Farewell to the United Kingdom

[marmar]

from CounterPunch:


Let It Bleed
Farewell to the United Kingdom

by TARIQ ALI


The British General election was dramatic. On the superficial level because three party leaders— Miliband (Labour), Nick Clegg (Liberal-Democrat) and Nigel Farage (UKIP—a racist, right-wing populist outfit)…resigned on the day following the Conservative victory. On a more fundamental level because the Scottish National Party took virtually all the Scottish seats (56 of 59) wiping out Labour as a political force in the region where it had dominated politics for over a century. Scotland was where the Labour Party was founded. Scotland it was that gave Labour its first leaders and Prime Minster (as well as the last one). Scottish working class culture was in most cases much more radical than its English equivalent.

It was Labour’s 1945 victory and social-democratic reforms that had made Home Rule, leave alone independence, an abstraction. It was Margaret Thatcher’s triumph in 1979 that was the first nail in the coffin of the United Kingdom, not because she stigmatized the Scots as some of her successors have done but because the majority of Scots loathed her and everything she stood for. She boasted of putting the ‘Great’ back into Britain, not realizing that the unintended consequences of her policies would be the ‘break-up of Britain’ as the title of the ultra-prescient Tom Nairn’s book had suggested even before her election triumph.tariqaliextreme

A large majority of Scots never voted for her. They reached breaking point under Tony Blair and New Labour. It was the proudly vaunted Thatcherite politics of Blair, Brown and their Scottish toadies that accelerated the rise of civic nationalism and fuelled desertions from Labour to the SNP that realized the only way to defeat Blairite Tories was by positioning themselves to the left of Labour on every major issue: the SNP opposed the Iraq war, defended the welfare state, demanded the removal of nuclear weapons from Scottish soil and slowly began to build up support. Labour remained in denial. The first tremors were ignored. The tectonic plates shifted last week and has destroyed them. It will take time but Scottish independence is now assured and a damn good thing too as it will weaken the neo-imperial and military pretensions of the UK state and could open a real debate (not the fakery witnessed on the BBC and other networks) in England leading to constitutional reform (including a written constitution and a democratic electoral system) and the emergence of a radical alliance in England, an insurgent force that breaks with the decaying Labourism that has crippled the Left for a century, first the official Communists and later their Trotskyist offspring. Remnants of both ended up in New Labour (the thuggish Stalinist John (now Lord) Reid and the creepy Alan Milburn who as Health Secretary opened the doors to privatization and is now a well-paid consultant of private health firms and a virtual Tory. There are others.

As I’ve argued at length in The Extreme Centre: A Warning, this is a Europe-wide phenomenon. There are NO fundamental differences between centre-right and centre-left parties anywhere. In parts of Catholic Europe (Spain and France) gay marriage proved divisive. Not so much in Britain. The notion that a Labour government at Westminster could have reversed the neo-liberal course of capitalism is nonsense. It might have made it more palatable through statistical chicanery and sweet talk. Nothing more. So those on the Left unable to break the Labourist addiction should be happy. Their illusions could not be betrayed. ...........(more)

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/05/08/farewell-to-the-united-kingdom/

[Zamen]

1. I wouldn't go as far as to say Scottish independence is assured

Scotland is like Quebec. They use the threat of independence as leverage to secure themselves a bigger slice of the pie, but most people wouldn't follow through on the threat. The SNP vote in the last general election was just a protest vote.

[MisterP]

6. well, the SNP *is* making (and often delivering) social-democratic promises

BUT there's an inherent instability in consuming a region's entire political spectrum--it's hardly Peronism and it's pretty comfortably where the LDP used to be when its left wing ran it, but like Quebec's PQ it'll have to deliver economically or start sliding toward "Scottishness" as its defining trait

but even without the oil (the clock's running already, and Shetland would just countersecede) splitting might not be that attractive--there's no way the SNP can pretend to be leading a new Scotland into a new era a la Podemos or SYRIZA

also I remember a lot of Yes's promises being against the laws of physics

[Zamen]

7. They make a lot of promises they can't keep

A lot of it they wouldn't be able to fund without subsidies from England.

The other thing to bear in mind, that I forgot to mention, is that the SNP's actual popularity is distorted by the FPTP voting system they use in the UK. They got a lot more MPs than their share of the vote warranted.

[MisterP]

14. it's QUITE Quebecois: they get all they ask for, and only then demand independence as

teh most exploited and discriminated group EVAR

but more maturely, FPTP makes them vulnerable that much closer to big losses since three-way races are of course that more vulnerable; currently it's in the position of "LDP, but not full of stupid mistakes, but also restricted to Scotland"--and running on being a "Scottishness" party will just make it another Plaid Cymru--a junior opposition partner in the devolved parliament it'd asked for (or, worse, a PQ trying to send out clothes police)

the real danger is that continued Tory austerity and Labour fecklessness produce a UKIP breakout!

[Zorra]

2. Good riddance. Within 20 yrs Occupied Ulster wil break away from the UK, and

the inevitable unification of the Free Republic of Ireland will be complete. Ireland will freely and gladly absorb the Ulster Protestants, and Ireland will be completely free of English imperialism at last.

Scotland really blew it when they did not break off from the British clown car when they had they chance; they won't make that mistake again.

Let it Bleed

[Nye Bevan]

3. The vast majority (like 70%) of people in Northern Ireland want to remain part of the UK.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Northern_Ireland

and I would be surprised if this flipped around in the next 20 years.

The solution is probably some kind of federal system roughly similar to the US, where England, Scotland, Ulster and Wales are like states, but still part of a federal UK.

[Zorra]

5. As the Plantation Protestant population of the Six Counties continues

to diminish, the native Irish Catholic population will soon become the majority, so this is going to change. The British clown car conservatives will accelerate the process

The Irish know how to wait, and persevere. It took Ireland centuries to rid itself of brutal British imperialists in the southern provinces of Free Ireland. It will take a few decades more to get them out of Occupied Ulster, but it is as inevitable as the sunrise.


http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/northern-ireland-says-yes-to-a-border-poll-but-a-firm-no-to-united-ireland-30622987.html

[Zamen]

8. There's actually strong support in Northern Ireland

For remaining in the Union.

[pampango]

4. Being liberal, the Scots have said that if the UK votes to leave the EU, it would be a push

for Scotland to leave the UK and join the EU. British conservatives, particularly the far-right of the party, are pushing for the referendum on the UK leaving the EU. The Scots, being mostly liberals, want no part of that.

[Zamen]

9. The referendum is a done deal at this point I think

[pampango]

11. The referendum seems to be a done deal but the trend seems to be to remain in the EU.

British support for staying in EU rises to 55 percent



British support for staying in the European Union has risen to 55 percent, up 9 percentage points from two years ago, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

British support for staying inside the EU rose to 55 percent from 50 percent a year ago and 46 percent in 2013, Pew said. The poll showed 36 percent of Britons wanted to leave.

Support for the EU in Britain was strongest among 18-29 year-olds: 69 percent of them wanted to stay in while 25 percent wanted to leave. British people over 50 years old were the most skeptical age group about membership.

Despite the rise in support for membership, British people are more skeptical about the bloc than five other major EU members surveyed - Poland, Italy, Spain, Germany and France.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/03/us-britain-eu-poll-idUSKBN0OJ0N420150603

At this point it looks like the vote may be very close in the referendum. A lot can change in the next year or two but least for the moment the trend seems to be in a positive direction.

[Zamen]

12. It'll be very close, no doubt

And after the last election, I'd take any polls with a pinch of salt. The Liberal Democrat polls were way off.

[betterdemsonly]

10. I understand why they want to leave the UK. They are social democrats and antiausterity

The UK is a neoliberal imperalist state, that invented austerity. I can't understand why anti-austerity social democrats would want anything to do with the PEEU. It is a neoliberal, pro-austerity imperialist state too. Look at all the countries that have joined save Germany. Every one of them are being forced to privatize all public services and embrace austerity. The Irish suffer from a similar form of insanity, but then they are neoliberal mashochists, who traded th e RC Janism for austerity. There elites have always been neoliberal dickheads.

My only guess is that the Scottish media doesn't report on things happening in other Eu nations. Their media is controlled by Murdoch. He hasn't been able to sway them to love capitalism like the English, and Australians, but he might be able to trick em.

[pampango]

13. Throughout Europe it seems to be the liberals and young who support the EU, while older conservative

Europeans oppose it.

The far-right parties in Europe, like UKIP in the UK and the National Front in France (practically every European has an anti-EU, anti-immigrant RW populist party), are the leaders in the movement to weaken or dismantle the EU. I doubt the far-right is better informed than the left in any country.

[betterdemsonly]

15. It isn't true in Greece, Italy, Spain or Portugal.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/166757/leadership-approval-record-low-spain-greece.aspx

The young have turned on the Eu because of austerity not nationalism. I doubt the national front in france would have a voter base if a social democratic party came out against the Eu. Not sure about ukip since English voters voted in a native neoliberal austerity government.

I guess the only explaination for Ireland is that like Poles and Ukrainians, a high percentage of Irish expect to immigrate to some other EU country and membership makes that easier. It certainly isn't because the Eu does anything for residents of those nations. The only reason immigration is attractive is that the Eu hasn't successfully decimated social democracy in its core Benelux nations. Once they do that, most of these kids will realize how they have been ripped off.

They have to attack the Benelux nations soon, since there is nothing left for Benelux elites to privatize and plunder in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

[pampango]

16. Support for the EU is quite strong in Spain, Italy and Greece. Not sure about Portugal.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/02/chapter-2-support-for-the-european-project-rebounding/

Several important issues were put on the list of questions. On the question “euro or drachma,” 66.5 percent said they would like to see Greece remain in the euro zone, while 27 percent want the old national currency. Among SYRIZA voters, 53.5 percent prefer the euro. Among New Democracy voters, 92.5 percent are in favor of the common European currency.

On the same question, 20 percent of Golden Dawn voters want the euro, while 100 percent of The River and PASOK voters want the euro.

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/05/05/poll-66-5-of-greeks-prefer-the-euro-over-drachma/

Most Greeks, Italians and Spanish want their countries to retain the Euro.

Many Europeans are not happy with the leadership of the EU but that is different than wanting the EU to disappear.

It is the right, in the case of Golden Dawn the fascist right, that wants their country out of the EU and the Euro. It is the left and the young that are more supportive of European integration.

[betterdemsonly]

17. It is not the leadership that's the problem. It is constitution

which mandates a balanced budget. If it a country has a crisis they must privatize everything. to pay off the debt. It is constitutionally right wing, irrespective of who they elect. It is not a reformable system either. A European nation is not necessarily bad, but the Eu is. Young people are often ignorant and misled.

[pampango]

18. I understand. You may be right. The right and a minority of Europeans agree with you.

But the left and a majority of Europeans do not. They are more supportive of and optimistic about an integrated Europe.

Perhaps the right is right. I hop not.

[betterdemsonly]

21. I don't invest much in hope.

I look at reality. I think false hope is a big problem for many voters, who don't want to look at facts.

[Octafish]

19. I think there's a lesson for this side of the pond.

We need to be thinking of not just some fixes, but thinking how to fix the system.

The way things are now, people have noticed, amount to lives of servitude for the Have-Mores.

The Scots were among the first to oppose the, um, "caste" system.

[clarice]

20. TARIQ ALI !!!!????? nt