Jacek Karnowski: Remarkable response from the British people to manipulation and tricks of the establishment [OPINION]

The British elections were won by Boris Johnson, an expressive, somewhat charismatic politician; not without flaws, sometimes annoying, but still distinctive. He defeated the politician, whose views were very contrasting, though dangerous for the country, because the leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, in fact, proposed a far-reaching social experiment equal to the post-war reforms, including the nationalisation of several fields and huge expenditures on „investments”. It is worth noting here that Corbyn himself looked at Brexit at least favourably, although he did not always talk about it. To him, Brussels is a capitalist chain that prevents the British people from building true socialism.

However, the greatest winner of these elections is democracy, the one expressed in a referendum on membership in the European Union. Yes, from Poland’s point of view, it would be better if the British remained in the EU. Yes, their departure makes us even weaker in relation to Germany. At the same time, however, when one saw what the left-liberal establishment was doing to stop Brexit, there was no doubt that the stakes were actually higher than membership in the Union. They would stop at nothing: neither the campaign to threaten with the consequences of leaving, nor the manipulation of the law, nor - so familiar to us - the use of courts that suddenly re-interpreted centuries-old practices. There was also the mobilisation of the street and strong foreign pressure. Brussels, of course, did not help either, although a small concession would have been enough to break the deadlock in parliament. They wanted to show other countries what the attempt to leave the ‘club’ would end up with.

The scale of Johnson’s victory - and everything indicates that he will win really high - is a strong response from the British people to these manipulations. It is, of course, also due to individual reasons, but its historical meaning is clear: we voted in favour of Brexit, let us make it happen. The Tory leader went to the election with this very slogan: Get Brexit Done.

By mass voting in favour of the Conservative Party, the British people have shown that they take their democracy seriously. This is an important lesson for the whole western world at a time when different kinds of elites - legal, business, and media - are increasingly contemptuous of the will of the people, which is supposed to be the foundation of the system. When the will goes in a direction they do not accept, they unleash hell: in the United States, Poland, Hungary, Italy. Everywhere the same horrors, everywhere the same moral panic, always powerful pressure and elaborate blackmail.

It often works, but it did not work in Britain. Because the British, however, are cut from a slightly different cloth. They also left the Union because they did not want anonymous EU officials without democratic legitimacy to make laws that would regulate their lives. They have now upheld this decision because they were well aware that reversing it might make things easier in the short run, but in the long run it would mean the end of the system that has worked so well for centuries.

Jacek Karnowski Author is an editor-in-chief of weekly „Sieci”