South Africa - Inside Labour: Brexit fears shift to SA's own festering nationalism by Terry Bell
THE looming exit - Brexit - of certainly England and Wales from the European Union (EU) should
not overly concern South Africa economically or politically. Certainly
not in the short term. But the Brexit vote
should send warning signals to trade union and worker organisations
everywhere. Because it has given a major boost to the xenophobic poison
that resides within nationalism, distracting attention from an economic and
social system that should be the prime target of growing calls for
transformation.
The nationalist call
to break from the EU actually amounts to the antithesis of the humanist core
expressed in the union slogan: workers of all countries unite. This was a call
for unity within an exploitative system, recognising that only by uniting could
the sellers of labour protect themselves and, in the process, perhaps improve
the lot of all humanity.
Within hours of the
referendum result being announced, the first xenophobic displays were reported
as the racist Right celebrated. Slogans were daubed on walls and T-shirts
printed with slogans calling for migrants to leave Britain, an island nation of
migrants.
But several fragments
of the radical Left in Britain also backed a Brexit. The Right did so on a
racist, xenophobic basis, wishing to restrict immigration, the Left on the
grounds that the EU is a “Bosses club” that cannot be reformed. Yet, by the logic
especially of the “revolutionary” Left, all governments in the present
dispensation are “bosses clubs” that cannot be reformed. This reasoning, along
with the thinking on the Right that Brexit would mean more restricted
immigration, reveals a worrying level of ignorance about the EU and how it
functions.
Free movement
The EU is certainly a
complicated, bureaucratic and free market institution. But it is not a
government: all decisions taken are by consensus and national parliaments remain
supreme in their own territories. Voices within the admittedly rather
ineffective EU parliament reflect the reality in the member countries and are,
therefore, mainly from the Right and Centre, but also from the Left.
For economic reasons,
the majority of Brexit backers also tend to agree that Britain should retain
its economic ties through membership of the European common market. Yet the the
fundamental requirement to be a common market member is the “free movement of
persons”. Capital has never required
such permission and the movement of “persons”, initially suited the
requirements of the market in the EU. It should, had unions and other
internationalists been up to the challenge, have made the promotion of
internationalism easier. But little was achieved. What Brexit has done
has been to embolden British xenophobes to attack EU migrants — especially
Poles — now living, working and studying in Britain. And the repercussions will
be felt, not only in Europe, but around the world.
There are now an estimated
3 million EU migrants living, working and studying in Britain. But there are
also more than 2 million British citizens now in the same conditions in EU
countries. This is only one of
the plethora of issues now raised. Trade deals, treaties, agreements on health
care, university collaboration within the EU and with other countries outside
of the largest economic bloc in the world are also up in the air.
As Professor Michael
Dougan of Liverpool University and a leading authority on the legal aspects of
the EU notes: unravelling this will probably take about ten years or more. In
the meantime, the success of what is essentially a nationalist project has
given impetus to a range of populist groups, not only in the EU, but around the
world.
Festering nationalism
At the same time, the
British trade union movement has been found wanting, caught essentially on the
sidelines, tacitly supporting the “remain” camp while many members,
disillusioned with the promises of the EU, voted “out”. This is hardly
surprising, given the devastation visited on the industrial and mining
heartlands of Britain.
In these areas of
widespread unemployment, working people fell prey to populist blandishments
about internationalism and immigration being to blame for their woes. Globalisation
— and the EU as part of this process — certainly bears the blame, but “little
England” nationalism is merely a nastier variation on the same theme.
In what seem like
delusions of grandeur, the radical Left maintains that a break with the EU
would damage “the bosses” while not “weakening international links between
workers in struggle”. Yet boundaries to travel and encouragement to nationalism
mean the very opposite.
But does this have
anything much to do with South Africa? Indeed it does, because Brexit and its
aftermath encourage nationalist sentiments everywhere. And, as evidence from
the recent turmoil in Tshwane and elsewhere revealed, there are worrying signs
of animosity not only to “foreigners” from Africa but also to citizens of other
local language groups. As a result, the main
concern about Brexit for South African democrats and trade unionists should be
the impact it may have on our own festering nationalisms.
Never has the slogan,
workers of the world unite, seemed more appropriate.
see also
