On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom will go to the ballot box to decide whether to leave or to stay in the European Union. The Brexit, coined by someone who Linda Yang calls the “European version of Trump,” is a referendum vote fueled by nationalistic fervor, fear-mongering and race-baiting. There, as here, debates around Britain’s exit have been “all-encompassing, toxic, and have involved “overweight white men with terrible hair.”
Meanwhile, women’s rights have been shoved to the back-burner once again. But Labour MP Jo Cox’s murder changed all that. The ardent Remain campaigner was shot and killed by a man who allegedly had ties to a far-right organization ardently opposed to the E.U. and immigration as well as white nationalists groups here in the United States.
Many activists worry that with Brexit will come more conservative administrations hostile to equality law.
