Some thoughts on Brexit

Some quick thoughts on Brexit:

Nigel Farage

Too many people think of Nigel Farage as a sort of comedy politician, a one-issue wazzock whose views can safely be ignored. But here's the truth - Nigel Farage is dangerous.

Here's a man whose party, UKIP, only have one seat in Parliament. Farage isn't even an MP! He lost his seat, South Thanet, in the last election. Yet, despite having no real political remit, and no real power in the UK Parliament, somehow this "comedy politician" has managed to bring about an EU Referendum, and even persuade 52% of the turnout to vote "out".

Yes, we know that he fought his campaign on lies - he was rescinding his promise to spend £350million on the NHS before the Leave vote had actually even been delivered - and we need to stay wary of him, and what he stands for. Many voters realising the gravity of voting 'Leave' on Friday morning - realised, only too late, that they had voted based on lies they had been told.

You think Farage is going to apologise? Not in a million years, and we'll be living with the mess he's created for generations.

Yorkshire voted out

It's a fact that fascism & right-wing views always rise in a recession.

We saw it in the 30s, during the great Depression, (it was a major contributing factor to the election of the Nazi party in Germany) and during the 80s. In tough times, people always look for somebody to blame for their troubles.

My adopted hometown, Leeds, voted in, as did the other two cities around it - Harrogate and York. Other places in Yorkshire - Barnsley, Doncaster, Calderdale, Kirklees, Wakefield - voted Out, by quite a considerable margin.

Many of the Northern cities that voted Out are some of the most impoverished places in the country. This government has been creating a North-South divide ever since it was first elected; it talks about a Northern Powerhouse, whilst cutting public services. The North has always relied heavily on the public sector, and we've lost up to 1 in 5 jobs here. There are places up here where whole streets are boarded up, with no jobs, nothing to do, and no prospect of things improving.

Even in Leeds, it's sometimes easy to think the government has forgotten about us. I can't imagine how much worse it could be in some of the smaller, surrounding areas.

When a one-man figurehead like Farage is seeking control & power, they're going to seek it through whatever means necessary. He's not going to go into Bradford or Blackpool or Dewsbury and tell the truth, which is: "Actually, all of you lot are suffering because the Tories have spent the past six years systematically cutting public services", or "Actually, the reason why you can't get a GP appointment is because the Tories have continued to underfund the NHS and increase GPs' workloads, so loads of them are leaving." Farage wants power and the quickest way to get it is to say: "You can't see the doctor because there are too many immigrants," or: "You can't get a job because they're giving them all to the immigrants."

He's played a blinder in playing on people's fears, and in sweeping up all of those voters who feel abandoned and powerless and forgotten.

What to do next?

Sadly, I think it's likely we'll see a rise in nationalism and right-wing action following this vote "out". Not everybody who voted "Out" did it for racist reasons, but too many did, and now they're going to feel vindicated, and more open in their views.

It would be wonderful if this weren't the case, but sadly a few immigrant friends have already shared how unwelcome they feel following Friday's "out" vote, so rather than blithely go "It's going to be fine! It'll all be fine! Fine!" I think I'm going to listen to them, and try to be active and do what I can to help and resist, and I encourage you all to join me.

So, I'll end by sharing parts of this rather wonderful Facebook post by Ewa Jasiewicz:

1) Don't hate on leavers, some voted for reactionary and racist reasons some for good reasons. Reclaiming power and taking control are what most people want in and over their lives, but the obstacles to that or the route to that are highly contested and influenced by 30 years of neoliberal hegemony, underwritten by establishment media.

2) Don't let the Right control the narrative and define reclamation - overcoming dispossession means redefining what should be ours on inclusive deep democracy terms - housing, education, public and health services, transport, energy, control over our own labour

3) join a union - we need control over work and workplaces and right now we're weak and the raid on our rights is coming as is division between workers incl migrant, youth and workfare workers. We need to organise and collectivise at work,

4) get involved in local housing struggles - your local anti housing bill campaign, you local tenants and Residents Association, your community garden. We need to find each other where we live, build relationships there, and resist social cleansing and dispossession of our homes.

5) stand in solidarity with all migrants. There will be intense 'othering' and racialising going on now, on the street and at the top of the political system. Have the arguments with people, challenge racism and prioritize and support black and brown and migrant voices in all political organising as it should be anyway to dismantle white supremacy and structural oppressions

6) get Corbyn and Mcdonnell Labour in to government in 2020. Make it happen. Don't give up on anything grassroots but don't give anything away and up in the parliamentary political sphere to the right and far right.

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