A few weeks ago
the UK woke up to the news that the EU referendum was won by the supporters of
Britain leaving the EU by a slim margin – 52% to 48%. This quickly proved to be
shocking news both for Britain and Europe, and the whole world, after all.
Feeling that victory is inevitable, the Remain camp felt confident. And here
this confidence proved unfounded as the very few prominent Leave campaigners
cheered. The UK woke up and anger, disbelief and uncertainty prevailed,
especially across the world of celebrities and pop stars. The markets responded
as well with a dazzling fall for the pound shares. PM David Cameron added some
fuel to the fire with breaking his promise not to resign, albeit on a condition
that the new PM would be announced later on. As the Tories threw
themselves right in the middle of a brutal leadership competition, a
long-awaited mutiny took place in Labour as well. So, what can be said of this,
as pundits claim, historic event, the UK deciding to leave the European Union?
Embittered Remainers lament the future of the young and of Britain itself and
desperately call for a second referendum, while the less notable Leavers cheer
at their supposed victory in gaining independence for the UK, though much of
what pro-Brexit campaigners have offered to the public, has since been
discarded by themselves. How we should view the results and the aftermath of
the referendum and what lesson do these events teach us all, including people
in other European countries? This I will try to answer in my short essay.
Reading the
papers and various internet sites after the results of the referendum had been
announced made me wonder about a rather fringe topic in the general
discussions, namely the class and mentality divisions that were brought to the
fore by the fierce discussions and comments from devastated Remainers. As the
Glastonbury festival went ahead, musicians whom I knew and whom I have never
heard of (or just happen to know their names) stormed social media to lament
the result of the referendum. Things said included a wish for the selfish old,
who voted Leave and robbed the young of their future, to die off already,
shaming of ‘Mondeo driving bigots’, calling opponents racists and xenophobes
and generally decrying the result as a win for the selfish, the self-serving,
the narrow-minded, old white Englishmen. To set the record straight, having
followed the campaign for a long time, I myself would have voted, was I a
British citizen, to Remain. Later I will try to explain my position but now it
will suffice to say that despite my general sentiment that the EU must be
repaired and fixed, not dismantled, I feel the Remain campaign was as shameful
as the often racist and xenophobic, often lying Leave campaign. The ideas
brought up by the Glastonbury festival and its participants warrant attention.
Compassion and conscious consumption were named as the tenets of the ‘us’ it
stood for. Fears of unrestrained migration and a lack of democracy were broadly
attacked, not addressed, as racist, selfish, backwards-thinking remarks from
self-serving and bigoted ‘little Englanders’. The Remain campaign, in my
opinion signed its own death warrant because the cause of staying in the EU was
promoted with scaremongering and name-calling, and advocates campaigning for
Remain tended to be millionaires and ‘experts’. All this played into the hands of
the anti-Establishment sentiment, evident on the side of those who voted Leave.
The wish to kick the Tories, kick Cameron and kick the Establishment, the City,
the banksters, the system was what led Leave to victory. And Remain only help
to maintain this sentiment by promoting the image of young, diverse, vibrant
and hipster Britain, who loves refugees for the sake of loving them, who
consume consciously and have learned the latest updated vocabulary of political
correctness, who are compassionate and empathetic and open-minded, successful
and smiling, competent and qualified, so that the less better off, unemployed,
old, forgotten, hopeless, embittered and discontent with the Government and
with the system in general would even better realize how unwanted they are, how
useless and not cared for they are. The resentment felt in England, in the communities
that are left behind and forgotten resulted in a basic understanding that the
only way to kick the Establishment is to vote Leave. Why? Not only because
immigration is a big problem for many, but because Cameron says to vote Remain,
because Remain is all about the young, the better off, the successful, the ones
who have some perspective in this life, thus people apparently thought this is
the way to punish them for ignoring the voters, ignoring the poor, the
discontented, the old. The whinnying that followed after the results were
announced, the childish demands for a second referendum, backed by the likes of
Thom Yorke and Jarvis Cocker, only proved these points. I bet a second
referendum might have ended with a similar result if not with a bigger win for
Leave. The ones who wanted to be heard, again were shouted down and ridiculed
as those who would better be dead or who are bigots, backwards-minded and so
on. The mentality that was exhibited by the Remain campaign accentuated the
stark differences of class and ideology that defined the campaign, as the Leave
camp was ridiculed as clowns and xenophobes and those who voted Leave later
being described in purely classist terms as, to put it simply, the vengeful
poor old people, stealing the future from the millenials (whatever that means)
and consigning the UK to the rubbish bin of history, leaving it on the fringe
of world politics. This, I believe, was a huge mistake. The Remain camp made
grave mistakes by appealing to scaremongering and presenting any potential
Leave voters as worthless scum. The embittered masses have fought back and what
has followed the result must have even further emboldened them. Some, indeed,
were emboldened way too much. But the divisions not only between Scotland and
England, but divisions based on age and on class have proved important and have
been worsened by the result. The gap between the anti-Establishment working
class people and the middle class young professionals, aspiring to live in a
compassionate and open-minded world was widened and both sides bear
responsibility for that, but the Remain camp has especially been good at
digging its own grave with sneers at everyone who is not as optimistic about
the EU as they are. This proved a dreadful tactic. However, sadly, no signs of
remorse have been showed.
So, telling
Leavers that they were wrong does not help. The mistake they have made – having
kicked themselves as well as the Establishment – might be realised sooner or
later, but the general sentiment will prevail. Because there is no viable
alternative to it. People who find themselves amongst the out-dated and outmoded
crowd that is wary of immigrants, wary of ‘openness’, wary of political
correctness and identity politics have to either go all right wing as if to
prove their opponents right about themselves, or they need a true alternative. An
alternative, as I would like to argue, that the Left has not provided. The
results of the referendum highlight the tension in society that is not
restricted to the UK, far from it. It is widespread and dangerous. The
alternative to the open-minded and politically correct neoliberalism is a kind
of stripped-down neoliberalism with values. The brutal and frank capitalism,
exhibited in the rhetoric of Donald Trump, in the appeal to values and national
pride that marks Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This kind of honest
politics, based on fear of the Other, on emotion, anger and paranoia is gaining
ground throughout Europe and in America. Make no mistake, it is far from
revolutionary – the capital transactions still take place anyway… The
difference is in attitude, in the way this system does not bother to present
itself with a veneer of ‘progressive’ politics, with a veil of compassion and
empathy that has long become the mark of mealy-mouthed and hollow leftist
politicians. It tells people ‘You have been fooled by these pricks, their words
are empty, this is not how the world works’. People nod in approval. The
silence on certain matters, the toe-curling inability to be honest and down to
Earth of mainstream politics has reached such a point that the voters sigh with
deep relief when hearing an honest and unapologetic Trump. The fact that he is
not just politically incorrect but simply impolite and rude, a person who
enjoys bullying with a sadist’s lust does not alert the voters. This speaks volumes
of the overall quality of discourse in politics. The detached and patronizing, condescending and predictable mainstream politicians have pissed off the society to an extent that even a
raving lunatic looks better to people. Their desire to hear honest and anti-elitist
politicians makes them an easy target for bullying and manipulating right wing
types. The working class and disenfranchised masses think such prophets of
brutal capitalism will help them through with their problems. Of course they are wrong,
but the more the leftist liberals relax in their ivory towers, the bigger the
chances that right wingers appealing to the low instincts of the forgotten and the
embittered will gain grounds.
The problem with
Britain leaving the EU is that it is a clear symptom of a rotting political
system. As Slavoj Zizek noticed, we live in a post-political system that tends
to sneer at old definitions of ‘Left’ and ‘Right’, ‘true’ and ‘false’, ‘right’
and ‘wrong’, instead opting for a practical, pragmatic and effective outlook.
Politics have been consistently drained of any meaning, any beliefs, any
ideology. Instead we are served an expert-led government that concentrates on efficiency
and positive thinking. We should be optimistic, as we allow ourselves to be
governed by experts, by people holding no views or beliefs other than the
utilitarian and the practical outlook of a tradesman. Issues such as human rights,
poverty and climate change again are presented as not ideological, but
practical. Homophobia is bad because it does not pay off. Politics being based
on rational calculations made by experts and non-politicians, everything else
in this life has been subsumed by emotion. The laments of celebrities after the
results of the referendum had been announced are a good example. The lure of right
wing neoliberalism with values is that it focuses on the core aspects of a
market economy and instead of the high-brow attitude of leftist liberals who
feel like being responsible for all the world's woes,
they give people an appealing alternative – deriding everyone around, blaming
others and circle-jerking around ‘national identity’, ‘national pride’, ‘tradition’; it is designed for those tired of forcefully smiling at customers, tired of
playing the role of a concerned citizen of the World, for those wishing for
something more brutal and frank. The post-political system did not take away the
need of people to appeal to values and customs, identities and ideology. Whilst
it tried to peddle cheap mass-produced substitutes, such as identity politics
and positive psychology, it is at a loss here. What people across the world are
being offered is honest and understandable politics, based on principles such
as ‘Might is right’ and on a general disregard for politeness and good taste. Putin,
Trump, Erdogan, the PM of Hungary Viktor Orbán and leaders of far-right parties
across Europe talk straight and expose the elites for what they are, pointing
out their arrogance and hypocrisy. Underneath it all we still find
capitalism and the right wingers hardly bring whatever change they argue for.
The comment made by the Polish Minister Witold Waszczykowski is worth
attention. He named the enemies of the right wing government as ‘vegetarians’, ‘cyclists’, those who use ‘renewable energy’ and want to ‘mix all the nationalities and races’. Painting
such a vivid picture, he appealed to the fear and misunderstandings prevalent
among the working class that generally gets looked down by the political
elites. And in the end this government seeks to cut down one of the last
primeval forests in Europe simply because they want to do it. This points at a
future, for which the Leave campaign fought – no more regard for ‘European
regulations’, just brutal management.
What is the
future of Europe in the face of ‘Brexit’ and a patent rise in unapologetic
bigotry and opposition to the post-political consensus peddled by the
Establishment? I fail to imagine an EU falling apart. The blow dealt to the
Brussels Establishment was huge but not a knock-out. Nation states like Poland,
Hungary, Slovakia or the Czech Republic may indulge in nationalist and
far-right sentiments but the money that keeps flowing from the EU in various
ways does not allow them to seriously consider leaving the union. Fear of ‘cultural
Marxism’ or ‘cyclists and vegetarians’ might continue to rise but the pragmatic
nature of neoliberalism with values does not allow them a way out of the EU as
the masses that hate it will hardly cheer at the result of leaving it even in
short term. Countries that sneer at their Eastern neighbours exactly for what
those are grateful to the EU – money flowing their way and migrant workers in
Western European countries – might wish to leave but the Establishment is still
well-equipped and strong enough to hold the tide back. Uncertainty might
outweigh nationalism and fear of migrants. Of course, the refugee crisis might
add fuel but I would imagine the EU making concessions to avoid further damage.
Too much money and too much bureaucracy is there to be made redundant for the
union to give up so easily. However, the disenchanted masses need to be
contented one way or another, especially in the face of ‘Brexit’. Will the
Establishment and the leftist liberals learn? Sadly, I do not see any perspective in waiting for this. The urge to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn that sends the right of
Labour into trepidation is yet another sign of this.
