EU migrant workers and the Brexit left
by Fernando Sdrigotti, OpenDemocracy, July 01, 2016
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“If there is a single deportation there’ll
be riots of Poll Tax proportions,” he tells me, betraying a certain nostalgia.
On his profile picture he is holding a copy of the Socialist Worker and on his bio he proudly tells us of his
membership to one of the UK’s largest unions. He speaks to me about solidarity
with Greek workers and those who die in the Mediterranean trying to make it
into Fortress Europe.
membership to one of the UK’s largest unions. He speaks to me about solidarity
with Greek workers and those who die in the Mediterranean trying to make it
into Fortress Europe.
He is a perfect example of so-called Lexit, the many on
the left who have decided to support a move outside the EU, an organisation
they rightly identity as a neoliberal monster with racist immigration laws. He
means good, like all Lexiters. And yet, with their integrity and all, I would say
Lexiters are today complicit in one of the UK’s biggest political betrayals in
recent history, that of EU migrant workers.
the left who have decided to support a move outside the EU, an organisation
they rightly identity as a neoliberal monster with racist immigration laws. He
means good, like all Lexiters. And yet, with their integrity and all, I would say
Lexiters are today complicit in one of the UK’s biggest political betrayals in
recent history, that of EU migrant workers.
Scan articles written by any left-leaning
Brexit supporter and you will find no mention of the millions whose lives and
residency rights have currently been thrown out of balance in the UK (or the
million British workers currently in the same situation in Europe, for that
matter). EU migrants aren’t a preoccupation for the Suzanne Moores or Giles
Frasers.
Brexit supporter and you will find no mention of the millions whose lives and
residency rights have currently been thrown out of balance in the UK (or the
million British workers currently in the same situation in Europe, for that
matter). EU migrants aren’t a preoccupation for the Suzanne Moores or Giles
Frasers.
And when they turn up in more hardcore
leftist pages they do in contraposition to the plight of an abstract assemblage
composed of distant Greek workers and faraway refugees.
leftist pages they do in contraposition to the plight of an abstract assemblage
composed of distant Greek workers and faraway refugees.
It seems Lexitist
strategy to solve the refugee crisis entails an “either or” approach, in which
we should all drown together until we force our governments find a way to
revert a humanitarian crisis they greatly contributed to create.
strategy to solve the refugee crisis entails an “either or” approach, in which
we should all drown together until we force our governments find a way to
revert a humanitarian crisis they greatly contributed to create.
It is hard to
see how taking a step back from the centre of decision making in Europe can
contribute to stopping the death of people or the plight of Greek workers.
see how taking a step back from the centre of decision making in Europe can
contribute to stopping the death of people or the plight of Greek workers.
If they had chosen to listen to their
European neighbours at home they might have found out that a vast majority of
EU migrants in the UK have come here in search of a better future, escaping
crises of a milder nature that anything going on in the global south, but still
with the potential to destroy lives. They would have been able to gauge the
human cost of their ideological purity, how leaving the EU has left in limbo
not only a couple of yuppies making shovelfuls of cash in Liverpool Street, but
also continental cleaners, baristas, bartenders, all sorts of precariously
employed workers, needed by the system to keep costs low and demonised by the
same system as undesirable scroungers.
European neighbours at home they might have found out that a vast majority of
EU migrants in the UK have come here in search of a better future, escaping
crises of a milder nature that anything going on in the global south, but still
with the potential to destroy lives. They would have been able to gauge the
human cost of their ideological purity, how leaving the EU has left in limbo
not only a couple of yuppies making shovelfuls of cash in Liverpool Street, but
also continental cleaners, baristas, bartenders, all sorts of precariously
employed workers, needed by the system to keep costs low and demonised by the
same system as undesirable scroungers.
Perhaps they would have even been able
to see nuances in a city like London, where at least 1 million EU migrants
live, a place opinion piece-churning Stokey micro-celebrity Moore misrepresents
as an opposition of “the media-savvy, educated, Uber-loving loft-dwellers”
against poor Londoners who live like Guatemalans (I would like to believe the
Eurocentric disdain of this comparison was intentional but I can’t). If they
had chosen to listen they might have realised the unfairness of people who
lived in this country for decades being denied a vote. They would have been
able to realise that it wasn’t only about commoners against an elite, if many
of those around them can be denied a vote in the place they have lived for
decades.
to see nuances in a city like London, where at least 1 million EU migrants
live, a place opinion piece-churning Stokey micro-celebrity Moore misrepresents
as an opposition of “the media-savvy, educated, Uber-loving loft-dwellers”
against poor Londoners who live like Guatemalans (I would like to believe the
Eurocentric disdain of this comparison was intentional but I can’t). If they
had chosen to listen they might have realised the unfairness of people who
lived in this country for decades being denied a vote. They would have been
able to realise that it wasn’t only about commoners against an elite, if many
of those around them can be denied a vote in the place they have lived for
decades.
But the sad truth is that they chose not to
listen, instead closing themselves along national lines: solidarity with
British workers (in Britain) and solidarity with Greek workers (in Greece).
They have chosen to erase EU migrants, in order to simplify their partisan and
naive arguments to leave a neoliberal project — yes — but also to
jeopardise a project that allowed the free movement and the social mobility of
millions otherwise trapped in impoverished economies with little prospect of a
future.
listen, instead closing themselves along national lines: solidarity with
British workers (in Britain) and solidarity with Greek workers (in Greece).
They have chosen to erase EU migrants, in order to simplify their partisan and
naive arguments to leave a neoliberal project — yes — but also to
jeopardise a project that allowed the free movement and the social mobility of
millions otherwise trapped in impoverished economies with little prospect of a
future.
And moreover, they have in the process of erasing migrants contributed
to furthering the xenophobic atmosphere in which this country has been sinking
for years, by contributing to a coup of the right, not only in the UK but also
in the continent. In this sense we could perhaps say their project is now truly
internationalist.
to furthering the xenophobic atmosphere in which this country has been sinking
for years, by contributing to a coup of the right, not only in the UK but also
in the continent. In this sense we could perhaps say their project is now truly
internationalist.
What will be the answer of Lexiters to the
problems EU migrants now face in the UK? I don’t know very well but I am
tempted to think they will increase the circulation of their preferred
socialist papers. Perhaps they will try “riots of Poll Tax proportions”. My
impression is that so fragmented is the left after years of austerity that it
is highly unlikely they will manage to resist whatever it is to come. The
British left’s inability to resist tuition fees hikes, the bedroom tax, IDS and
George Osborne’s destruction of the benefits system, among other, seem to
suggest this.
problems EU migrants now face in the UK? I don’t know very well but I am
tempted to think they will increase the circulation of their preferred
socialist papers. Perhaps they will try “riots of Poll Tax proportions”. My
impression is that so fragmented is the left after years of austerity that it
is highly unlikely they will manage to resist whatever it is to come. The
British left’s inability to resist tuition fees hikes, the bedroom tax, IDS and
George Osborne’s destruction of the benefits system, among other, seem to
suggest this.
In the meantime, they have missed the
opportunity to align with workers from 27 other nations at home, in what could
have constituted a true international coalition against the inequalities of the
EU. It is now too late. On their defence: they have kept their integrity and
their ideological purity. That must be worth something. For integrity and
ideological purity are deeply intoxicating.
opportunity to align with workers from 27 other nations at home, in what could
have constituted a true international coalition against the inequalities of the
EU. It is now too late. On their defence: they have kept their integrity and
their ideological purity. That must be worth something. For integrity and
ideological purity are deeply intoxicating.
