Now is a time of unprecedented popular involvement in politics, a true democratic renaissance. We the people voted to leave, but our vote is being frustrated.
Across Britain there is a palpable sense of anger at the attempts to betray the referendum result of 2016. Anger at the ultra-Remainers who creep to Brussels to urge no compromise as the best way of thwarting independence. Anger at the undemocratic “People’s Vote” charade – we had a proper people’s vote in 2016. Anger at the government’s supine contortions.
But anger is not enough. If the vote to leave was a form of revolution, then we are witnessing an attempted counter-revolution. Like the professional elites and entitled students of Chile in 1973, they take to the streets to deny democracy. Like the Jacobites, they see their only hope in intervention from abroad.
It’s not just a campaign against Brexit. It’s a campaign against Britain. Those who urge Brussels to hold out, to make things as difficult as possible, are no less than traitors.
Away from marches on the fevered streets of the West End of London, people are asking themselves what they should do to ensure that the vote to leave is carried out. The answer is simple: they must stand up, stand tall, and defend Brexit.
Follow the fishermen
That’s what the fishermen have been doing. Despite the fact that they’re out at sea a lot of the time, they have managed to mount a series of demonstrations rallying support in seaside communities. Want inspiration? Look at Fishing for Leave.
The fishermen have produced, and continue to produce, detailed thinking on just how damaging the government’s approach is – and on how they can thrive in an independent Britain. Other sections of our country should do likewise. We need positive thinking.
This issue of Workers is full of examples of the dangers of staying in the EU and the opportunities that will come from leaving – from biotech to banking, from defending pensions to reversing privatisation.
All the parliamentary shuffling is a sideshow. Parliament has one duty, to carry out our instruction to leave the EU, its single market and its customs union. So far, it’s failing.
Parliament does not want to do what we told it to do. Right, then: who rules? The people of Britain, or those who claim to represent us in Parliament? If Parliament won’t do what we told it to do, we must shove it aside. Loudly.