Anti-Immigration vs Anti-EU: Political Discourse Analysis of Brexit Decision of The UK

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 19 Sayı: 1, 1 - 34, 30.06.2020

Deniz Eroglu , Nergiz Özkural Köroğlu

https://doi.org/10.14395/hititilahiyat.676664

Cited By: 2

Öz

United Kingdom’s relation with the European Union has been always distant. As literature mainly underlines, the UK has never been a full participant of certain policy areas; particularly in the area of ‘justice and home affair’ the UK showed limited enthusiasm to cooperate Nevertheless, Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, so-called the Brexit decision, has been one of the shocking development happening in 2016 and both EU and member state leaders expressed their disappointment. The Brexit process is still ambiguous, but we have already witnessed the social consequences of the racist discourses of the referendum process. In this regard, the increases in racist attacks indicated in the official reports are worrying.

The study has four main parts. After the introduction part, the historical relation between the EU and the UK has indicated and distant relationship between the parts is highlighted. Following on from this part, Euroscepticism in Britain is explained and its role behind Brexit's decision is clarified as part of the main argument of this study. After this historical explanation, the main analysis started. The study is conducted by relying on Political Discourse Analysis developed by Teun van Dijk. At this point, clarification of “discourse” is somewhat important. According to van Dijk, discourse is essential to control people’s minds, ideas, knowledge, opinions, and their personal and social representations. He also argues that discourses are significant to have power, dominance and the reproduction of racism within societies and political discourses tend to be future-oriented. The actors topicalise certain issues and use discourses to direct masses towards certain actions. During the referendum process, UKIP was not the only party supporting the leave campaign, Boris Johnson, for example, also encouraged the public to vote for Brexit. Nigel Farage allegedly persuaded more than 17 million people to vote to leave the EU

In the analysis, we first pointed the ‘positive self-presentation’ in Farage’s discourses. Here, “WE” always represent the ‘more democratic and civilised’ one. Similar to this ‘others’ have negative meaning and correspond to threats to the coherence of the country. During the campaign, the party and the leader targeted immigrants and categorised their threat according to three aspects of life: the welfare system, the UK public’s security, and social norms. However, Farage never accepted that he was being ‘racist’, even he argued he supported refugees by emphasising bogus/real refugee distinction. In addition, Farage’s strategy was to justify his ‘firm and fair’ immigration control for the good of an inner circle, in other words in the interests of the British people. He tried to justify his actions by arguing they were the demands of British people. On top of all these, he indicated some real/unreal numbers to persuade masses.

After discourse analysis, the article indicates how racism within society was reproduced. By showing hate crime reports that indicate attacks peaked in the post-referendum, this study underlines discourses are not inefficient tools, in fact they can pave the way for some dangerous results. Both the National Police and UN reports prove the increase in the number of racist hate crimes, especially in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

All in all, we argue that the role of the UK in the EU throughout the history of European integration has always been one of ‘British exceptionalism’. The immigration question, on the other hand, provided an important opportunity for following this exceptionalist policy and for leaving the EU membership, but it resulted in racist and xenophobic attacks towards all “others” within society. Without ignoring historical background, this study relied on data produced during the referendum process and post-referendum era and it aimed to contribute to both migration and Brexit studies literature. Since this article did not have room to account for the other parties’ discourses and the long-run effects of referendum, it would be interesting to enlarge the inquiry by adding different party discourses, describing their influence on the public and how migrants are affected today.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Politics, Brexit, Eurocepticism, Anti-immigration, Political Discourse, UKIP

Anti-Göçmen ya da Anti-AB: Birleşik Krallık'ın Brexit Kararının Siyasi Söylem Analizi

Öz

Birleşik Krallık’ın Avrupa Birliği ile olan ilişkileri her zaman mesafeli olmuştur. Bununla birlikte, Britanya'nın Brexit kararı olarak isimlendirilen Avrupa Birliği'nden ayrılma kararı 2016'da meydana gelen şok edici gelişmelerden biri olmuştur. İlk bakışta referandumun sonucu seçmenlerin AB'den ayrılma konusundaki tarihi kararını gösteriyor olsa da aslında bu sonuç İngiltere'deki göçmen karşıtı duyguların artmasıyla şekillenen popülist bir siyasi söylemin ürünüdür. Bu çalışmada, Brexit kampanyasının arkasındaki göçmen karşıtı söylemlerin aslında Avrupa Birliği ile daha büyük tarihsel ilişkilerin bir parçası olduğunu iddia etmekteyiz. Literatürü takiben İngiltere'nin Avrupa entegrasyonu tarihi boyunca AB'deki rolünün her zaman 'İngiliz istisnacılığından biri olduğunu ileri sürmekteyiz. Göç sorunu ise, bu istisnacılık politikasını sürdürmeyi ve AB üyeliğinden ayrılma için önemli bir fırsat sağladı, ancak bu, toplumdaki tüm “ötekilere” karşı ırkçı ve yabancı düşmanlığıyla sonuçlandı. Bu süreçte ayrılma taraftarı söylemler, toplumdaki göçmen karşıtı duygulara ve ırkçılığa neden olmuştur, ancak bunun temel amaç olduğu söylenemez. Bu yazıda, referandum sürecinde Birleşik Krallık Bağımsızlık Partisi'nin kampanyasını incelemek için Teun van Dijk tarafından geliştirilen siyasal söylem analizini kullanmaktayız. Çalışmanın asıl amacı İngiltere'nin AB'den uzun süreli olan mesafesini ortaya koymak iken makale bir bütün olarak ele alındığında, göçmen karşıtı söylemin ırkçı ve yabancı düşmanlığına nasıl sebep olduğunu göstermektir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Siyaset, Brexit, Avrupa Şüpheciliği, Göçmen Karşıtlığı, Siyasi Söylem Analizi, UKIP

Kaynakça

• Akdemir, Erhan. “Avrupa Bütünleşmesi Tarihçesi”. Avrupa Birliği: Tarihçe, Teoriler, Kurumlar ve Politikalar. Ed. Belgin Akçay- İlke Göçmen. 35-67. Ankara: Seçkin Yayınevi, 2012.
• Baker, David - Schnapper, Poulina. Britain and the Crisis of the European Union. UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
• BBCNews. "Immigration Focus is Turning Point in EU Campaign, Says Farage". Access: 09 October 2018. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36444014.
• BBCNews. “Brexit: Europe Stunned By UK Leave Vote”. Access: 9 July 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36616018.
• BBCNews. "The Nigel Farage Story". Access: 4 July 2018. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36701855.
• BBCNews. “Migrant Crisis: Farage Says EU 'Mad' to Accept So Many”. Access: 09 October 2017. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-34197707.
• BBCNews. “Nigel Farage Defends Linking Brussels Attacks and EU Migration Rules”. Access: 05 October 2018. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-35879670.
• BBCNews. “David Cameron Promises In/Out Referendum on EU”. Access: 16 October 2018. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-21148282.
• BBCNews. “Net Migration at 323,000 Prompts EU Referendum Row”, Access: 19 October 2018. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-35658731.
• BBCNEWS. “Jo Cox Murder”. Access: 19 October 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cn1r4rw9qz4t/jo-cox-murder.
• BBCNews. “Polish Media In UK Shocked By Post-Brexit Hate Crimes”. Access: 19 October 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36656348.
• Bulman, May. “Brexit Vote Sees Highest Spike in Religious And Racial Hate Crimes Ever Recorded”, Access: 17 October 2018. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/racist-hate-crimes-surge-to-record-high-after-brexit-vote-new-figures-reveal-a7829551.html.
• Cameron, Deborah. Working With Spoken Discourse. London: SAGE, 2001.
• Capdevila, Rosa - Callaghan, Jane E. “‘It's not Racist. It's Common Sense’. A critical Analysis of Political Discourse around Asylum and Immigration in the UK”. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 18/1(2008): 1-16.
• Carrera, Sergio Guild, Elspeth and Ngo Chun Luk “What Does Brexit Mean for the EU's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice?” CEPS Commentary, 2016. Access: 19 July 2017. https://www.ceps.eu/ceps-publications/what-does-brexit-mean-eus-area-freedom-security-and-justice/.
• Cesur, Nazı Sıla. Lourie Hanquinet- Duru, Deniz Neriman. “The ‘European Turks’: Identities of High-Skilled Turkish Migrants in Europe”. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 18/1 (2018): 127-144.
• Chilton, Poul. Analysing Political Discourse: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge, 2004.
• Christopher, Hart. Critical Discourse Analysis And Cognitive Science: New Perspectives On Immigration Discourse. Palgrave Macmillan: London, 2010.
• Clarke, Harold- Goodwin, H., Matthew – Whiteley, Paul. Brexit: Why Britain Voted To Leave The European Union. Cambridge: UK, 2017.
• Corcoran, Hannah- Smith, Kevin. “Hate Crime, England and Wales”. Access: 01 April 2017. http://www.report-it.org.uk/files/hate-crime-1516-hosb1116.pdf.
• Dedman, Martin. The Origins and Development of the European Union: 1945-2008. New York: Routledge, 2010.
• Fairclough, Norman. Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. Abingdon, New York: Routledge, 2003.
• Fairclough, Norman. Discourse and Social Change. UK: Polity Press, 2006.
• Glencross, Andrew. Why the UK Voted for Brexit: David Cameron's Great Miscalculation. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
• Hall, Macer - Maddox, David. “Farage Speech: Controlling Mass Immigration While Britain Remains Part of EU is Impossible”. 2016. Access: 10 October 2017.
• http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/665446/Nigel-Farage-Ukip-control-immigration-leave-EU-referendum-June.
• Christopher, Hope. “Mass Immigration Has Left Britain 'Unrecognisable', Says Nigel Farage”. 2014. Access: 15 October 2017.
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10668996/Mass-immigration-has-left-Britain-unrecognisable-says-Nigel-Farage.html.
• Independent. “I’ve had Enough of People Insinuating That UKIP is Racist – It's Simply Not True”. 2015.Access: 20 July 2018. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/i-ve-had-enough-of-people-insinuating-that-ukip-is-racist-its-simply-not-true-10182747.html.
• Jørgensen, Marianne - Phillips, Louise . Discourse Analysis As Theory And Method. London: Sage, 2002. Jones, Alistair. Britain and the European Union. UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2007.
• Kampf, Zohar. “Political Discourse Analysis”. The International Encyclopedia of Language and Social Interaction. Ed. Karen Tracy - Cornelia Ilie. 1-17. US: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.
• Krotofil, Joanna - Motak, Dominika. “A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Media Coverage of the Migration Crisis in Poland”. Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis 28(2018): 92-115.
• Leconte, Cecile. Understanding Euroscepticism. UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
• Lowe, Josh . “Polish Foreign Minister: Brexit Has Fueled Anti-Polish Hate Crime”. 2016. Access: 20 October 2018. http://www.newsweek.com/poland-poles-uk-polish-immigrants-hate-crime-brexit-rise-post-ref-racism-496028 .
• Maddox, David. “Nigel Farage: We Can Only Control Our Borders By Leaving The EU”. 2016. Access: 19 October 2018, http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/642617/Nigel-Farage-Immigration-defining-issue-EU-referendum-campaign-politics.
• Mandelson, Peter. “Why is the Brexit Camp so Obsessed with Immigration? Because That’s All They Have”.2016. Access: 08 August 2017.
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/03/brexit-camp-immigration-economic-vote-leave.
• Mandhai, Shafik. “Protests in UK against Post-Brexit Racism”. 2017. Access: 01 September 2018. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/03/protests-uk-post-brexit-racism-170318140636538.html.
• Mason, Rowena. “Nigel Farage: British Muslim ‘Fifth Column’ Fuels Fear of Immigration”.2015. Access: 18 May 2018. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/12/nigel-farage-british-muslim-fifth-column-fuels-immigration-fear-ukip.
• Mason, Rowena. “Nigel Farage Accuses Muslims in UK of 'Split Loyalties'”. 2015. Access: 10 December 2018. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/16/nigel-farage-accuse-british-muslims-conflicting-loyalties.
• Mayr, Andrea. Language And Power: An Introduction to Institutional Discourse. New York: Continuum, 2008.
• Mortimer, Caroline. “Brexit Caused Lasting Rise İn Hate Crime, New Figures Show”. 2016. Access: 01 June 2018. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/brexit-hate-crime-racism-eu-referendum-poland-islam-more-in-common-a7231836.html.
• Moret, Erica. “Europe or the Open sea? Brexit and European Commentary, European Council on Foreign Security”. 2016 Access: 18 January 2018.
• https://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_europe_or_the_open_sea_brexit_and_european_security70.
• Office for National Statistics. “Migration Statistics, Quarterly Report”. 2016. Access: 05 July 2018. http://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/migrationstatisticsquarterlyreportfebruary2016.
• Özkural Köroğlu, Nergis -Yüksel Çendek, Sinem. “Toplumsal Güvenlik, Kimlik, Bütünleşme Bağlamında Avrupa Şüpheciliği: Cameron Dönemindeki Avrupa Şüpheciliğinin İçerik Analizi”. Akademik İncelemeler Dergisi 10/2(2015): 191-216.
• Pareschi, Andrea - Albertini, Alessandro. “Immigration, Elites and the European Union: How UKIP Frames Its Populist Discourse”. Comunicazione Politica 19/2(2018): 247-272.
• Perring, Rebecca. “EU loophole could see 77 MILLION Turks head to Britain, warn Farage and Johnson. 2016. Access: 07 October 2017.
• http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/661387/Migrant-crisis-Nigel-Farage-Turkey-EU-visa-free-travel.
• Rogers, Rebecca. “Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis in Educational Research”. An Introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis in Education. Ed. Rebecca Rogers. 29-48. UK:Routledge, 2011.
• Rojo, Luisa Martion –van Dijk, Teun. A. “‘There Was A Problem, And It Was Solved!’: Legitimating the Expulsion of Illegal 'Migrants in Spanish Parliamentary Discourse” Discourse and Society 8/4, (1997): 523-566.
• Schweiger, Christian. Britain, Germany and the Future of the European Union. UK: Palgrave Macmillian, 2007.
• Skynews, “Farage Defends “Vile And Racist” EU Poster”. 2016. Access: 10 October 2018. https://news.sky.com/story/farage-defends-vile-and-racist-eu-poster-10318659.
• Somerville, Will. “Brexit: The Role of Migration in the Upcoming EU Referendum”. 2016. Access: 20 October 2018. http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/brexit-role-migration-upcoming-eu-referendum.
• Sparrow, Andrew. “UKIP conference and Godfrey Bloom "sluts" row: Politics live blog”. 2013. Access: 16 October 2018. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/20/ukip-conference-and-reaction-to-the-damian-mcbride-revelations-politics-live-blog.
• Steven, Erlanger. “Britain’s ‘Brexit’ Debate Inflamed by Worries That Turkey Will Join E.U”.2016. Access: 15 September 2017.
• http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/world/europe/britain-brexit-turkey-eu.html.
• Stuart, Hall. “The West and the Rest Discourse and Power”, The Indigenous Experience: Global Perspectives. Ed. Roger Maaka - Chris Andersen, Canada: Canadian Scholars Press Inc., 2006.
• Stubbs, Michael. Discourse Analysis: The Sociolinguistic Analysis Of Natural Language. US: University of Chicago Press, 1983.
• Stronger in Europe, “Britain Stronger in Europe”. Access: 10 July 2017. http://www.strongerin.co.uk.
• The Guardian. “Nigel Farage Calls On Government To Let Syrian Refugees into UK”. 2013. Access: 10 October 2018. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/29/nigel-farage-syrian-refugees-uk.
• Taggart Paul - Szczerbiak, Aleks “Europeanization, Euroscepticism and Party Systems: Party-based Euroscepticism in the Candidate States of Central and Eastern Europe”, Perspectives of European Politics and Society 3/2 (2002): 23-41.
• The Telegraph. “Nigel Farage: Immigration Will Be The Defining Issue Of This EU Referendum Campaign”.2015. Access: 05 October 2018.
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11817508/Nigel-Farage-Immigration-will-be-the-defining-issue-of-this-EU-referendum-campaign.html.
• Ramiro, Troitiño- David, Kerikmäe- Tanel, Chochia- Archil A. Brexit: History, Reasoning and Perspectives, Switzerland: Springer, 2018.
• UKIP Manifesto. “Beleive in Britain UKIP Manifesto”. 2015. Access: 08 October 2017.
• https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ukipdev/pages/1103/attachments/original/1429295050/UKIPManifesto2015.pdf?1429295050.
• UN. “International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination”. 2016. Access: 09 September 2018.
• http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/icerd-_concluding_observations.pdf.
• van Der Valk, Ineke. “Right-Wing Parliamentary Discourse on Immigration in France”. Discourse & Society 14/3 (2003): 309-348.
• van Dijk, Teun. A.“Denying Racism: Elite Discourse and Racism”. Racism and Migration in Western Europe. Ed. John Solomos - John Wrench. 179-193. UK: Berg Publishers, 1993.
• van Dijk, Teun A. Elite Discourse and Racism. Vol. 6. UK: Sage, 1993.
• van Dijk, Teun A. “Elite Discourse and the Reproduction of Racism”. Hate Speech. Ed. Rita. Kirk. Whillock - David. Slayden . 1-27. UK: Sage Publications: 1995.
• van Dijk, Teun, A. “Discourse, Power and Access”. Texts and Practices: Readings in Critical Discourse Analysis. Ed. Carmen Rosa Caldas-Coulthard and Malcolm. Coulthard, 84-104. London: Routledge, 1996.
• van Dijk, Teun A. “Political Discourse and Racism: Describing Others in Western Parliaments”. The Language and Politics of Exclusion: Others in Discourse 2(1997):31-64.
• van Dijk, Teun. A. “What is Political Discourse Analysis?”. Belgian Journal of Linguistics 1/1, (1997): 11-52.
• van Dijk, Teun. A. “Discourse and Racism”. A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies. Ed. D. T. Goldberg - J. Solomos. 145-159. UK: Blackwell Cambridge, 2002.
• van Dijk, Teun A. “Social Cognition, Social Power And Social Discourse”. Text 8/1-2 (1988):129-157.
• van Dijk, Teun A. Discourse and Power. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
• van Dijk, Teun A. “Critical Discourse Analysis”. The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Ed. Deborah, Tannen Heidi. E. Hamilton-Deborah, Schiffrin. 466-487. UK: John Wiley and Sons, 2015.
• Wright, Oliver. “Nigel Farage Says He is A Victim of Political Hatred in Response to Jo Cox Question from”. 2016. Access: 11 October 2017.
• http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-jo-cox-dead-murdered-peston-brexit-eu-referendum-ukip-political-hatred-a7089996.html.
• Wilson, Sam. “Britain and the EU: A Long and Rocky Relationship”. 2014. Access: 7 January 2016. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-26515129.
• Widdowson, Henry G. “Discourse Analysis: A Critical View”. Language and Literature 4/3 (1995): 157-172.
• Why Vote Leave. Access: 10 July 2017. http://www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/why_vote_leave.html.
• Patrick, Wintour. “Nigel Farage: UKIP wants five-year ban on immigrants settling in UK”. 2014. Access: 05 October 2018. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/07/ukip-ban-immigrants-nigel-farage.
• Yazgan, Pınar - Deniz, Eroglu Utku. “News Discourse And Ideology: Critical Analysis of Copenhagen Gang Wars' Online News”. Migration Letters 14(1)/1 (2017): 145-160.