BREXIT And Us!

By Earl Bousquet

THE Thursday (July 23) decision by the majority of UK voters to opt out of the European Union is a major political game-changer in Europe, with all sorts of implications at home and abroad — and for the rest of the world.

The 52%-48% vote was close. But in the end, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Opposition Labour Leader Jeremy Corbin’s respective (Tory and Labour) party campaigns for Britain to remain were rejected by the majority.

Cameron has announced his early resignation and the long knives are already out for Corbin, with a call for a no-confidence vote among British Labour MPs set for today.

Now that the “Leave” campaign led by former London Mayor Boris Johnson and Tory Cabinet Minister Michael Gove has won, they’re also now saying they’re in no hurry to exit. But “Remain” campaigners in Britain, Ireland and Scotland have already said they will activate mechanisms to opt out of the exit vote.

Current Labour London Mayor Saddiq Khan says he will work with Corbin and other “Remain” campaigners to find mechanisms to exit the exit poll. Scotland says it will activate a similar referendum, but to “Remain”. And the two Irelands are being called on by Sinn Fein to come together and develop their own ties with the EU.

Now that 52% of Britons have voted to leave the EU, the response from Brussels has been two-toned.

The EU top bureaucrats are insisting there will be no turning back from the exit vote and no re-negotiations will be held for Britain’s re-entry. Indeed, they are arguing that the British exit be speeded-up to avoid prolonged uncertainty.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel is urging restraint, while calling on the remaining 27 EU member-states to find ways to convince Europeans that the EU really benefits them.

It is already clear that the Brexit will both fragment the UK and open the way for more Euro-skeptic forces across Europe to further channel their anti-immigration crusades into demands for similar exit referenda across the continent.

Just like President Obama’s effort to save millions of Latino immigrant parents of US citizens from possible arrest and deportation was defeated by a tie among the eight US Supreme Court Justices last Wednesday, the Brexit vote was also a favorable outcome for the anti-immigration UK Independent Party (UKIP), which declared July 23 as ‘Independence Day’.

The far-right anti immigration forces in the UK, Germany, Greece, France and other EU states will definitely push to translate their recent poll victories into more political power in Europe. The net result will be stronger anti-immigration policies that will affect immigration in, across and to Europe, at all levels.

With the anti-immigrant lobby successfully convincing more Europeans that their home grown problems are caused by immigrants and refugees, the expected restrictions will affect all genuine immigrants seeking to enter Europe.

Over 150,000 European immigrants in Britain are now more uncertain about their future after the eventual Brexit. Whether they are sent packing or kept without British benefits, whatever decisions will have implications not only for European migrants to Britain, but also for African, Asian, Australian, Caribbean, Latin American, Pacific and other migrants across the world still with minds on accessing a Europe possibly on the brink of collapse.

Britain is sitting on a tectonic plate. PM Cameron’s exit now opens the way for the likes of Johnson and others from the Tory Brexit camp to replace him. That could likely lead to new alliances between Tory and UKIP anti-immigrant forces to enact new policies to reduce, halt and eventually almost eliminate migration to Britain and Europe.

The implications are dreadful for the millions of immigrants already in Europe and lined-up in Arab, Asian and African nations, seeking greener pastures or fleeing wars and inhuman conditions created by EU and other US-led Western incursions in the lands from which they fled.

But the day after the Brexit vote was like a Black Friday for those Caribbean immigrants in Britain who may not have had secure immigration status before Thursday.

CARICOM and OECS nations all have reason to be individually and collectively concerned about how the exit will affect Caribbean people in Britain.

Saint Lucia and its other OECS and CARICOM partners now have to urgently consider the implications for not only Caribbean nationals in Britain, but also how the current anti-immigration trends across Europe can further affect the region — if they persist, as expected.