ONE LAST TIME: Brexit, for the VAST MAJORITY of Leave voters, was about xenophobia

[leveymg]

70. Your post doesn't prove your point. I see four nutter Brits with a banner and cherry-picked images.

Last edited Sun Jun 26, 2016, 12:32 AM - Edit history (1)

Interlaced with snippets of reported xenophobic nastiness, I see RW propaganda images of refugees that have a striking parallel across eight decades. I see a photo of pathetic acts of private pamphleteering and threats in Polish, "No more Polish vermin!"

A montage, and it captures part of the truth, but only a corner. Xenophobic hysteria becomes a successful mass political movement only when a large portion of the population becomes aware that their economic livelihoods have eroded, and RW scapegoating of domestic minorities and the poor are no longer enough to placate their fears.

It's not just about immigrants. Here's the dividing line that captures the bigger economic picture that divides decaying post-indistrial Britain from the City of London, Scotland and Northern Ireland, where many still believe they personally benefit from globalization or from direct trade with Europe.

That is the primary reason the Industrial South and Midlands voted to Leave. There are lots of causes for Brexit, but loss of industrial, unionized jobs with decent pay and benefits in areas that voted to Leave has to be at or near the very top to explain the geographic breakdown shown below.

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=1484