Oh-Jeremy-Corbyn - our side, right here, right now, are on the move, writes Dave Randall

“It’s official: Glastonbury is dead, and it has been murdered by its newly-elected Messiah; the high priest of peace, the most reverend Jeremy Corbyn”, blurted Martin Daubney in the Telegraph on Monday.

He is wrong, not only in the obvious sense that the festival has never seemed in better health, but also in his understanding of what “Oh-Jeremy-Corbyn” chanted to the tune of Seven Nation Army represents. Certainly festival goers, like so many others, are inspired by Corbyn’s policies, vision, honesty and integrity. Certainly they want him to be Prime Minister. However, they chant his name not because they think he is ‘The Messiah’ but – to borrow from Monty Python – because they have been told endlessly by the Tories, the Blairites, the BBC and Murdoch’s media empire that he is ‘a very naughty boy’.

The chant has become shorthand for: we the people will not receive our wisdom from shambolic, clueless, hopeless and heartless elites any more. It is a simple six syllable family-friendly way to bare your backside at the whole establishment.

Where Daubney’s piece fades to pay wall, he also claims that no self-respecting football fans would join in with such a plodding chant. Wrong again. In fact it is no coincidence that the chant came from the White Stripes via the football terraces – where fans sing in order to state en masse which side they are on. It shares provenance with the football fans’ classic ‘Here We Go’. The meaning isn’t far off either: Our side, right here, right now, are on the move.

Team Corbyn has captured the Zeitgeist. He has become the lightning-rod for huge discontent and a symbol of hope for millions. But to achieve change, he will need us all to keep moving. Campaigns must continue in our communities, colleges, workplaces and streets. Let’s make a start on the streets of London this Saturday:

Not One Day More #ToriesOut

Saturday 1 July – National demonstration
Assemble 12pm, Saturday 1 July 2017 
BBC Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London W1A 1AA
March to Parliament Square.