Point Break

at

farage

Julien-Mercille-hi-res-233x300

From top: Nigel Farage during the Brexit campaign; Dr Julien Mercille

The Leave side attracted many who are not Little Englanders but people who simply have been denigrated and attacked economically by the establishment — both British and European — for decades.

Julien Mercille writes:

The UK voted to leave the EU.

The respective coalitions backing “Leave” and “Remain” were comprised of unexpected bedfellows.

The Remain forces gathered a significant portion of the Conservative Party led by David Cameron and George Osborne, as well as much of the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. Important segments of the British corporate establishment also backed Remain, just like EU officials and institutions.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, backed Remain, but was careful to distance himself from the Conservatives.

The Leave camp was also heterogeneous. It was dominated by the Eurosceptic hard right of the Conservative Party such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove (nearly half of the Conservative Party MPs supported Brexit), and they also had big business supporters. They were allied with UKIP, led by Nigel Farage, riding on a strong anti-immigration platform.

On both sides, however, could also be found left groups, although they remained marginal in relative terms. On the Leave side was the Lexit group led by the Socialist Workers Party and other small groups.

Their counterpart on the Remain side was the Another Europe is Possible (AEiP) group, which called to democratise the EU from within (for a summary of the forces involved on both sides, see this piece.

There were thus a lot of roads leading to either one of two diametrically opposed alternatives. Indeed, there has been a lot of debate on what progressives should have voted for.

From my perspective, the first thing to say is that, as Bertie Russell and a number of analysts have noted, both options were “shit”.

The problem with voting to Leave is that it empowers the likes of Nigel Farage, the UK’s Donald Trump. The Leave campaign was so dominated by xenophobia that it’s very scary to head into a Brexit on those terms.

Some on the Left said we should have voted Leave no matter what because the EU is anti-democratic, hard core on austerity, pro-privatisation, and so neoliberal that it acts as a cage for progressive change (see, for example, Giles Fraser, Richard Tuck and in Ireland, Kieran Allen).

And so, the argument goes, British people are better off if they only have to fight their own right-wing politicians.

Those criticisms of the EU are all true, but the problem is that Nigel Farage is even more conservative than the mainstream of the Conservative Party, so things could well get worse in the short-term.

One solution to this dilemma is what people like Paul Mason and Ed Rooksby have suggested: progressives should prepare to leave the EU, but not now, as this would be a gift to the extreme right-wingers.

When and if there is a government led by, say, Jeremy Corbyn, then the conditions are more favourable for an EU exit, the time would be then more appropriate for Brexit.

On the other hand, voting Remain was not a great option either. It would have meant to stay within a very neoliberal EU, with a reinvigorated Conservative Party led by David Cameron and George Osborne, the two austerity czars.

In any case, people voted to Leave by 52% to 48% for Remain. For those disappointed with the results, it’s important to understand why this happened.

There’s been a lot of rather self-righteous commentary from the liberal commentariat looking down on ordinary people who voted to Leave. “Why would they be so stupid as to believe that Brexit would protect us from immigrants, Muslims, terrorists, whatever?”.

Sure there’s been plenty of racist tropes in that campaign. But let’s not forget that the Leave side attracted lots of people who simply have been denigrated and attacked economically by the establishment—both British and European—for decades, especially since the emergence of neoliberalism in the late 1970s.

Those towards the bottom of the income scale are rightly pissed off at government and elites which have failed them completely.

Therefore, while it is easy for those who are well off and comfortable to be outraged at those who fell for the idiocies of Nigel Farage, we should remember that Farage’s rhetoric gets traction specifically because he’s right on one important thing: the system is crap for a lot of people.

Same thing for Donald Trump and other far-right rising stars. They wouldn’t be there if there wasn’t so much justified resentment toward government in the first place.

For example, when Margaret Thatcher took power in 1979, manufacturing accounted for nearly 30% of the UK’s national income and employed 6.8 million people; but by 2010, it only accounted for 11% while employing 2.5 million [].

Similarly, why are there so many people unhappy with the EU?

As economist Dean Baker noted, because of the EU’s brain-dead austerity policies since 2010. Their consequence is that a number of countries have yet to reach their pre-recession level of output and employment.

Mr Baker remarks:

 “GDP is still down from its 2007 level by almost 6.0 percent in Portugal and 8.0 percent in Italy. Employment in Spain is down by more than 2 million, which is more than 10 percent of its pre-recession employment. In Greece, employment and GDP are both down by more than 20 percent, a track record that makes the Great Depression look mild by comparison”.

In the UK, as Aditya Chakrabortty wrote, it shouldn’t be a surprise that places like “inner London voted so strongly for the Remain status quo.

“it’s one of the few places that is doing well out of it. Likewise, it’s no wonder south Wales mutinied, when all the status quo has offered people there for the past four decades is broken promises and rolling immiseration. The shame of it is that all these justified resentments were mobilised by the racists and the hard-rightists”.

In short, as John Harris summarised it “If you’ve got money, you vote in… if you haven’t got money, you vote out”.

Julien Mercille is a lecturer at University College Dublin. Follow him on Twitter: @JulienMercille

Picture: Press Association

Sponsored Link

40 thoughts on “Point Break

  1. Turgenev

    Colm Toibin’s excellent piece in today’s Irish Times describes why many people are increasingly distanced from the EU:

    http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/colm-tóib%C3%ADn-eu-must-open-up-after-brexit-1.2700584

    From the very long piece, worth reading in total:
    “But it might be more useful if the EU examined its own structures, its own uneasy relationship with democracy and transparency.
    Many of the institutions created by the community of nation-states in Europe appear now like alibis for something. The European Parliament, for example, seems like an alibi for democracy. An integrated European foreign policy seems like an alibi for a foreign policy that is, in fact, fearful and fragmented and almost non-existent.
    “The European Commission appears like an organisation whose main enemy is the European people.
    “Those of us who live in capital cities often have occasion to watch the commission and the people who work for the commission being driven at speed through our streets in cars with tinted windows. They are accompanied by the sound of sirens and by police outriders as they travel from some government building to the airport. They are mildly afraid of us, but their mild fear is nothing compared to the mild contempt they feel.”

    1. Turgenev

      And another, on a walk through England:

      https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/27/liverpool-london-brexit-leave-eu-referendum?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

      Quote: In Hanley, I started asking people what they thought about the referendum and if they wouldn’t mind telling me how they’d be voting. There was little reticence. “Out,” they would say. “No question.”
      “Why?” I’d ask.
      “Immigration,” would come the response. “We want our country back.”
      The Potteries museum opened in 1981, the year of the People’s March. There I read about Stoke’s industrial heritage, the ceramics, the coal mines, the steel industry, employing tens of thousands of people. All gone now.
      Stafford, Cannock, Wolverhampton. Different towns, same message: “There’s no decent work”; “the politicians don’t care about us”; “we’ve been forgotten”; “betrayed”; “there’s too many immigrants, and we can’t compete with the wages they’ll work for”. Nobody used the word humiliation, but that’s the sense I got.

      1. Turgenev

        Incidentally, the descriptions of the impoverished north of England resonate with Dublin – betting shops everywhere – casinos used to be illegal, but now they’re ubiquitous, a very bad model for making, keeping and saving money.

  2. some old queen

    In summary: People who felt they had nothing to lose voted Out. Of course this is the sort of disfranchisement that the far right is thriving on across Europe. The only difference was that in England, a referendum was called.

    Interesting that Farrage has been somewhat reluctant to meet Trump. He said there were some things he did not agree with Trump on. And on that note, was Trump not meant to arrive in England the day after the vote? No media coverage of his visit at all.

  3. Jon

    Firstly, I do enjoy reading these articles. I understand the focus is on “little Englanders” but I feel it is tad short-sighted. Yes, little Englanders voted to Leave, as did part of Wales. You mention the UK and/or Britain in the article and then not once mention Scotland and Northern Ireland even though, you quote the percentage of Remain vs Leave for the UK, not England.

    1. Frilly Keane

      That’s no conspiracy theory Big Brother

      That’s all fact

      Cameron went down and took the Brexit gang with him

      Admirable
      Actually

    2. some old queen

      I don’t think it is conspiracy at all. An advisory referendum is not binding and triggering Article 50 will signal the end of the UK as Scotland is already squaring up. That is absolutely huge.

      There is an assumption that the new Tory Prime mister will be from the Brexit camp but it may not be the case. If someone from the Remain camp can articulate the wider factual implications and relate them to ordinary people’s lives, they are in with a pretty good chance.

      It is still all to play for.

      1. Rob_G

        Not to worry – I’m sure that the Cornish will find it just as easy to get money out of a Tory govt as they did the EU…

    1. some old queen

      The one thing that article fails to mention is that while EU funding was availed of to build amenities and infrastructure, a professional class emerged which benefited most. Even in nice buildings that disconnect exists because it makes very little difference to ordinary people’s lives.

      The same happened in Ireland (north and south) where at the first sniff of EU funding, the ‘who you know’ elbowing began.

        1. some old queen

          We have some good EU roads in Ireland now which is nice but means very little your average unemployed youth / twenty something. That is all.

  4. DubLoony

    Was glued to TV, radio & internet for past few days. Am still stunned.
    There is no British PM, no opposition and the “winners” are in hiding.

    The vote has brought to a head fault lines that have been there for decades. Make up of UK – England Vs Scotland, border in Northern Ireland, North- South divide in England, poverty in old Welsh mining towns that never recovered from Thatcher’s pit closures, the class divide, the racism that has riased its head and an enormous generation gap.

    Trump talked about his golf course and how woderful it was to “take your country back” just like US would in November. Not sure who he intends to take it back from but the $2trillion stocka market wipeout as a result of Brexit might give them pause for thought.

    Apart from an attack ad on Trump, Clinton has been remarkably absent. Given her state department credentials, this sould have been an opportunity to prove her worth as seasoned statesman (statewoman?). but she seems to have fluffed it to.

    Fascinating stuff. Oh, Healy Rae is afraid of immigration here now. twit.

  5. nellyb

    “It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear, but the pale and the hungry-looking”. Jul Caesarrr
    Political elites go to best colleges, study with the best of academia – history, politics, philosophy and what not. Brexit ain’t the first pleb rebellion in human history, the elites are supposed to analyse, foresee and preempt (or at least dampen) these.
    So, why oh why they never did, still don’t and never will? It’s definitely damaging to their capital – why erode or even destroy own wealth, driving pleb to rebellion? “To kill the Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs”
    Now thanks to these entitled myopic m0r0n$ we’re on a brink of mass violence.

  6. Pretendgineer

    It’s the first time (and possibly last) we’ll ever here Sinn Fein shout “Brits In” and the unionists “Brits Out”

    1. DubLoony

      I realised the earth had shifted on its axis when Ian Paisley jnr told people to get Irish passports.

  7. The People's Hero

    It’s really beginning to bug me this…. Blaming the EU for the economic destruction of and the lack of development in the north of England. We know where that all began in the 1970’s and where it ended last Thursday… In short however, they did it to themselves – in a rather holistic sense. And that will continue long into the future as long as there’s no clear opposition to an even more-to-the-right and more austerity-focused Tory party.

    Over the generations, we Irish also have had first hand exposure and experience of the bigotry and racism at the hands of your average common-or-garden Englander…. It’s in their DNA…. A predisposition to regard ‘Johnny Foreigner’ as sub-human. And as we all know that usually gets rather more amplified at the very top end and also lower down the NRS social grades you go…

    So…. They were sold a lemon. But they bought it and given there’s no lemon-law in the UK, caveat emptor.

    Personally, I don’t want a United Ireland – for the simple reason that roughly 50% of the population up there don’t want one. It won’t end up line some long term reunification project – happy but warts-and-all – like Germany’s. It would be fractious, violent, deadly and not worth the bloodshed and all for generations to come.

    If during the ‘divorce’ the ‘Brits’ remain in the Single Market, then it’ll all be peachy – albeit proving the Leave’s campaign to be an utter waste of time, effort and angst…

    But if they leave good an proper, then that’s it….. Build the wall…. Border controls…. Watchtowers…. everything….

    As one old goat in a vox-pop exclaimed to ITV news the other night when referring to ‘Johnny Foreigner’…..

    GET ‘EM AAAAAHT…..

    When it comes to the English in the EU, could not agree more…..

    1. DubLoony

      So they voted out to get rid of unelected elites & foreigners out.
      Will the Queen be packing her bags?

  8. Formerly known as @ireland.com

    Why did those people who voted for Brexit, vote for the Tories in the last election? The Tories are the ones who are ignoring the north of England, are the elites, are in charge of everything.

    I can see the reluctance to be the next Tory leader/British PM – it is going to be all bad news, and you will go down in history as the person who enabled it.

    Hey, but at least they got a massive majority at the last election – unintended consequences.

    1. pedeyw

      The first past the post election system in the UK is pretty terrible. It means it’s possible that the majority of people didn’t vote for the tories, just enough to allow them to get in.

  9. fluffybiscuits

    Hilarious thing is that this is the post colonial hangover for the Brits. After telling people what to do for years this is a bloody nose for them. Its like a reassertion of why they are. The come down for the brexit side is worse than a Whitney Coke binge. Its not right but its ok…

  10. Me

    What is beginning to emerge and become really scary is the way the vote seems to have given some people the feeling that the gloves are off now. I live in London and in the run up to the referendum my friend (who is mixed race) said she felt people were becoming bolder with their previously hidden attitudes. She was asked by clients why her husband let her work and why she wasn’t wearing a veil over her face. She puts this down to the rhetoric around the referendum and all the take the country back stuff.
    Since Friday there have been a number of stories of people being told to leave and ‘we voted out so go’. Just now my partner told me her colleague was on a train yesterday and was told by a stranger that she ‘doesn’t have an opinion cause youre not English’, though she is Scottish. He also called her a bitch for good measure.
    I don’t subscribe to the view that all vote leave people are racists but it does seem that many racists now feel that their prejudice has been validated and is now welcome.

    1. DubLoony

      Really sad to hear that. There are similar stories emerging all over. Londen is world city, proud of its diveristy. I’ve friends there who are heartbroken at what has happened.

    2. sirtuffyknight

      Absolutely, it’s similar to how Trump has legitimised the views of the most bigoted in the US. Going to be very hard to put that racist/xenophobic genie back in the bottle on either side of the Atlantic regardless of how this all pans out

  11. Sid

    Julien might also care to factor in that if the Scots have a 2nd referendum – which they surely will – then a sawn-off UK, shorn of Scotland, will have a permanent in-built Tory majority.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie