It is hard not to feel like we are now living in a changed world. A world where it is again possible to win major political victories by spouting fear, intolerance and nationalism. There is a frightening rise of discourse in many countries that contains echoes of ethnic superiority and xenophobia from a not-so-distant past.
To those politicians today that are lit up with victory, fired up with the power to compel people to your will with fear and anti-immigration sentiment -- stop blaming immigrants for neoliberal policies that relentlessly concentrate wealth at the top while leaving the majority with weakened social programs, poverty, uncertainty and fear.
Do not blame immigrants for your failure to ensure that your citizens are taken care of. Do not blame immigrants for job losses, stagnant minimum wages and crumbling infrastructure. Do not blame immigrants for the fact that your gun laws have no semblance of sanity.
Especially stop blaming immigrants in an attempt to gain power for yourselves.
I am sure it feels much easier to gain power and status by making people believe that those from different backgrounds are the cause of all their woes.
If you really want to make your country "great again" -- then do the hard and needed work of taking care of your people of all colours and backgrounds, striving for equality; take a tough stance against powerful lobbyists; and advocate for the implementation of a more just economic system.
I am sure it feels much easier to gain power and status by making people believe that those from different backgrounds are the cause of all their woes. To call out those imagined wolves at the doorstep that are hell-bent on ruining a precious way of life.
It is much harder to change the rot from within that is caused by entrenched power and influence, deeply rooted in keeping things as they are -- especially if you personally benefit from that rot. But this is where the blame truly lies for the state of our world, whether within the European Union or without.
All that remains are privileged males that have never been interested in fighting for equality, nor fighting for poor, working class people.
Look behind the veil of rhetoric from these far-right politicians and all that remains are privileged males that have never been interested in fighting for equality, nor fighting for poor, working class people. They have never been true champions for the people that they pretend to represent. Instead, they are blatantly and unabashedly interested in amassing their own wealth and power. There is nothing more vile than this form of political leadership.
To those large number of British people who rejected this type of leadership -- to those who fought for a principled debate on the European Union and rejected fear mongering -- stand tall and do not let defeat deflate your fight. More than in a long time, the world needs you to take up space. We need you to take up space loudly, deliberately and assertively for a world that appeals to our better selves. A world that does not allow people to be fooled by the wolves in their midst.
This fight is not over, and in many ways its feels as though it has just begun.
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