Okay, so this is my radio documentary on the Brexit
vote in the UK and its aftermath. My first question is about what you voted for
and why you voted for it.
Okay so I’m probably in quite
an unusual position in that I voted to leave the European Union, on the basis
of an anti-racist position and a pro-public service position and for greater
equality and more internationalism, now lots of those things are related to,
and were used to push back against the no campaign, and the Brexit which is how
it’s being described is not what I was voting for, but I felt we needed to vote
on face value should we be in or out of Europe was Europe as a institution, the
European Union a good thing for ordinary people in the world not just in
Britain but in the world, and I feel that it’s not, and that’s why I voted to
leave.
Okay, I’d also like to ask how you feel about the end
result, presuming you were happy with it because of the way you voted?
The vote was just a vote, I’m
not happy with the situation full stop. I wouldn’t have been happy had we voted
to stay because of the climate that we’re in, and I’m not happy that we voted
to leave because of the climate we’re in. We’re in a climate where mainstream
politicians are quite happy to blame migrants for the ills of the economic
situation of many ordinary people not just in Britain but across Europe and so
forth and that’s a very dangerous position to be in. I don’t think we’d be in
any worse a position had we voted to stay inside Europe, that debate was going
on and is separate in some measure to whether or not we voted yes or no, the
two things are obviously related to each other but there are two ways in which
you can leave Europe, you can leave Europe in a completely reactionary way
which closes up the borders and says no one should come in and boots all
European union citizens out, and ferments racism and nationalism, and you can
leave Europe in a way that says it’s not fair that the European union makes you
have to not borrow money to invest in public services, that structurally ties
you into the banking system of Europe, that is going to pass laws like T-tip
that means if you privatise your public services like health and transport
you’ll be sued if you take them back into public ownership and, all the other
problems with Europe like it’s major problem with not letting in refugees and
with backing NATO and other armed conflicts in the middle east, all of which
you know I’m opposed to. So I’m for left-exit, the exit from the European union
on a progressive basis okay, a basis on which we say we are with
internationalism, we are with people across Europe, we are with people in
Greece who are being smashed by the banks, and we want proper distribution of
wealth which I don’t think the European union’s about.
Okay, my next question is why do you think there was
such a severe social media reaction to the result?
I’m not aware that there was
a major social media reaction to the result, maybe it’s cause I don’t spend a
lot of time on social media. My understanding is that there was initially some
street based protests and quite a number of you know people who were very upset
about the fact that we were leaving Europe. I understand why people are upset
because the people feel that Europe perhaps, and I think it’s misguided but perhaps
Europe offers some kind of internationalism and some kind of outward looking
approach for Britain and I just think that that’s not the case. I think that
those things happen because people are people not because of the European union
per say, I think people are very scared about European migrants being sent back
but I’m looking at this from a global perspective and as I’ve said before you
know I think it shouldn’t just be French and Swedish people who are allowed
into Britain, I think it should be Syrians and North Africans and Eritreans and
you know Sudanese people who are in a lot of trouble and they should be allowed
into Europe just like Europeans think its fine for us to go and work all over
the world.
Okay, would you say that Britain’s future is brighter
now than before?
No the vote is not the key
factor in that, the key factor in this is about whether ordinary people with
put up with having our health service taken apart, having cuts to public
services including education, having bankers and billionaires and bosses get
away with hiding their taxes, not paying for stuff and you know becoming even
more rich than they were before the financial crisis of 2008, and that’s gonna
change depending on whether or not people resist and struggle and fight back
and that’s the key question. The key question is not yes or no in the European
union, the future of Britain is not bright in the current climate, the current
political leadership of the country, but I think the election of Jeremy Corbin
as the leader of the Labour party clearly indicates that people do not want to
put up with having their health service trashed, their trains run for profit,
their energy companies run for profit, the environment run ruff shot over and
so forth and there’s a sign that you could fight back but people have to stand
up and shout about it a bit more than just voting in an election.
Okay, and do you regret your decision in any way?
Not in the slightest, the
only other decision would be to abstain and I don’t think it’s really a
question to abstain on. You have to take a position, but I think the European
union has far too many major problems and it’s set up in the interest of
industry and business, private business and private enterprise and it’s not set
up in the interest of the citizens of Europe. The things that Europeans have
won out of the European union have happened as a concession, not as the main
thing. The European union was not set up to help working people and you know we
have to tell it like it is.
Okay, thank you very much.
Paper edit:
Narrative: The narrative of this podcast is simplistic and politically relevant, the subject speaks about the recent Brexit vote to leave the European Union. During this interview segments of media coverage of the event are sliced into the audio timeline to provide context and extra information. I removed the questions because the answers given were self sustaining and independent.
Script Evolution: In the original audio script I had intended to discuss the media's coverage of Brexit but in the end I decided that the interview should be more of a free flowing discussion which relies less on a structured line of questions. This decision lead to the cutting of other topics such as the perspective of youth and the opinions of those who have turned on the European Union.
Completed Podcast:
