As a British citizen, I am oscillating between sadness and rage: Brexit is the worst of times

[newthinking]

56. Have you read what the European Left is saying

They are not blaming it on the factors you mention. They are blaming the EU for being unresponsive and leading things to what happened. The EU was meant to be something quite different than it has become in recent years and many, including leftists, were not happy with it as an institution.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/24/after-brexit-european-left-calls-massive-political-opposition

The Leave campaign won "because the EU establishment have made it impossible, through their anti-democratic reign (not to mention the asphyxiation of weaker countries like Greece), for the people of Britain to imagine a democratic EU," DiEM25 said, adding that the vote should motivate leftists across Europe to unite for a populist movement.

The group's statement continued:

We can proudly look the powers-that-be in Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris etc. in the eye and tell them: “We tried to save the EU from you. But you have poisoned the EU so badly by silencing the voices of democrats that, though we tried, we could not convince to people of Britain to stay.”

We, at DiEM25, are in no mood for being downcast now that Leave won, against our better efforts. As of today, a new exciting challenge begins for our pan-European democratic movement.

[....] As of today, DiEM25 will seize upon the OUT vote to promote its radical agenda of confronting the EU establishment more powerfully than before.

The EU’s disintegration is now running at full speed. The DiEM25 campaign of building bridges across Europe, bringing democrats together across borders and political parties, is what Europe needs more than ever to avoid a slide into a xenophobic, deflationary, 1930s-like abyss. In this endeavour, British progressives will be at the heart of DiEM25’s campaigns.