Them and us fishes, image by Suzanne Beishon

Them and us fishes, image by Suzanne Beishon   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Battle of the Thames

Anti-worker racist millionaire Brexiteer Nigel Farage and anti-worker tax-dodging millionaire Remainer Bob Geldof had a water fight on the Thames on 15 June.

The capitalist media has done its best to make the EU debate into ‘Them & Them’ rather than ‘Them & Us’. The repulsive character of both official campaigns, and total lack of a working class voice, has angered millions.

Ukip leader Farage – net worth £146 million – was leading a flotilla of trawlers protesting against EU fishing policy. But when he sat on the EU’s fisheries committee, he attended only one out of 42 meetings. And the flagship was previously involved in the UK’s largest ever fishing fraud, over £2 million of undeclared catches.

‘Band Aid’ hypocrite Geldof – net worth £102 million – is a so-called ‘non-dom’ and can avoid income and capital gains tax. His self-satisfied counter-protest encircled Farage with dinghies. Hose play ensued.

But austerity and privatisation are not fun summer water games for workers. They mean low pay, unemployment, no services, wrecked communities. And the EU is a millionaires’ and billionaires’ project, constitutionally committed to all that.

Most of the establishment backed Remain. They recognised Farage’s posturing as a mistake for most of the super-rich. The Socialist backs Leave. But we have been clear that workers should not join either capitalist camp, but navigate an independent route.

Whatever the outcome of the referendum, the battle is on to sink the bosses’ raft of cuts and sell-offs. Workers are all in the same boat.