Time to Cancel Referendum on Brexit
Brexit: Is it time to cancel the Brexit referendum, following the recent debacles that have demonstrated that misinformation is the order of the day?
Stronger In Not Brexit Argues Tahir Ashraf
During the last three weeks, the world has witnessed the death of the greatest boxer the world has ever known. He happened to be African American and chose his religion as Islam and made it known to the world. Contrary to the current bastardisation of the word Islam, Mohammad Ali championed Islam in every sense of the word. Mohammad Ali stood against the politics of fear perpetrated by the likes of Donald Trump.
In 1966, two years after winning the heavyweight title, Ali refused to be conscripted into the U.S. military. He cited his Islamic religious beliefs and opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War.
Of course, that he was arrested, found guilty of draft evasion charges. Not to mention the fact that he was stripped of his boxing titles. Mohammad Ali successfully appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and had his convictions for failing overturned in 1971. In 1971, Mohammad Ali had not fought for almost four years and had felt that he had lost his peak period at the top of his game. Ali was undoubtedly a rightful conscientious objector to the war.
Brexit and the Politics of Fear
Mohammad Ali was also against the politics of fear that led to murder of MP Jo Cox. One might be forgiven for describing Jo’s murderer as a terrorist. The terrorist murderer, Thomas Mair, cited words to the effect of ‘Britain First’ when he murdered Jo Cox. Britain First, claims to be a political group whose ideology is: ‘to campaign primarily against immigration, multiculturalism and what it sees as the Islamisation of the United Kingdom’.
Evidently the politics of fear have taken such a stronghold on the United Kingdom that, as Jo Cox’s husband put it, mainstream politicians are ‘clueless on migration debate’. Jo Cox, was pro multiculturalism. Jo Cox stood for and believed in human beings regardless of the colour of their skin.
Nigel and the Hitler-esque Brexit Poster
Despite it becoming apparent that Jo Cox’s murder was nothing short of a terrorist on British soil, fuelled by the politics of division and fear, Nigel Farage’s Brexit poster (which he has remarkably stood by), shows a scene of people of colour suggesting that coloured people are trying to get into the UK. Thankfully, social media has outed this neo-nazism and demonstrated that the poster mirrors Hitler’s campaign of fear and hatred against our Jewish brethren. That hatred led to WWII.
Let us not forget WWII. Let us not forget that British lawyers assisted in drafting the 1951 Convention. It was then in 1998 that we enacted the Human Rights Act, which came into force a couple of years later. Let us not forget that the racist and nationalist colours of proponents of Leave are becoming clearer. Boris Johnson’s Brexit comment regarding President Obama’s Kenyan heritage at a time when President Obama stresses that Britain is stronger and better as a member of the EU, are nothing short of abhorrent racial attacks and slurs, the like of which fan the flames of ideologies based on false premises and misinformation.
The Brexit Confusion
One thing is certain. The brexit and immigration debate has provided the public a great deal of misinformation and highlighted that the politicians will manipulate information to tell a headline instead of presenting true facts.
It has become clear that contrary to pro brexit campaign’s claim Britain in fact is a net beneficiary of EU funds. Despite that, the staunch brexiteers cling on to the illusion of power, as indeed did Pharoah before his drowning.
Instead of feeding us as the public a brexit diet of confusion, followed by dessert laced with the politics of division, I call upon the political elites, to give think about all the positive contributions that the migrant community has made to the United Kingdom. I ask the question that, as unlikely as it may seem, is it time to cancel the referendum on Brexit?