Rally against the far-right Brexiteer opportunists - December 9th

I bumped into an assortment of left-groups, including the Communist Party of Britain Marxist-Leninist, Socialist Party, Community Party of Great Britain and Counterfire on Thursday evening as I was leaving an NEU Climate Working Group at the NEU headquarters.

They were attended a meeting about a 'People's Brexit' aimed at making a socialist case for leaving the EU.

I picked up a CPBML leaflet which said:

Let’s return to the simplicity of our  [referendum] decision. Reinstate the red lines for Brexit. Control over our economy, our borders, our agriculture and fisheries, our food, our laws, our workplaces. That would terrify the EU would-be masters. Only then can real negotiations begin - from the true position of British strength.

Last night in Brent  at Bridge Park there was a meeting, publicised by local Liberal Democrats, with a speaker from the People's Vote campaign aimed at organising Brent residents in favour of a People's Vote on Brexit.

Both camps have some strange bedfellows.

Today I received this from 'Another Europe is Possible'. I don't think for a minute that everyone who favours Brexit is a racist, let alone a fascist, but it is proving a vehicle for some opportunists:

On December 9th, the day before parliament votes on Theresa May’s deal, the far right will march on London under the banner of “Brexit Betrayal”. We will mobilise, in massive numbers, to combat their message of hate and division. And we will demand a serious alternative: a society that works for everyone, and a final say for the people on Brexit.

Join us on December 9th - stand up to the far right

In the face of this moment, it is not enough to simply oppose racism in the abstract. Brexit is being used to attack migrants, end free movement, deregulate the economy, divide communities and legitimise racism in the political mainstream. It is driven at its core by the British wing of a movement that includes Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders, among others.

Join the demo - let's oppose Brexit together

Tommy Robinson is not just using Brexit as a tool to attract followers. Brexit has from its earliest days been driven by the far right, and the far right will benefit from it for decades to come unless we defeat it and the conditions on which it feeds.

The far right is growing because the economic and political system has failed us. We need decent homes and jobs, we need a transformation of the economy that gives people control over their destinies.

Come together against Brexit and the far right

The far right is growing because the economic and political system has failed us. We need decent homes and jobs, we need a transformation of the economy that gives people control over their destinies.

On December 9th, we will rally in Parliament Square. Join us to demand:

Vote down the Brexit deal
Give the people a final say
Stop the far right - defend free movement

David Lammy MP
Caroline Lucas MP
Manuel Cortes, TSSA general secretary
Ann Pettifor, economist
Mike Galsworthy, Scientists for the EU
Amelia Womack Deputy Leader of the Green Party
Zoe Williams, journalist
Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner
Michael Chessum, Another Europe is Possible
Nick Dearden, Global Justice Now
Julie Ward MEP
Marina Prentoulis, senior lecturer at UEA
Shaista Aziz, Oxford unites as an anti-racist city and Stop Trump campaigner
Hugh Lanning, former general secretary of PCS
Paul Mackney, formber UCU general secretary
Joseph Healy, Left Unity principal speaker
Niccolo Milanese, European Alternatives
Simon Hannah, author and Lambeth UNISON joint Secretary
Neil Faulkner, archaeologist and historian
Daniel Randall, RMT activist (pc)
Don Flynn, migrants rights campaigner

Is another Europe possible? What do you think?

It has been hard for the anti-capitalist Left to insert itself into the EU Referendum debate on either side. The choice of associating with the neoliberals and big business  of the Remain campaign or the neoliberals and  racists of the Out campaign has left many of us out in the cold.

My main feeling is that we have been dragged into a nasty debate as a consquence of the internal war in the Tory Party and Cameron's attempt to deal with the UKIP challenge.

The Another Europe is Possible campaign is an attempt to make a progressive case for Remain but faces the charge of dewy eyed complacency about the real nature of the EU.

I submit Caroline Lucas' speech as a contribution to the debate and welcome people's views.