All language subtitles for Brexitannia.WEB-DL

- United Kingdom?

It's just basically an island
about 26 miles from France.

By water.

But I wouldn't go
in a rowing boat.

And I'd lock your lorry
up if you're coming back.

- I voted to leave
because I read a book once

and it said, it was
about relationships.

And it said early in
a relationship people

sometimes get an
alarm bell ringing

that it's not working out
but they choose to ignore it.

And I saw that happening
with us being in the EU.

And it sounds ridiculous
but it was about a cucumber.

See I read in the paper
much to by amusement

that the EU was saying
cucumbers were no longer,

the curly ones that were
misshaped that wasn't acceptable.

They had to be a
uniform shape and size.

And that was the
beginning for me.

And little by little
I started to notice

that sovereignty and democracy
as I saw it was eroding.

- 2016 was a year that

that will go down in
history as the year

that yet again the British
destroyed the European Union.

2016 was a year

that finally the people
got what they wanted.

And 2016 was a year that
will go down in history

as the biggest democratic
vote the UK's ever undertaken.

- Seems people are
just struggling with

the circumstances that
they are in themselves.

And they just desperately
need somebody to blame.

- Brexit was an acronym
for the words Britain exit

defining the case
before Britain to leave

the European Union, happened
in 2016 in the United Kingdom.

The vote was whether or not
Britain should remain in the EU

and how that would affect the
country and basically Europe.

It does not affect
whether England would be

geographically on the map
as many people would say

we are now out of Europe,
that's just irrelevant.

We'll always be part of Europe

but not part of
the European Union.

- Brexit was one of
very rare opportunities

for people to say what they
wanted to say or actually

it's one of these very
rare opportunities

where they could say fuck
off to the government.

- I didn't think
that we'd leave.

I thought the overall
luck would to be stay.

I was quite confused
a little bit whether

have we made the right decision?

Have we made the wrong decision?

One of those kind of feelings.

Well I was quite surprised
that brexit got the vote.

Very surprised indeed.

- I'm a pissed of Brit.

I'm Abraham Ishmael.

I'm a Muslim and proud.

I'm Boletornian.

I'm from Boletopia.

Where are we?

We're on a precipice
at the moment.

And we can either fall or fly.

- If the remain vote
was Project Fear

then in my opinion a one word

description of those who

voted to leave would
be freedom lovers.

- A terrible shock when
I got up in the morning.

Really through the house
I just sat and cried.

I cried yeah.

- My heart said out.

But my head said
in so I voted in.

- I'm Charlotte, I'm in London

and I voted for brexit
and I support UKIP.

- People essentially want
British money British funds

British work to stay
in Britain for Brits.

And really you can't
complain about that.

- History tells
us that any empire

from the Roman Empire,
the Ottoman Empire,

French Empire, the British
Empire, the Soviet Empire.

If an empire gets
too big it implodes.

And I felt the European
Union is too big

and it is going to implode.

- At this age it takes
a lot to shock me.

It's like where were you when

President Kennedy
was assassinated?

I'll always remember I
was filling the kettle

and it said the vote is in
and I went, my jaw dropped.

And I was so proud
of my fellow voters.

And I thought that will
show the politicians

who think that were a
stupid bunch of shopkeepers

as Hitler said it
that we've got a mind

and will only take so
much and then it's no no.

- Scotland is fucking raging

over the EU referendum results.

You only have to look
at the map of where

the results came from to
see how Scotland voted

versus how other
parts of the UK voted.

And this is a consistent
chain that we're seeing

again and again as the
UK votes collectively

on really quite urgent issues.

- Here we are in Plymouth,
welcome to Plymouth.

And this is an area
which would have voted

which did vote
predominantly for exit.

It's a very easy area to

go out on a right wing
sentiment of vote to push

to the right because it's
economically very vulnerable.

It's very deprived.

There's a lot of people on
zero hour contracts here.

There's a lot of
people who are being

termed now the JAMS,
he just about managing.

They are working
essentially to pay for

food rent and bills
and that's it.

- Whether they're right or
wrong if you asked on the street

if what they think about the
year the state of Britain

most people will say
that it's declining.

So they'd look for a change
whether it's something they know

as a definite or something
it's just a chance.

- Unfortunately I
was unable to vote

in the referendum as I
am under the age of 18.

- I think people are
still shocked about the

result in the end
they didn't expect it.

They thought okay we'll
put our opinions down

and then actually
maybe obviously

the result turned
out to be an exit

and it was quite a shock
so it's going to be

a massive change in
the country I think.

People are mainly
not really decided

obviously what's gonna happen.

We don't know I mean we've
left fair enough but officially

in a couple years time once
everything gets settled down

I think there's going
to be massive changes

where people haven't
really thought about deeply

or haven't been told about
of what actually it means.

- All change as far
as I'm concerned

all change is
really really good.

All change creates
movement, creates new money,

creates new opportunities and
that would be my personality

would be to just shut my
eyes and jump and do it.

- We're just sick
to the back teeth.

The politicians turning around

and saying to us oh
you disagree with us?

We're not getting
her point across.

Oh you don't understand the
issues you've been lied to.

Well no the message
is we do understand.

We're sick of your arrogance

we're sick of your
not listening to us.

And by voting to
get out of Europe

we hoped to get rid
of at least one layer

of these arrogant parasites.

- And everybody thinks about

the world in a way
of how it is now.

And things in the world have
only really been stable.

And we've been lucky
with that in relatively

pretty much just this century
in fact not even that.

And I think everybody's
got very comfortable

with the idea of stability.

And I suppose I had a question
in the back of my mind of

what if the world
becomes unstable?

And in that circumstance

I'd want a government

where they're
accountable to the people

who've voted for them.

And I felt like the
little man has more say

just to their own government

than a central giant
European government

that's almost like a
global conglomerate.

- I mean I got
called uneducated.

I was a no name uneducated
man by a lady in the office.

But everyone's
entitled to their vote.

That's the beauty of the
UK, the British government.

You're entitled to your vote
and you have a right to vote

and it does matter
whichever you vote for

but you've still got
your own opinion.

- I think

remain voters are smarter
then leave voters.

And that makes me a snob fine.

I think the leave
vote was very enticing

because it's simultaneously
rebellious and patriotic.

It tics a fuck load
of boxes for someone

who's driven by
emotion and doesn't

really understand
what's going on.

I think

remain voters,

I think it's harder to come
to a pro remain decision

because it takes more work
it takes more reading.

Very few people have an
emotional connection to the EU

because by definition
it's this large

relatively faceless body because
it's an administrative body

and that's what they like
that's what they are.

- One of the crazy
regulations that the EU

imposed on the sheep industry
is the electronic tally.

And you will see
the sheep behind us.

They have a tag in each ear.

The yellow one is an electronic
chip with an individual ID.

The other tag is exactly
the same without the chip.

Well one tag would have done.

We get problems with fly strike.

The tags fall out.

It's been successful in
a way but one tags fine.

Two tags are so
very unnecessary.

- Over 60% of the fish
caught within the whole

of Europe is caught
within British waters.

So this area this is area seven,

stretches from
the Davis Straight

right round through
to the Isle of Man.

And in that area the UK
can take 12% of the catch.

So if you compare
that with say France

who we share the
English Channel with

and share these waters with

France can take 60% of
the European shares.

So for a long time as fishermen

we felt that we had
a very bad deal.

- Europeans living in the
UK were not allowed to vote

in the referendum on
brexit which is fine.

They're not held there.

They haven't got
British passport.

They just guest coming an
living and going that's fine.

If they were allowed to vote
the result would be different.

If I was allowed to vote

I would vote to
leave.

Funny enough.

- Before we went
into Europe we was

the second richest
country in the world.

Alls we ever do in this country

is give, give, give,
give, give, give, give.

When were in the EU Poland's
economy in factories is fried

and yet we're still given
them like all that money,

millions and millions of pounds.

Every time something
happens in the world Britain

helps out well why should we?

No one ever helps us.

- My parents came from
Ghana and they came

when in the 20's and it
was really really hard.

For them to, they hadn't
didn't have many opportunities

and they worked really
hard and worked the way up.

My mom's a teacher, my dad
works in town planning.

And I can understand their
reasons for voting out

because over the
years they keep saying

how much easier it is for
people who come over here

and go straight
away on benefits.

They come over
here and they don't

all they've got to
do is get pregnant

and they get given a
house whereas people

already in this country
who need it don't get it.

So it was more the would
I say the piss takers?

The ones that take the
mickey out of the system

that's what's fueling my
mum's reason for voting out.

- I wouldn't say that
I'm a particular fan

of the European Union and that

is a neoliberal institution.

It isn't very good at
supporting ordinary

working class people
in their rights.

But it wasn't in it
it wasn't an election

about whether I like it or not.

It was about an election whether
we remain within it or not.

So I voted remain for
a number of reasons

largely because the election
as it ended up being

wasn't an election about whether

we remain or leave
the European Union

but it became an election
about immigration.

- Political correctness
influenced the brexit vote

by making large sections
of the population

who had perfectly reasonable
concerns about immigration

feel as though they
were not even able

to open their mouths
to voice these opinions

for fear of being shouted
down by their contemporaries,

for fear of possibly
even being criminalized

if they express
this on social media

or in any other published form.

And I think you have
what is now really

the silent majority
of the people who

want to say these
things but feel so

restricted by the culture
that we're living in

that they have no way to
express their opinions.

- I think the UK
as an open country

they don't want,
we don't want to

and I'm gonna use it's white
people aren't allowed to be

they're the only people
that can be racist.

Everybody else can
say what to think.

White people aren't allowed
to say what they think

because they're
gonna be a racist.

I think Britain, they
don't want our freedom

and express freedom of
expression of speech.

We can say what we like
within reason obviously.

All of a sudden
there's a lot of Muslim

people coming in who
have different values.

They treat their
women different.

They treat society different
and people are afraid.

They're seeing because these
people do not value life.

They value death.

I don't mean all of them I
just mean those radicals.

People just feel their all
radicals and they're not.

Whenever you're scared
people would worry.

But no we like

personally as a Brit I
like the royal family.

I like the pomp
and circumstance.

I like the uniforms
I like the military.

I just was always
proud to be British

very proud to be British
and it's being eroded away.

The fact that you have
to go to Brussels to ask

can you do stuff.

I'm not

learned up enough
on it to know what

give you a specific but

I just think somebody
needs to be accountable

if something has cocked
up if it goes wrong.

We can vote out if our
government's not working.

We can vote them out and
put somebody else in.

If Brussels cock up
your stuck with them.

- The very next day after
brexit we experienced

the backlash almost
straightaway.

It was the very next
morning driving to school.

Coming up to school
is a busy rush.

The traffic is absolutely awful

and there was somebody behind
me was trying to get passed.

I pulled over onto the side
to help them get passed.

So then he pulled up alongside
me, put his window down

and it was the absolute
most foul abuse.

I thought if I had
stepped out of the car

I thought I would get attacked.

And it was basically
that we voted out

why are you still here
in really awful terms.

But it was the first
time that my daughter

has ever experienced racial
abuse in her 12 years.

And she was
absolutely horrified.

She was shaken to the core.

She didn't sleep for a good two,

three weeks properly afterwards.

She was very very,
she was waking up

at night screaming
having nightmares.

She wasn't sure what
about but she knew

that she was feeling unsafe.

She'd heard things at school.

She had Polish friends,
English friends, Asian friends

and nobody knew what
was going to happen.

And because she had experienced
this the very next day

and a number of
occasions after that she

was absolutely traumatized.

- I think we ended up
leaving voting leave because

there were a lot more people
in the country that live in

different circumstances
than big cities.

Most of the big cities
voted to remain.

But a lot of the people
that live in smaller towns

and out in the country
are really affected by

the recession and
I think they blame

a lot of Europe for everything.

And a lot of them aren't
cosmopolitan as big cities are.

And there is a lot of racism,
and a lot of thinking that

the refugees and migrants
and it's all that

in the press about
them all coming over.

And I think that's why I think

they just didn't
want them to come.

They thought that leaving Europe

would stop it, which isn't true.

- A lot of
assumptions made about

people who voted
to leave as well.

About it being
predominantly a racist

anti-immigration
xenophobic vote.

And I think that's been very
misguided very ill though out.

And motivated by the fear
that's been generated

quite deliberately by those
who wanted us to stay in.

Now the reason why it's almost

it's badly motivated but it's

more importantly it's
incorrect and that's

the important thing really
is it's just plain wrong.

There are not 17 and a half
million racists in Britain.

Just isn't true.

- Everyone's frightened,
afraid of not haven't control

and not many people
coming into the UK.

And it's making
a big difference.

It's hitting the NHS.

It's hitting even just
around here the dentists

and everything we can't get in

because if we can't cope
with the influx of people.

- It's a very small country
with a quite a large population

and the resources are just
being stretched too much.

- It's all about territorial.

It's the same with
animals isn't it?

If a dog is in its
garden another dog

comes into the garden it's
invading its territory.

It's the same kind
of deal I think.

People are a bit afraid of it.

I must admit I'd be afraid of
that meself, being invaded.

- In the Northeast
I'm from a white

working class estate in
the West End of Newcastle.

And everybody that lives there
is still white I would argue.

And after the election I went
and had a pint with my dad

in the working men's club
and had a conversation there.

Nearly all voted to leave.

Why did you vote to leave?

Well because of all the
immigrants coming here

taking our jobs and our houses.

And I said to them well
what immigrant do you know?

I don't know any.

So who do has lost their house

or their job to an immigrant?

Well I don't know anyone.

Right okay so why have
you lost your job?

Well because the
place shut down.

Why did the place shut down?

Because of the recession.

What caused the recession?

Bankers.

Alright so it's bankers
and not migrants

then that's caused this problem.

So I don't think it's
a difficult argument

to have with working
class communities.

- Now let's just say everyone
in the EU out you go.

So that'd be two
million jobs free.

Now the agencies take
a lot of the money.

they pay the minimum
wage and take

a huge amount of
that person's money.

But British people
won't put up with it.

So the agency has a choice.

I go into an agency and I say
let's say in two years time

once that 50, paper 50
or article 50's been done

and I go to an agency and I say

I'm interested in that
job in the window.

And they say okay well it's
only paying the minimum wage.

You say nah I want
eight quid an hour.

Well we can't pay that.

I say okay go and
get a Polish person.

Oh shit you can't
they're not here anymore.

They've all gone back.

- With things like
immigration and influx of

people from Europe they
probably are scared

that their home area where
there isn't many immigrants

will become like London losing

its country's identity
as it were because

let's be honest London
is not an English town.

- London is a bit of a paradox.

London has some
exceedingly wealthy people

living almost right
across the street

from some exceedingly poor.

When I go to London I don't
meet many Londoners anymore.

And that's a big
shame and that's

also another reason
for brexit I think

that people will want
Britain to stay Britain

to stay England they
don't want it to

become an amalgamation
of the rest of Europe

where we are rightly very proud
of the things that are here.

- We're very lucky where we are.

In Northumberland it's
highly unlikely that

there's gonna be a
terrorist attack up here.

But it has got a massive
effect on people.

There was a lady that wouldn't,

she won't get on an
airplane anymore.

So she goes on holiday
she goes on a bus.

- I think it's been
bubbling up for

a long long time
for many years since

the day when I was about 10
or 11 and the 9/11 happened.

- Yeah the refugees are not
all refugees we're seeing that

if they were all refugees
you would have this

I would think you would have
women, children, and men.

You see him them
not so much children

but women and man you
would have equal amounts.

The thought is we've
seen the videos.

It's all males.

I would say in 30 not all but
the vast majority of them.

And they aren't refugees.

What are they?

- They're the part of this,

I think they're a part of
this Isis plan for to get

a strong foothold in Europe
and then enter the UK.

And that's been proven.

- I think growing up
in Northern Ireland

made me realize that

terrorism isn't something that
brown people do exclusively.

That white people are
also capable of terrorism.

I think that's important for the

rest of the world to realize.

It made me understand
how communities

can be completely divided.

And why the state has an
interest in dividing communities.

And how the division
of different groups

of people actually
helps the state

and a way the state
encourages that.

- The important thing
to remember is that

I don't have a political
degree and neither does

millions of people that voted.

It's all about public opinion.

So if you can sway that by
making people feel like they're

benefiting something or
actually making it change

then it doesn't matter
what they vote for

as long as they feel like
they're making a difference.

- Last week there is
a poll taken that said

that 33% of people feel the
brexit is the most important

issue facing government
over the next three years.

57% of people
think it's the NHS.

And that should tell
you something as well

about what using the
NHS to manipulate

people during a
referendum campaign,

what sort of impact
that that would have.

And it's people's
number one concern

and ironically it is probably
not going to be addressed

in the next 10 years
if we continue with

the plan to leave the European
Union because government

somebody won't have time
for any other priority.

- As a young person who
supported UKIP who supports UKIP

and who voted for brexit in
the referendum I feel that

I am not part of the norm
for young people because

I don't listen to everything
that the media tells me.

I've learnt to be skeptical
about what the media says.

That pretty much includes
all aspects of media

whether that be
the Sun newspaper,

The Independent, The
Guardian, Daily Mail.

And I came to the
conclusion that I came to

because I did my own research.

I looked at the UK policies.

I didn't just judged
by what the headlines

were saying about UKIP
because at the end of the day

the media is very
sensationalist and it's designed

to get to build
reactions out of people.

- When you're part of the EU
any countries joining the EU

then you have to to
allow these people in.

So on the pipeline was gonna
be Turkey, Macedonia, Croatia.

I mean so how many
people can you take?

How many jobs is
there in this country?

How is the benefits
and stuff like that?

Are they taking our benefits?

Are they taking our jobs?

- If they're born in
Britain and be of British

parent parentage yes they've
got a right to be here.

They've got a right
to claim benefits.

But they also should
have a right to the jobs.

Now they can't have the
jobs if other people

from other other countries
have taken them jobs.

So basically that's the only way

the open borders
actually have any

ruling on who gets jobs.

Because if you got
a load of foreigners

coming in the country
and taking all the jobs

no job is left for the British.

Where does it leave
the British people?

- So I have friends that

have been out of
work for some time

or were out of
work for some time.

And they'd always refused
to work in a factory

or a sandwich packing
plant or in a field

because they feel like
it's the last type

because there's nowhere
to go from that.

You can't go up and you
can't gain qualifications

or you might not
find a better place.

So they actively
remain unemployed

in search of something better.

And then I have Eastern
European friends

which has taken these
jobs and then going back

to my first friends they said
that they can't get a job

because that job in the
field or a packing plant

might have been taken
by an Eastern European.

- It'd be great to give
everybody a job wouldn't it?

Give them self self worth to be

able to make their own money?

Maybe that's what
they think about

when they think about
coming to England.

Which is a dream isn't it hope?

What kept them people
alive on those boats

that come across the channel
in grease dying in the sea?

That bitter hope.

And let's give it to them
if that's what they want.

You couldn't deny that
to anyone could you?

- When you say there
aren't any jobs anymore

It's not a matter of
there aren't any jobs.

There isn't any pay.

And the reason there
isn't any pay is because

the greed of the upper
echelons, the elite.

The elite want to
make more and more

and more and more
money and the only way,

normally nine times out of
10 if you go back in history

and study this you'll find
that in nine cases out of 10

the only way this
is ever solved is

by a catastrophic world war.

- I feel like there is still
a lot of hope in the world

because everyday people are
able to connect with each other

in profound meaningful
ways that before

we're only the preserve of the
elite and major corporations.

Like now we can all network.

And myself as an
artist, as a poet

I can find people
all over the world

and I can connect with
them and I can have

places to work and perform and
there is a wonderful freedom

that I have that my
ancestors never had.

And I feel incredibly
lucky to be alive now

as a lesbian female Northern
Irish person from a rural area.

Before there would
be no possibility

of being able to exercise
freedom within any of those roles.

So I actually feel really
lucky to be alive right now

as opposed to any
other any other time.

I guess maybe if you were like

a white heterosexual English man

this is maybe like a
scary time to be alive

because other people
are doing things

and that might be
threatening for them.

But for me like it's
great to be live now.

And I feel like all
this fear mongering

is just a way to try
and encourage people

to buy more stuff
that they don't need.

- Are we clear?

We're clear?

Donald Trump is the President
of the United States.

Donald Trump is the President
of the United States.

- The reason I think it
seems that it is white

straight possibly
also working class men

who are critical of
identity politics

or political
correctness is because

they are the one identity
group that is not

held to be necessary
of any assistance.

They're not viewed as
disadvantaged and in fact

they're quite commonly
deemed to be the oppressor.

And I think if you are
with relation to brexit

if you look at what's
happened in America

I think this plays
a massive part

in explaining what's going on.

White working class male people

have started playing the
identity politics game.

They've realized that
although they may have

very different agendas
as a group they can,

they can they must
work together to

form a coherent identity
because this is how

the other side is
playing the game.

- The world's changed so
much since my youth even.

People used to be
proud to be British.

They fought world
wars to be British.

We had an empire that more
or less ruled the world.

Now there's no empire.

There's no jobs.

We're no longer a strong nation.

So I can't say in the future

what the future holds
for the country.

- What unites people in
Britain my experience is that

everybody wants
Britain to be back

to being mighty to
being great again.

And I think we've had
like the last 10, 11 years

we've just kind of come
out of a recession.

It's been really hard.

Granted a lot of people
have been hit hard.

In fact I don't really
think other than

the ultimate uber rich I
don't think there's anybody

that hasn't sort of had a
knock in the last 10 years.

And I think that's great
that we're all united

and want in the the nation
to be awesome again.

And I think what
divides people is how

we're going to be awesome again.

- There was a little bit
inside me that thought

what if I'm wrong but my heart
told me we've got to get out.

We can manage we're
not a stupid nation.

We're a brave race
of people and we can

think for ourselves
and by God we will.

- I mean Britain was the
biggest country in the world.

They dominated the world.

Yeah I guess it's coming
back to haunt us now

because obviously we
probably raped and pillaged

most countries
all over the world

and now they want a
bit, a piece of us back.

But that's not the point.

The point is is that we're
still this little country

in the middle of the
whatever the Atlantic Ocean

and we deserve to
be this great nation

that why we're
called Great Britain

because we are
this great nation.

And we don't want to
give it up so easily.

- Whoever had the biggest army

that's who decided
who owned the land.

Invaders were a
country of conquerors.

I think we've been
invaded I don't know

how many times but were
a country of conquerors.

It was might who decided
who owns this land.

- I suspect hundreds and
hundreds of years ago when

the Percy family
took over the parish

around here which is a fairly
big parish they stole it.

They murdered and thieved
and stole it simple as that.

I'm not too sure that it'll
happen again but it may.

It may be a peasant
uprising.

- But what I'd like to say
about what Gary said before

about when we used
to rule the world

what people like me and
Gary should remember is

in them days the working class

didn't get a slice
of that either.

We were still
treated as badly as

we will be if we
rule the world again.

- Me I think class is relevant.

I don't think we
can all be the same.

Or we'd finish up like
like China for instance.

Communism, all one
level, everybody the same

and socialism and I don't
think that would work.

You need someone with brains
I should think at the top.

- The gap between the
rich and the poor now

is the greatest that's
ever been in history.

Now you don't need to do
anything to make money.

If you inherit money you
will actually make more money

by doing nothing then
you will by working.

I think the long term
future of Northern Ireland

lies with the
Republic as opposed to

a part of the United Kingdom.

That's obviously gonna be a very

another sort of minefield
whenever that happens but

I think no, I think Britain,

I've never thought Britain
was a great country.

I think it's been throughout
its history been an aggressor.

I think now it's

smaller and weaker
than it ever has been.

And I look forward to
Scotland leaving them.

I look forward to Northern
Ireland leaving it.

And once that does
happen my attitude

would be to hell with Britain.

- You're proud,
proud to be British.

Everyone looks at the British

and how would they
solve this problem?

It's about passion
we've got a lot

of passion in the
UK and Britain.

And everything we do
we do full hearted.

- I'm a Patriot
because I grew up

loving and respecting
my country.

I love the Queen.

I love our culture.

I love our location.

And it's the place where
I've lived since I was born.

I've always loved that.

- I don't believe the country's
influenced me in my life

possibly just from me
own, took me own life

in me own hands and
made me own destiny.

- And problems are always
things like national identity

Those are the problems.

Governments are the
problems because they're

the only ones who are
pushing this concept

of a national identity.

I mean you're
working class might.

People working might
say yeah this is what

it means to be British, this
is what it means to be British.

It's just like you're
just trying to grab on

to a collective identity
because you're fucking alone.

Because you're busy all the
time you've got nothing.

There's no hope it's
just constant revolving

work, work, work,
family blah blah blah.

Kind of irresponsible
to be honest.

- In Britain we feel
like we're better

I suppose that's what
it's always been.

I consider myself
to be European.

I consider myself to be part
of the continent of Europe.

Not many people share this view.

I don't know why people
are proud to be British.

You cannot be proud of
something that you haven't done.

- I personally struggle with
ideas of national identity.

I'm from Wales but I wouldn't
necessarily say that I'm Welsh

because when you say
either English, Welsh,

Scottish, Irish,
whatever there's

a lot of imagery that's
codified into that.

As I like to say in a
bit of a jokey fashion

I don't care about rugby so
clearly I'm not all that Welsh.

- I'm a like many Welsh
Welshman a rugby fan

and the song that symbolizes
I think my favorite rugby team

the team which is known
throughout the world as having

beaten the All Blacks namely
The Llanelli Scarlets.

And they're known as
The Boys of Sospan.

And there is a song
which is known as

and it goes like this.

- England's my home country.

If you go to any other
foreign country you'll see

their flags flying all the time.

Now in England you're a racist
if you fly you're own flag.

- I think English
is, and I'm not,

English is that color.

British can be any
color you want.

- You cannot say that.

I have nothing to do
with that last statement.

- To feel unwelcome here
after giving so much

to being here, being part of it

feeling it's a part of me,
because that's the main

because I feel I belong I
feel like I'm part of it.

Then all of a sudden
to have that taken

away from you is a
feeling of not belonging

not having a place
of being alienated.

It's marginalizing a
huge amount of people

that are all of a
sudden saying that

you aren't actually
supposed to be here.

Where are we supposed to be?

Simply because of
our ancestry that

all of a sudden we don't belong.

Simply because of
the color of our skin

that all of a sudden we don't
belong it doesn't make sense.

Women, specifically women,
specifically Muslim women

who wear the hijab who wear
the niqab who wear the burkas

they've been targeted
as vulnerable people.

And as a Muslim woman sometimes

I wear hijab sometimes I
don't and for my children

for my daughters I
have two daughters.

I feel desperately unsafe,

desperately unhappy.

- I think we've
always had a problem

of racism in this
society but I think

because of the press and
the way that politicians

talked about issues
of race and migration

during the election campaign
it began to legitimize

public racism on a scale that
we haven't seen for a while.

So you can't deny it
because we've seen a massive

increase in hate crimes
since the election results.

So it's obviously
done something.

I don't think it's
that we suddenly just

become more racist think
it's always been there

but people now have
a legitimate reason

to behave and talk the
way that they probably

previously felt
was unacceptable.

- Until perhaps
even five years ago

it was very easy to
see very distinct

and concrete comparisons
between the industrial

Northern England and the
Central Belt of Scotland.

They had very similar cultures

and cultures suffering from the
decline of industrialization

cultures borderline decimated
by conservative policy

that ruined job prospects and
income for so many people.

However there is now in 2016 one

crucial difference
between those two areas.

In 2014 in Scotland
citizens went through

a huge constitutional debate
for the independence referendum

and during that
time we were pushed

and we found ourselves hosting

the most incredible
discussions about politics.

So instead of saying
what party you voted for

or what politician will
you support this time?

We were asking questions like
what currency should we have?

What rules makes a society just?

We were starting
from the bottom up

and as a result I think Scotland

although the vote
didn't turn out the way

I'd hoped it would and had a
political makeover if you like

whereby citizens became engaged
on an unprecedented level

and I would argue we've got
one of the most sophisticated

and clued in electorate
that's going at the moment.

- I live in a mining,
or should I say

an ex-mining town in County
Durham, place called Horden.

Used to be the biggest,

used to have the biggest
coal mine in Europe.

- The industries of
Elham it was base around

the steelworks so the
area where we are now

would have once
been the steelworks.

It closed down I think
60's or 70's maybe

and now this is an
industrial estate

and there's lots of different
industries here now.

Obviously you can see
there's containers.

The building Port of Salford
just down the road so

that's going to bring a lot of

new industry and new work here

with shipping containers
that sort of thing.

In the past there
was margarine works,

dye works, salt
works, match works

but most of that's gone
now and it's kind of like

more like head offices
and things like that.

- The Tory government
actually closed

the coal mines, they
close to shipyards.

They've just gotten rid
of the steel industry.

So basically there's
no heavy industries.

Britain was always run
on heavy industries

and that's why it was
so self sufficient.

Other countries
used to rely on us.

Now we rely on other countries.

- You heard a lot talk
about globalization

and it's been going
on for many many years

that the world's got
closer and closer.

And in the beginning
it was great.

We all had cheap products
and we all thought

it is wonderful trainers
have never been so cheap,

and clothes have
never been so cheap.

It's brought inflation down,
it's been a good thing.

Globalization has been a
good thing and well I think

we've got to the point where
now it's starting affect,

it's starting to affect
people on the ground

within the countries
more particularly

probably the
wealthier countries.

The standard of living is
dropping and I think we're seeing,

I think we need
to get to the root

of what problems
we're seeing and

how we're going to deal with it.

- I'd hate to be
leaving school now.

'Cause you can't get a job.

When we left school Gary's
five six years younger than me.

We could just walk into jobs.

Left school, I left school with
no qualifications at fifteen

and straight into an
engineering apprenticeship.

You can't do that now.

You've got to stay in
school till you're 18

then you go to university
get a silly degree.

Don't get me wrong.

I'm not saying everyone
who goes to university

gets a silly degree but there
are silly degrees out there.

And then people's waste
so much of their lives

and then they can't get a job.

- No that's right.

- Not everybody leaves university
these days and gets a job

and not everybody
just falls into luck

just that easily anymore
especially for me.

I think it's been
a bit of a wake up.

I'm the youngest of four
and it's been a wake up call

with me that it's not
just been that easy for me

in the economy that I
came out of university

just to make a
success of meself.

There's not that
many opportunities

and to be quite honest I
would have been better off

not having gone to university
and of studying a vocation.

In my opinion I would
have got a lot further.

- The younger generation
today don't seem to be as

into owning a home as maybe
my parents generation where.

It was the norm
it's what you did.

You bought a house you
got married you had a kid.

I think the younger
generation are kind of

having to accept that
they're gonna have to rent.

People live with the parents
still a lot later these days

which is a bit of
a shame really that

they can't get out on their own

because rent is even
ridiculously high.

People struggle to rent.

And again like there's
no social housing so

if you can't afford to rent
and you can't afford to buy

and there's no council houses
I mean where do you live?

- There's been a lot of cuts
and we've seen it in our jobs.

There's people losing their jobs

and council jobs and
stuff like that but

people's gotta lose their
jobs for the country

to go forward because
they've got to save money

and to be honest that's life.

If you lose your job you've
got to go find another one.

There's work out there.

We go back to the days
when they was saying

there's no work there's no work
but there's always been work

if you want to go find a
job there's a job there.

- Jobs are freedom.

Jobs are also self esteem.

One of the big
problems in this area

and with every area of
unemployment is people who are

emotionally downtrodden.

When you don't have a job
you don't have purpose.

Having purpose I
consider is just

as important as
having an income.

- I visited a hen, an egg
operation in Scotland last year.

And it produces a million
and a quarter eggs a day.

And it was a huge packing
station manned by robots.

Not many people
and very efficient.

So it'll carry on and leave
us old codgers behind.

- As a taxi driver in regards
to to growth of technology

I'm not worried about
a self driving car

otherwise known as
a pilotless car.

People climb into a taxi be it

a hackney carriage or
a private higher car

to drive home with someone
that knows the roads

someone that's
friendly, talkative.

We take home after a night out

vulnerable young
ladies who are drunk.

We ensure they get through
the door that they're safe.

An automated car can't do that.

It's a machine it has no emotion

it doesn't think that extra
mile that a human can think.

While an automated car is
good for delivering parcels

using an arm drop
it outside the door

it fails at being able
to knock on the door

to let you know
the parcel's there.

- I don't believe and
their doom mongering

that we're going to
be replaced by robots

and no one's gonna
have a job anymore.

But maybe this technology can
mean that we can move towards

a society where we only work
three or four days a week.

And people have
more social time.

But that means that wages
are going to have to go up

so people can afford to live
on working four days a week.

And you see some of
those experiments

happening across
Europe you see it in

some of the
Scandinavian countries

people having a citizen's wage.

So I'm not scared of technology.

I think there's some
real benefits to be had

in the uses and
development of technology

so long as it's utilized
to support people

rather than to just make money.

- I think it's so sad
that we're getting rid

of people to give
those jobs to robots.

'Cause in the 50's we
got people over from

the West Indies to do the
jobs that we couldn't.

We couldn't fill
the jobs in the NHS

without these people
being brought over

so to now render their
children unemployed.

I mean what's the future if we
don't give young people jobs?

They need to be working
otherwise they're

just gonna be
rampaging the streets

as some of them are
doing at the moment.

- The robots will do everything.

We'll have robots that
can make the robots.

So then what happens?

People might as well be extinct.

The whole world might as
well just lie down and die.

Give North Korea the
the power and just

let them press the button
and blow the bloody world up.

- I think the right
people are right to think

that we're heading
towards the end.

I think it could
be eminently close.

It could be eminently within
the next couple of decades.

But I could give
you strong evidence

that's biblical evidence that
it could be 300 years away.

But it's not centuries
and centuries away.

There is very good
reason for believing

that we're getting to
that critical mass time.

Call it a biblical prophecy.

I don't want us to be
part of the 10 nations

that are going to rise
out of federal Europe.

By leaving we'll avoid that.

Whether you believe biblical
prophecy or not check it out.

It's been 100% accurate so far.

The future?

No reason to doubt that
it won't come to pass.

But until these
circumstances fall into place

nothing is gonna happen.

- I don't think the
country will ever

come back to its
former glories because

especially in the area
where I live because

there's not enough investment
there's not enough facilities.

There's basically just nothing.

- You've got one
third of the country

people in the country live in
the Southeast of the country.

And that's where everything,

all the work and
everything is towards.

Brexit doesn't matter 'cause
we've got nothing anyhow.

- When you've lost
Democratic control

you can blame it on the experts.

But it's not the experts who
created the policies that's

basically the business world
and the corporate sector.

What's happening is
opposition to policies.

The policies are imposed
by self appointed experts.

So opposition to the
policies may take the form

of opposition to expertise
but that's not what it is.

In a democratic society not
everybody becomes an expert.

- One feature
of our current condition

is that we have on
the one hand managed

to generate truly
extraordinary complexities,

complexities that demand
multiple systems of knowledge.

In all of that also lie
extraordinary capacities

to generate brutalities
that are simple.

- Neoliberalism is the ideal

hegemonic ideology
of globalization.

It's basically saying
we must liberalize

all markets, make
them open markets.

We must commodify everything.

That means make them all
subject to market forces

and market prices
turning the commons

into part of the market society

and most importantly
privatize everything.

So privatize the health service.

Privatize your education system.

Privatize the occupational life.

Privatize all public services.

And that agenda means
they also are very hostile

to all institutions that
stand against the market.

Trades Unions,
collective bargaining,

NGO's, form of institutions,

the education system as
an independent entity.

And they've been dismantling
those and weakening those

systematically for
the past 30 years.

- A new liberalism as a
system worked for some time

but it's now collapsed
and since 2008 effectively

what we've seen is
government's trying

reinstate neoliberalism
through austerity.

But this has failed as well.

We haven't seen a return
to economic growth.

We're continuing to
see wages stagnate.

We're continuing to see
income inequality rise.

And we're continuing
to see people suffer.

I think brexit if anything is

a reaction against
neoliberalism.

Now we don't have anything
to replace it yet.

And I think this is why today
feels so chaotic at the moment

effectively we don't have
a system that will yet

replace neoliberalism
even as we start to see

attempts by the right through
Donald Trump, Theresa May

to assert some sort of
authoritarian post liberal order.

Whether or not this will be
successful is yet to be seen.

- What's wrong with
neoliberal democracy is

first of all that it
undermines democracy.

That's explicit when you
introduce privatization,

marketization and so on
that's taking decisions

away from people
and placing them

in the hands of private power.

That in itself is anti
democratic and it also

turns out to be harmful
to much of the population.

Joseph Stiglitz a Noble
Laureate in Economics

later Chief Economist
for the World Bank

warned against what
he called following

the religion that
markets know best.

They may know best
about the price of shoes

but there's a lot of things
they don't know best about.

And that's been demonstrated

and people are
suffering from it.

Bernie Sanders talked about
a political revolution

but if you look at his policies

they wouldn't have surprised
to Dwight Eisenhower.

Well these are signs
of how far everything

is shifted to the right
during the neoliberal period.

- Let's be honest.

We have newspapers owned
by ex-Soviet spies,

mainstream newspaper in Britain.

We have billionaire plutocrats
dominating our media.

No government in Britain
has won since 1974

without the active support of
Rupert Murdoch, no government.

And Rupert Murdoch backed brexit

and he got his Sun
newspaper and Sky and others

to come out in favor of brexit
peddling many of the lies

that the brexit campaigners
were putting out.

And he won.

He was on the winning side as
always in British politics.

And Rupert Murdoch was asked by

the press why he
supported brexit?

Very revealing answer.

He must be getting old.

His answer was

because when I go to Downing
Street they do as I tell them.

When I go to Brussels
no one takes any notice.

- The shocking thing about
this neoliberal moment

where we see racism on the
rise and so openly expressed

is that I would have
never expected to see

far right politicians given
the platform that they have.

On television we see
Nigel Farage for you UKIP

sitting there on
the same platform as

the bona fide traditional
political parties.

We see all across
Europe the far right

and whether it's
Wilders or Le Pen

having an open platform
to say racist things

and then claim what I'm
saying is the truth,

what I'm saying is I'm honest.

They're saying it isn't
racist to be racist.

By having this huge scapegoating

when capitalism is in
its point of crisis

this project now
needs to find somebody

and we use the word scapegoating

and it might seem like a
cliche but it is so evident

that you cannot
believe it's actually

happening in front of your eyes.

- What does a plastic
bottle water have in common

with a migrant arriving
at the shores of Europe?

Well the water bottle, that
water comes from far away.

Big complex corporate arrangements
were made for us to get

that little bottle of
plastic with water in it.

It's Coca Cola, it's Nestle,
and about 20 other bottlers.

They go in they often
buy or simply grab

a huge piece of land and they
begin to extract the water.

The water was extracted
from a large piece of land

that used to be the land
that produced a livelihood

and good nice fresh vegetables
for small communities

and small growers small farmers.

They have lost their habitats
because we got our water.

Think of the millions
and millions of people

who are expelled
by those processes.

So at our borders we get
our plastic bottle of water

and we get our migrants, we
never see the connection.

- So the question of brexit was

the question of
Britishness in a sense.

And at the same time the
question of foreignness.

What is a foreign, who
is a foreign, and what is

the relationship we have
to have with the foreign?

The idea of brexit was not
that the UK was to leave Europe

but it was the Europe
had to leave the UK.

So it's not about the
UK coming out of Europe

but it's about expelling
Europe from the UK.

Now what is Europe?

Well in the perspective of
brexit as in the perspective of

the majority of the people
that voted for brexit

Europe was this strange hybrid.

Europe was the bureaucratic
elites the fat cats in Brussels.

And at the same time it was
the kind of dirty immigrants.

So it's a strange
combination of this

cosmopolitan extravagant
elitist world

and it's dirty dangerous
criminal underworld.

- We have had two major
migrant subjects, the refugee

and there is an international
law that allows us

to recognize the refugee when
she stands at our borders.

And then we have the immigrant.

the immigrant is
a strong subject.

It's extraordinary actually
when you think about it

how few people become immigrants

given a world with
such unequal chances.

When she appears at our
borders there is national law

which is very messy
law by the way.

But there is law
that recognizes her.

I see in today's epoch
really just the last five

maybe at most in
certain areas 10 years

a third subject who is
invisible to the eye of the law.

And one very sort of brief
and a bit exaggerated

way of putting it
is she's the refugee

of a certain mode of
economic development.

Land grabs, mining,
et cetera et cetera.

In the measures that
countries use to measure

how their economy is
doing when a plantation

when a mine replaces
millions of small holders

of small agricultural people
that reads as a positive.

It shows as GDP
per capita growth.

It does not measure the
fact of these millions

who are expelled who then
reappear at the edges of Europe.

So we are dealing with
a very complex cycle

that connects the destruction
of the environment

which produces a
loss of habitat.

The fact that how we
measure that destruction

of the habitats, we
measure it as a positive.

And the invisibility of
this third emergent subject

that is the subject of our
modernity, this modernity.

- It's often lamented that
there aren't enough jobs.

Of course this is ironic
as in the fact that

there aren't enough jobs
should be a good sign.

As in if jobs are supposed to be

activities that we do to
cater for people's needs.

And needs are of
course these horrible

thing that we have
to get rid of.

We have this
pressing urging need

and what we want to do
is to get rid of it.

Like we are thirsty we drink.

Then the fact that
there aren't enough jobs

means that there aren't enough

unsatisfied needs that
we need to satisfy.

So logically you would
say it is a good thing.

It becomes a bad thing
when not having enough jobs

becomes not having
enough income.

The reason why there aren't
enough jobs has to do with

transformations
in the productive

systems the
increasing automation.

Over the last 100
years there was this

continuous discussion about
the fact that automation

would reduce working
hours in a good way.

It would require us to work
less and less and less.

In fact that has not happened.

We work now more than
we used to work before.

The working year of a medieval
peasant was actually less

full than the working year
of a collar worker today.

- So often times when we
think about automation

we think about big industrial
robots on the assembly line.

But actually the
self driving car

is a better model
for automation today.

The self driving car,
little is 10 years ago

people were
confidently predicting

that it was
basically impossible.

We would never have
a self driving car.

Now obviously
that's not the case.

the important part
about this is that

there are millions of people
working in driving jobs.

Whether it be truck
drivers or delivery drivers

or taxi drivers if you
look at America about 80%

of the states truck driving
is the most popular job.

So this is a huge
huge job sector

which is going to be
impacted by a very

large amount by this
wave of automation.

So I think a lot of
the images of future

that are offered today
oftentimes rely upon the past.

When we look to mainstream
social democratic parties

when we look to trade
unions, when we look to what

a lot of social movements
are offering the idea of

the future that they offer
is simply 1960's capitalism.

It's Keynesian it's the welfare
state and social democracy

but this isn't actually
an image of the future

so much as an image
of a nostalgic past.

I think a lot of the
slogans around making

America great again or returning
the great to Great Britain

a lot of these are highly
racialized slogans which

actually have an image of a
very white sort of country.

And what they want in
fact it's not necessarily

a return to some
previous period of glory

but instead they want
to return to what

they see as being
their white country.

- But I think it's really
important to talk about

the distinctions
amongst whiteness.

Because there's the
white working class

and then there's the
white middle class

and then there's the
elite and the super elite

and each one embodies and holds
a different form of power.

So even though the skin
color may seem the same

they are absolutely situated in

a different part of
the social structure.

And how they relate
to each other

is important to understanding
the dynamics of brexit

because actually you
have the empowered elite

and the middle classes
voting to remain.

And you have the working class

and the abject poor
and even within that

some black working
class voting to leave.

And they feel they want
their sovereignty back.

They want a love of the nation.

They want to reassert their
Britishness, all the things

that actually smooth the
wheels for the political elite.

Because nationalism is
the endgame of capitalism.

It is the structure of the
state that allows the elite

to gain wealth and status
and assert a certain kind

of white privilege over
the white working class.

And there you have
within this heady mixture

you have the black working
class and the migrant groups

as the kind of cog in the wheel

that links the white
working class to the elite.

Because by hating and
despising the migrant

you're not looking at
the people that are truly

oppressing you and
taking away your benefits

and removing your
industrial base

so that you are
no longer employed

and not building any houses
for the working class.

No you're not looking at that.

You're looking at your neighbor
who is black and saying

get out of here which
is what happened.

The moment the
brexit vote happened

a rise of racism
and the verbal abuse

that happened on the
streets was horrendous.

I mean it happened to me.

I was walking down the
street the day after brexit

and an elderly white man
told me to go back home.

This is my home I am
black and British.

So we have a sense
in which the idea

that all white
bodies are the same

is something that we
need to disentangle

because different meanings
can stick to different bodies.

- What I find so
almost harrowing

about the current condition is
how much of it is invisible.

Brexit is partly a cry of help.

It's a cry, there's pain
in the success of brexit.

It represents pain.

And that is the people
who were left behind.

And to put the burden of brexit

on a sort of
mindless nationalism

of those types of workers
and families and cities

that have lost so much ground
because of the financializing,

the corporatizing, and
the internationalizing

of our national economies
that is truly unfair.

More importantly perhaps
that doesn't get us anywhere.