I'm
mixed race, female, left-wing, a 19-year-old student - and yes, I
really am voting for Brexit
We
would do well to remember that the actual EU is a group of powerful
bureaucrats stuffed inside a neo-liberal institution, who are poised
to sign TTIP - the terrifying EU-US trade deal that threatens so much
of what we stand for as a socialist country
Ebony Moreno
I'm 19 years old, a
student, mixed race and female. For all of these reasons, I am
staunchly anti-hatred. I am also pro-Brexit, or more specifically
pro-'Lexit' (left-wing exit of the EU) – and no, that’s not a
contradiction in terms. However, in the last week I’ve been
disheartened to see so many of my fellow left-wing Brexiteers abandon
their position. It’s a dream we’ve held for so long – so why
are we allowing ourselves to be frightened out of a principled
position?
I thought we had it
all figured out. It was time to do away with the EU and with it the
iron grasp of Merkel, bureaucrats and big business in order to make
our own way on a march towards a fair and free Britain for all. Less
than a week before the nation takes to the polls to cast their vote
on British membership to the EU, I am overcome, as the British left
backtracks to surrender to fear and denounce the Lexit they had
weeks, even days ago, leant their support to - for Greece, against
TTIP and for the good of the British people.
Gove responds to
Beckham backing Remain: 'We got Sol Campbell'
The nation's
pre-election jitters come worryingly late. Many view the failure of
the left to advance its own meaningful campaign for Lexit as reason
to believe that Remain is the only sensible choice. The sentiment is
simple, well-intentioned and for many heartfelt. But it's a trap.
A vote for Brexit is
not a vote for the Brexit campaign, at large taken over by right-wing
voices who say things that are absolutely antithetical to socialist
beliefs. The narrative goes that Brexiteers are thinly veiled racists
pushing a xenophobic campaign – but that’s all it is: a
narrative. It is subject to change or can be rewritten entirely -
especially on a national level when change is already occurring.
It’s deceptively
simple to believe that the face of Remain is a good-hearted
anti-racist poised for a victory of love over hate. We would do well
to remember that the actual EU is a group of powerful bureaucrats
stuffed inside a neo-liberal institution, who are poised to sign TTIP
– the terrifying EU-US trade deal that threatens so much of what we
stand for as a socialist country.
The problem is the
same regardless of the outcome on June 23rd: a right-wing enemy. But
the problem with Remain is that it appears to the public that there
is no enemy and the good has won, as the hyper-capitalist mechanisms
of the EU machine keep churning, far off in Brussels.
What exactly will
Remain do to loosen or reverse the hold of anti-immigration,
pro-austerity policies (stretching far further back than any talk of
the EU and shared on a cross-party basis) and sentiment in the UK?
Nothing, but a vote for Remain will strengthen David Cameron in
victory and leave him free to implement the same policies it is
feared he would upon Brexit, alongside TTIP as an extra EU sweetener.
The tide of right-wing sentiment and anti-immigration racism won't
die down as a result of Brexit.
Those on the left
who fear Brexit fear that the loudest voice of the far right is
winning, but to vote Remain is to muffle our own voices on behalf of
the opposition. If the pro-austerity, pro-hate and anti-immigration
ideological hegemony of the right-wing is the sole justification for
why you stand against Brexit, then ask yourself why you are so
willing to give into fear. The EU has its own distasteful ideology,
and if you vote to remain within it, you can’t vote for a different
institution in four years’ time. Bringing power back to our country
is the first step in bringing power back to the people. If you vote
for Remain, you strangle that possibility before it can even be born.
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