LONDON—We hear less now of the special relationship between the UK and the U.S. The capitalist crisis is so severe that every imperialist is too busy looking after themselves.
Washington begged the British to stay in the EU, as Obama travelled to the UK to lecture the British about the necessities of staying within the European Union and Western imperialist realm.
But the British public, guided by various demagogue white nationalist leaders, who did not plan for the consequence or outcome they were fighting for, gave the leave EU campaign a resounding victory.
Now the effects of the victory are sinking in and a new round of contradictions are emerging. The first one is the crumbling economy.
The British currency, the pound, has plummeted to a new historic low. A £1 note is exchanging at $1.19, an 18 percent loss of its value since the Referendum election on the June 23, 2016. Bourgeois economists and political pundits are debating the possibility of the pound falling even lower.
Since Britain imports most of the materials and products it needs for survival, the fall of the pound would undoubtedly be coupled with the rise of the cost of living, which is already noticeable on new prices of fruits, vegetables and other foods on shelves of affluent supermarkets.
There is already a war of words between supermarkets and their suppliers on who should pay for the fall of the pound as well as between EU leaders and the heads of the British government.
A cash-strapped Britain has it the wall
A newly-leaked draft government report said, “Government report today warned Treasury coffers would take a £66 billion annual hit and 9.5 percent would be cut from GDP if Britain goes for a hard Brexit.” (London evening Standard, October 11, 2016)
Theresa May, the new British prime minister, the woman who benefited from the Brexit vote, in her address to the first conference as the leader of the Conservative party came with no new clear policy to get out of the crisis, but she made it clear that an increase in taxes is on agenda, “Tax is the price we pay for living in a civilized society” (The Metro 2016, October 6, 2016)
Traditional leaders incapable to provide a clear direction
UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson’s campaign trail claim that a post-Brexit Britain would “have the EU cake and eat it too.” Donald Tusk, the Polish, who is the current head of the European council said in response to Boris Johnson, “The brutal truth is that Brexit will be a loss for all of us. There will be no cakes on the table for anyone. There will only be salt and vinegar…The words uttered by one of the leading campaigners for Brexit…[were] pure illusion.” (Ft.com, Hard Brexit or no Brexit, Donald warns UK)
The same Boris Johnson brought an innovation in his foreign policies by calling on British people to demonstrate outside the Russian embassy against Russian alleged bombings in Aleppo. His job as the foreign office secretary is to protect foreign embassies in his country.
There is a war of words between British and French officials who should bear the cost of solving the refugee crisis in Calais where thousands of refugees, who want to get to the UK are stranded on French side of the channel because Britain would not allow then to come in legally.
The U.S. proxy war on Syria where the impotency of Britain is exposed to the British public and to the world to see that it is Russia which has officially sided with Syria and has given itself the legality to intervene at the invitation of the legitimate Syrian government of Bashar El Assad. But the British cannot claim any legitimate involvement in Syria and worst for them, Russia has the upper hand.
Attacks on colonized peoples on the rise in UK
Another immediate social cost is the rising of what the white bourgeoisie calls “hate crime.”
Brexit has given many white nationalists the authorization to go on the offensive against oppressed peoples and sometimes against Eastern Europeans too.
“Hate crime soars after Brexit vote 41 percent in the aftermath of June’s EU referendum, with nearly 5,500 racially or religiously aggravated offences reported to police…Four-fifths of all hate crimes are racially motivated.” (London Evening Standard, 13 October 2016)
Africans were trapped in the discussion between “remainers and brexiteers.” Instead of discussing how we are to defend our own interests such as defending ourselves against white nationalist attacks, many Africans were convinced to vote to remain.
This was an illusion that voting for either camp would secure us something, some unspecified rights. In either case, our lives are still in the hands of foreign powers. What matters is that we concretized a common agenda that speaks to interests of black people as a free people.
We cannot enter into relationship just based on the short-term outcome irrespective of our long terms and most fundamental rights, which is to be a unified and self-determining people. And the vote for or against Brexit was a distraction.
We have to work overtime to challenge the British society that the Brexit referendum was a side issue, the real issue is the relationship between Europe and Africa. We want Britain to end any type of parasitic relationship between Britain and Africa and African people every where.
This is the real issue, because our self-determination requires the end of a parasitic relationship between the African a nation and the European nation, this is the most fundamental question that we need to bring to the public domain
Build the African resistance for self-determination in UK
Build the African People’s Socialist Party!
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