https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=pq72f81kkM4&ebc=ANyPxKpQt6HPtcxwh4viOEhfGixX0t06QsEETEfP7liD9VsGqcEH4iZtb1156pa2k120Wh59mo7GQ4GFktSyzRQ5E7yKMq4Qmg
Published on 15 Jun 2016. The left case for Brexit.
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3 comments:
Surprisingly, this wasn't too bad. There is one issue which these and other Lexiters do not address. They make the same claims as the rightwing Brexiters regarding the EU wanting to cut a trade deal with the UK because it is in its interest to do so.
Well, economically that may have some truth to it, but as we have been told over and over again, truthfully as it happens because it's so bloody obvious, this is a political project. The politics informs everything. After all, economically it would have been to the EU's economic interests as a whole to run the kinds of policies that would have helped Greece and the rest, not to crucify them. But the politics trumped the economics.
Similarly, I do not believe that the EU will necessarily cut the deal with the UK that the Brexiters of all political persuasions assume they will. I suspect that they will endeavour to make the UK a test case to those who dare consider leaving the EU, especially if they think that a few years out in the cold will make the UK come grovelling back. No doubt, the political elites who run the UK will go out of their way to make the UK a genuine mess in order to reenter the EU. And remember the political elites are absolutely devoted to the EU! It's gonna be a rocky ride!
And then there was all that silly bugger stuff about how before our joining the EU the UK was one of the most successful countries in the history of the world, which is true enough but doesn't explain why, before informing us that we were the "country of global trade".
Really, the country of global trade? The UK had a gigantic semi-slave empire and had taken great effort in destroying the productive capacities of its competitors. Once this was achieved, the British imperialists demanded free trade, and even the right to hook the Chinese on opium. Under these conditions, what country wouldn't have been "successful". In what way does this reality match the description of "the country of global trade"? It doesn't, so it mustn't be brought up - and naturally it wasn't. And as soon as the "country of global trade" felt the pinch, we became the country of protectionism. What kind of nonsense economic history are the Lexiters peddling? Just goes to show that its not only the remain side which are lying through their teeth, although no one can match their absurd warnings of world war three and the end of western civilization. Whether this is the nostalgic imperialism of the Labour lefty or a cunning ploy to bamboozle the viewer, will never be known.
And apparently "we shamefully abandoned the Commonwealth"! Because up until then we treated these former colonies so marvellously! The UK only gave them up as imperial domains because we couldn't hold on to them by force, and then treated the independent states of the Commonwealth with disdain: the Chagos Islands being a particularly wonderful story of our alleged hitherto admirable commitment to the Commonwealth. However, spotting a better deal the UK elites showed their true contempt for the now independent states within the Commonwealth by dropping them like a bad habit. But then it must be said that anyone who wants to be a part of the Commonwealth has no respect for themselves: believing that your former imperial master is going to give you a fair deal is surely delusional at best.
And the Lexiters proudly proclaim that we're on the UN security council, a member of Nato, the financial centre of the world. This is the left? It's a damn good indication of everything that's wrong with the left.
And one more thing! Some of the lefties on this video proclaim that one of the problems with the EU is that it is now some sort of economic basketcase. And what if it wasn't? Would that be a reason to join? But this doesn't even get to the heart of the matter. The EU is a protectionist neoliberal corporate racket, but it seems when it was humming along nicely pre-2008 they weren't all that bothered by this scam. The millions of third world farmers who couldn't sell to Europe because of the farming racket was all just fine. The inhuman tariffs designed so that almost nothing but raw commodities could be sold to Europe was all just fine, and even then with eye-watering tariffs lest a Ghanaian chocolate bar hurt Cadbury's or Nestle's profits by a single penny. The list is fucking endless. All countries do this, but the EU took this to another level, another universe, another dimension. The sooner this warped, maniacal "union" is put out of our and everybody else's misery the better. The end can't come soon enough.
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