Workers' Fight workplace bulletin editorials - 16 October 2019

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Workers' Fight workplace bulletin editorials
16 October 2019

After over 3 years of Brexit pantomime, the royal pageant organised by Johnson on Monday to launch his campaign for the impending general election, marked a sort of climax in the absurd world of British politics.
    Indeed, whatever Johnson may have claimed, there was no need whatsoever - not even according to the Commons' antiquated rules - for this parliamentary session to have been ended now.  After all, MPs will soon face a general election - which will require a new session to be opened, anyway.  And everyone knows that Johnson doesn't have a chance in hell of passing any of the legislation included in his Queen's Speech before the general election, for lack of a working majority.
    In other words, the only reason for this Monday's ridiculous “ceremonial” was to provide Johnson and his party with an opportunity for an electoral stunt, all expenses paid by the taxpayers!

We won't let them turn the clock back!
                                
Not that Johnson and his clique of Brexiteers really believe in this royal paraphernalia, of course!  Not any more than they believe, for instance, that migrant workers are a "burden" on the economy.  No, if they keep hailing the monarchy and pointing the finger of blame at immigrants, it's because, in their total contempt for the electorate, they are convinced that repeating lies again and again will turn them into truths and bring them the votes they need!
    However, there's some logic in Johnson's belief that this parasitic monarchy, with its uniforms and ceremony, going back centuries, can provide him with a way of promoting the "bright future" which, he claims, is awaiting Britain after Brexit.
    Indeed, how else can he give Brexit some sort of legitimacy?  At a time when every important scientific advance has long been the result of researchers cooperating across - and despite - national borders, the Brexit champions have nothing to offer, but to raise more borders around us and prevent this cooperation.  Too bad, for instance, if this means that the discovery of new cures for disease is compromised and patients die as a result!
    In fact, they do not care at all and they are already proving it, even before Brexit happens: there is not one week these days, without another foreign scientist or medical specialist of some kind, being threatened with expulsion as part as Priti Patel's version of May's old "hostile environment".
    So, this is the "bright future" Johnson has to offer: a future in which the clock of history is turned back, with national borders being raised to increase national divisions, ageing monarchs being paraded as symbols of "national unity" and the ability for mankind to pool together its resources on a worldwide scale being curtailed.  Why on earth should workers want such a non-future?

Shaping our future

No-one knows what the coming two weeks - until the 31st October deadline - have in store.  Will Johnson try another of his filibustering tricks in order to by-pass MPs and declare Brexit, regardless of the consequences?  And if so, will he get away with it? Or will Brexit be postponed again?  At this moment, no-one can be sure.  The only certainty we have, is that whatever course of action he takes, Johnson is aiming to boost his score in the coming general election.  For him, once again, just as during the 2016 referendum campaign, Brexit is a means to an end, not an end in itself - to promote his own career!
    For workers, there is, however, another certainty.  This time round, the big car manufacturers (BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota, and Ford) have announced temporary closures and lay-offs, around the 31st October.  Some are still using Brexit to justify these measures.  But others, like Ford, seem to think that there's no longer any point in pretending that it has anything to do with Brexit.
    Of course, this is nothing new.  It's long been obvious that the car giants are trying to take advantage of the opportunity offered by Brexit in order to reorganise their production, both in Britain and on a European scale.
    It is obvious too, that for all the Brexiteer politicians' hot air and their pledges to stand up for "British jobs", they won't stand up for the jobs which will come under attack here, under cover of Brexit.  Not any more than they will stand up for the jobs which will be under threat in the rest of Europe.  Of course not.  Because they won't do anything that might harm the profits of the big companies.
    All parties will soon be telling us that our future depends on the way we vote in the coming general election.  But this will be another lie.  On the contrary, the future of the working class will depend on how determined we are to use our collective strength in order to stop the new attacks which are already being prepared by the bosses and their politicians.  Our future will not be shaped by the ballot box.  It will be shaped by our struggles!