The problem with using the word xenophobia (as in bigotry against people from other countries) to characterize the driving force behind the right wing populist votes that are gaining momentum in the richer countries of the developed world is that it glosses over the legitimate concerns and realities that is at the root of the phenomenon: low qualified (even 'medium qualified') workers face the competitive stress of cheaper labor while having very little access to the opportunities offered by globalization/europe.
That's something right wing populism has understood, and that's exactly why it thrives.
In France, Marine Le Pen (whose father is the retired founder of her movement, and notoriously antisemitic) from the Nationalist Front never misses an opportunity to repeat that "we (she and her voters) are not racist". And she is telling the truth. The majority of her voters don't feel superior to their arab/chinese/whatev neighbor, they just don't want/fear/hate the competition.
(Conversely, the far leftist Melenchon who tried to harness this same electorate by demonizing xenophobia, and putting the blame on the rich people failed spectacularly in the legislative elections - right wing populist voters are not dirt poor, they are just privileged and under qualified at the same time).
That's why I feel sympathetic (though I don't think it is realistic: for the same competences and labour, a brit/french/american earns more than triple what a romanian/chinese/turc makes) toward the brit people who voted to leave the EU, though globalization is certainly 'inclusive', because money and the exploitation of people knows no color, race or religion, there is spunk in saying fuck (even self-interestedly) to the power in place and the seemingly inescapable laws of the machine.
I hope the UK finds an alternative and new route of development that can be copied the world over.
I hope it doesn't simply regress into delusive isolationism.
