My podcast interview with Richard Seymour on the roots and prospects of Corbynism appeared in Jacobin last week. While the United Kingdom has been reeling from political crisis to political crisis in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, Jeremy Corbyn has never looked stronger. He showed his principles in apologizing for a war he opposed from […]
Continue readingTag: Brexit
Writings of J. Todd Ring: Brexit Madness: Propaganda and Hyperbole
The media and the politicians are screaming that the world will end if Britain really does leave the EU. The absurdity of this now-standard narrative should be clear from the outset to anyone of sound mind. But in case it is not, let us say this. The E…
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: In or Out? Democracy, the EU, and the Fate of the Earth
The people of Britain have now voted to leave the EU. That vote has deeper and more far-ranging consequences than many people realize. Among other things, it means the beginning of the dissolution and death of the EU. And I would say that is a very goo…
Continue readingMichal Rozworski: Podcast: The improbable rise of Jeremy Corbyn
So far this week, Jeremy Corbyn has caused over 100,000 new members to join the UK Labour Party he leads, has apologized for a war he opposed from the beginning and appears to have survived a coup attempt on his leadership. And despite his backstabbing MPs, he’s one of the few party leaders left […]
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Brexit and Trump: It’s All Your Fault
Ms Soapbox was just getting her head around the fact that Donald Trump was her fault when they blamed her for Brexit. Wait, what? Political philosophers and journalists on both sides of the Atlantic point out that not everyone who … Continue reading →
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Haze Sometimes Disappears
Tony Burman published an intriguing column in yesterday’s Toronto Star. Given last week’s fallout from the referendum, he believes that Britain and Europe may patch up their differences:That astonishing thought became more than possible this week as B…
Continue readingYappa Ding Ding: Where have all the anti-globalization activists gone?
Over the last decade or so, every time there’s a WTO meeting or G8 summit, a lot of protesters show up to bring attention to some very real concerns about free trade agreements. Most recently there have been a number of protests against the TPP.
Globalization has made the world richer, but the way it has been implemented has given much more power and wealth to corporations, and diminished the ability of nations to regulate activities within their borders. At this very moment, for example, a Canadian pipeline company is suing the US government for $15B for not approving a very unpopular pipeline proposal – and it’s suing based on the rules of NAFTA.
So now Britain has voted to leave the EU. Polls showed that “the top issue among those voting to go was Britain’s right to act independently” (link).
The deficiencies of the EU are widely recognized. As Paul Krugman wrote recently:
The E.U. is deeply dysfunctional and shows few signs of reforming.
…Today’s E.U. is the land of the euro, a major mistake compounded by Germany’s insistence on turning the crisis the single currency wrought into a morality play of sins (by other people, of course) that must be paid for with crippling budget cuts. Britain had the good sense to keep its pound, but it’s not insulated from other problems of European overreach, notably the establishment of free migration without a shared government.
…The most frustrating thing about the E.U.: Nobody ever seems to acknowledge or learn from mistakes. If there’s any soul-searching in Brussels or Berlin about Europe’s terrible economic performance since 2008, it’s very hard to find. And I feel some sympathy with Britons who just don’t want to be tied to a system that offers so little accountability, even if leaving is economically costly. (link)
Soon after England and Wales voted to leave the EU, Larry Elliott, Economics Editor at the Guardian, wrote an article in the Guardian titled “Brexit is a Rejection of Globalisation” (link). He talks about the free trade movements of the last 30 years resulting in “a much diminished role for nation states”. Elliott argues that the EU failed:
Jobs, living standards and welfare states were all better protected in the heyday of nation states… than they have been in the age of globalisation. Unemployment across the eurozone is more than 10%. Italy’s economy is barely any bigger now than it was when the euro was created. Greece’s economy has shrunk by almost a third. Austerity has eroded welfare provision. Labour market protections have been stripped away.
…Torsten Bell, the director of the Resolution Foundation thinktank, analysed the voting patterns in the referendum and found that those parts of Britain with the strongest support for Brexit were those that had been poor for a long time. The result was affected by “deeply entrenched national geographical inequality”, he said.
There has been much lazy thinking in the past quarter of a century about globalisation. As Bell notes, it is time to rethink the assumption that a “flexible globalised economy can generate prosperity that is widely shared”.
So do you see my problem? Brexit is such an enormous boon for anti-globalization that it is being heralded as a reversal of the entire globalization trend. Why aren’t the anti-globalization organizations marching in the streets?
I can answer that question, but it saddens me. Over the last week, “conventional wisdom” has decided that everyone who supports Brexit is racist. I have been practically spat on because of the sentiments I expressed in my last post (link), that “my head said Remain but my heart said Leave”. One supposed old friend wrote:
60+ year old citizens of the UK who voted to leave (and they are the majority of wanna-be leavers) are delusional. They want to restore that tiny little island to its imperial greatness, or at least to its completely diminished splendour during WWII. They want an England with white rulers and black slaves.And of course the slaves are all rapists, and none of the white rulers is. Foreigners are all murderers and rapists. So the tiny little island may be able to pull in tourists to see its nearly dead monarch until she dies. Then the itiny little island dies. And this is where your heart is? I pity your heart. Unbelievable.
with a followup email the next day:
Fuck your heart Dwarf.
Every day recently, there are articles about thousands of people protesting Brexit; none about people supporting it. I just googled “Brexit” and the first hundred articles were overwhelmingly negative, largely based on the personalities of its spokespeople. The stock market in Britain is soaring (the FTSE 100 is at a 5-year high), but even that is being spun as negative with repeated claims that panicked Britishers are buying up everything in sight – which is a totally ridiculous argument.
Not many people, apparently, have the courage to take on the anti-Brexit crowd.
Even while arguing against Brexit, people could be starting a discussion of the ways the EU needs to improve. Instead, we have vitriolic articles about one person who said he regretted his vote to leave, that is magically turned into a claim that most leave-voters regret their decision; claims that an uptick in google searches for “European Union” in England means that those who voted Leave somehow didn’t know what the EU is; and on and on.
I am confident that the economic shock of Brexit will soon subside. I am not so sure that the world community will ever regain its sanity about what just happened, and why.
Oh, and for those clinging to the notion that Brexit was purely motivated by ignorance and racism, read this article written by Larry Elliott a month before the vote, in which he argues for Leave: Brexit May Be the Best Answer to a Dying Eurozone.
Continue readingYappa Ding Ding: Where have all the anti-globalization activists gone?
Over the last decade or so, every time there’s a WTO meeting or G8 summit, a lot of protesters show up to bring attention to some very real concerns about free trade agreements. Most recently there have been a number of protests against the TPP. Globalization has made the world
Continue readingYappa Ding Ding: Where have all the anti-globalization activists gone?
Over the last decade or so, every time there’s a WTO meeting or G8 summit, a lot of protesters show up to bring attention to some very real concerns about free trade agreements. Most recently there have been a number of protests against the TPP.Globali…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Brexit: Norway option is most realistic hope for Britain
This opinion piece carried in the Irish Times brings up an optional strategy that would probably not please many of the ‘Leavers’ but it might be an option for those trying to hold onto some Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Europeans Contest US Anti-Russian Hype
Brexit certainly has focused political minds throughout the world and in spite of the corporate media message of gloom, there may well be some good comes out of it. Originally published in Read more…
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: Brexit: How Not To Do Referendums
In a semi-surprising move Britain voted to leave the European Union late last week.There has been endless discussion on how bad this might be for Britain, where thecampaign to remain in the EU went wrong, and what this means for the Union’sfuture (both of them actually). What has received less
Continue readingLeft Over: Brexit – Stage Left…
The Guardian view on post-Brexit politics: perilous times for progressives Editorial Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in north London in the wake of resignations from his shadow cabinet. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Sunday 26 June 2016 20.12 BST … Continue reading →
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Remaking The World
The ripples from Britain’s decision to leave the EU keep spreading. The most immediate shocks, of course, are being felt in the UK. Michael Harris writes:David Cameron and his government, gone; Britain’s senior EU official, Jonathon Hill, gone. Afl…
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Four Things We Learned From Brexit
What was he thinking? The UK, with or without Scotland and Northern Ireland, is leaving the EU, but first it has to slog through two harrowing years extricating itself from its most important market (44% of all of the UK’s … Continue reading →
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: WHAT BREXIT MEANS TO UK CAREGIVERS AND WHY POLICY MATTERS EVERYWHERE
News feeds are awash in stories of the BREXIT referendum debacle in the UK. Weak and deceitful campaigns on both sides of the argument about whether to leave the European Union or not resulted in a surprise victory by the ‘Leavers’, prompting the…
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: WHAT BREXIT MEANS TO UK CAREGIVERS AND WHY POLICY MATTERS EVERYWHERE
News feeds are awash in stories of the BREXIT referendum debacle in the UK. Weak and deceitful campaigns on both sides of the argument about whether to leave the European Union or not resulted in a surprise victory by the ‘Leavers’, prompting the…
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Still Happens, week 25: Brexit, stage right
The huge story this week was the result of the so-called ‘Brexit’ referendum. United Kingdom voters (that would be Britain, Scotland and Northern Ireland) were asked whether they wanted to stay in the European Union, or leave. The vote was a stunner — 51.9% voted to leave. If all of the measured, well thought out […]
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Lessons Learned
We don’t know what the long term consequences of Britain’s decision to leave the EU will be. But, Tom Walkom writes, there are already lessons to be learned:First, democracy and advanced capitalism aren’t always compatible. Britain’s voters were a…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney’s bizarre ‘Brexit’ broadsides: the explanation is in the dog-whistle
ILLUSTRATION: Press Progress’s take on Jason Kenney’s “Brexit” broadsides Thursday night and yesterday morning (Press Progress image). Below: The Acme Professional Dog Whistle, now commanding attention all over the world. It is made in U.K. You…
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