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Britain Government in Denial as Brexit Crisis DeepensBritish Prime Minister Theresa May keeps repeating that because she allegedly is honouring the decision of the June 2016 referendum to leave the European Union (EU), the only choice is between "her" deal, "no deal," or no Brexit. As a result, every move she makes deepens the crisis, chaos and turmoil over Brexit. The latest development is the postponed "meaningful vote" which took place on January 29 which was apparently not so meaningful after all. The result was a motion containing MPs’ amendments that rendered it self-contradictory, but allowed May to say that she would go back to Brussels to seek further tweaking of the Withdrawal Agreement. The EU leaders immediately said this was not possible, which led Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn to say he would talk with the Prime Minister since “no deal” was ostensibly taken off the table. Jeremy Corbyn, for his part, is manoeuvring within the situation, and had demanded that May take the option of "no deal" off the table. He refused to meet with her until she did so. The experience of the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and others who have responded to the overtures of No. 10 Downing Street, including leading trade union general secretaries such as Len McCluskey of Unite, and Dave Prentis of Unison, was that May's conception of negotiation is nothing but to demand that they fall in behind her deal. Her conception was to use their influence to attempt to get her deal, her Plan B (very similar to Plan A), to scrape through the Commons vote. As Corbyn and others have pointed out, Theresa May is in denial over the depth of the political impasse, over the wiggle-room that the EU leaders and negotiators are prepared to offer, and of the damage that the impasse and political chaos are inflicting on the polity. Not least in effect of this damage is the attempt to polarise the polity and divide it between "Remainers" and "Brexiteers." A Workers' Weekly analysis points out: "Corbyn himself cogently pointed out in his Wakefield speech that the concrete conditions facing both Remainers and Brexiteers are the same, and are not to be sorted out through what amounts to a civil war between them. Indeed, Theresa May, despite her protestations of seeking "social cohesion," is stoking the flames of unrest. It is clear that May is also prepared to use the police powers to underline that the state must preserve itself against the people's rebuke (under the slogan) "Not In Our Name!" Workers' Weekly writes: "Corbyn has the advantage of having the social movements, of which he has been part, not only as political support, but as an important reservoir of activists and vote bank. But is this sufficient to ensure his policies of 'For the Many, Not the Few' are implementable if a General Election is called and the Labour Party assumes the role of government? "And what is this European Union? The EU itself is riven with crisis, not least the European project to make the EU a single political entity. To focus on the so-called 'four freedoms', [1] as though all the 28 EU member states subscribed to a united outlook, is misleading. This project went into crisis some time ago, not least because of the people's opposition to the neo-liberal agenda of the EU. And the prospect of a 'social Europe' within the status quo is looking like a total illusion. It is partly the internal contradictions between the big powers of 'Old Europe' themselves, partly the striving of these powers to dominate the other member states, and partly the movements of the people themselves against austerity, for their rights and to demand a decisive say in the direction of society, that are besetting the EU with its own impasse. Meanwhile, the financial oligarchies demand to maraud wherever they wish, and the U.S. seeks itself to dominate and dictate the agenda for Europe, which also is arousing resistance. "Within this situation, what should be the outlook of the working class and people of Britain? We are of the opinion that the people cannot get caught in the trap of siding with one of the two warring factions -- Leave and Remain -- in the sense that there is a matter of principle at stake in siding with one or the other, when the working people themselves are not involved in setting the agenda of what it means -- Leave or Remain -- and their consequences. The ruling elite themselves cannot find a champion that convinces the people one way or another, or that favours the private interests that dominate economic and political life, let alone a course of action that favours the people. "Furthermore, we reject any suggestion that the people are to blame for any aspect of this crisis, whether it is the face of xenophobia, racism or chauvinism that the ruling elite represent. This reaction is being imposed on the people." In conclusion, Workers' Weekly writes: "In our view, this is what Brexit is calling on the working people to do. We should fight for the New. In the face of the all-round crisis, we should organize for the alternative. What this means is to recognize how Parliament has become completely dysfunctional, not even recognising what its own norms are and certainly not capable of sorting a way out of the impasse." The stand must defend the rights of all. It must favour people's empowerment.
Note1. The free movement of goods, services, capital and persons [or labour] within the EU are the famous "four freedoms" set out in the Treaty of Rome. The same principles are now extended under the "internal market" rules introduced by the Single European Act. The four freedoms are strengthened in the Lisbon Treaty, and by a special Protocol 27.
(Workers' Weekly with files from euABC.com)
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
May has set a number
of "red
lines" which she refers to
as
"principles," and which she refuses to set aside in order to seek
a resolution of the crisis. Meanwhile, actual principles of
working out a solution that favours the people are never
considered.
"Neither does May see a
General
Election as a way out
of the
impasse, as she clings onto office, having had her fingers burned
the last time she was advised to go to the country. Jeremy
Corbyn and the Labour Party he leads are using the tactics
provided by the 
"Within this
situation, the
working class and people
must
participate in working out themselves what favours their
interests. In our opinion, the vantage point that we must adopt
is one where it is grasped that the struggle in the real world is
between the forces representing what is old and deeply
reactionary, and those representing the new and a progressive
future in which the interests of the people are firmly put at the
centre. It can be seen that the way the battle of Brexit is being
fought out, causing deep rifts in the polity, starving the people
of information as to what is at stake and creating diversionary
categories so that the people are prevented from having their own
outlook, is blocking the people from taking the stand: A plague
on both houses of the ruling elite! Let us take a stand for our
own interests!