During his five years as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn represented great hopes for the Left in Britain and around the world. His socialist agenda challenged the neoliberal dogmas of both the Tories and the Blairite apparatchiks who had previously controlled his party. After an excellent result in 2017 that deprived Tory prime minister Theresa May of her majority, Corbyn lost to Boris Johnson in the 2019 election, notably because of Labour’s plan for a second referendum on Brexit.

Since then, Corbyn has mostly been in the news for negative reasons, with his successor Keir Starmer working to expel him from the Labour Party and media keeping up the campaign that lyingly calls him an antisemite. Despite these relentless attacks, the MP stands firm and continues his lifelong work defending public services, the environment, peace, and international solidarity.

In September, Corbyn was a speaker at the ManiFiesta festival in Ostend, held by the Belgian Workers’ Party (PTB). On the sidelines he spoke to French-language outlet Le Vent Se Lève about his continued work with the Peace and Justice Project. The interview was conducted by William Bouchardon, with the help of Laëtitia Riss and Amaury Delvaux.