Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
 

Ghost Dog

(16,881 posts)
Tue Jun 28, 2016, 08:37 AM Jun 2016

The global order is dying. But Britain cannot survive without the EU (Paul Mason)

... Today, the event we are living through is just as momentous – but with more tabloid lying and internet memes, and bleaker economic prospects. Brexit, looked at through the lens of history, signals the high-water mark of neoliberalism – the system of free-market economics and global trade that began in the early 1990s. It was triggered, ultimately, because enough people associated their own poor prospects and economic hardship with a treaty coordinating the economic policies of different countries.

The impact has been immediate. Almost unnoticed amid the post-Brexit hysteria, French president François Hollande announced his intention to veto TTIP, the free-trade treaty between the EU and the US. For clarity, that means it is dead...

... The Tory right – unlike Stanley Baldwin andRamsay MacDonald in the 1930s – has noJohn Maynard Keynes to call on. It has only the promise it has made itself: that lots of countries in the world will do swift bilateral trade deals and that – somehow – Britain will end up more global, more outward-facing, than when it had a mere 500 million people to sell to.

This is an illusion. It will not happen. And in their hearts, many of those who voted for Brexit do not want it to happen. Talk to them: they want less free markets, less migration and less open trade. And, unlike in the 1930s, they have newspapers that represent them and talk radio stations to wind them up to fury. So the real nightmare scenario is not Brexit – it is what happens, socially and economically, when Brexit does not work...

More... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/27/global-order-britain-survive-eu-alternative-economic-model

2 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The global order is dying. But Britain cannot survive without the EU (Paul Mason) (Original Post) Ghost Dog Jun 2016 OP
Good analysis. bemildred Jun 2016 #1
"Making Sense of Brexit, Paul Mason", Democracy Now! June 27, 2016. appalachiablue Jun 2016 #2

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
1. Good analysis.
Tue Jun 28, 2016, 09:39 AM
Jun 2016

The only criticism I can see is that economic nationalism has always been with us, and certainly economic warfare, some of it quite severe, but his basic point that we are not going anywhere that looks better than where we are is sound. None of the "leaders" on offer looks up to the job for one thing. They are all a bunch of immature sparrowfarts whose thinking is wholly expedient and short term. Like the way Cameron got this all started.

appalachiablue

(41,047 posts)
2. "Making Sense of Brexit, Paul Mason", Democracy Now! June 27, 2016.
Tue Jun 28, 2016, 11:24 AM
Jun 2016

"Making Sense of Brexit: Paul Mason on Britain's Growing Economic & Political Crisis", Democracy Now!, June 27, 2016.

- Program Interview Video and Transcript. WATCH FULL SHOW at Link.
Paul Mason, journalist and filmmaker. His recent opinion piece for The Guardian is called, "Corbyn delivered the Labour vote for remain—so let’s get behind him." Mason’s new book is titled Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future. Recent Guardian Articles by Paul Mason. Britain remains in a widening crisis days after voters chose to leave the European Union. British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced his resignation. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing a coup within his own party as more than a dozen members of his shadow cabinet have resigned or been sacked. Scotland has announced it will take any steps needed to stay inside the European Union, including possibly holding a second independence referendum. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is headed to Brussels and London to discuss the political and economic upheaval caused by the Brexit vote. To make sense of what’s happening, we speak to longtime British journalist Paul Mason, who has worked at the BBC and Channel 4. His new book is titled "Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future."

- TRANSCRIPT, This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Britain remains in a widening crisis days after voters chose to leave the European Union in their Brexit vote. British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced his resignation. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing a coup within his own party as more than a dozen members of his shadow cabinet have resigned or have been sacked. On Sunday, Hilary Benn was removed as the Labour Party shadow foreign secretary.
HILARY BENN: He’s a good and decent man.
ANDREW MARR: So was it hard for you?
HILARY BENN: He’s a good and decent man, but he is not a leader. And that is the problem.
AMY GOODMAN: Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has rejected calls to step down as opposition leader, saying now is the time for the party to stand up for its values.
JEREMY CORBYN: Our policies on trade, economy and migration will have to change in light of the referendum vote. But that cannot be left to the likes of Johnson, Farage and Gove. Labour will fight to ensure that our agenda is at the heart of the negotiations over withdrawal from the European Union that lie ahead, including the freedom to shape our economy to work for all, maintain social and employment protections that benefit all, and that whoever leads the government is intensely held to account, to democratic account, throughout the whole process.

AMY GOODMAN: Scotland has announced it will take any steps needed to stay inside the European Union, including possibly holding a second independence referendum. On Sunday, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the country will do whatever it takes to remain in the EU. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland’s deputy leader, Martin McGuinness, called Friday for a vote to unite the two sides of the Irish border. Global stock markets have plummeted. More than $2 trillion was wiped off global equity markets on Friday in the biggest daily loss ever. Earlier today, the British pound hit a 31-year low. Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry is headed to Brussels and London to discuss the political and economic upheaval caused by the Brexit vote.
To make sense of what’s happening, we go now to London, where we’re joined by longtime British economics journalist Paul Mason, who has worked at the BBC and Channel 4. His new book is titled Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future.
So, talk about the fallout from the Brexit vote, Paul, and also why this vote to leave the European Union ever even took place.

PAUL MASON: Well, the vote to leave the European Union took place because, repeatedly, 25 percent of British voters were, in fair elections—that is, the proportional representation system—were backing a party that wants to leave the European Union. And this impacted onto the Conservative Party, and it made it necessary for David Cameron to take a gamble of having a referendum to bury the issue for a generation, though he gambled and lost, because Cameron wanted to stay in the European Union. Fifty-two percent of British voters voted to leave. And as a result, Mr. Cameron, who’s signaled his resignation but is not yet gone, will go down in history as the Conservative leader who, first of all, destroyed the European Union—I mean, we have left the major bloc in the world economy—and he’s going to destroy the United Kingdom, as well, because, as you suggested in the introduction, Scotland will leave.
Now, the overwhelming issue behind this vote was migration. And what we had was, basically, not just the kind of people who might support Glenn Beck and kind of Donald Trump arguing that migration had gone too far, but, as it turns out, many people who are organic and core supporters of the Labour Party. The free migration from East Europe and South Europe into the United Kingdom has brought about 3 million people over the last 10 years. And in many small communities, they feel—the people who are already here, including many black and Asian people, just said, "It’s too many." And there’s no way of stopping it without leaving Europe. That was made very clear to them. This is what tipped the vote. Con't, http://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/27/making_sense_of_brexit_paul_mason

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Editorials & Other Articles»The global order is dying...