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Arise Festival – unite for a Corbyn government
MATT WILLGRESS looks at the importance of this summer’s ‘Arise — a festival of Labour’s Left Ideas’ for the left in the current political climate

HAVING a genuinely left-wing leadership of the Labour Party was always going to attract intense hostility from across the political and economic establishment.

Ever since 2015 part of this has been incredible levels of media hostility towards Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, and a permanent misrepresentation of his and Labour’s political positions.

Despite this, Labour members and affiliate members not only overwhelmingly backed Jeremy against all the odds to become leader in 2015, they then gave him a stunning mandate to carry on as leader after the “chicken coup” attempt of 2016. After 12 months where they were told this was the worst possible decision to have ever made for the future of Labour, members and affiliate members made clear their wish for Labour to become a genuinely anti-austerity party committed to transforming Britain.

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