By Lisa Mulholland
As I stood in the crowd waiting for Jeremy Corbyn to adddress us at the ‘Eve of Conference rally’ I felt like I was at a festival.
I had just finished listening to some inspiring talks at The World Transformed event about Childcare, Housing and Feminism.
The atmosphere was a mix of excitement and anticipation, happiness and unity.
You could almost forget that it was September . You could almost forget that you were waiting for a politician to speak.
You could almost forget the 7 years of drudgery that the tories have caused us with the mainstream media spinning their cycle of misery and lies.
It reminded me of my younger days, waiting for a gig to start. When you look next to the stranger standing next to you and you smile. You feel at home because you know the person standing next to you gets it.
But this time it wasn’t music taste. This time it was something much much more important. They have the same values as you at a time when values don’t actually have much ‘value’.
When Jeremy Corbyn and the other speakers came to the stage, people were cheering and clapping and singing “Ohhhh Jeremy Corbyn ” and everyone was smiling and dancing; it felt surreal
This was not a concert and there was no band.
It seemed so far removed from the politics I used to know. The politics I studied in the dusty University library. Watching men and women arguing and jeering at each other in a stuffy old room. Talking in jargon that no one wanted to listen to. Boring.
But this. This was something else.
The atmosphere was electric. Everyone was cheering and clapping when Jeremy and the other speakers mentioned words like ‘equality’ , human rights’ and ‘peace’
The perfect antidote to the news displaying Donald Trump and Kim Jong Uns’ pissing contest. Or Theresa May’s pathetic speeches. Or the right wing media blaming immigrants for global warming or something just as ridiculous.
I looked around me . There were teenagers, young adults, elderly, middle aged . All races.
This is not a young people’s populist leader, Jeremy Corbyn is more than that. This is a man that’s words resonate with all of us. Here in the flesh. without the mainstream media spin. I was listening to the full story in real time . One that hadn’t been edited or cut here and there by the media desperate to keep this man from power.
We all enjoyed every minute. And we all could envisage a future beyond neoliberal capitalist greed that thrives on inequality.
Those old enough to remember the times before Thatcher when her ideology was not the only way. They got it.
For my generation who was born under a Thatcher government who have only ever known this way in politics. We got it.
And for the younger generation born in the digital age, young adults, teenagers and young children. They got it too.
He speaks for all of us because now is a time for change and I came away inspired, believing that any of us can achieve if we believe in ourselves and here is a potential government that will create the social conditions for us to do so.
More importantly I saw that it doesn’t really matter when he gets into power because this man is igniting a fire within us all:
The little boy on his dad’s shoulders will remember this day.
The teenager next to me. She will see a new future with hope and a different vision and maybe true equality.
The old couple dancing to the music, hugging each other, perhaps they are reminded of a golden age that they can see re emerging.
We were all there because we believe In change, and in a fair and just society.
Whatever happens, whenever it happens Jeremy Corbyns legacy has already been set in motion for generations to come. And he hasn’t even reached Number 10…yet.
For the first time in a very very long time I have hope for the world that my children will grow up in.
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