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New Labour Party leader offers hope

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ON September 12 2015, the UK’s Daily Mail ran a news headline: ‘Egyptian government resigns en masse as President clamps down following fallout from bribery scandal’.
Since the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 during the now infamous ‘Arab Spring’ (which has so far failed to move to become the Arab summer), Egypt has seen many leaders coming to power and being ousted.
Mohamed Morsi, who took over in June 2012, was ousted from power accused of the same charges that were laid against Mubarak when they ousted him in 2011.
On May 16 this year, Morsi was sentenced to death for his role in the Wadi el-Natrun prison break during the 2011 revolution; while another court sentenced him to life in prison for espionage.
It never rains, but pours for Egypt and Libya, Iraq, Syria; everywhere where the ‘Arab Spring’ took place.
It leaves one wondering if it was not better to leave the ‘dictators’ in power now that these countries are now ungovernable.
Kevin Connolly, the BBC’s Middle-East correspondent, on December 13 2013, commented that the ‘Arab Spring’ had 10 unpredictable outcomes; far from what the USA (and her allies) had anticipated.
He argued that one of the outcomes is that the US no longer calls the shots in the Middle-East.
He wrote: “The United States has not had a good Arab Spring.
“At the outset it had a clear view of a rather stagnant Middle-East in which it had reliable alliances with countries like Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“It has failed to keep up with events in Egypt which has elected an Islamist, Mohammed Morsi, and then seen him deposed by the army.
“(The Obama administration) likes elections, but didn’t like the result — a clear win for the Muslim Brotherhood.
“And it doesn’t like military coups (not in the 21st century at least), but is probably comfortable enough with a military-backed regime which wants to keep the peace with Israel.”
The Islamic State (ISIS) is another example of an unpredictable outcome of the Arab Spring.
It is also the reason why there are hundreds of thousands of refugees now fleeing to Europe.
Jeremy Corbyn, the new Labour leader, summed it all in his acceptance speech when he said:
“There are many issues we face and many people face desperation in other parts of the world.
“I think it is quite incredible the way the mood in Europe has changed over the past few weeks on understanding that people fleeing from wars, they are the victims of wars.
“They are the generational victims of wars, they are the intergenerational victims of war, end up in desperation, end up in terrible places, end up trying to gain a place of safety.
“End up trying to exercise their refugee rights.
“They are human beings just like you, just like me.
“Let’s deal with the refugee crisis with humanity, with support, with help, with compassion, to try to help people who are trying to get to a place of safety.
“Trying to help people who are stuck in refugee camps, but recognise going to war creates a legacy of bitterness and problems.
“Let us be a force for change in the world, a force for humanity in the world, a force for peace in the world and a force that recognises we cannot go on like this with grotesque levels of global insecurity, grotesque threats to our environment all around the world without the rich and powerful governments stepping up to the plate to make sure our world becomes safer and better.
“And those people don’t end up in poverty, in refugee camps, wasting their lives away when they could be contributing so much to the good of all of us on this planet.
“We are one world, let that message go out today from this conference centre here in London.” — (The Guardian, September 14 2015).
I felt proud of Jeremy Corbyn when I listened to his speech.
I couldn’t hold back my tears.
I felt guilty for not voting for him, having voted for Andy Burnham in the Labour leadership context.
He offers hope to many people in the world.
I hope he becomes a British PM in the next elections.
He is a complete departure from the Blair–Labour politics (which saw the ousting of Saddam Hussain and which arguably sowed the seeds of the Arab Spring).
I think some things are better left alone, as they are.
Western democracy may not be a one-model-fit-all.
I remember coming across a comment on social media, in which someone commented that, ‘some countries, or cultures, are good under dictatorship’.

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