Linked with our presentations of Make Poverty History – Treat Humanity properly, and also of Towards a global solidarity. See also Remembering British Unions.
He said about his proudest achievement in parliament since 1997: « The detention of General Pinochet for 503 days in Britain helped to change the political climate in Chile, which means there is now a real prospect of him being put on trial. I am delighted that the government has put so much money into housing repairs, but in a second term they must put money into new council housing in London ».
Jeremy Corbyn – England
In January 2003 he visted the US to conduct and participate to anti-Irak-war demonstrations. See all texts and photos on this page of the Traprock Peace Center.
Excerpt of a debate about War-on-Iraq: … Of the speeches that stick in my memory – obviously Tony Blair’s speech. Not that I agreed with it, in fact I intervened on it. Kenneth Clarke I thought made a very strong case and Chris Smith made I thought a very logical case against the war, and Tam [Dalyell]. It was a day when, while there was a three-line whip on, obviously there was huge pressure being put on, in a sense, with the numbers opposed it would be impossible to completely whip on that. It would have to be done by persuasion. That’s why enormous effort was put into the persuasion of MPs, including alleged threats and dangers, and endless lists of who might vote against, who might abstain. We, at one stage, found we had a list of 200 plus Labour MPs who were possibly going to vote against – and we ended up with a 139, plus Dennis Skinner (who was very ill in hospital and couldn’t be there, but I always include Dennis in the anti vote).
That reduction meant we hadn’t quite got half of all Labour backbench MPs. There were rumours around that the government had said « more than 200 and British troops would be withdrawn », and there were in fact contingency plans to bring the troops home … (Read more of that on this page of the Guardian Unlimited).
Go to Conflict with Iraq: how we could have avoided war, and click on your corresponding choice.
Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected 2005 as Member of Parliament, for Islington North and the Labour Party, with 51,2 %. (Read more on Guardian unlimited, and also on The Labour Party).
(excerpt) … he is a left-wing member of the Labour Party and is in the Socialist Campaign Group. He has a column in The Morning Star. A long-time supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, he sits on its National Council. Before his election to parliament he was an elected councillor in the London Borough of Haringey (1974-1983). He is an elected member of the Stop the War Coalition steering committee. He famously divorced his wife due to irreconcilable differences about sending their children to selective schools, although they still live in the same house. He is one of the signatories to Tony Banks’ « Pigeon Bombs » Early Day Motionand Michael Meacher’s Climate Change EDM. He was fiercely opposed to the War in Iraq and has spoken at many anti-war rallies in the UK and abroad. Corbyn is a prominent Amnesty International member. He campainged for the trial of former Chilean president,Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. He has been critised by some who claim that his advocy of human rights is at odds with his relationship with the Sinn Fein … (Read more on wikipedia).
See his website, or also for his monthly report. To go further, click there on links.
See also all his other articles on the Morning Star.
Bio out of his own website: date of birth 26 May 1949. Labour Member for Islington North since 1983 with a majority of 12,958 at the 2001 election. Currently involved as/in:
Vice Chair of Parliamentary Human Rights Group,
Vice Chair of the Western Sahara Group (APPG),
Chair of Liberation, The Anti-Imperialist / Anti-Racist Organisation,
Steering Committee of Stop the War,
National Council of CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament).
His action against poverty and in support of security, environmental and human rights questions, both at home and internationally are well known. The need for more affordable housing for his constituents has dominated his work in parliament for many years, and all of his more recent questions to the government on housing can be found in the In Parliament section of this website. As well as this, meetings with ministers and local groups with regard to housing are noticeable in the Diary. The needs of minority groups including asylum seekers have also been at the forefront of his work both in and out of parliament. In his peacekeeping roles (see above list) he has attended and spoken at human rights peace conferences, including Beijing, Mumbai, New Delhi, Rwanda, UN/Geneva and other parts of Europe. He has had significant involvement in campaigning against miscarriages of justice, eg for Irish victims such as the Birmingham Six, Guildford Four, and Bridgewater Three. This experience taught him much about the dangers of rushing through (parliament) anti terrorist legislation which enables the wrongful imprisonment of innocent people. He recently voted against similar draconian measures in parliament, inquiring of the Minister: “ … Does my right hon. Friend accept that a criminal court convicted that individual, and that the legislation that we are passing will allow people to be restricted or detained on the basis of hearsay evidence through the security services? The defendant will know nothing about it; nor will the public, and therein lies the road to miscarriages of justice“. Jeremy Corbyn has campaigned enthusiastically for fair pension provision for all, against racism, and on the major issues affecting his constituents, especially unemployment and low pay. He attends the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on a regular basis, and has recently led an Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) delegation to Angola, followed by a human rights-based visit to Rwanda. Since September 11 2001 he has spoken at anti-war meetings tirelessly in the UK and abroad. (Read more on his Homepage, then click on Biography).
links:
a Guardian mail-link to give your opinion about what you think;
House of Commons, debates: Dec. 20, 2004;
News from Jeremy Corbyn, in pdf;
His profile on BBC news on March 8, 2005;
His campaign with the Friends of the Earth.