Tariq Ali: Brexit and Migration

At the Crossing Borders Conference in Greece, scholar and activist Tariq Ali says radical politics helps a great deal in pulling people away from reactionary solutions which appear temporarily convincing

[@LowescC]

.bravo.....

[@listeniolistenio5160]

14:19 He should write a memoir!

[@listeniolistenio5160]

4:03 I hate this systemic anti-intellectualism. Why do people hate critical thinking?

[@wishcraft4u2]

Who is the person Ali is referencing here? at 1:15 John... Reese? Where can I find his argument for this?

[@tomlinid]

I think he is referring to a political activist in the UK who was a member of the stop the war coalition and is anti austerity.

[@wishcraft4u2]

tomlinid OK but do you know the name? Or where he says the thing?

[@tomlinid]

wishcraft4u2 No I don't know what he is referencing John Reese is also a journalist perhaps he is referencing something he has written?

[@wishcraft4u2]

tomlinid well anyways, I find it shocking how absent this POV is from public discourse, the simple fact that people might have voted for the brexit for other reasons than the racism that was poured into them by the brexit campaign, you know because the rabble are such idiots who cant think for themselves.

[@tomlinid]

wishcraft4u2 The bulk of the people who voted for Brexit did it because the politicians told lies. They said they would stop immigration making it easier for British people to get jobs. They would pay 350 million a week more into the health service and make the country safer. However it looks like they wont be able to do anything about immigration, they say they never intended to give the health service 350 million a week and the country wont be as safe as it was in the EU. In the meantime the pound has dropped by 10% against the dollar and uncertainties about the relationship between the UK and EU make it a less favorable place to invest.

[@sic_transit_gloria_mundi]

"There is no respect for democracy in the EU". The EU is no evil force apart, it's a union of 27 different countries, out of which most are among the most equal and human in the world. Tariq Ali vilifying "Brussels" like the worst tabloids frankly sounds hypocritical, especially with view to the latest events in his own country, the UK, since the latter left the Union, in particular the Tories' attempts to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

[@dickhamilton3517]

now c'mon Tariq, it's completely disingenuous to suggest the EU would have or even could have vetoed Corbyn's programme, whatever it might be - that's crap (and you know it) - they did for the Greeks because they could , but the Greek state 1) was in the eurozone, had signed up to the rules of the eurozone, and had broken the rules of the eurozone and falsified its accounts, and 2) was bailed out and had heavily borrowed from the ECB, while UK wasn't in the eurozone and wasn't in debt to them, and was never subject to those rules/agreements. The EU does not, and never did have, the power to override the policy a government here has chosen to implement.

[@chonnerone2964]

It's not crap. The EU is neo-liberalism, hence why Cameron, Thatcher and Blair we all easily in agreement. The borrowing to the Greece is part of the plan. Germany is banker and wants everyone in debt. I'm all for Brexit and wish the late great Tony Blair was still with us.

[@dickhamilton3517]

it is crap for all the reasons I stated. We were never in the Euro. We were never in the Schengen area either. Neoliberalism, in case you haven't noticed, is _everywhere in the world_ except the BRICS (and lately, the neoliberals won the 'B' back) and a few countries in S.America (now under pressure again). But it meets a lot of popular resistance in Europe (and in Germany, even), from both the Left (still alive in Europe) AND the Right. The TTIP is not going to get passed in Europe. No, but it IS going to be retooled for the UK. And here, we (or Parliament) won't get to vote on it, unlike in the EU parliament. Not that it would matter if Parliament did get to vote, because they would vote FOR - most of them are neoliberals and very much in favour. They think TTIP is a Trade Agreement - they would pass it without reading it, if they had a vote. In Britain, most people don't even know what neoliberalism is, and don't know what to blame for their troubles as a consequence, and like you, stupidly blame the wrong damned thing. If you tell them that neoliberalism is in essence Thatcherism with the leash off, or global thatcherism, or the same as neoconservatism, Reaganomics, or the American project, they look at you blankly. In England, they would vote for Thatcher immediately, tomorrow, if she was sprang from the grave, no matter what. They still bloody love her. On the other hand, I've had brainless UKIPpers tell me that Thatcher was a Socialist (!), and that it is Socialism that is the cause of all our troubles, completely ignoring the fact that we haven't had any socialists in Cabinet since 1979. Some of these braindead bastards even say the Tories are Socialists - those certainly don't deserve a vote. England (nobody else, though) voted solidly Tory in the last election, and destroyed the LibDems. Because in the coalition, Nick Clegg was forced to make a trade, BY THE TORIES, to drop his own promise to the students re loans and fees, they completely ignore what he traded for it, i.e. the win he got in forcing the Tories to raise the personal allowance substantially and take a load of underpaid people out of tax altogether. Somehow though, the tories got to take the credit for what the LibDems made them do, the one good thing they did. And lo and behold England goes and votes heavily Tory. Stupid, Stupid bastards, they don't deserve a fucking vote. Now we are completely in the hands of the worst elements of that same Tory party. Thanks to people like you. You blew it. Staying IN europe was your only chance of avoiding the worst of the neoliberal putsch, because there's a lot of allies against neoliberalism in Europe, and NO resistance here AT ALL - here, they don't even know what it IS, OR that it governs them - They VOTE FOR IT, INSTEAD, while blaming somebody else (the EU, the 'socialists', anybody) for the things it has done and will do. I suppose in your last sentence, you meant Tony BENN. A freudian slip, maybe. Tony Blair, unfortunately, is very much still with us. His poison runs through the half of the Labour party that hamstrings Corbyn, AND the current government.

[@G10Kieran]

Dick Hamilton EU rules regarding state aid are very much alive and working in the UK right now and pose a direct barrier to any left wing government as their main purpose is to limit state intervention and promote competition. Funnily enough state aid is allowed where it involves tax breaks and the sale of state owned assets at below market price. Very Neo-liberal if you ask me www.gov.uk/guidance/state-aid#compliance-with-the-state-aid-rules

[@BakerWase]

Tariq supported Saddams regime in Iraq. He is indifferent to genocide and crimes against humanity. I for one, will toast when he passes.

[@allencaseyseverinogumiran9486]

And when the Coalition invaded the Levant, they became irresponsible babies after they have benefited from Saddam! What an irony