Marchers for Brexit on their way to Westminster, 29 March 2019. Photo Workers.
By now we should have left the EU. Vast swathes of people are incensed. But it is evident that Brexit will only be delivered if the people move to enforce it by neutering an obstructionist parliament.
Nothing good will happen until parliament is overwhelmed by the people’s desire to leave. Left to its own devices parliament is too much the instrument of the vested interests in society, the big companies and banks, to move unilaterally against the EU.
The overwhelming majority of MPs voted Remain. With honourable exceptions, most MPs want to defy the referendum and stay. And most of those who lean towards Leave lack the courage and the confidence in Britain and in its people to secure a WTO deal for independence.
Exercise control
This obstruction of Brexit is not democracy. But democracy neither begins nor ends in the flawed institution of parliament. It exists to the extent that the people are prepared to exercise their sovereignty, their control.
Parliament didn’t come up with the idea of Brexit. It came from the people, from the growing understanding that inside the EU all control was being transferred to transnational companies and their appointees in the European Commission. The EU abolishes borders to maximise profits and eliminates national sovereignty to silence organised opposition.
Only the pressure of the people kept us out of the euro. Only their stubborn determination forced parliament to agree the in-out referendum. Only the determination to make decisions about our country in our country delivered the 17.4 million votes to Leave.
‘Brexit does not merely rely on democracy, it is currently its expression.’
Brexit does not merely rely on democracy, it is currently its expression. Democracy and Brexit are not separate entities – they are two sides of the same coin. To win Brexit, to enforce the result of the referendum, we must start from one basic principle: against parliament’s grubby deals and machinations, the people must enforce their own sovereignty, their own control.
Beginning
Let Leavers organisations spring up like mushrooms everywhere – in cities, towns and villages – devising local campaigns to unleash the potential of sovereignty in the people. It’s already begun.
Channel the anger. Generate the tactics of collective campaigns across the country. Let any despair be temporary. Focus activity on reshaping the politics of Britain for independence.
It took a lot of effort by many people and organisations to get Brexit under way with the referendum. It will take much more to prise Britain out of the EU, to become a truly independent nation. But it will happen because Brexit is based on the people.
The genie of British independence is out of the bottle and cannot be put back. Everyone needs to get involved. Brexit is the future, but we will have to build it ourselves.