How Brexit Snuck Up On Everyone
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2016
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SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:
Robert Ford and Matthew Goodwin, "Revolt on the Right: Explainting Support for the Radical Right in Britain" 2013
www.politicalbookawards.com/as...
Richard Seymour, "UKIP and the Crisis of Britain" Monthly Review Press, NYU Press. (2015)
David Denver, Justin Fisher, Philip Cowley, "British Elections & Parties Review: the 1997 general election" (pg. 98)
books.google.com/books?id=nJa...
The Bruges Group Website:
www.brugesgroup.com/ - Zábava
Funny how whenever an informed, neutral observation is put forward, Brexiters say it is biassed.
7:15 explain how that is unbiased, he made clear he thinks remain was the right thing. no one is neutral
Tagæyan if that was directed at me, i think you should re-read my comment because i didn't actually specify if it was right or wrong just that the nerdwriter clearly had a bias and its stupid to pretend otherwise
Really? who was the whole 'far right movements using nationalism as a fulcrum' aimed at exactly, because I'm not too sure
GaBe141 that's a historically backed-up observation, not an opinion.
+Zhst Im not disagreeing with the statement just who it is aimed at, and the idea that the video is unbiased is bs
Brexit is so stupid.
The EU is stupid.
+JimmyDThing
Good thing the british people finally gave Putin, Rupert Murdoch, Boris Johnson, and Donald trump what they wanted!
The truth is that yes the EU has many problems, but leaving it was the worse option.
The EU is evil as fuck. You can't use a broken corrupt system to fix the same system. It's the same problem with America.
+JimmyDThing *Capitalism and Neoliberalism, which was, btw, initiated by Thatcher and Reagan.
+JimmyDThing you seem to like broad generalisations without any details, context or evidences to support your ideas.
I'm not British, and can appreciate both sides of the argument, but one thing that gets me when Americans comment on the issue is the idea that not wanting Arab immigration to one's country necessarily stems from racism. By virtue of being on the other side of the Atlantic, the Arabs immigrating to the US will largely be educated and wealthy enough to cover the costs of travel and starting a life in a far away country with little social security. By comparison access to Europe is easy due to the geography and a sprawling system of people smugglers, and since the welfare systems are obligated to take care of you it is possible for even an illiterate vagrant to move here and increase his standard of living significantly by sitting on his ass. Should the state not take care of vagrants? Of course, but its ability to do so is predicated upon the vast majority of men and women working and doing their part to prop up the country. This becomes important when you take a look at the statistics and see that both Arab immigrants and their descendents lead heavily in unemployment, social security fraud and practically every other form of crime. There absolutely are exceptions, but these are a minority and represent the people who choose to assimilate into the culture of their adopted home countries. The ones that cause the problems, and the ones that people don't want more of, are the people who segregate themselves in enclaves, make public transport unsafe and are fast eroding the social welfare systems that we have spend hundreds of years fighting for.
Imagine for a second uneducated, gun-happy and religiously conservative hillbillies from the US started flooding into Canada and demanding that the country respect and adapt to their way of life. Do you imagine that they would be thrilled?
Sorry about the wall of text. Tl;Dr: EU ≠ US
Why does this guy not have more likes?
Duma Because he doesn't use paragraphs. Without paragraphs, reading becomes a strain many won't bother with.
+Sanni Epstein I wish that I could, since I know how walls of text put some people off, but my computer is dead atm and my phone won't let me make paragraphs.
You are arguing against immigration of poor people. One way to solve the issue you are talking about would be to create a barrier and keep the Welfare State exclusively for citizens and leave immigrants to take advantage of the labor market and the basic infrastructure of the country, in addition to the democracy and stable environment. In other words you could let immigrants live in a US or UK laissez-faire while maintaining the welfare state to the citizens. You could create a purchasing system and citizenship requirements like a certain level of training and employment for people who want to become citizens. For poor people in countries like Eritrea simply work and earn a low wage in countries such as the US represents a significant improvement in their quality of life. Of course, you will have to remove certain market regulation as the minimum wage, but you could replace it with subsidies for the working poor citizens to supplement their incomes.
Brexit is proof that at least 52% of my fellow countrymen and women have sense and balls.
52% of the voters. Voters who were 72% of the electorate.
diemcim They're the people worth listening to, because they had the power to vote, and they took that power, unlike my disgusting fellow millennials, (62%), who simply couldn't be bothered to even turn up.
So 37.44%.
Nope.
69 percent were eligible to vote,
of which 72 percent voted
of which 52 percent were for exiting
so about 26%
Tanmay Nandanikar Yep.
Great stuff as always!
You are all over the internet aren't you?
Well it's how you gain exposure and new subs/ views
The problem is that there are now more people being left behind than there are benefiting from the status quo. This is just as true in America as it is in Europe and no one is addressing these issues. This is the result of democracy and is very much needed as a wake up call to those in power throughout the EU.
True, but nationalism has never succeeded at fixing those problems, just creating scapegoats.
That is so true always
Hmm, slightly biased but not too bad considering you're so far away
Yes, it was surprisingly well researched for an American.
everything is slightly biased
Slightly is an understatement.
Yes. Because Americans are too uneducated to be informed about current events and history.
Give me a fucking break, get out of here with that idiotic stereotype. It's been overdone to death.
Murr If you actually look at the Brexit videos done by Americans here on youtube by channels that have 100s of thousands of subscribers (and that are generally very thought provoking when it comes to American issues) then you'll know exactly what I mean. Also, there is a reason that stereotype is still well held, because of shit like constantly referring to our union as "England" or even as shown in this video - perpetuating the idea that UKIPs popularity is fuelling racism and xenophobia in the UK rather than vice versa.
While I think Brexit was not a smart move, you've ommited an important motivation for the Leave vote: the EU's increasingly opaque and undermocratic decisionmaking process and poor cooperation between its member states.
Examples are plenty: throwing the people of Greece under the bus for the mistakes of their leaders, the secret TTIP negotiations, which have not been put under any real social debate, or the migrant crisis, made worse by Germany deciding it doesn't want to follow the established rules (which could also use an overhaul) and instead inviting masses of refugees without a real system to receive them in place, causing trouble for themselves and transitional countries.
I see Brexit as a signal that the EU needs to reform itself to become more democratic and cooperative or start crumbling. The Brexiters' anger is partially justified, but in my mind dismantling Europe instead of reforming it will lead to its marginalization in global politics in favor of Russia and China.
I don't know how European safety net for Greece was "throwing people under the bus." TTIP is and will be very complex trade agreement and I understand why it takes so long and why it isn't publicly available- because it's not done, it's not complete, negotiation is ongoing. I don't understand those people who want to read it right now. When it will be completed, it will be publicly available for 6 months to every member state. Only conspiracy nutcases make shit out of it. Refugees crisis was also more complex and troubles were caused by populist goverments of member states who declined negotiate about it. In few countries it was an election year or close to election year and they were earning political points for acting like they can shit on EU. The prime example is from my country. Germany did mistakes and I am sure EU council didn't think it through, but lets not forget populism and right-wing politicians from each country exploiting this issue.
The problem with the way Greece was treated was that the people elected an anti-austerity party and leader, but the EU made austerity a condition of their bail out. Greece were bailed out, but at the cost of what their people wanted and voted for.
The aid received by Greece is money for the Greek government to pay the holders of its debt and not to help the people of Greece. The people of Greece have suffered under austerity for years now, all sorts of benefits were severely cut and the economy is in the trash and will stay there for decades ahead. Even the IMF recognizes that the Greek debt must be dealt with and that the current situation is not sustainable for much longer. So yeah EU threw the people of Greece under the bus. You could argue that the governments of Greece were irresponsible for spending what they did not have and I'll agree, but even then punish generations to come because of some idiots in government is simply unfair, especially when we consider that the crisis in Greece has only been so bad because of the Euro, the common currency, which prevented the Greek government to take certain steps that are available to countries with control over their currencies and that would have relieved the crisis and restarted the recovery. The problem of TTIP, much like the TPP, is that at a time of growing economic inequalities, of concentration of wealth, a growing disbelief in democracy much because of a visible undue influence of some individuals and families on governments, stagnation wages and other issues such as the environmental crisis, the last thing people need now is trade agreements that increase or extend in any way the power and influence of corporations and wealthy individuals. And that's what these deals are about, they extend patents, they give more power to corporations to sue governments over regulations that they understand to be harmful to their profits and so on. It is not conspiracy theory, is not that the world will end or that Mao Zedong will resurrect and take control of the one-world government, it's not that, it's just a wrong step to take. With respect to migrant crises, the EU's error was not providing the necessary assistance to Turkey and other countries nearby which could have taken refugees at a better capacity. There is no single opinion on all things related to the economy among economists and frequently you are talking about trade-offs. And the discipline of economics can not tell a society what kind of economic institutions it should adopt because that depends on your goals, so it is for the average voter to decide the direction.
Greeks have lived beyond their means for decades.
+1marcelo neo liberal economic policies of the elite have never worked in favour of the countries in need. You only have to look at some of the African countries, and more importantly, the Latin countries, to see the devastation caused by neo liberal economics that only favoured western corporations and destroyed local businesses in such countries. IMF implicitly forced austerity measures and opened the countries industries to the free market often insisting in privatisation of government owned industries. The policies have been nothing short of a disaster and now the countries in the EU are getting 1st hand taste.
On a side note, this video fails to mention the increasingly undemocratic nature of the EU. The bureaucrats want to sneak in a political union through the backdoor while the majority people don't want it.
That drone footage was of Ghent, not Bruges ;)
Centralized power OUGHT to be left behind.
Well, historically, the EU has achieved something great. No wars between European nations, which is remarkable for the European continent. But yeah, other than that...
Do you mean the current century? Because the last century (20th century) had some pretty big wars.
Not all democracies fight by proxy. Most prominently, the US does this. Russia (which is known to be communist), the US, and some countries including those within the EU with greater financial and political leverage than their global counterparts tend to fight by proxy. But what he does mean is there haven't been wars, even by proxy, among member nations of the EU. That, I think, is largely true, unless Turkey gets in the EU which changes things.
Yes! We need secesionism, confederacy instead of federations and as much of local, accountable to local population governments as possible! Europe of thousand Liechtensteins!
***** ikr But how do we achieve that? Through political means? Through agorism leading to anarchocapitalim? State wants to have as much centralised power as it can, and it won't give it up easily.
"72% of the population" I think it was 72% of the electorate, not the total population of the UK.
I never knew that 'federalism' is used for this meaning in English. In German it's exactly the opposite - 'federalism' stands for decentralized government.
Actually fear was being used by the remain side.
Nerdwriter is not biased simply because he is reporting on truths that some of you may not want to hear. Not once did he say that leaving the EU was a mistake or a bad decision, only that the reason many people left was due to far right political parties (UKIP) utilizing fear and euroskeptisism to sway the older more conservative generation (also the greatest voter turnout group compared to young people) into voting to leave.
Then you missed all the commentary regarding certain political parties - but you're correct, he left the vote itself out of the picture.
The remain camp did it even more fear mongering yet he did not mention it. That is just bias.
SilentHunterSan It also didn't work. So given the result, it did not warrant mentioning.
Jordan Davies
So you don't think you should mention that the other side used that tactic too?
Jordan Davies Sorry, what? Completely wrong. Whether or not they get what they want, the methods used heavily reflects on those in the party.
All the political maneuvering aside, I really can't find fault with the UK leaving the EU. It sounds like a useless system of bureaucrats. They probably shouldn't focus so much on xenophobia and globalization as the causes of the frustration, but as an American I certainly wouldn't want something like an American Union that I also have to pay taxes to along with the Federal Government.
UK citezens paying 1% of all taxes to EU, more than a half comes back funding science, also gives an advantage in cross-country import/export
In fact, UK citizens will pay more taxes importing/exporting to EU countries if they will go by themselfs
You mean to say UK Citizens MIGHT have to pay more for importing/exporting depending on the trade deals that can be worked out with Europe.
@Canster Meat 1% or 50%. It doesn't matter. That's how it starts. The Federal income tax in the U.S started at 1% and now its top bracket is at 39%, dwarfing state income taxes in comparison.
Party led by a billionaire. Now that's something _I'm_ immediately skeptic of.
Well at least you cannot by a billionaire. Don't kid yourself into thinking that normal politicans are not on the payroll of some billionaire.
SilentHunterSan
You'd kid yourself to think that they are.
Unless you're counting all the weird tax things that going on.
PauLtus B
A few donations here, a few good jobs after political retirement there. Obviously they are not literal on their payroll, but you get what I mean.
SilentHunterSan
"A few good jobs after political retirement there." This is true I think, generally for a bit of an expert on the subjects as far as I know. But that's generally behind their career as far as I know.
Why would certain politicians get paid really?
But generally. What _proof _ do we have.
It probably goes different in different countries.
I'm Dutch and considering tax it's really bad.
Look at David Cameron. He's been on the leave side for quite a while but recently he switched to the remain side. Guess where he's going after he retires.
How does it feel to be wrong about everything.
Correct me if i'm wrong, but saying there were 66% of people in the U.K. showing some form of negative view towards the EU back in 1997 is false. Reason: it assumes that the 14% that wanted to leave the EU were exclusive to the 52% that wanted to reduce it's power. That is incorrect, no? You can't add these percentages up.
14% wanted out, 52% wanted in but reduced power of the EU, the rest didnt care
I was thinking the same. Then I noticed the first six rows add up to 100, so likely people were asked to choose the statement that best reflected their opinion of the EC.
Exiting the EU was the best decision the UK has made in YEARS. Now they need to be philosophically consistent by allowing Ireland it's independence and getting it's ONLY ARMED COPS out of the country that DOESN'T WANT TO BE PART OF THEIR UNION.
Your lack of understanding on the Northern Ireland issue is outstanding. Read a history book (or even better, visit the place)
Hahaha, spoken like a true believer in occupation! Keep that empire goin, my friend. You're right! Anyone who doesn't agree doesn't understand! How could we allow people who want out, out? That's foolish! Then everyone will want out and will have to take care of themselves! THE HORROR!
Too many people have died over an issue you barely understand; there are parts of Belfast where you could still be lynched for the dangerous detritus that foams from your mouth. Luckily far more educated and tactful people have worked for decades for peace in Northern Ireland, without the likes of you incompetently wading in with crass untruths and ungracious ignorance.
Yes, continuing to occupy and lay claim to it has really done a lot to fix it, hasn't it?
The only people who occupy and lay claim are the people of Northern Ireland. The "peace walls" and murals are coming down. They've moved on, why can't you?
quickly becoming my favorite channel. I can't get enough! Great episode!
Loving the format, loving the ambient sounds ,loving the thought and effort put into this channel .
If anything, fear was the argument for staying in the EU.
Some philosophic topics would be great for future videos.
Might I ask as to why your table for the 2001 UK General Election results leaves out the SNP, who in 2001 were the 4th largest party - UKIP being the 4th. I understand you said "in the UK" perhaps meaning nationwide parties, but why then include all other UK member nation parties? Just a point, UKIP were not the 3rd largest party in a UK general election until 2005 when they overtook the SNP.
Brilliant video as always. Thanks for covering an extremely important issue that's currently as close to home as it gets!!
Keep it up and DFTBA (:
"Used it as a fulcrum to lift many times their weight in people"
I like that. Good writing feels good.
I just want to point out that when you're talking about Bruges you're showing drone footage of Ghent. It's a minor thing but it annoyed me either way. Great video as always.
Same here
Maybe it's an easter egg.
If it is then i don't get it tho.
I like how he closed the video out with "Cheers", the most British way of saying goodbye.
Fantastic video, really informative. Keep up the good work!
Where do you get all this info? I remember in your Q & A someone asked you how you get data for all your research and you said that you use the academic database from a friend's college account or something. I'm interested in finding things out on my own like you do, only I'm not interested in doing videos. But if you do happen to read this can you tell me about where and how you get your research material? On pop-culture stuff from movies books and music I just go to wikipedia and topical forums, but for historical, political and factual stuff, what's your go to source?
Also, thanks for your videos. I enjoy your analysis on pop-culture/art a great deal.
Good question, I'm interested too.
College campuses have access to hundreds of databases ranging from all topics. You could try that or you could go to a big library whose computers might have that.
I think you need to be a registered student to have access to the database.
There are no libraries in my country, only bookstores.
the actual government websites (like parliament and .gov) are pretty good, they put up documents on research, policies and statistics - just search for their research and publications section. But be warned, most of them are quite long and detailed and aren't an easy read (but still totally worth it). Also check out academic websites (ukandeu.ac.uk or something like that), although like with many university-led research they may have a pro-remain stance but they do lay down all the facts for you and their myth-busting is very rigorous - especially on their analysis on how certain statistics were calculated. Be on super-sceptical mode when presented with statistics and graphs, at least be sure on how the data was manipulated to support the argument of the paper. Hope this helps and hope you come to your own conclusions.
thanks Anima, that was very helpful!
Thank you for the reminder of how awful Thatcher was.
Yeah, and don't forget sending the SAS to go help train the Khmer Rouge lol. Really a great figure in world history.
The SAS is a British Special Operations division, and the Khmer Rouge were the Communist guerrillas who over threw they U.S. propped up Cambodian government under General Lon Nol. They were responsible for killing around 1/4th of the Cambodian population through failed agrarian reform, murder, torture, and destroying much of the country's infrastructure due to it's focus on an extreme vision where the entire country was to live as an agrarian peasant proletariat.
They emptied out entire cities, including the capital, Phnom Penh, and forced the vast majority of the population to live on communal farms.
In 1979, the Khmer Rouge invaded the newly solidified Vietnam, in the hope to take back the Mekong Delta, while simultaneously invading Laos, and Thailand to recapture the "glory," of the old Khmer Empire (I'm not going to detail that, because I'd have to explain 1,000 year old history, and the intricacies of French Colonialism). As a result, Vietnam declared war on Cambodia, and China, who was allied with Cambodia, invaded Northern Vietnam.
The war ended when Viet forces out maneuvered the Khmer Rouge and set up, what was in essence, a colonial government that would not be replaced until 1991. Following the end of the war, Vietnam showed the world what was happening under the Khmer Rouge's regime for 5 years. Just to make this really clear, the Khmer Rouge was responsible for killing 2 million people, in a country which had 7 million people, in 1970. No one knew that until 1980, because the Khmer Rouge kicked out all foreigners and no news left the country, aside from tides of refugees.
Thatcher and Reagan supported the Khmer Rouge, after 1980, once some scope of the Khmer Rouge's atrocities was widely publicized across the globe. They both decided to help fund or train the Khmer Rouge guerrillas which were still fighting the newly set up People's Republic of Kampuchea, was the morally right thing to do. Their motives were to counter the Vietnamese, because the US had opened up relations with China. The fact remains, both decided to help arm and train the remains of one of the worst dictatorships of the 20th century.
If you want to know more, look up the Cambodian Genocide and the killing fields. Thatcher wasn't great.
Well, more people consider Thatcher to have been good for Britain than those that consider her to have been bad.
Right, and if you have a rabbit, and the rabbit is female, but everyone votes that it is male, it is still female. The majority can still be wrong. A tyranny of the majority, if you will.
SteamPoweredRudeBoy Correct, the majority can be wrong, and you are viewing her successes through your political lens. Most people disagree with your assessment.
Love your stuff truly one of the best CZcamsrs out there so thoughtful and calm on such a big political issue.
I'm glad I found this channel. I've been binging all your videos.
The living standards of Malaysians and Indians and Red Indians were going down due to the influx of British colonies back then. What a bunch of hypocrites. Don't say that you saved us because you took what you wanted and left us below your bar.
I love how people say “This guy’s not impartial” when he was never trying to be, he was reporting what happened and said what he thought.
I remember once listening to a game developer talking about feedback he'd get from players, and one thing he said stuck with me. "People are very good at identifying problems, but they're terrible at identifying solutions". In his case, he was talking about the disconnect between the (very valid) feedback he was getting about the player experience, but the most popular and frequently-suggested solutions were, often, complete bollocks. This was because players had access to only a very small fraction of the information available, and would tend to latch onto the users who suggested solutions which seemed intuitive, given that lack of experience, but in practice would have been unworkable at best and massively detrimental at worst.
I don't know what made me think of that.
Thank you! I love your channel so much and this Brexit thing has been playing on my mind constantly since last Thursday. You have explained so much and more. Thank you
The majority of leave voters saw democracy and sovereignty as their main motivation for voting. That is neither a left or right issue. It was a minority who voted based on immigration. The rise of the far right is not the reason for Brexit. The continuous assault on democracy and sovereignty by the EU is.
Labour strongholds in northern England backed Brexit overwhelmingly.
Are you serious? xD "The rise of the far right is not the reason for Brexit" Of fucking course it is. Look at these UKIP/Front National/AfD nationalist scumbags.
Wait till we end up having to accept EU law and freedom of movement in exchange for being part of the single market, without being able to have a say on where the EU goes. We will be in a worse position.
funny you should say that 66.media.tumblr.com/28bdc111143c00744c32b22066e4e014/tumblr_o99gt6Qv6j1snlgxgo1_500.jpg
17peteclarke Exit polls show that sovereignty was much more important than immigration to Leave voters.
THANK YOU for using the word "reactionary" rather than "right wing radical"
Great video! Very well constructed.
You've outdone yourself in the edit once again. Well done!
why do you use a shot of ghent - belgium at 0:53 when you talk about brugges and brittain? This is pretty misleading for unknowing viewers who probably link this shot to brugges or a UK city...
mistake
Whenever I hear someone talking about "Independence Day" for the UK, I feel nauseous. Now that Euroscepticism is the mainstream, it's the pro-Europeans' turn to be the insurgent movement.
I enjoy your art analysis videos but these political analysis videos are why I subscribe to you. They are exactly what you need to know about politics and that is the history leading up to the event which is sometimes very hard to even find, so thank you so much for doing that work for me.
Great video, Evan. As both a Brit and someone who studies Political History, it's clear that we have had a very uncomfortable relationship with Europe post-WW2. Dating back to the 1950s, when the European Community was set up, we rejected an invitation to join the Common Market, instead believing we could rely on our Empire/Commonwealth, and our alliance with the USA.
The Euro-scepticism in the UK often occurs most when there's social tensions within the country. There is a sense of anti-immigration, both in the sense of a fear of influx of EU citizens into the country, and also hostility towards migrants in areas of the country. And while UKIP is the key to understanding this in the context of modern Britain, this idea dates back to the 1950 and 60s, with the Notting Hill race riots of 1958, and the famous 'Rivers of Blood' speech by politician Enoch Powell in 1968 (a speech that opposed anti-discrimination laws and the influx of migrants from the Commonwealth nations). And the scary part is that many of the arguments stated by Powell are still being discussed today. In fact, in an interview with Sky News, Nigel Farage stated that he agrees with the "basic principles" of Powell's infamous speech.
Don't pretend to be unbiased. You'll pull a muscle.
this has to be the best comment here!
He wasn't pretending to be anything. He's using rationality to form an opinion.
he...he never claimed to be unbiased. essays rarely are, they're usually made to represent one viewpoint and persuade
Agreed, was decend right up until he accused UKIP of being racist and "exploiting" riots for their own advantage...
Betrays a deep leftist bias and all the clouded views that entails.
Except if an essay is clearly biased, it's essentially meaningless and won't persuade anyone.
Didn't sneak up on anyone in the UK
this channel is one of the best on youtube. it is so refreshing to see intelligent and original work in an oversaturated market
Nice work. You do great political analyses on the rare occasions you tackle them such as the one you did on government inefficiency. Even a hard right acquaintance of mine was impressed by that piece.
You should retitle this video to: 'Brexit: how to beat around the bush by mentioning historical facts'.
We succeeded in getting our freedom / democracy back. Im glad the intelligent were the majority.
Jordan this comment aged well.
@@sethsteele9500 yes it did.
Excellent summary. Very intelligent. Keep up the Good Work :-)
Honest, thoughtful, properly incisive content as usual, this time reporting on this topic in a way very few others are. Thank you, as always!
I honestly feel pity for you brother. I really do.
I can't even watch this. I got up on the morning after the vote and felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. I was physically ill for a week and am still having trouble sleeping. I fear being deported from the country where I have lived for 20 years. My house has become worthless because of Brexit. My income is down by nearly 20% and I was pretty marginal as it was. Brexit is just a disaster for so many of us.
Get a grip of yourself. You are not going to be deported. That's a ridiculous idea. Why on earth would your house become worthless because of Brexit? More nonsense. Why would your income fall by 20%? The UK economy has grown strongly since the Brexit vote. Economists have predicted the UK will be the fastest growing major economy in Europe in 2016.
Thank you for taking the time to research and present such a fantastically cogent description of the background to this debate. Especially well done for not trying to 'Americanise' it by framing the discussion as a simile for what's happening in US politics.
0:52 , suddenly I'm like "Oh my God that's my city!?" haha
It's a calamity
It wasn't expected because the conservatives didn't anticipate the full extent of the protest vote because the lives of ordinary people are unimaginable to them.
The 'we need change and any change will do' vote seems silly when it's an irreversible decision but it's coming from people who usually have zero impact on current events.
Ironically enough there is no potential resolution to the perceived threat of immigration until the EU centralises MORE not less. Only then would could it orchestrate a common border control. The root cause of the migrant crisis of the past year and bit has been that each country was pursuing their own immigration policy so as one shuts the door, they just move next door.
The strange part is that quite the opposite of populist rhetoric the EU is a weak superstate . The onus of sovereignty is and always has been with the constituent members. That's why decisions need full agreement of all members and any member can veto. Compare this to the strong superstate of the USA
What's more is the UK had a lot more power than just 'any member'. As one of the largest populations/economies it was at least the 2nd or 3rd most powerful depending on the issue and further had one of the most favourable settlements being inside the single market but outside the eurozone
Very many have been misled and some were wilfully ignorant here.
The implications are dire not merely because the impact is potentially damaging but because the issue is irresolvable.
Leave and the EU is weaker , less able to resolve border issues.
Cut our selves off and we're out the single market to our economic detriment
Stay in the single market and we still have the issue of movement, still trying to respond in our own way inharmoniously with the other countries and brussels.
What was the argument for leaving, anyway? Was it pure border control? Or where there other reasons?
free trade.
Border control, free trade with the world, independence and self rule, love for European nations but hate of the EU political entity.
That it's not democratic: whichever way an EU country votes in its own General Election (and the UK currently has a centre right govt) the centre left European Parliament can (and does) superimpose its laws on member countries. Currently, left-leaning voters are often in favour of the EU but in the future the EU might be right wing and then impose its laws on equally unwilling countries who have elected left wing govts. Not all of the arguments for leaving belonged to closet racists: just most of them. Sadly, the level of pre-vote debate that went on in the UK was pitifully simplistic and the ugliest reasons rose to the top.
beatnix99 it makes perfect sense, being in the EU stifled the UK's want for free trade wit other nations..... hell we voted a little over a week ago and 11 non-EU nations have already come to us asking for trade deal talks now or in the very near future.
Well if they are smart they will wait 6-8 months before doing it, every day that passes strengthens our position in trade talks and weakens theirs........ their economy will stay the same or shrink because of the euro crisis, but every trade offer in the works grows ours.
I love listening to you talk about anything. Talking about my country's politics makes it even better
Fantastic editing and graphic (video?) design!!
I love when you make videos on real life events, just like your old videos. The movie analysis aren't really of my liking.
I think my favorite vid was when he broke down the way Donald Trump speaks.
The Nerdwriter always does a great job at not taking positions in his video's about politics, sexism and offensive jokes etc. Of course this is really difficult with subjects like this and a slight bias is acceptable. A great video nonetheless.
What are you talking about? This incredible bias.
Thanks for this great video. I'm really sad that this happened in my country, but the context here is brilliant and important.
It's not hard to sneak up on someone who is not paying attention.
How does one rationally support an unelected and unaccountable group of bureaucrats who overrule the laws of sovereign countries and deny populations the right to make their own laws/policies and govern themselves? Seriously! Someone give me one freaking argument! Or tell me why Greece is so much better today with 50% youth unemployment and austerity than Greece having their own currency and the ability to regulate their own economy.
Thank God that enough old people who remember fighting tyranny in the past are still around to save the majority of younger people from themselves! I don't always support the views of the older generation, but they certainly know the difference between freedom and tyranny when it smacks them in the face.
I often enjoy Nerdwriter's stuff but this video essay misses the point entirely. The number one reason given in poll after poll for voting to leave the EU was because it is anti-democratic and the lawmakers are not accountable to the people. The people who voted leave had an array of political outlooks, from socialists, liberals and libertarians to conservatives and right wing populists. Rather than being a left versus right issue, it was instead a question of whether or not people see democracy as of primary importance to how we are ruled. To characterise the vote to leave the EU as a victory for nationalistic sentiment stirred up by the far right is simply untrue.
It’s true that a wide variety of people voted to Leave, but it’s also true that the result is a win for the far right, because it’s been a passionate cause for the far right for decades. We’ve also seen in the years since the vote that the version of Brexit we’re pursuing and the one we’ll end up with is the one that best suits the far right, and not liberals or libertarians.
Interesting, as always! Keep up the good work! Though, I'd like to point out that the drone-footage starting from 0:52 is from Ghent, not Bruges. Similar cities, in a way. ;)
Love your video as always. One thing i found a bit weird is before you start talking about Bruges, the camera hovers over the city of Ghent.
I bet this ends up as your most disliked video. I'm not saying it was bad, in fact I found it interesting, but the strong bias you have will turn many people off. When it's art or culture you are sharing with us, your bias is helpful. The fact that you like whatever it is you are sharing with us is great. Even if I don't like the subject of the video, the fact that it's something you enjoy makes the video entertaining. It's funny that the same like (or in this case dislike) of something political can have the opposite effect. At any rate, thanks for the video, always appreciate the effort you put into them.
Your final comment refers to "moving forward" as though it is an uncontested truth that the EU is a forward looking progressive entity, or that leaving it is a backward step. They are essentially trying to make one massive country out of lots of smaller ones, all with different languages and histories, and the intended cement is an undemocratic political structure where the executive, not the assemblies, is at the top. Would you like the USA to be such a thing?
They're "united states", so yeah... You could see the EU as an entity trying to achieve a unity like you have in the US now..
Transformation always moves forward (as that's the only temporal direction we have access to), even when forward isn't the direction you like.
Do you have any tips for writing? You're writing is so good, especially your conclusions.
Also, will you do a meetup in Australia anytime soon?
Snuck up ?? ... I've been waiting for years to get a vote on EU
Others? The ones who are unaware of their surroundings and too ignorant to vote? They deserve what they got.
+T McD you have nothing to support that claim you young ignorant tool. The market will adapt as it should in almost every healthy economy in the world. Deal with your consequences.
As a Remain voter I think it's extremely lazy to try and write-off any and all concerns people have about migration as racism. It's exactly that laziness and close-mindedness that led to Brexit.
nice video man. keep up the good work
How is UKIP racist when they were mainly complaining about Poles, Romanians, and Bulgarians?
The charge of racism is the lazy anti-intellectual retort. The wordsmithing here in this video is excellent, but the analysis is still lazy and ideologically hamstrung. Any nation is in peril that becomes overwhelmed with an influx off poor immigrants who refuse to assimilate. It doesnt matter their race or nation of origin. It is pure economics and sociology. Labeling these economic and sociological factors racism is simply idiotic.
You can't possibly be denying that Nigel Farage is racist? See the several links provided by the other commenter. In this case it really isn't lazy anti-intellectualism, it's an empirical fact - Farage is racist, Farage is the leader of UKIP... wouldn't it then follow that UKIP functions on racism?
As to the rest of Britain being racist. Obviously no. An entire population is hard-pressed to be collectively racist - at the very least they're misinformed and afraid. Those two things in particular seem to be what UKIP were taking advantage of - populist politics, as the video mentioned.
he was simply criticizing EU for not being able to control its borders and take care of refugee crisis. Why would UK want to remain in such a union who cannot solve this big issue?
+writerofbaddreams Those links don't actually prove that Farage was a racist, at all. One involved a separate individual, one was him trying to damage control a colleague's mistake, and one was a poster which a) we only know about because of the outcry b)was the front cover of the Guardian c) drew attention to a pertinent issue eg EU border controls.
*****
If it's adorableness you're after might I recommend acquiring an Andaman pygmy? I can't imagine they have anything better to do than to be forcefully assimilated into our culture at the earliest opportunity, much like the other little brown people of which you speak. Clearly, there is no better place in which to live than the wonderful West, land of entitlement and unchecked superiority complexes - maybe, if they're lucky, the pygmies can learn to be entitled and racist themselves, one day.
Undemocratic or not, being part of the EU at least allowed the UK some say in European matters, and in a global economy you can't ignore cooperation with other states. The Westphalian model is just downright impotent, thinking that shutting out the rest of the world will benefit your nation is misguided.
4:07 For some reason you neglected to mention the Scottish National Party which was actually the fourth largest Party at the time, UKIP was fifth
@Nerdwriter1 Just FYI, the clip you used at 0:52 is of Gent, not Bruges ;)
it's funny how they wanted 'independence' and still have colonial countries...
Name one?
The people of Gibraltar are ethnically and culturally British and have been for hundreds of years.
The people of the Falklands are ethnically and culturally British and have been for a few hundred years.
etc etc etc.
I'll concede if you can point to a single British territory where there isn't overwhelming democratic support for remaining under British sovereignty.
That does not include Northern Ireland or Scotland, those are not colonial countries.
Funny enough, Gibraltar voted 94% in favour of remaining in the EU, so you may end up having to remove Gibraltar from your list if they go the way of Scotland
*****
That's a fair point, though I don't see a tiny place like Gibraltar leaving the union. Maybe they would, and I'd support it totally if they decided to do it democratically (as I would for Falklands etc) but it seems like a dangerous move given the way spain looks upon Gibraltar with greedy eyes...
Whatever though, much love mate.
Go the way of Scotland? What are you talking about.
Frogboxe But they haven't left.
Britain voting out of the EU makes me ashamed to be British.
No change there then.
You are fantastic. Keep up the great work!
The irony is, the disconnect from Europe just amplifies the death of the old Empire. It doesn't help any of the declines, only amplifies it. The age of the old Nation state is long dead. Now nations work more as integrated portions of a larger world, or they don't really work.
Whole lot of snowflakes in comment sections below. Beware
This type of decisions cannot be left to a simple majority result, it requires a qualified one (two thirds). Otherwise you will end up with a deeply divided state like the UK currently is and will remain so for many years to come.
Bollocks.
"dangerous division"? what the fuck does that mean? a majority vote is a majority vote which should be respected by everybody who appreciates democracy!
no it shouldn't 1% more votes for one side is practically nothing.
hans maier A majority is still a majority
Superbly insightful into current events.
Favourite CZcamsr, favourite topic. Great video!!
I'm a hardcore socialist, and even I'm willing to admit the EU is an awful organization that's only *just barely* worth sticking out with. This video comes off as simplistic and dismissive.
Irony: Rich people complaining about being regulated while being responsible for Austerity.
This video is like a politician: It 's says a lot without really saying anything at all.
Do a video about arcade fires funeral, specifically its themes of longing, death and loss, and how it gets people to connect so well
Nationalism is not racism. Nationalism is not evil.
fuck yea brexit was the best decision in a long time
V for Vendetta suddenly pops in my head right next to Children of Men.
both classics
Thank you great analysis.
I hope that Nerdwriter1 reads this:
“It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a ‘dismal science.’ But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.” ― Murray N. Rothbard
I feel sorry for the new generation of Britain .
Why? THe future is full of possibiltys now instead of being stuck in a downward spiral, I'm 24, I voted leave, my life might suck but my children will be thankful.
Yeah I love these new possibilities unlike those old crappy ones like being able to work or study across a continent with ease or receive funding from the EU for art projects, or scientific research, or access to work placements and internships across a continent? I'm really looking forward to all the extra costs and red tape my kids will have deal with when they wan't to live or study abroad.
But as a whole the EU is doing badly right now. It's dollar was/is way on the road to decline. It doesn't have democratically elected heads. Many of the countries in it are just straight-up collapsing. The migrant crisis is treated willy-nilly. etc. Leaving the EU was probably the best decision the UK has made in a time. I'd give up travel opportunities and potential art funds any day for freedom from that. Plus! most international science projects are done with countries outside the EU anyway! The Hadron collider has 2+ non-EU countries maining it's development. Honestly travelling to learn or work is beyond necessity. Look at the US, it's hardly connected in the way the EU is with itself yet is one of the most developmental countries in human history. From a purely objective outsider's view. I honestly don't see the stay's argument.
Its dollar? Whaaaa?...
Sergio Leandro Currency.
Off topic- but what's the background music track to this vid? I really liked it's emotional tone! :)
I love how things he doesn’t like are a move “back”
"Moving Forward" is a leftist term meaning "It furthers my ideology's agenda".