I agree with many of the sentiments expressed by Steven and indeed by my good friend Susanne Kord. Progressives have good reason to be concerned by much in EU politics. However, political strategy shouldn't be forgotten. Just two points:
1. Britain cannot possibly become more progressive as a result of this vote - quite the opposite. That is partly because Scotland will almost certainly (try to) leave the UK and re-join the EU, leaving England and Wales (and Northern Ireland, if they too are still part of the Un-United Kingdom) firmly in the hands of the Conservatives for the foreseeable future. While many people apparently used the referendum as an opportunity to cast a protest vote against the horrible effects of austerity in many communities, implemented by those same Conservatives, Labour would face an uphill battle winning those voters back.
2. It's obvious that not all Leave voters were racist (I know several who were not), but there was a substantial number who were, led by not-so-subtle xenophobia among the Leave campaign - and if fewer than 650,000 voters had gone the other way, we would have had the opposite result. It's probably safe to say that at least 650,000 people (3.6% of the Leavers) voted on the basis of xenophobia or racism, so they were a decisive part of the Leave vote. And even if the vote was not entirely due to racism or xenophobia, it has now undoubtedly empowered and emboldened anti-foreigner feeling. See this morning's Guardian article: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/26/racist-incidents-feared-to-be-linked-to-brexit-result-reported-in-england-and-wales
Best,
Dan Wilson
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