| No shelter under this tree for huddled masses. |
English middle classes liberals never fail to disappoint me, if Brexit win the EU referendum they are already laying a smokescreen down which places the blame squarely on the shoulders of pensioners and the wider working classes.
Dr Simon Sweeney, how they love a prefix before their names, had this to say in the Guardian:
The referendum exposes deep divisions. Outers mostly represent voters who feel marginalized and left behind by forces that are battering not just their personal security, but nation states and entire regions. For these voters, the EU is a passing dog which, like David Cameron and George Osborne, deserves a good kicking.
Remain is backed by mostly better-educated, more confident and financially secure voters who enjoy many benefits from globalization.
I am not here to beat Mr Sweeney with a long stick as there is a smidgen of truth in what he writes and he is only repeating the same mantra which appears daily in the mainstream media. But it is far from the whole story and the facts on the ground tell a far more complex tale.
For example the overwhelming majority of young people are in the Remain Camp, yet they mostly feel Marginalised and excluded from decent jobs and affordable housing. I was talking to two chaps from traveller families yesterday, no community is more marginalised in the UK than theirs, yet they too are in the remain camp as they do not believe Brexit will all be spice and honey. As one said "better the devil you know."
It's as if the middle classes are afraid to admit their excreta also stinks, so they ignore what is before their eyes. The leadership of the Brexit team all went to a Public School and or university. Boris Johnson, Eton and Oxford, Michael Gove, Robert Gordon College and Oxford, Iain Duncan Smith the most odious man in Britain, Naval school, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Chris Grayling, Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College.
I could carry on, but I will end with the petite bourgeoisie's favourite politician Nigel Farage, Dulwich College, a public school in south London and then that bastion of the UK establishment, the City of London.
An acquaintance of mine who attended Eton once told me boastfully "he had the finest liberal education in the world," I feel this is arguable, but I will admit if sharp elbows, a snarling manner when under pressure, a lack of empathy, and the ability to tell bare faced lies at the drop of a hat, then these ghastly people can be classes as well educated.
My point being none of these individuals have been victims of globalisation or been marginalised, indeed the exact opposite is true they have made their way in the world along a rose petalled path, while most ordinary folk have to attempt to climb a well greased pole designed to exclude them from the top jobs. Nor have they been left behind by forces that are battering them. The exact opposite in fact, they are part and parcel of the neoliberal fanatic clan doing the battering.
They are all beneficiaries and advocates of globalisation and the neoliberal economics which have ruined so many peoples lives.
They are without a doubt better educated in the traditional sense than most, more 'outwardly' confident and financially secure, and have enjoyed many benefits from globalisation. Some might add; and still it's not enough for them, for if they win the referendum Brexit intend to make a bomb fire of what
they call EU red tape, but which in reality means destroying the
regulations which protect working peoples employment rights, and the extensive environmental laws which protect us from acid rain, the thinning of the ozone layer, air quality, noise pollution, waste and water pollution.
So what makes otherwise seemingly logical people support such an obvious and nastier bunch of stake oil salesmen that you're ever likely to come across?
The reason is twofold. Unlike Germany, Japan and to a lesser extent the USA, when their governments oppressed and murdered millions of people the British state has never confronted head on the sheer awfulness of the British Empire. Thus an attitude of superiority when it comes to 'foreigners' still lurks within the citizenry.
Since 2010 when Cameron first came to power the UK government and their mainstream media gophers have put out a steady flow of racist propaganda. For sure it has been dressed in a very expensive Savile Row suit but this does not make it any less racist. By continuing to harp on about immigrants in a negative manner they have made the word toxic, and by doing so have made racism almost respectable. With some we are nearing a tipping point where the 23 June referendum has little to do with the EU and everything to do with whether it’s OK to be racist or not.
If that is not the road to something hell I do not know what is?
Approximately 400,000 Britons live in France but they are not described as, nor do they call themselves immigrants. When British people live abroad, whether in the EU or elsewhere they are called ex pats, whereas when people come to the UK to live they are always called immigrants.
Unless that is they're wealthy Russian oligarchs, former dictators who have looted their nations wealth, and tax dodgers, then the very politicians and columnists who deride immigrants get the welcome mat down.
Unless that is they're wealthy Russian oligarchs, former dictators who have looted their nations wealth, and tax dodgers, then the very politicians and columnists who deride immigrants get the welcome mat down.
| “I am proud to call him a friend and a Londoner,” gushes London’s mayor, Boris Johnson “This great city of ours would be a lot poorer without him”. |
The failure of the Blair and Cameron governments to reinvest in manufacturing industries, instead concentrating on the service industries which are mainly low waged and low skilled was bad enough. When the Tory led government in 2010 used the economic crash of 2008 to smash the welfare state has proven disastrous to millions of people. Osborne's cuts to welfare benefits removed the only remaining safety net from some of the most marginalised people in the country.
Making it almost inevitable when David Cameron announced an EU referendum the most reactionary political elements in the land would come together and use racism as their battering ram. Sleight of hand is integral to how neoliberals work, Gove, Johnson and Duncan Smith have built their careers by using it.
It is no accident all three supported the Iraq war and just as they regarded Blair's Iraqi victims to be collateral damage they believe if the UK economy goes down the tube after Brexit their victims will also be necessary collateral damage. Why wouldn't they think like this when they have the wealth and connections to weather a spell of economic destruction.
Mick Hall
