It's difficult to understand how any genuine Irish republican would refuse to show solidarity towards British people who want democratic control over their own affairs.
As internationalists, republicans should be standing up for national democracy and self-determination and recognizing how the EU has eroded democracy and consistently shown contempt for the democratic rights and opinions of the peoples of the EU.
As history has show, the opinion of the Greeks, Irish, French, Dutch, Danish and now even the British will be disregarded in the interests of the bigger objective - a supranational United States of Europe where Germany effectively calls the shots.
Sinn Féin' s Martin McGuinness claims "the EU Convention on Human Rights is a central tenant of the Good Friday Agreement" and that the British Government may, in the event of a Brexit, "repeal the Human Rights Act and walk away from the ECHR." These claims are not only irresponsible and misleading but they are factually and legally incorrect.
Firstly, the convention he refers to is a Council of Europe convention not a EU convention and has nothing whatsoever to do with the EU. The Council of Europe is much wider than the EU involving 47 countries and is Europe's leading human rights organization.
It is false to state or imply that the UK leaving the EU means that the European Convention on Human Rights will cease to apply within the British State. Following 'Brexit' the UK will still remain bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, whether they are members of the EU or not.
[The latest poll on UK support for Brexit]
The legal and political reality is that the EU is not a bastion of human rights. It exploitative approach to the developing world, its emphasis on militarism, its disrespect for the views of ordinary citizens, demonstrate this fact.
Sinn Féin's claim that we must remain within the EU to achieve a "social Europe" ignores the harsh legal reality. The EU Treaties, which are superior to all national laws, enshrine neo-liberal policies into law giving the EU power to privatize public services and enforce privatization in any area of economic activity. This was one of the key reasons Dutch and French voters rejected the EU treaties in referendums in 2005 and why the British Trade Union Congress also voted against.
The French and Dutch voters were ignored and the EU's political elite forged ahead with their proposals under the new name of the Lisbon Treaty. Sinn Féin strongly campaigned against this treaty and indeed has campaigned against all EU treaties to date because they have eroded democracy and given more and more power to an unelected elite in Brussels.
Now Sinn Féin claims that Brexit will remove EU minimum safeguards and hand power on workers rights to a "Tory British Government." But as Sinn Féin knows, governments are not permanent; people can choose to change them at election time. However, what is vitally important to understand is that people cannot vote to change EU treaties or remove or hold to account the de facto EU government, which has no democratic mandate from voters and is accountable to no electorate.
It is well established that rights including the rights of workers under EU law can and have been restricted in the interest of the market. By prioritizing the interests of the market and transnational corporations the EU displays total contempt for international labour law conventions, such as the ILO.
This is why the corporate lobby and the political elite are pushing for things to remain as they are. Brexit is the only way to forge true democracy and social rights across the whole of Europe. The alternative is an undemocratic, militarized superpower working for the vested interests of transnational capital and corporations and where people will have no control.
Patricia McKenna is a former MEP for the Irish Green Party. Currently a Barrister-at-Law candidate at The Honorable Society of King's Inns, Dublin. She is a Trinity College Bachelor of Law & Political Science. She is also responsible for the Irish Supreme Court decision preventing governments using taxpayers money to influence the outcome of referendum campaigns
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This article, which argues in favour of a Leave vote, was originally headlined in our web edition: "Republicans should show solidarity with British Remain supporters'', which was incorrect. The online headline has now been amended to accurately reflect the article. The headline in the print edition is correct
