For a while after the result of the EU referendum became known on 23rd July, it felt like we might, hopefully, avoid the dark reality that triggering Article 50 and leaving the European Union implied. That maybe we wouldn’t be stuck on a cold, rainy, miserable island surrounded by small-minded bigots, suffering through an economic collapse, while those of us in the 48%, retreat into a dream of an unrealisable idealised never-to-be-repeated past. Wishful thinking of course. It’s been thrown into stark relief by the revelations coming out of the Tory Party conference recently that we’re pushing for what’s been labelled hard Brexit; which can be summed up as “kick ’em all out and have nothing to do with them”.
The proceeding months between then and now provided the tiniest slithers of hope, we wrestled with political turmoil, as both the Conservative and Labour parties feverishly tried to elect new leaders, and economic turmoil, as the pound nose dived faster than a parachutist with an equipment malfunction (and with the same sense of impending doom). It felt like maybe we’d never actually get round to leaving. But now Theresa May has said we’ll trigger Article 50 by next March; which is good news for historic supporters of the Nazi party, The Daily Mail, who decried the “bremoaners” in a recent headline, referring to anyone who didn’t support leaving the EU as “unpatriotic” whingers.
As an even more depressing cherry-on-the-top-of-the-already-fucking-depressing-Brexit-cake to go with all this political and economic decline, we have seen a disgusting rise in xenophobic and racist hate crime. If the referendum was fought by the Leavers along classic Fascist lines (take back control, make our country great again, purity, strength, jobs for natives, cultural revanchism) the outcome unleashed a wave of unbridled fascism. At its peak, after the Leave vote, hate crime was up 57%. It’s dropped slightly since, but there’ve been an endless wave of shocking acts of violence reported.
It started soon after the result; a Polish centre in Hammersmith was daubed with graffiti, and there were reports of people posting cards through the doors of migrants imploring them to go home. This followed, recently, by a student being stabbed in the neck for speaking Polish in Telford, and another Polish man killed in Harlow. There was a racist attack on a pregnant woman in Bletchley, who lost her baby. These of course, are just the tip of the iceberg. A report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, released last week, directly pointed the finger at David Cameron and Nigel Farage as guilty of allowing us to fall such lows; that their divisive, xenophobic, fear mongering political rhetoric laid the groundwork to help us arrive at the miserable place we’re in now.
Police statistics back up the anecdotal evidence and correlation between discourse and violence; there’s been a sharp rise in Islamophobic, antisemitic and xenophobic assaults since the referendum. “It is no coincidence that racist violence is on the rise in the UK at the same time as we see worrying examples of intolerance and hate speech in the newspapers, online and even among politicians,” said ECRI chair Christian Ahlund. What the figures don’t show, of course, is the true scale, as it is estimated that only a quarter of such crimes are reported or recorded.
The report also singled out The Sun, alongside Cameron and Farage, for its coverage and reporting, specifically Katie Hopkins, who referred to migrants as cockroaches in the paper (this article could go on much longer, if we were to list all of the tabloid press’ instances of xenophobia and racism). Also as recently as last week, at the Tory party conference, Home Secretary Amber Rudd was feeding into this poisonous climate, by vowing to stop migrants from taking jobs from British people. It makes you wonder how long it can go on?
Now, hopefully, someone is starting a bit of a fightback. Matt Carr, a writer and commentator is organising One Day Without Us to highlight the beneficial impact of migrant workers to our culture and how important a part of UK workforce they are. He wants to highlight the positive impact of migration on our country, not the negative, as we’re so often used to seeing in the media.
It’s being referred to as a boycott, rather than a strike, though. “We want to make this an inclusive event,” Carr said, to the Guardian. “We realise that because of the legal constraints on striking, many workers will not be able to take formal strike action. However, they can choose to support this event simply by taking the day off work.” Around 3.2 million people living and working in the UK are thought to be citizens of another EU country, and some 7 million to be born overseas.
The event is scheduled to coincide with the UN’s World Day of Social Justice on 20 February 2017. It’s worth noting, that beyond the tabloid headlines, migration actually has a net positive effect on the UK economy. “Since Brexit we have seen levels of xenophobia and racism that have been increasingly legitimised,” Matt continued. “We want to make a bold and powerful statement and give migrants an opportunity to express themselves.”
Credits
Text Felix Petty
Photography Miguel Discart