The Leave / Brexit vote in the referendum came in the end as a surprise, a narrow win for Remain was expected. This may be because the core Leave vote was in the run-down white working class communities of the now desolate English and Welsh industrial zones. A population trapped in conditions of long-term unemployment and poverty who no one really pays much attention to anymore.

Some on the left have seized on the makeup of this core vote to suggest that there was some progressive element to the Brexit vote despite the campaign being led by racist hatemongers and wealthy US-oriented neoliberals. Mostly that's a mixture of wishful thinking and post hoc justification for having called for a Leave vote in the first place, but it is true that a section of the working class, C2DEs in marketing speak, voted to Leave in close to a 2:1 ratio. Is the class composition of that vote enough to automatically make it progressive regardless of content? And what does it tell us that a section of the radical left seems to think the answer to that question is yes, that it is enough to be anti-establishment?

See also:

• Observations on Brexit and Lexit in the UK EU membership referendum
• 10 point guide for post Brexit resistance as racist right wins EU referendum

Our hearts ache for the victims of the homophobic hate crime that took place over the weekend in Orlando, Florida where a gunman attacked an LGBT+ club killing 50 and wounding over 50 more. Much has been asked by us and by other left queers about the LGBT+ community, whether it exists and if it exists why don’t we feel a part of it. Sadly it is at times like these that we become aware of its existence. When people are considered deviants and deserving of a murderous assault for their sexuality, a trait all of us in the community share, we cannot but come together in sadness and in mourning.

Palestinian workers are one of the most forgotten and abandoned social categories whether in the political. economical or social contexts, Almost all Palestinian workers suffer from Various sides: the Palestinian Authority, the Zionist state, and Israeli and Palestinian bosses, its noticeable that the worker’s rights. stability and future are roughly mentioned in the policies of the two conflicted Entities. since neither one of them gave any importance to reflect on the issue of Palestinian workers. besides. this point was not Discussed as it should in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. note that according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics ; the number of Palestinian workers in Israel is estimated of 105 thousand workers which constitutes 2.2% of the labor force in Israel and about 11.7% of the size of the labor force in the West Bank .

2016 is shaping up to be a year of social movements: Black Lives Matter, trans-equity, teachers and workers struggles. It is also an election year, and one candidate, Bernie Sanders, has activists and organizers across the country “feeling the bern.” But is the enthusiasm justified, will electing good politicians lead to substantial change?

The case of Kshama Sawant shows that no matter how good the candidate, business as usual rules in elected office.

This article is part of an ongoing series called “Socialist faces in high places” looking at the left in relation to the electoral path and state power.

The Neo-Nazi group Pegida is attempting to establish a branch in Ireland this Saturday in Dublin. Pegida, the "anti-Islamifacation" group that is attempting to hijack anti-establishment politics by placing the blame of the current global capitalist crisis on the shoulders of refugees and migrants: those with no systemic or economic power in our society.

See also:

• Y no pasaron: masivo repudio a PEGIDA en las calles de Dublín José Antonio Gutiérrez D.