Nationalism and Internationalism in the age of Brexit and Trump Thursday 27 August, 18:30
Speakers: Seema Syeda and Joseph Healy
The threats to internationalism have emerged from many sources of nationalism but two of the most significant have been Brexit in the UK and Trump in the USA. Both have brought about profound change in each state with the growing power of the Far Right and a xenophobic and racist form of nationalism. Each is based on a historical narrative of imperialism, colonialism and conquest. In the US, manifest destiny and the legacy of genocide and slavery and in the UK, the nostalgia for the British Empire and a false historical narrative around the Second World War. The losers in both these states have been BAEM people, the working class and those who contest this form of creeping Fascism. In the case of Brexit this has led to clashes with both Irish and Scottish nationalism and a growing sense that the Union is no longer sustainable and Scotland will become independent and Ireland reunified.
This meeting will address these issues and examine what the impact of nationalism will be on the UK and globally.