Deal or no deal?
No deal apparently. Theresa May’s much vaunted Brexit deal didn’t even get to the Commons’ vote. Two years in the making and, as was made clear by the European Commission, the only one on offer, it was too Euroey for the Brexiteers and too Brexity for the Euromaniacs. Ostensibly, the sticking point was the interim ‘backstop’ arrangements to keep the intra-Ireland border open – necessary to keep May’s DUP support on board. The Prime Minister, having survived a vote of no-confidence from her party, then headed back to Brussels for further negotiations, hoping in vain to gain further concessions to make the deal more palatable to her stroppy colleagues.
What is behind the seemingly endless rounds of talks, the quibbling over minutiae? Could it be that the government, the capitalist organ grinder’s best monkey, really doesn’t want the UK-EU split at all? After all, there’s a lot of big money at stake here. Given that no settlement seems possible and that the Commission is willing to put off or terminate Article 50 as required, the most likely scenario is that another referendum is in the offing. Which this time, after two years of jolly funny jokes about the post-Brexit Dark Age, is likely to deliver the required status quo result.
In the meantime, the government must be seen to be making an effort. Not just to appease its own, mostly Brexit happy, voters. But because, otherwise, the whole notion that we live in a democracy, that our opinion counts, that we, the people, rule, would be brought into doubt. If what we said was blatantly disregarded, the discrete veil which is the circus at Westminster would be irrevocably torn and the brutal reality of class rule would be made plain for all to see.
Bugger Brexit
We do not give a toss about Brexit. And neither should you. “Take back control”? Don’t make us laugh. The good old British billionaires, those who through their taxes pay the government, regardless of political colouring, have no interest in our welfare. To them, we are just hands and brains to be used to make money.
Fuck EU too
The European Union seems some sort of advance on a stand-alone UK. Free movement of people exists within its borders. And its laws offer real benefits to working people. But how long will these benefits last? Given the pasting given to Syriza in Greece and recent threats of the same treatment to Italy, the answer is “not long”. And such freedom of movement applies only to Europeans – the EU’s whites only Fortress Europe policy accounts annually for the deaths of thousands of helpless migrants.
The real deal
Why should we be interested in their trading arrangements, the relations between their governments, the ‘deals’ they make between themselves? Our business is what concerns us, our lives, where we live and where we work. In or out we will still be under the thumb of our bosses. In or out, the destruction of the National Health Service will continue. In or out, sickness and unemployment benefit will be eroded. The only fair and sane deal is the destruction of capitalism and all states – including potential super-states such as the European Union. Settle for nothing less than total freedom.