With the Brexit repudiation of the E.U. — in defiance of Establishment scare tactics — British voters stood up for common people who face marginalization in the neoliberal scheme of global economics, explains John Pilger.
By John Pilger
The majority vote by Britons to leave the European Union was an act of raw democracy. Millions of ordinary people refused to be bullied, intimidated and dismissed with open contempt by their presumed betters in the major parties, the leaders of the business and banking oligarchy and the media.
This was, in great part, a vote by those angered and demoralized by the sheer arrogance of the apologists for the “remain” campaign and the dismemberment of a socially just civil life in Britain. The last bastion of the historic reforms of 1945, the National Health Service, has been so subverted by Tory and Labour-supported privateers it is fighting for its life.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the face of neoliberalism, an economic orthodoxy that has enriched the few and marginalized the many.
A forewarning came when the Treasurer, George Osborne, the embodiment of both Britain’s ancient regime and the banking mafia in Europe, threatened to cut £30 billion from public services if people voted the wrong way; it was blackmail on a shocking scale.
Immigration was exploited in the campaign with consummate cynicism, not only by populist politicians from the lunar right, but by Labour politicians drawing on their own venerable tradition of promoting and nurturing racism, a symptom of corruption not at the bottom but at the top.
The reason millions of refugees have fled the Middle East – first Iraq, now Syria – are the invasions and imperial mayhem of Britain, the United States, France, the European Union and NATO. Before that, there was the willful destruction of Yugoslavia. Before that, there was the theft of Palestine and the imposition of Israel.
The pith helmets may have long gone, but the blood has never dried. A Nineteenth Century contempt for countries and peoples, depending on their degree of colonial usefulness, remains a centerpiece of modern “globalization,” with its perverse socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor: its freedom for capital and denial of freedom to labor; its perfidious politicians and politicized civil servants.
Saying ‘No More’
All this has now come home to Europe, enriching the likes of Tony Blair and impoverishing and disempowering millions. On June 23, the British said “no more.”
NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
The most effective propagandists of the “European ideal” have not been the far Right, but an insufferably patrician class for whom metropolitan London is the United Kingdom. Its leading members see themselves as liberal, enlightened, cultivated tribunes of the Twenty-first Century zeitgeist, even “cool.” What they really are is a bourgeoisie with insatiable consumerist tastes and ancient instincts of their own superiority.
In their house paper, the Guardian, they have gloated, day after day, at those who would even consider the European Union profoundly undemocratic, a source of social injustice and a virulent extremism known as “neoliberalism.”
The aim of this extremism is to install a permanent, capitalist theocracy that ensures a two-thirds society, with the majority divided and indebted, managed by a corporate class, and a permanent working poor.
In Britain today, 63 per cent of poor children grow up in families where one member is working. For them, the trap has closed. More than 600,000 residents of Britain’s second city, Greater Manchester, are, reports a study, “experiencing the effects of extreme poverty” and 1.6 million are slipping into penury.
Little of this social catastrophe is acknowledged in the bourgeois-controlled media, notably the Oxbridge-dominated BBC. During the referendum campaign, almost no insightful analysis was allowed to intrude upon the clichéd hysteria about “leaving Europe,” as if Britain was about to be towed in hostile currents somewhere north of Iceland.
Dismissing ‘These People’
On the morning after the vote, a BBC radio reporter welcomed politicians to his studio as old chums. “Well,” he said to “Lord” Peter Mandelson, the disgraced architect of Blairism, “why do these people want it so badly?” The “these people” are the majority of Britons.
The wealthy war criminal Tony Blair remains a hero of the Mandelson “European” class, though few will say so these days. The Guardian once described Blair as “mystical” and has been true to his “project” of rapacious war. The day after the vote, the columnist Martin Kettle offered a Brechtian solution to the misuse of democracy by the masses.
“Now surely we can agree referendums are bad for Britain,” said the headline over his full-page piece. The “we” was unexplained but understood — just as “these people” is understood. “The referendum has conferred less legitimacy on politics, not more,” wrote Kettle, adding: “the verdict on referendums should be a ruthless one. Never again.”
Refugees from Mideast wars camped along rail lines in Greece.
The kind of ruthlessness for which Kettle longs is found in Greece, a country now airbrushed. There, they had a referendum against more austerity and the result was ignored. Like the Labour Party in Britain, the leaders of the Syriza government in Athens are the products of an affluent, highly privileged, educated middle class, groomed in the fakery and political treachery of post-modernism.
The Greek people courageously used the referendum to demand their government seek “better terms” with a venal status quo in Brussels that was crushing the life out of their country. They were betrayed, as the British would have been betrayed.
On Friday, the Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was asked by the BBC if he would pay tribute to the soon-to-be-departed Cameron, his comrade in the “remain” campaign. Corbyn fulsomely praised Cameron’s “dignity” and noted his backing for gay marriage and his apology to the Irish families of the dead of Bloody Sunday.
Corbyn said nothing about Cameron’s divisiveness, his brutal austerity policies, his lies about “protecting” the Health Service. Neither did he remind people of the warmongering of the Cameron government: the dispatch of British special forces to Libya and British bomb aimers to Saudi Arabia and, above all, the beckoning of World War Three.
Ignoring Russia’s Memories
In the week of the referendum vote, no British politician and, to my knowledge, no journalist referred to Vladimir Putin’s speech in St. Petersburg commemorating the seventy-fifth anniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. The Soviet victory – at a cost of 27 million Soviet lives and the majority of all German forces – won the Second World War.
Russian President Vladimir Putin laying a wreath at Russia’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on May 8, 2014, as part of the observance of the World War II Victory over Germany.
Putin likened the current frenzied build up of NATO troops and war materiel on Russia’s western borders to the Third Reich’s Operation Barbarossa. NATO’s exercises in Poland were the biggest since the Nazi invasion; Operation Anaconda had simulated an attack on Russia, presumably with nuclear weapons.
On the eve of the referendum, the quisling secretary-general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, warned Britons they would be endangering “peace and security” if they voted to leave the E.U. The millions who ignored him and Cameron, Osborne, Corbyn, Obama and the man who runs the Bank of England may, just may, have struck a blow for real peace and democracy in Europe.
John Pilger is an Australian-British journalist based in London. Pilger’s Web site is: www.johnpilger.com, the films and journalism of John Pilger.
Excellent article. The truth about elitist extremely well exposed
Thank you, John Pilger, for this enlightening article. It underlined and explained all that I had dared to think on the subject myself, but with no journalistic experience or expertise to back up my suspicions. Thanks and keep up the good work. There aren’t many like you – maybe none at all!.
(manners and customs of UK colonizers)
http://utopiajohnpilger.co.uk
Thank You, Mr. Pilger
Powerful and convincing essay.
You Americans have got this so so wrong. The EU is our only protection against neoliberalism – Brexit was a vote FOR neoliberalism not against it! Brexit was about stopping the EU from restraining our economy with rules and regulations – the people funding Brexit were all the usual right wing pro-American nasty neoliberals and the population who voted for Brexit are believers in all of that. All of us that voted to stay in are people who want to stop neoliberalism and the American empires control of us. Pilger is, as usual, completely out of touch and blinded by his left wing ideology and hatred of America – he and his ilk twist everything to fit their view that working class people are good and middle class people are bad.
Towards the end, your comment degenerated into a rant. I despise that.
Jonathan: You might want to consider this article providing a definition of neo-liberalism: What is “Neo-Liberalism”?: A Brief Definition by Elizabeth Martinez and Arnoldo García – http://www.globalexchange.org/resources/econ101/neoliberalismdefined. It looks like a playbook for corporations and bankers – and the bureaucrats in Brussels – not that the Brits will be in a better position if the Tory government continues in power and is aided by the neo-liberal Blairites.
Jonathan, you are exactly right. I urge you to go to Tarpley.net for today’s (6-29-16) analysis of the Brexit. This is a plan of the City-of-London Oligarchy to financially hook up with the mighty Chinese to orchestrate a multi-phase collapse of America AND China AND Russia (typical shifty “Great Game” geopolitics that the British ruling class indulges in) leaving the British Oligarchs on top of the “pile”. The Americans have been useful idiots to the “Tory Empire” in helping to put the three Great Republics (USA, Russian Federation, PRC) on the chopping block, thus removing the three greatest threats to the Tory Empire. America will suffer a severe collapse & desperate retrenchment, while the flames of covetousness will be fanned in China to make a grab for Siberia, and getting irreparably damaged in the process, as the remnant EU will come to Russia’s aid (failing to retrieve Siberia, leaving a truncated Russia to join the EU…PanEuropa from the Atlantic to the Urals). Britain will limp back to the LandHolds of the English-speaking Tribe: USA, Canada, Australia, NZ, as the primary Oligarchs of this Tory Empire (the Tories didn’t lose to the Patriots. They just went “Private” and bided their time).
This article – Israel should be deeply disturbed by the Brexit vote by Jonathan Cook – http://mondoweiss.net/2016/06/should-disturbed-brexit/ – is among the best that I have read on Brexit and is an excellent complement to John Pilger’s essay.
An excellent link, Bill Bodden — thank you !
There are People who think that many Countries who are Negotiating Free Trade Deals with Britain after the recent Referendum.
There have been some comments made that Britain will indefinitely ignore the Referendum Result, because the British Constitution says that it is Parliament that is Sovereign, and that Referendums are advisory rather than Law in the United Kingdom.
While it is true that Referendums in Britain are advisory, they also are advice on how British Voters will Vote at the next Election, and Political Parties are aware of that, and so Britain would have to sign Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty before the next Election, or Britain could have a UKIP majority Government at the next Election.
We have seen how the Markets have been destabilized, because of the Referendum, because Investors Know the Attitude of the European Union toward those who want their National Sovereignty respected, and this shows that the way to Stabilize the Markets is for the European Union to Agree to and Favour Fair Negotiations, which results in better European Economies.
The British Government should have Negotiated potential Trade Deals and real Trade Deals with many Countries in advance in case the majority of British Voters decided to leave the European Union.
It is Proper that the European Union understands that the current British Prime Minister does not think that he should Negotiate with the European Union, because he did not commission others to come up with a plan for Brexit and with Negotiating Teams for that, but these things would likely be in place by the time his successor becomes the next Prime Minister of Britain.
There are People who think that the European Union will want to Punish Britain because it is a Democratic Country, and there are People who hope that the European Union should moderate any urges towards this, because the European Union’s Negotiating Teams should be those who want a Fair Deal with Britain, because this will also benefit the Economies of the European Union.
The thing that will Guarantee Certainty is for Investors to have Confidence in order to Invest their Funds in Britain, and also other European Markets, is the Assurance that the Negotiations between Britain and the European Union will be Friendly and Fair Negotiations.
Britain has recently given their Assurance for this, and this has already Stabilized the Markets Considerably, but the Markets are awaiting to see if the European Union will also have the same Proper Attitude as Britain has.
Investors are Confident that, because sufficient time has been given for the dust to settle over the Brexit Referendum, that the more moderate and less reactionary and less vindictive Factions within the European Union will prevail to steer the Negotiations, because they do not want to cause damage to the Markets and to the European Economies.
There are People who think that Britain should not sign Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty until after Britain has Negotiated Trade Deals with Countries who are not Members of the European Union, and these would include Commonwealth Countries.
Britain Remains a Member of the European Union until it signs Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, and there are Investors who think that Britain and the European Union should hold informal talks in order to make the Formal Negotiations much quicker after Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty is signed.
The Investors will see that Britain is the place to Invest, because they have the Proper Businesslike Attitude of wanting Friendly, Fair, and Mutually Beneficial Negotiations with the European Union, and because of Negotiating Trade Deals with other Countries according to Proper Business Practice, rather than Ideology.
There could be Economists who thinks that Britain should Secure Trade Deals and Restructure its Economy before it signs Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and while it Remains a Member of the European Union, so as to minimize the temporary impact of the Restructuring, and to see how the European Union reacts to the eventual Brexit, and the cause of these things is not the eventual Brexit, but it is because of being in the European Union, and a lower Pound is good for Exports, and the Economy will Recover with time and with Good Economic Policies.
The Fact that no European Country has ever Voted to leave the European Union, means that it is best that Brexit moves slowly for the sake of All European Union Countries, along with much Deliberations among the European Union Countries including Britain which is a Member of the European Union until it signs Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
We Know that France and Germany have Elections soon, and that the Government Parties will want Britain to sign Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty before the French and German Elections, but those Opposition Political Parties may want Britain to not have signed Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty before their Elections, and might have a Case against the European Union at the European Union Court of Human Rights, because of Mistreatment over Legal or Business Matters associated with the Lisbon Treaty.
This is because they think this would Assist them to win their Elections, but this would not be the reason for proceeding slowly with Brexit, because there are many Questions and Issues that need to be handled Correctly, in order to avoid harming the Economies of Europe, along with Scotland’s ambition to Remain in the European Union possibly in a Cypress type situation, while the rest of Britain leaves the European Union, because this may be acceptable to other European Union Countries that have Separatist Movements, because Scotland would not be an Independent Country and it would Remain in the European Union.
We saw the Unfairness and Vindictiveness of the Eurozone with regards to the Mistreatment of Cypress and Greece and where they were Denied Fairness and Justice from the Abusive Eurozone, and that is why Britain needs to move slowly yet steadily towards their Negotiations.
There are People who think that there are some European Union Politicians who will Only give Justice to Britain and want Friendly and Fair Negotiations, if they had an incentive for that.
There could be People who think that Britain may receive Friendly and Fair Settlement in Public Statements or even in Writing, if certain People in the European Union want to move on from the Referendum result, possibly because Britain has not signed Article 50 before the Elections of some European Countries, or that it would be more comfortable for them, because this is All to do with them, and not with any Fair Dealings or Proper Business Practice with Fellow European Countries, while others say that some Countries in the European Union act with virtue, because virtue is its own reward, but we all Know of the past Unjust dealings of the Leading Eurozone Countries, toward other Eurozone Countries.
We Know that Investors do not look at which Team you belong to, but if you have Proper Business Practice, and there are People who think that the European Union should act Properly in this circumstance, because this will Stabilize World Markets, which is important to the European Union.
Huzzah! Wat Tyler has spoken!!
For a great deal more reading about Brexit go to the Emptywheel site.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2016/06/24/friday-theres-always-the-second-line/
One of the scarier essays was the third one by Yanis Varoufakis.
This whole issue is a total mystery to me at the moment, and I’m waiting for the dust to settle. If the EU big brass decides to maximize the harm to Great Britain so as to make them a horrible example, that nation is going to suffer. If the US loonie leadership piles on too, it could be even worse. Given that the two major parties in the UK mirror those of the US – near identical – good government over there during the coming transformation will be sorely lacking. Both those parties may take advantage of the situation to increase the pace of privatization of everything – sort of like Republicans have done here in the US. Think Michigan and total “austerity” for starters.
You know Zachary, I’m sort of like you, trying to learn as much as possible about this Brexit matter myself. You, along with many of us here who frequent this site, have almost daily talked about how the corporate trade deals have, and still are ruining our nation, and the world. While our media praises this administration for saving our economy is one thing, but go tell that to someone who is struggling to make ends meet. I see Brexit, as one of those cases, where the rubber meets the road. People see their living standards falling, at the same time their cost of living is rising, and their prospects for a new or better job is nowhere to be found. While many Brits have grown tired of the EU system, which imposes sanctions against their nations sovereignty, we Americans are about to get a taste of that due to NAFTA. It is reported by the major news outlets that TransCanada is sueing the United States over the cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline. If TransCanada is successful, the U.S. will need to pay them 15 billion dollars. In other words, we the people of the United States of America will need to reimburse TransCanada for the money they would have made, thanks to NAFTA, if allowed to connect the Keystone Pipeline up for business. It’s stuff like this, that’s bringing our quality of life down. Corporations should be an entity which caters to the commons, not the other way around. I swear these billionaires want the little guy to hate them, and if things like this TransCanada thing keeps coming at us, they (the 1%) may discover just how bad that hate can be.
Here’s a link to the TransCanada law suit;
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/business/international/transcanada-to-sue-us-for-blocking-keystone-xl-pipeline.html?_r=0
Thanks to Pilger for eloquently taking down the fear mongering “stay” crowd.
PTxS
“A Nineteenth Century contempt for countries and peoples, depending on their degree of colonial usefulness, remains a centerpiece of modern “globalization,” with its perverse socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor: its freedom for capital and denial of freedom to labor; its perfidious politicians and politicized civil servant.”
Very well said.
In the face of global warming, increasing poverty and looming World War III it’s time for us, for people in the US and Europe to rise up, get rid of this parasitic, greedy, warmongering system and make a better world for all of us. Please get involved in a progressive movement. As we heard the latest news the Democratic platform with Bernie is failing (as it was expected), both US parties are despicable, the US and European status quo is corrupt. Here in the US we urgently need a third party which represent the people. Myself I decided to work to strengthen the Green Party and will vote for them. We can not waste any more time.
Every vote for Greens moves Hillary a step closer to the White House
Domestically Trump might actually get America’s domestic house in order, but internationally it will be less dramatic, especially in the Middle East – unless Bibi tries to bludgeon him (Bibi’s usual style), in which case I expect him to bludgeon back.
The Republican establishment is working overtime to ensure Trump’s defeat – read that George Will and several other conservative Republican journalists have now jumped ship, and are pushing for a third party candidate – actually a breakaway Republican – not to win but to guarantee that Trump loses. They sense he’s not a real ideological Republican. Trump appears to be an isolationist and against M.E. intervention. He is a negotiator.
Hillary au contraire is the corporate/zionist/globalists’ wet dream. She will give the bankers and Israel anything they want. She was their top choice all along.
FRIDAY WRAP-UP: TOP 50 FACTS ABOUT HILLARY CLINTON FROM TRUMP ‘STAKES OF THE ELECTION’ ADDRESS
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/friday-wrap-up-top-50-facts-about-hillary-clinton-from-trump-stakes-of-the
If it takes a vote for Trump to keep Hillary out, just do it. Vote Trump!
Sorry Debbie, I could never vote for Trump. He is just way below any acceptable standard, I’d rather stay at home.
Your analysis is convincing however you attribute the Brexit voters with a consciousness which I doubt the majority have. Also the choice was not between good and evil but the lesser of two evils. A newly empowered patrician class in England isn’t going to get us anywhere except closer to the guillotine.
There is hope in this world, after all; my hat is off to the British people.
As journalist Deena Stryker has observed:
Beyond the chutzpa of the American president telling the Brits to stay in the Union – coming close to admitting that they constitute the US’s Trojan Horse – beyond Donald Trump’s applause, partly motivated by his own bottom line, or Hillary’s holier-than-thou assurance that she would prevent the Brexit from adversely affecting American ‘families’, the first really significant reaction came from Germany, which, as expected, announced that the world’s financial capital would move from ‘The City’ to Frankfurt.
Now, the only things that Frankfurt-am-Main and London-on-Thames have in common is that they are both dreary places where misfortune is cleverly generated for the many. But we can expect that once Frankfurt becomes the world financial center, money will feel freer to move Eastward, and Europe’s destiny with it […]
Britain’s historical aloofness from the continent did not subside with her joining the European project almost twenty years after the historical rapprochement between France and Germany in 1955. On the contrary, and most famously under the eleven year (1979-1990) premiership of Margaret Thatcher, it constantly demanded, and obtained, special conditions from its European partners, paying less in and taking more out of the arrangement than others. It is therefore no surprise that as as turmoil in Africa and the Middle East continues to build, Britain should take her marbles and go home to find a uniquely British way of dealing with the fall-out from a world it once owned.
The retreat of Washington’s Trojan Horse will leave Europe free of American oversight for the first time since 1945. France and Germany will be the undisputed leaders of a Europe free at last to disentangle itself from an over-weaning military and economic alliance and cease to be Eurasia’s ever-agitated tail.
Whither the EU?
By Deena Stryker
http://journal-neo.org/2016/06/26/whither-the-eu/
JPMorgan Chase or ‘Chase’, is the Rockefeller family’s business. Tony Blair is the Chairman of the International Council of JPMorgan Chase. A board once joined by David Rockefeller. From shareholder info at Nasdaq Intel Solutions:
Hahahahahah! John Pilger should have just saved himself some effort by writing: I´m an academic leftist but I prefer NeoFascism to NeoLiberalism.
And you are an ignorant ass.
Hey Roger, I wouldn’t have said it like that but I did just read this morning that a big regret of some dying folks is that didn’t say “fuck off” loudly enough to people who deserved it.
I can’t judge this guy Ernest Spoon. Maybe he just hates Pilger as much as many of us here are fans. I did just move to the states from Ireland (lots of regrets: the Irish know poetry, many are bilingual, I played an active poet in Limerick, over half the people at any informal gathering will bring at least one musical instrument, Europe is a short flight way, the spiritual Irish culture is ubiquitous [remember I was in County Clare and Limerick, not Dublin], there are tree spirits and sacred well, and the work “fick” is acceptable in polite society whereas the fu word is not. Now granted, I was in Clare county which has an international reputation for music and very friendly people. The relevance of this bio comment to Pilger’s article is that I am familiar with the rubs and flows between the EU and the Irish and, in addition, to how drastically America changed in the six years I was gone (2008-2014).
To John Pilger: I just dropped in here before a morning meeting. I’ve been a fan of yours for many years (I remember that devastating film you did on the cruelly of the Jews toward the Palestinians. I also like Jim Hedges as much, though there’s a lot of light between the two of you in terms of style and assertiveness.)
I’ve read your article above and by and large we sing from the same page. I will ask one tiny question.
As for this jerk Ernest, I’ll throw some more fodder in front of his cannon. Hey Ernest, I’m a nonviolent activist (arrested in the forersts of Humboldt county in California as well in DC during anti-Vietnam protests), have books out on Gandhi and on the Buddha, am a dreaded Professor Emeritus but I don’t think you’d be very accurate in blasting me… but who knows?
Ernest, what (in detail) is the difference between Neoliberalism and NeoFascism and NeoLiberalism?
Hopefully I’ll be back before so many comments are posted that the threads are impossible to follow. So Ernest: I’ll put my reply as near to this comment as possible. Cheers, Bart
The EU is essentially the equivalent of our NAFTA, GATT et al, all rolled into one glorious money-producers. If Americans had a chance to vote against them (we didn’t), would we have all been considered right-wing xenophobes? Of course not.
“If Americans had a chance to vote against them (we didn’t), would we have all been considered right-wing xenophobes? Of course not.”
Well, Trump and all of his supporters have been branded racist xenophobes by the mainstream media, leftist academia, and indeed this news site. Granted, Trump makes it too easy for them because he has no filter. Nonetheless, between Trump and Hillary, he is by far the one who is advocating for meaningful changes on issues which hurt the lower class in the US. To be precise, Trump is advocating for meaningful changes to trade agreements which have constributed to the disappearance of the US working class. Also, he has taken our political leaders to task for creating a climate in which greedy businessmen (including himself) are essentially forced into the overuse of immigrant slave labor, I mean cheap labor, at a time when the existing lower class is already struggling. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, gives us useless platitudes about Wall Street but she is already proven to be owned by Wall Street and Saudi oil money.
Part of the force behind general predictions of doom is a very concerted effort to keep the rest of the EU members in the fold. Lots of rumblings in the Netherlands and Germany to leave and keep from being dragged into a morass fueled by the less prosperous and productive members.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36615879
No.
The ‘personalisation’ of complex issues into blaming put-downs is the ‘troll’ – whether you are in ernest or seeking to spoon feed polarizing disinfo to mind-controlled ideots.
Inciting reaction is a diversionary tactic. It also reveals the wolf beneath the fleece.
What is so sad is that the elites who control the narrative in the mainstream media would have us believe that Brexit was all a function of xenophobia and white racism rather than a defense of national sovereignty and disappearing jobs in a globalized market. I’m from a tradition of liberal Democrats and it’s appalling to read the mindless rhetoric on sites like Democratic Underground which stridently conflates Brexit with Trumpism, as if the working class people who love their country and its long history and traditions have not been affected in the least by the mass movement of immigrants created through the implementation neoliberal economic theory and American military hegemony.
The Brits, as well as most other Western European countries have shared their borders, jobs and social welfare programs to the breaking point with the poor unfortunate victims of American aggression and economic austerity. Were we to believe that their patience with the turmoil created in their country was supposed to be boundless? And that this vote does not represent democracy, as claimed in the media narrative, but must be reversed in a petitioned do-over because the elites don’t like the result? Is that now the meaning of democracy? We keep voting until we get the result we like?
Or consider the other recommended “remedies” to put things back to the satisfaction of the elites: i) either Parliament refuses to act on the Brexit vote and keeps the country in the EU against the wishes of its people, or ii) the world financial community, using currency manipulators such as George Soros, wage an attack on the British pound and/or try to hamstring British trade with foreign countries (most notably the EU and the US) in every way possible until they cry “Uncle [Sam]” and reverse Brexit. Does any of that sound like fair play in a supposedly free democratic country to anyone? It sounds more like the entrenched elites trying to cling to their power at all costs to me.
Realist, I too can’t get over how the Brexit is being framed as a right wing agenda project. Where is the left on this subject of sovereignty? The EU once sounded like a good thing, but in recent times, such as in the case of Greece, I find the EU to be deplorable in so many ways. The EU turns out to be nothing but a bunch of bankers, and oligarchs, pillaging the average citizen into a debtors prison. What really needs done is for us people of all nations to demand the closure of NATO.
Justin Raimondo@JustinRaimondo
We busted their chops with Brexit,
Now’s the time for their final exit.
Let’s take them down
& seize their crown
& into the dumpster with it
Glenn Greenwald@ggreenwald
Much great Brexit commentary has come from readers in comment sections: another good reminder of their great value
Is that now the meaning of democracy?
Surely, decision-making by un-elected bureaucrats in the European Union, the European Commission, the IMF, NATO, the Pentagon and other alphabet-soup agencies in Washington is the antithesis of democracy.
Bill, in case you missed this, here it is again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBTBBNOtbhM
Putin lectures Fareed Zakaria on his journalism, US elections, US democracy, and Europe.
Toady Zakaria sits dumbfounded, a sight to behold.
Hillary Clinton cried after Donald Trump Release Photos of her and Obama…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-UWA3vri1o
She’ll say Anything and Change Nothing. Goes Viral.
Indeed. Well said!
Thank you for quickly restoring my faith in CN after that piece of expelled fecal matter from Graham EU Fuller.
Someone from Consortium should ask Fuller about the “relief organization” Uncle Ruslan operated out of his address.
Wonderful article, with hope and empathy so characteristic of John Pilger, and so unlike Fuller’s article on the same topic, which I’m sure he thought was based on a total sense of realism, but it was nothing more then a very cynical piece.