Cartoons Brexit

This Referendum was the most important political event since the Second World War. It’s effects will be experienced for generations to come. At the moment there is uncertainty. There is fear. There is uncertainty. There is dismay. There is fury. There is hatred.

If you want to know how some remainers feel then look at these cartoons produced by Roger who is a good friend of ours. He worked in architecture and is now retired. He was appalled by the vote and saw it as a disaster. His view is that it is not just about economics but the social upheaval and attitude to ‘foreigners’. He believes the country was deceived by orchestrated lies spread by the media and politicians. People were promised a pot of gold and told that immigration can be controlled.

This is an illustration of his scathing attitude towards the politicians who orchestrated this referendum. He believed they, along with the media, treated the population with contempt and misled them. He believes that many people were duped by promises of wealth and that immigration would be reduced, when they knew this was not true. He despairs at the veering to the right in both Britain and the USA.

The words and cartoons are his.

SHIP OF FOOLS is an allegory, originating from Book VI of Plato’s Republic. The allegory depicts a vessel without a pilot, taken over by force or persuasion by those who are deranged, frivolous, or oblivious, and seemingly ignorant of their course. This mob is willing to kill anyone in the way, and to drug the captain if necessary. The true pilot, who knows the stars, the wind, and how to stay on course, is considered useless by the mob.

In the left hand panel we see that the ship is drifting towards a society of intolerance represented by an extremist propped up by minority ultra right wing hate factions such as the Ku Klux Klan. The feather in Donald Trump’s headdress questions just who are the indigenous inhabitants of the US.  The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow indicates the UK’s financial contribution to Europe and by recovering this the Brexiteers will, it is claimed, be able lead us to prosperity. The rainbow end as we know, can never be reached and this is confirmed by it being divided between the panels.

In this drawing the central panel shows the ship, which represents the United Kingdom being taken over by the Brexiteers represented by IDS, Gove, Farage, BoJo and Rees Mogg dragging with them the British public depicted as pawns.

The Union flag, in tatters and flying at half-mast, symbolizes the break up of our society and mourning the loss of its cohesion and tolerance. The flag is also flying up side down, as a signal of distress.

The right hand panel shows Europa on the back of the white bull (Zeus) as he swims away. Europa is split apart by the panel sides as the UK breaks away. All this is being observed by one of Europe’s neighbours represented by Vladimir Putin.

The Vitruvian scroll representing the sea links all three panels and reminds us that we can never be separate. The pawn in the back of the ship on the central panel is reaching out in desperation at the tearing apart of Europe.