But it was the English brand of nationalism that was always in power and in the driving seat. English Nationalism has always been far-right and it is their ideals that would have always been prioritised. They have and will continue to be so.
But it was the English brand of nationalism that was always in power and in the driving seat. English Nationalism has always been far-right and it is their ideals that would have always been prioritised. They have and will continue to be so.
As the Brexit saga is entering its 4th year, we’d be foolish to think it would simply end on the 31st Jan 2020.
There is this whole question of what kind of trade relationship we would have with the EU. Many EU nations will still demand access to UK fishing waters, which is still a particularly sensitive issue in the UK. The UK owned island off the coast of Spain, Gibraltar (Jabr al Tariq in Arabic as it is named as the Muslim conquer of Andalusia), will continue to be a controversial issues of sovereignty among countless number of issues that will impact our standards and industries here in the UK.
However, beneath all the populist flag waving and the equal amount of Remainer outrage, the UK has undergone a corrosive series of events since the 2016 referendum result itself.
23 multinational or UK based companies have either collapsed or are moving their businesses aboard. A few of them have even been staunch advocates for Brexit itself!
Since September 2019 alone, it is estimated that at least 420,348Â jobs have been lost nationally. That equates to a loss of ÂŁ12,054,319,596 income money that may be spent on other businesses and services that people use in the UK. Part of that sum will account for a loss of ÂŁ3,610,314,326 by way of tax revenue for public services.
 What is not accounted in this figure is the impact on small businesses, which made up of 52% of the UK private sector in 2019, so the true economic impact is likely to be much bigger.
 No matter which way you look at it, Brexit has been an economic disaster for the country and will entrench the already inhumane levels of austerity that has been present in the country for a long time.
That is just the economic assessment. The impact on the Union of the UK has been close to snapping at any point for centuries.
The DUP has given up on the Conservatives for neglecting Northern Ireland interests, and is trying to source its relevance in Northern Ireland itself. Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA and a party formed to unite Northern Ireland with the rest of Ireland, has enjoyed electoral success, most notably by kicking out the DUP’s Westminster Leader, Nigel Dodds, out of his Belfast North seat. In Ireland itself, Sinn Fein are rising in the polls from 14% to 20% in the polls over the last 4 months, as it goes into competing in the 2020 Irish General Election. The appetite for a unified Ireland has never been greater.
Then there is the threat of an independent Scotland. The SNP again enjoyed electoral success, gaining 13 seats from all major parties.
Just this week, the Scottish Parliament passed a bill stating there should be a referendum on Scottish independence this year and the appetite for independence has never been higher, despite it appearing to be a losing cause before the Brexit referendum.
The SNP has leveraged Brexit hard for their cause and have done so successfully. They have shown no qualms in now trying to force Scottish independence and may even take dramatic stances if they go on to win a referendum even if it’s only commissioned by the Scottish Parliament itself and therefore non-binding.
Self-Inflicted and not By Accident
Yet it’s not like the Brexiteers were not aware of these dangers. The majority of Brexiteers prioritised Brexit even if it meant serious economic damage to the UK and even losing their own job. They would have even prioritised Brexit even if it meant Scotland and Northern Ireland leaving the UK.
So Brexit is very much an English phenomenon and it has been carried by media outlets who have always been overtly English Nationalist, with all its racism, sexism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, etc. When you speak to Brexiteers of why they have their views, they give you articles published by the Daily Mail, Daily Express, and The Sun.
Many of those fake news articles later apologised, but in much smaller focus than stories originally on their front page of their papers and websites get. It’s no surprise that the UK Press is the least trusted in Europe, but Brexiteers were trained so well to emotionally identify with Brexit, that the vast majority became cognitively dissonant when it comes the evident perils of Brexit itself.
A lot of their propaganda was overtly racist against not just Europeans, but immigrants and Muslims too. These views became more normalised with the likes of Farage, UKIP politicians, and increasing number of Conservative politicians openly expressing the same views.
The Brexit Party was rife with racist, homophobic and Islamophobic candidates, but then so were UKIP and the Conservative party. There was not much between them, only which had more legitimacy in the eyes of the public.
For the same reasons, Prime Minister Boris was not an accident. He has expressed many of the same hateful views of all types of minorities throughout his career and has shown to be immune to a population that either agrees with them or doesn’t regard them as a concern.
This is more than a wake up call. It’s our Trump moment, despite the fact much of the British Establishment and public made little noise about it. These are the same old views of the EDL, BNP before them, and the National Front before them. The same views shared with the KKK, Nazis, and other far-right wing fascist groups. These are classic English Nationalist xenophobic and racist views.
Its no wonder that the likes of Tommy Robinson, Katie Hopkins and Britain First were rallying behind Boris Johnson. He is “one of them” as they stated.
Looking Forward Into 2020
The operandus mondi of these politicians and media is to use not only the EU as a scapegoat for the misfortunes of Britain, but other minorities, especially Muslims and immigrants. This worked spectacularly well and it’s a tactic that will not go away.
It is for this reason Brexit was a danger to every minority in the UK. Not because of the intrinsic economic impacts, but because of the ideology driving it. If Brexit was truly a left-driven ideal, then perhaps the other left-wing ideals such as, distribution of wealth, industrialisation, upholding civil and human rights and multiculturalism would have tempered the above dangers better. Even nationalist parties such as the SNP and Paid Cymru are embracing these left-wing ideals.
But it was the English brand of nationalism that was always in power and in the driving seat. English Nationalism has always been far-right and it is their ideals that would have always been prioritised. They have and will continue to be so.
As a result, it won’t matter if there is increased poverty, collapse of the Pound, or complete break-up for the UK. The same politicians and media will continue to scapegoat the EU, Muslims, and immigrants even if those consequence are a direct result of Brexit itself. English Nationalism will not go away with Brexit, in fact it has brought it into the centre ground and there will be a need for the powers-that-be to invoke it even more to buffer accountability and as opposing nationalisms will fight to bring about their own future.
What this means is that every minority, including Muslims, will be facing a harder future ahead, especially those who are impoverished. And that means we need greater solidarity more than ever, if we are going to survive the incoming storm, regardless of the future of the UK itself.
There is a need for local communities across all differences to come together and protect each other from the dangers of increasing grassroots fascist movements as well as the draconian measures that will be imposed top-down by the state.
From alliance building to public accountability, from educating our masses to civil disobedience, political leaders and public bodies will increasingly stray away from moral pillars to simply conform and we must organise and do all we can to demand that they hold fast to what is just and right.
And for Muslims, that especially includes our masjids, imams, and scholars.
