard to argue!
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Unfortunately this confirmation of what we all knew to be the truth has come too late. If only this evidence had been allowed to come out earlier
Mud sticks and so does negative propoganda.We all thought that nobody would believe that the “kinder gentler politics” would be rejected for the jew hating terrorist supporting lefty the media portrayed him has.Now we all know that to be the false,but did we ever have a rebutal team or press liason to at least try to give another version.Enter white flag man another muck raking smear merchant against his own party members.?
Oh you’re so transparent Joseph, it’s farcical! Attack is the best form of defence, eh? Oh, right, and throw in the ‘white flag man’ platitude as well, just for good measure, hmm!
Why not just say which council you were a member of, and then that’ll be the end of it.
PS Did you see the comment ‘Stark’ posted yesterday? So did you used to identify as Joe – ie Joe O’Keefe?
As for this post and what Mr Gallagher says about Jeremy, it wouldn’t matter one jot when it came out because the MSM would just completely ignore it anyway. I mean they are hardly going to publish something which contradicts their own narrative – ie black propaganda.
Allan – “Why not just say which council you were a member of, and then that’ll be the end of it.”
He has done several times. It’s high time you put your famous ‘research skills’ to some use.
Running around falsely accusing other people of lying with zero evidence is not a good look.
Allan, this is exactly what I meant about looking like you’re demanding people prove their identity and credentials to you. Wouldn’t everybody’s time and energy be better spent discussing issues with the Labour Party, the Leadership/NEC elections and the way back into government, instead of arguing with each other about who’s who and so on?
I’ve only lately started commenting, but I’ve been visiting here for a year or so and, frankly, so many of the comment strings degenerate into troll hunting or shouting matches. How can the Left ever claim to be a unified force if this is what it looks like?
Er Stark, why are you painting a false picture of what happened. I came on to this thread, read the article, and then started reading the comments and, as such, saw what Joseph had said in relation to me and responded to it. No ‘demanding’ involved whatsoever! As for time being better spent etc Stark, Joe and Co are posting all day long every day, so that is hardly an issue, is it. And if Joe would just say which council it was, then we wouldn’t have to spend any time at all on the matter, would we.
I assume you didn’t post any links to the information you found regarding ‘Joe O’Keefe’, otherwise you would have said so?
And Steve, Joseph has NOT at any point, said which council it was, let alone ‘several times’, and you lie, which is becoming a habit of yours recently. And needless to say, if that WAS the case (which it isn’t of course), why wouldn’t HE, or yourself for that matter, just say which council it was when I ask.
Seems to me the im-posters on here are becoming ever more desperate! Yep, and as if they didn’t know that I would respond to Joe’s comments whenever I came onto this thread and saw them!
I was referring to the number of occasions, across several threads, where you’ve asked Joseph to say which Council he served on. It’s Surrey, by the way, as he’s made several references to Lewes, Brighton and Reigate in numerous threads.
I’d also point to several threads where you’ve actually listed the times people have posted comments and suggested that they’re monitoring the site specifically to undermine debate. Me, I come on here a few times a day, because this site is interesting and informative, and the comments are often educational (once you learn to skip the arguments), but that’s because I’m unemployed and don’t have much else to do.
My comment about time being better spent in discussing matters that concern the Left, rather than just slinging abuse or shouting at each other (by the way, using capitol letters in text is usually interpretated as shouting), wasn’t actually aimed at you in particular. There’s lots of comment threads on here that disintegrate into noise, and there’s a lot of people who do that. I could list several.
And finally, no, I didn’t post the link to the website where I found a Joe O’keefe mentioned in a news article (the Brighton Argus, if I remember correctly) . I did however tell you the search terms that I used. Interestingly enough, I took those directly from a comment he himself made.
I started visiting because someone in my Party Branch suggested here as a good place to learn. I don’t learn much from many of the threads, which is a shame as people do seem to have interesting things to say, because they do deteriorate so often.
Stark, if you come on here a few times a day, then you will of course know that I use capital letters occasionally so as to emphasise a word, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with shouting or being angry. And why would I be angry anyway when I am in fact enjoying my ‘spar’ with Joe AND his ‘Seconds’, having got him on the ropes and on his last legs. The point IS of course is that if Joe never really WAS a councillor, and he lied as such, then the only course of ‘action’ open to him is to keep ducking and diving, and THAT is precisely what he’s doing!
It is odd though how you only appear to be posting comments in relation to my ‘spar’ with Joe since you first posted yesterday. You’re not one of his Seconds, are you!
Allan Howard 12/02/2020 at 11:29 pm
Allan – Admit it, this rather ridiculous and obsessive vendetta you’ve been pursuing hasn’t done much to enhance your credibility. Hopefully you’ll learnt a lesson from this and in future you’ll refrain from making unsubstantiated and un-evidenced accusations against others.
When can we expect to see your full and sincere apology to Joseph for accusing him of lying ?
Oh dear Lord, I really didn’t want to find myself in this position.
Yes, I know you frequently use capitol letters for emphasis. And that’s generally considered to be the textual equivalent of shouting by a lot of people.
I replied to one of your messages to Joseph where you asked him which Council he served on, because I was bored, and knew he’d said in the past that it was Surrey. If I recall correctly, you wanted to know why he hadn’t said and I said that some people may not like others demanding proof of identity. That may have been poorly phrased on my part, and I believe I attempted to clarify that in my reply to your reply this morning. But today you did exactly the same thing again, so I responded.
I’m curious as to what you mean by “one of his seconds”. I’ve never met him, spoken to him, and have no association with him other than reading his comments, same as I read yours. But there we go.
It’s late, I’m tired, and I find myself mired in one of the sorts of thread I politely suggested is massively off-putting (for information, I also find the RH/Toffee exchanges quite off-putting too, but there is the added bonus of learning new and interesting curses). You think/say/write what you like, Allan. I’ll try never to have an opinion again without prior approval.
Allan you really are an ignoramus and narrow minded.person….. Labour councillor in Reigate and Banstead in the mid 90s representing the Horley ward for a full term and took a seat that had only ever been Tory or lib dem.I.was told by everyone in the constituency party “Horley never votes Labour.I had an interesting time and was vice chair of licencing,a member of Gatcom(Gatwick monitering)and police laison for Surrey.I was quickly initiated into the Labour lib lab pact on my council and opposed it all through my term in office.I did love campaigning but found my beliefs were stretched and did not enjoy the experience of being a councillor although Horley was billed” historic win for Labour,Reigate constituency party ignored the win and concentratd the cavassing on the council estates around Redhill and Reigate.my seat was lost to the Torys when I stepped down as the CLP supported a lib den candidate. I moved from Reigate in2000.I was known as joe Okeefe and returned back to my roots in activism.My family and even my grandchildren were threatened after my clash with the pope burning fiasco.I was advised to leave the Lewes area after an attack at my house in Sussex by a UVF lunatic who was injured in the attack,The police arrested me and charged me with GBH.It got nowhere and was thrown out has he broke into my property and penetrated a wall of security including poisoning my Alsation dog Maja.My attacker was a known violent offender and I dealt with him in the way I was taught in the civil rights movement in Ulster.and my early years as a kid in BOLTON.I left the country and my whole family moved to the farmhouse in France.I was very lucky in Business and had extensive property in the UK and abroad which allows me freedom and an insight into the greed and averice of the wealthy.I work as a volenteer for a NGO in Cambodia and Veitnam.I travel back to France yearly and campaign in the UK .Now mr Allan Howard I hope you are ashamed of yourself and apologise to joe okeefe or Joseph Okeefe.I suggest that you go and seek psychiatric help whilst the NHS is still free.I hope I do not ever meet you personally because you might test my kinder gentler politics…!Stop the corrosive attack on fellow socialists Allan Howard Thanks.
And why didn’t you say so before! Doesn’t make sense Joseph. Unless of course you had an agenda! You know, keep it going and going – ie me asking you again and again because you wouldn’t say so. I mean if anyone keeps refusing to answer a simple question, then it of course arouses suspicion, and especially when that person is repeatedly criticising Jeremy and the leadership, never mind the fact that they spend all day every day posting comments on this site.
So why didn’t you just say as much the first time I asked you which council it was?
Allan – You fucked up, be man enough to step up and apologise.
Oh, and I wonder why Joe didn’t just tell me which council he sat on the first time I asked him about six months ago. Or the second time, a few weeks later, or the third time, a few weeks after that.
Any ‘ideas’ Steve?
I mean it’s all so ridiculously transparent it’s a joke. But ALL a good larf, eh!
I was in fact responding to your 11.29pm post above, and have now just seen your latest submission.
So I take it your mate Joe won’t be explaining why he didn’t tell me the first time I asked, or the second time I asked, or the third time I asked…… No, of course he won’t, because we ALL know why he didn’t!
Now let’s think of how I could apologise to him for not answering my question during the past six months or so, despite my having asked him half-a-dozen times. No, nothing comes to mind, but it was Sooooooo good of him to FINALLY answer AND to give such a detailed and comprehensive answer when he finally did so, and held nothing back. And he obviously had no reason to NOT do so before, so why DID he…… oh right, that’s what he’s going to avoid answering, isn’t it!
Allan Howard at 2:35 am
Allan – Maybe he thought it was none of your business, maybe he just didn’t like your attitude. I really don’t know because I don’t know the guy, the only contact I have ever had with him is on these pages.
“No, of course he won’t, because we ALL know why he didn’t!
I have absolutely no idea whether or not he will choose to indulge your obsessive behaviour. Please enlighten us all with your theory.
Going around accusing people of lying without any evidence to back it up is simply not on. If you’d been more observant and if you had done a bit of very basic research you wouldn’t have made such a prat of yourself. The only joke here is on you.
“I also find the RH/Toffee exchanges quite off-putting too”
You’re quite right, Stark. I should stop responding in kind.Feel free to remind me.
Alan – Please, PLEASE get a grip and recognize when you’re simply wrong or wrong-headed.
… which is not the same as agreeing with views that you contest, but simply about contesting the *views* rather than the *person* – unless you have real evidence of troll fakery.
There is a problem with sock puppetry all over the Net, but presuming it is not a great idea.
As an example, your idea that some of us spend all day looking at Skwawkbox. A moment’s reflection might suggest a totally different scenario.
Do try that reflection before posting.
Stark…my sincere apologies for you being dragged into an argument.I know better than most people what its like to be tracked by a lunatic.
It would not have made any difference when this story came out, in fact given Michael Gallagher’s violent past his testimony would probably have been used against Jeremy during the election campaign (and still might be.)
The establishment, the Tories,the MSM and elements of the PLP jointly concocted the fiction that Jeremy Corbyn is the devil incarnate and the gullible in society swallowed it, hook line and sinker.
It shows the power of these people that the mildest, most anti racist, anti violence and anti war leaders the country has ever had is now seen by many as a rabid antisemite and a terrorist supporting thug.
Well, it will all come out eventually – the dirty tricks the smears and the financial and other inducements handed out to ensure that the character assassination of Jeremy Corbyn was successful, I look forward to that day ,
Smartboy, I had the same thought – crediting the average TV audience with the ability to think past TERRORIST!! is a mistake.
Mencken’s quote “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public” applies just as well to the British public.
Unfortunately what you say is too true David. The sad thing is that when the penny drops that the British public have been well and truly had it will be too late – in fact its too late now as we are saddled with Johnson for the foreseeable.
The Country was robbed of possibly the most humane genuine Prime Mister we never had , all down to the propaganda of the MSM the Establishment , JLM/BOD and of course our very own RW “bastard PLP” MP’s .Twatson and Blair/Mandrake Mandelson may you rot in hell.
They are, I am sure, very content with the proven adulterous racist liar the Country now has as a , well I am not going to refer to him in the office he has lied his way into , the Country is a much poorer nation as a result .
All the more to try and ensure that from a poor field of Leadership candidates the RW do not get their placemen Starmer ” Sir Keir ” elected .
Rob – If you haven’t read it already have a look at the Jonathan Cook blog that I have linked to below.
Corbyn was on great form at PMQ yesterday.
Unfortunately, he was not combative enough on the AS lies and the question of the IRA. That was his big mistake.
On a similar vein today’s blog by Jonathan Cook about the conspiracy of false anti-Semitism accusations against Corbyn and Labour members is a must read.
https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2020-02-12/antisemitism-threat-labour/
From the early seventies the Tories were secretly negotiating with the P.I.RA. For example, Douglas Hurd was sent to meet them in Belfast. Moreover, David Irvine, a leading loyalist politician of the Progressive Unionist Party and ex UVF member met with Jeremy Corbyn both at a Labour Party conference and also outside of it. Dr Ian Paisleys widow said that both her husband and Jeremy Corbyn respected each other and got on well. So the notion that JC was a supporter of the P.I.R.A was pure propaganda pumped out by the M.S.M and his opponents within the democratic socialist Labour Party. Andrew Neil plus the so called journalists at the BBC knew these facts very well. However, the agenda has never been to deal in facts but to create a narrative and keep repeating it. A tactic which Goebbels used to great effect. The same tactic was used in the fabricated AS smear and witch-hunt within the democratic Labour Party. Unfortunately, this propaganda technique works very well when you have a compliant media bought and paid for by right wing billionaires and a State Broadcaster beholden to the government of the day.
“Andrew Neil plus the so called journalists at the BBC knew these facts very well.”
Interesting that Nick Davies in his seminal ‘Flat Earth News’ highlights Neil as a key figure in the destruction of the credibility of ‘The Sunday Times’ as it became an organ infected by the Murdoch virus.
The book has tremendous relevance as we see the cumulative effects of what Davies calls ‘churnalism’ – over ten years on – after the collapse of any significant attempt at real journalism in the MSM around the election
You were doing great until you mentioned Goebbels ,
No need when arguing party and leaders suffer badly from propaganda, it’s actually a lot more sophisticated and insidious than that,
Good news youngsters and progressives dont get any of it and vote Sinn Fein in Ireland and Bernie Sanders in states
FPTP is a bigger problem
Goebbels was simply one of the most successful operators of propaganda techniques, and those techniques are in constant use today.
The basic technique is create a lie and keeping the lie until it becomes established as a reality. This technique was first practiced most successfully and developed by Freuds nephew Edward Bernays whose transformed propaganda into what is euphemistically called public relations. For example, he convinced many women that smoking a cancerous substance was a stand for freedom. In fact he used the mantra “ torches of freedom. Goebbels openly admitted that he learnt much from this American PR guru hence why he quoted him when using a simple mantra as a device for a lie and constantly repeating it through the use of newspapers, radio and which was revolutionary at the time, film, to convince the masses of this lie. Moreover, Karl Rove, Bushes former White House Chief of Staff, said after the invasion of Iraq based on a lie, WMD that they create a new reality and when people understand it they will create another one. The most successful propaganda, brainwashing techniques are frequently the most simple. Bernays knew it, Rove knew it as today’s propagandists know it but apparently you don’t know it! Alas it’s not just the FTPS or proportional representation it’s the fact that not enough people read widely enough and take the time to follow the political debates. Sinn Fein are still in the minority and most people whether in Eire or most of the Western World still access, what is deemed as the “ news” by MSM or their State Broadcasters. Admittedly, the internet has helped a great deal, otherwise we would not have access to sites like Skwawkbox. However it’s only the minority who do and until a tipping point is reached, which is what is happening in France but you wouldn’t really know that if you just relied on the U.K. MSM plus State Broadcaster. Hence why 40 years of Neo Liberalism has been swallowed by the masses!
brianbotou, I think it’d be fair to say pretty much everyone here is aware of the propaganda we’re fed by the Mainstream Fake Media – the question is how to counteract it?
The establishment won’t educate your children more than is needed for them to function as workers – then they go to work, come home, have kids, watch TV and have their opinions formed for them.
Google “adult learning in Lancashire,” search “politics” …. no results found.
The only real option I see is to stop the media subverting democracy for their rich masters.
Journalists are paid by the rich so we can’t afford to bribe them.
They gave up principle the minute they joined the MFM so they have no better natures to which we could appeal.
That leaves force, or the threat of force, ie the law.
We can’t make laws to enforce honesty in the media until we’re in government – but we can’t get into government until the media tells the truth.
What we could do is declare our intent to make those laws retroactive – ex post facto – and that once we’re in government some of the fuckers are going to jail.
David – Google “adult learning in Lancashire,” search “politics” …. no results found. Really?
I Googled exactly what follows in bold
adult learning in Lancashire “politics”
and got 850,000 results
There are plenty of options to find a political course in Lancashire. However, as to what is and what is not included in the course is of an entirely different matter. Moreover, what has to remembered is the staff who conduct these course will have to have, normally some sort of academic qualifications. Here lies the problem. For example, a small group of academics have been trying to counter the false narrative about Syria, yet, their respective academic institutions sort to alienate and ostracise them by various means. The control mechanism is money and the means to publish papers plus books. Other examples are Professors Antony C Sutton, Carol Quigley, Guido Preparata who between them have published a wide variety of academic books. Sutton, published a troika of books called the Wall Street Trilogy relating to Franklin D Roosevelt or Quigley published a book called Tragedy and Hope. Preparata published one called Conjuring Hitler. In every case, despite being leading academics in their fields, they had difficulty finding a publisher plus retaining their academic posts. There are many more examples I could give, however, the main point is the suppression of different perspectives which in essence is how propaganda works via a one sided point of view or as Chomsky said a “ virulent discussion but only within designated confines “. As we are witnessing in France, there is almost a news black out within the MSM and the State Broadcaster in the U.K. to the full extent of what is taking place. Information is power and the establishment know this which is why any challenges to this will be marginalised. Upton Sinclair, an American author and journalist said “ it’s difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it…” . Change will only come from below, it will never come from above.
“Change will only come from below, it will never come from above.”
History suggests that this is a romantic fiction.
Steve, https://www.lal.ac.uk/ was the site I assumed to have all adult learning courses in Lancashire listed and searching “politics” on that official site yielded “no results found” – I took that at face value, knowing that further education has been shrinking for years.
If it was misinformation I apologise.
Google’s results count of 850,000 – come on 🙂 – drill down and even the results that are for actual courses are not for FE courses, which my comment implied.
brianbotu
JC had no support from daily mirror, guardian, bbc and channel 4, he had his critics on here and PLP shafted him and party
‘Your a fucking anti semite and a racist’ Margaret Hodge
‘Sorry you feel that way’ JC
Labour blamed for financial crash
Ed Miliband torn to shreds for eating a bacon sandwich
The lie tories are economically literate, strong on crime and defence,
They never cost their manifesto, they have no policies and they lie through their back teeth
The well read do nowt, that’s class division, £20 million for Tories in GE
We are not defending ourselves and playing the game by their rules,
We had a PLP problem in 1982, you forget it was the SDP and Galtieri who saved the milk snatchers sorry arse
I would love to sit in on a Labour party media training session FFS
Dont tell me about brainwashing, tell me what we do about it
Firstly, JC never claimed he had any support of the above mentioned MSM outlets except of course the Morning Star which he stated openly.
Moreover, in your narrative about bacon sandwiches you forget to mention that Blair’s right hand propagandist Campbell used very similar tactics of AS against the Tory leader Michael Howard. For example, the tabloids had his head stuck on the body of a pig which the Daily Mirror amongst others published.
Not a peep out of the valiant fighters in the vanguard against AS in the PLP or the BOD then. Why, well, Blair had the blessing of Murdoch plus the others owners of the major propaganda organs. Furthermore, you fail to mention that Miliband put a veneer of Labour on his new look Party whilst through the law of accidental consequences to thwart the unions whilst unintentionally allowing JC to win the leadership campaign.
Of course the MSM permit this myth of economic Tory competence to arise since they are the mouthpieces of the establishment. If you recall, prior to the 1979 GE, the MSM was running for many years the narrative that it’s all the unions fault etc for the UKs economic demise which culminated in the Satchi and Satchi mantra “ Labour isn’t working “ and it worked. Hence my earlier reference to Goebbels and simple propaganda repetitive and easily regurgitated slogans. The notion that the SLDP and the Falklands war won it for Maggie belies the fact that very successful propagandists know well the power of jingoistic jangles. Eg witness Trumps “ make America great again”. A simple effective simplistic slogan which even the most uneducated can rote learn with ease.
Now, you state “ don’t tell me about brainwashing”, yet, you seem to forget that many people don’t realise they are brainwashed when they repeat these simple slogans claiming them as their own without realising they are planted in their minds. That’s the power of propaganda and by the way of advertising.
Of course it’s about class propaganda but unfortunately the whole strategy by the ruling class is to pretend it isn’t and the use of diversionary tactics of divide and rule. The purpose of propaganda was well put by Nye Bevin “ it’s to convince the poorest in the land to vote against their own interests”. In order to do something about it, first must come the realisation that people are being brainwashed which is very difficult for many people to accept.
In addition, it’s the realisation that the one thing that the establishment fear more than anything else is that the majority of people will realise this and understand they have the power not the richest. Hence why they fear JC so much. He made many people comprehend this and why the most intense propaganda campaign that I have seen in my approaching seventh decade on the Earth I have ever witnessed in the U.K.
Repetition is, in effect, a form of brainwashing and, needless to say, people are not conscious of the fact that it is being done to them. And the Establishment’s propaganda machine – ie the corporate MSM – used it to good effect re the ‘Salisbury poisonings’ in convincing most of the British public (but not all) that it was the evil Mr Putin and the Ruskies wot did it. That’s why they left it for three weeks before they discovered the Novichok on the front door handle (despite having removed Skripal’s pets the day after he was allegedly poisoned!), so that the MSM could endlessly speculate about how the poisoning was carried out, and keep the public emotionalised so that they don’t start questioning the narrative with a bit of critical thinking, for eg Why would Putin have an assassination attempt carried out just three months before the World Cup footie kicks off, which Russia was hosting for the very first time.
As with the build up to the invasion of Iraq, emotionalising the masses is a key factor.
And they did the same with the Greenham Common Woman, with a contrived ‘stunt’ to paint them as violent, so as to marginalise them JUST at the point where public support for them had reached around 50%, and climbing.
🥱
That should have read…’Women’, of course
Having fun Steve!
My post was intended to convey my boredom at your conspiracy theories.
I was under the impression that their 2 guinea pigs died of thirst and their cat named Nash Van Drake was put down after testing because it was very severely malnourished and distressed. I can’t be bothered researching the exact time lines but the condition of these animals would indicate that the animals were removed sometime after the poisoning and not on the day after the poisoning as you claim.The fate of their other cat appears to be unknown. I guess it just did what cats do and simply found itself a new home.
I’ve posted a link to this article on skwawkbox on several occasions, and it’s hard to believe you didn’t see any of them given that you monitor and post comments on the site all day long every day: I have also posted links to other articles on a number of occasions showing that the police entered the house LONG before the pets were supposedly discovered dead or dying. And needless to sat, the very fact that within a few minutes of me posting my comment – yet AGAIN – you are ‘responding’ to it, first with an emoticon, and THEN, within two minutes, responding with the old conspiracy theory label, and No, of course you aren’t a paid shill. As I keep saying Steve, you’re so transparent it’s a joke. But then you and your bosses wouldn’t want people to start waking up to the Salisbury poisoning scam, would you!
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5833121/russian-sergei-skripals-pet-cat/
“Why would Putin have an assassination attempt carried out just three months before the World Cup footie kicks off, which Russia was hosting for the very first time.”
And why wait so long to kill him? And why kill someone who was the subject of a spy swap when the convention is that such people are not harmed?
Also, a slight puff of wind would be enough to blow the deadly nerve agent into the faces of anyone spraying it outside.
No, the official narrative may have convinced Lisa Nandy, Stephen Kinnock and Pat McFadden but it has not convinced me.
Allan, we can guess who you think is paying the ‘shills’ – but why the ongoing payments now that the election is won?
Why aren’t the shills on holiday spending their bonuses?
Any one of these paid shills could prove Tory corruption – why haven’t they all been Skripal-ed (or is it Novichok-ed)?
The French Revolution came from below as did the changes by the establishment to recognising trade unions, women’s vote etc. Moreover, this was witnessed in the USA via the civil rights movement in the late fifties and sixties.
I was going to be facetious and point out that revolutions always come from below… then it occurred to me that one could argue we’ve just witnessed a revolution of the super rich against the majority.
Doh.
My point is that it’s not a given – thus the scepticism. Although the ‘below’ momentum has to be harnessed, the leadership and initiative can be from a section of the privileged.
In populist movements, the oppressed can be harnessed by an elite. See Brexit. See a couple of months ago.
Yes I watched an interview with Richard Burgon on the BBC and a political moron from the vile Sun was going for Corbyn on this.
And I thought whilst the political amoeba at the foul Sun were probably struggling with words of 3 or 4 syllllables the big boys and girls of politics like Jeremy were planting a seed for peace in N. Ireland.
If the Sun had been listened to atrocities on all sides at the level of then would probably still be going on.
Jeremy Corbyn deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for this which should go well with with his Ghandi international peace award.
But the super rich have always controlled the narrative so the notion that the super rich have had a a sudden or even gradual revolution against the majority disguises the truth. They control the political parties both in the USA and until JC in the U.K. For example, there is a charade played out every 4 years in the USA that it’s a contest between 2 political parties when in actual fact it’s 2 wings of the same party the business party which are controlled by the super rich and have been for a very long time. Another example, as Orwell understood very well, is in the use of language. For example, the Federal reserve Bank of America is not as most people would assumed owned and controlled by the the government of the USA but mainly by a number of private banks some of which are controlled by overseas financial institutions. A similar situation exists in the U.K. with the City of London controlling vast swathes of government economic policies. Remember, in the sixties the run on the pound, the balance of payments crisis etc. Yet, no emphasis is placed on these any more. Why, well, for the last 40 years the U.K. has had 2 parties both committed to Neo Liberalism. As a famous banker said “ it matters not who sits on the throne he who controls the purse strings controls the crown”. The revolution has yet to arrive from below and I won’t wait for baited breath to see in the U.K. in the foreseeable future!
brianbotou, the anti-Labour propaganda this time was unprecedented in scale, coordination, unanimity of support throughout the MFM, in the viciousness and breadth of its falsehoods and more.
In 2010 “Labour overspending” was the only lie the Tories needed – this time they pulled out ALL the stops.
Corbyn, uniquely, scared them enough to bet it all on the black – if at any time we’d succeeded in holding their lies up to public scrutiny they’d have lost the lot – their whole house of cards could have tumbled.
The BBC is most blameworthy.
OK, not strictly a revolution, but extraordinarily significant in that the field is now completely open to the real revolution AI/robotics is about to create – there’s nothing stopping the 1% now.
Cumminge is easily the equal of Goebbels, at least as despicable and will be of far more interest to future historians.
“the anti-Labour propaganda this time was unprecedented in scale, coordination, unanimity of support throughout the MFM, in the viciousness and breadth of its falsehoods and more.”
Yes. The ”Twas always thus’ scenario is only partially true, and is the sort of generalisation that kills rational analysis and a concept of alternatives. It belongs to the distorted politics of ‘The Peoples Front of Judea’ 🙂
At the risk of further repetition, I would again recommend Nick Davies’s ‘Flat Earth News’ as a read that details the quantifiable decline of journalism in the UK.
This only takes the story up to the previous decade. The situation now is worse than it has been for a long time in this conflict between acceptable journalism and propaganda.
I agree with your point about the scale of the Tsunami of propaganda by the MSM, the State Broadcaster and not forgetting the pincer movement using the malcontents within the democratic socialist Labour Party. The difference between the 2010 election in terms of the brainwashing campaign and the 2017 GE was a war of both attrition and annihilation. Brown, lost 90 seats plus he only had approximately 9.5 million votes. In the 2019 GE Corbyn lost 59 seats and had about 10.3 million votes.
However, observe the difference in reactions to both results from within and externally. Brown was never a threat to the NeoLiberal agenda whereas Corbyn was threatening to reform it by a mild form of socialism. This also importantly threatened the imperialist aspirations of the elites within the establishment hence the coordination of all branches of government including their propaganda mouthpieces in the MSM and the State Broadcaster. The intention was and still is to eradicate socialism within the Labour Party or if not to marginalise it to such a point it becomes inconsequential as during the NeoLiberal Labour regime.
Moreover, the elites have gradually became aware of the dangers the internet poses hence why they are using the usual method of censorship by a thousand cuts to limit its danger. During the 1960s the elites in the USA within the Carter administration wrote a paper concerning “ to much democracy “, this of course was during the revolutionary upheavals of the civil rights movement, the anti war movement etc. Hence why, for example, the USA has never repeated the mistake of conscription to fight their imperialistic wars or their coordinated efforts to marginalise the trade unions or any form of organised working class movements. Thatcher repeated this in the U.K. aided and abetted by her protege and continued to be supported by Miliband and most of the PLP.
However, a tipping point will be reached, witness what is happening in France, Chile, Bolivia and within the USA although you wouldn’t know it by following the usual organs of propaganda. The elites are fully aware what will happen eventually hence why they have developed strategies to thwart any attempt to deny them “ et dextris Del”.
Lastly, your point about Cummings is spot on he is a version of Goebbels in the 21st century.