Screenshot:Citizens Assembly on Brexit, Manchester, September 2017.YouTube. Fair Use.
Dear friends of Another Europe Is Possible,
When some time ago Michael Chessum, registering my
skepticism about a second referendum, asked me a very fair next question “So what is DiEM25’s position on Brexit”? – we may not have been as clear
as we are today. So I’m writing in the hope that my answer may be of interest
to you and to those who follow us.
Prior to the Brexit referendum, we campaigned together to Remain in Europe to
change it: a principled, articulate position which brought together the
British Left and progressives throughout Europe, from John McDonnell and
Caroline Lucas to Yanis Varoufakis, yourselves and ourselves.
The outcome of the Brexit
referendum and
the dramatic political developments which followed it, have instead created huge divisions among
progressives, despite having to face in Britain the transformation of
the UK Conservatives into the “Brexit means Brexit” party (a self-serving
delusion presiding over a democracy-free zone process) and in the wider world,
Trump and the rise of the “national international” (a coalition of dangerously
anti-democratic forces).
Strategic disagreements
are natural in the face of a historical strategic defeat like the referendum outcome,
and the tasks of moving forwards under these conditions necessarily much more
uphill. But an empowering democratic debate taking into full consideration not
only the causes of the defeat, but also the opportunities that arise for a new,
and maybe more profound form of political transformation, should bring us
together again.
Screenshot. Citizens Assembly on Brexit, Manchester, September 2017.I must applaud your
decision to transform Another Europe is possible into a member-led democratic
organisation and the timing of your decision. Never before has the task to
democratize every level of British politics been more urgent or the challenge
to create inclusive dialogue around the country more pressing. So I would like
to wish you an excellent launch for this exciting new journey that you are on.
I need also to
congratulate you on your brilliant work to expose the contradictions of
Brexit within the British Left. DiEM25 dedicated every sinew we possessed at
the time of the referendum to campaigning with you against Brexit but you have
been able to transform what was once the fairly complex argument of a vocal
fringe (“stay in Europe to change it” or as Yanis Varoufakis used to put it “in
the EU against this EU”) into a hegemonising message at the 2018 Labour
conference, with the ubiquitous “Love Corbyn, hate Brexit” placards shifting
the internal narrative by a visible margin.
I also have to concede how important it was for
you, Caroline Lucas and many others in the Left to shape from a progressive
standpoint the developing debate on the ‘People’s Vote’, focusing on the
backstage dealing of the government negotiating strategy and on a progressive
critique of what it has so far achieved. You deserve a lot of credit for moving remainers so far on
from the disastrous official remain campaign of 2016.
We all believe that the
deal negotiated by Theresa May is terrible, in method and motive, in the dangers it poses to
workers’ rights, environmental protections, human rights and freedom to move
and for the damage it can produce to our social model. We all agree that we
must work together to exert the maximum pressure towards its defeat, whenever
it finally comes to Parliament.
Screenshot: Citizens Assembly, Manchester, September 2017.But we
need to be equally clear about our disagreement at this critical
juncture of the roller-coaster that is the Brexit process. For us the mode of
delivery of a ‘People’s Vote’ cannot work from a progressive perspective.
Jeremy Corbyn insists
that “a People’s vote is not an option for the present”. We think he is right. To have a meaningful effect
a People’s Vote, that is, any referendum on the deal with an option to remain,
needs to happen well ahead of 29 March 2019, when the article 50 current
deadline is bound to conclude the Brexit saga.
Considering the necessary obligations for
implementing a referendum, allowing for an electoral campaign of at least one
month and before that presumably organising the electoral machine, this should
be announced not later than mid-January for the referendum to be held in mid
March. But before such an announcement can be made, legislation must be passed
both at the House of Commons and at the House of Lords and a referendum bill
not yet drafted must be approved in both houses. Unfortunate as it might be,
with Parliament shut down for Christmas and in the face of a looming
constitutional crisis, is there any possibility that this process could be
completed in less than one month?
Time of course is of the
essence, and not just time to follow the rules which govern our voting system. Democracy is also about
taking the time to take complex decisions without a gun to our heads.
Screenshot: Citizens Assembly, Manchester, September 2017. YouTube. Above all
it is about a meaningful debate, which gives every citizen a chance to gather
all the information they need about all the viable major options currently
available — at least four at the last count. It
requires time for citizens to listen to each other and to persuade each other
if they can. And we should give people that time. We have heard a lot about the
preparations needed for businesses to adapt and for trade deals to occur, but
almost nothing about the time for citizens, leavers and remainers alike to
explore ‘the deal’ and all its possible alternatives. We must allow democracy the time it deserves,
but time is running out very fast for a proper democratic debate, with more
facts and much clearer options. Nor can we trust the government to take the
break from Brexit that we need to stand back together, and choose our common
future carefully.
More than this, a democratic decision concerning
the fundamental constitutional questions raised by Brexit, requires citizens
not only to choose the best answer to the question, but also to shape the
debate by framing the questions themselves or, as political theorist and
democracy activist Stuart White put it, in 2015: “Democratic theory
says that this is a time when ‘We the people’ have a right to settle what
happens precisely because what is at stake is a set of very basic questions
about how we are ruled.”
A People’s Debate,
properly informed and accessible, inclusive and empowering, must precede a
People’s Vote if it is to be a meaningful choice. Neal Lawson and more recently
Gordon Brown, recognising the limits of parliamentary decision-making, have
called for a “unique consultation”, a multi-faceted process of exchange that
“by opening a dialogue across the country and engaging in a constructive,
outward-looking conversation about our future” might help us discover “a road
back to a more cohesive country, reuniting around shared values and
rediscovered common interests” (“To calm the Brexit storm, we must listen to the UK’s views
again”, Financial Times,16 November, also Gordon Brown on Brexit.)
Screenshot: Citizens Assembly, Manchester, September 2017.Without a People’s
debate, a People’s vote is bound to be a rerun of the referendum binary
narrative, hopefully
framed in better terms (but how, while the government is run by Theresa May?),
whose best possible outcome is to impose on a significant minority the 2016
status quo which was already then untenable to a significant majority.
Do we really want to offer the British people the
choice to restore our old EU membership perhaps even including the detrimental
changes that David Cameron negotiated in 2016, in his desperate attempt to win
enough votes in June: a draconian form of “free” movement with strong
limitations on access to welfare and stronger deportation powers for the UK
government? Shouldn’t we be arguing for precisely the opposite line of march so
that we can influence in a positive direction the Europe we want to see?
Without a proper People’s Debate on immigration and all the other key issues, a People’s Vote will never bring about
another Europe.
This is why DiEM25 has
not signed up to a People’s Vote. We at DiEM25 believe instead that the way forward
is to delay and democratise Brexit.
An original version of this article was published on Medium on December 6, 2018.